41 Fish
On board today, I had repeat client, Tom Bullock, his son, Mike, and their friend, John, for light tackle striped bass. Tom has been fishing with me now for 25 years without a missed season.
At first light and a dropping tide, conditions looked perfect for fall blitz action. We found fish right off, but they were on a selective feed would not take our tackle. I decided to run the bay and find some other fish that were not as fussy. We ran all over the place from one end to the other (inside) and found no more fish. We went back to the first school of fish, changed up our tackle to very small rubber cranks baits and hooked up on six bass and one large shad.
The bite shut off and we went in search of fish on structure and on sonar. Not a single piece of bait or a single bass anywhere on the bay! So, we started bouncing around from spot to spot, structure to structure, rips, bars, weed beds… nada. And then it happened! Mike hooks into a lobster buoy at the exact same time the bay erupts in a classic fall blitz in the distance! I am screaming, “Look at the fish! Look at the fish!” and everyone thought I was mocking Mike for hooking up on a buoy! LOL… I said, “No fish blitzing! Twelve O’clock!” Everyone looked ahead and saw the massive blitz. We quick unhooked Mike and zipped over to the blitz and it was game on! Non-stop action for an hour right to the low slack tide. Bass were shoulder to shoulder smashing bait on topwater. We switched up to barbless Spooks and the rest is history. When we pulled into the fish, we had boated and released 7 up to that moment. When we left the blitz, we had boated and released 41 fish!
No keepers today, but a lot of fun to get into a classic fall blitz of fish in very shallow waters. A slow start with an epic finish.
Back at it and watching the ENE wind for the next few days…
Capt. Dave
www.baymenlife.com