On board today, I had Kyle and Wayne from Oh, Deer tick, mosquito and deer control company, for light tackle striped bass.

At first light, dense fog, drizzle and light W wind. And lots of fish, birds and bait. Tide was last hour of dropping and I had planned to fish structure. We set a few drifts, but then topwater action turned on around the bay and birds began to appear with the fish and bait. From that point on, we fished topwater the rest of the charter.

With the low pressure system and overcast, foggy, drizzly conditions, the bass were not as skittish as they have been. They are clearly on the Fall Run Blitz mode and it is safe to say the Fall Run has started.

There were no big fish inside the bay today. All smaller fish up to 27″ inches. They were VERY selective and we worked hard trying to figure it out. We fished topwater bone spooks to no avail. We fished 4″ rubber cranks with little success. We fished Baymen Jigs and landed a few fish. I even cut down some rubber crankbaits and trimmed them with new tails with no luck. Finally, we hit upon a 3″ rubber crankbait fished slowly through breaking fish and that was the ticket.

We ended the morning with 39 striped bass caught and released to 27″ inches. All fat, healthy fish that are fighting incredibly hard in Fall Blitz mode. Several of them fooled us into thinking they were keepers. All in all, it was a very fun, intense morning on light tackle. As the high pressure system set in, the schools of fish, bait and birds began vanish as they almost always do.

Back at it, Stay Posted:

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com 29 Years Guiding The Bay