On board today, I had repeat client Max Cavallaro and friends, for Fly Fishing & Light Tackle striped bass.

You may remember our previous trip on the bay when we saw a seagull tangled in fishing line on Browns Bank. We caught the gull that had fishing line wrapped around one leg, and brought it on board. We then pulled in all the fishing and there was a live striped bass on the other end!!! That seagull had been towed all over the bay by that striped bass for days!!! Pretty amazing story…

Anyway, back to fishing today. At first light, flat-calm seas and high tide with rain showers and overcast skies. A wisp of E/SE wind that eventually turned all South end of the morning. No topwater anywhere in the bay at first RECON. So, we decided to start structure fishing where I found fish yesterday. No fish there today… Then, we moved on and saw a handful of birds in 53 fow and found a school of striped bass working bait just like Albies do. Pop up for a few seconds and then back down for several minutes only to appear hundreds of yards away. So, we fished them like Albies and began to hook up! We chased these fish for quite a while and then decided to move across the bay to one of my other spots.

We saw Lesser Terns working and pulled into them for a closer look. Lots of boils and bass were working up on the flats under the birds. We began to hook up right away. This school of bass was working a half-mile circle on the flats. We kept ending back up where we started as we worked the flats. It was pretty fun to fish. Many multiple hook-ups for three rods!

Next up, we ran to another one of my spots to check it for bass. We found a few fish at the Aquarium and hooked up. From there we moved to another structure spot where we found fish the past two days and there were no fish there. We returned to the flats where we got a ton of fish and ended the morning there.

Total catch and release today was a whopping 52 fish – our best morning so far this season. Top fly pattern was a Jack Gartside Gurggler in white with a pink tail. For light tackle, rubber crankbaits, Baymen Jigs and topwater Cotton Cordell pencil poppers in bone and a Sebile topwater sliders in white were the hot lures. Note: crimp your barbs to make it easier on the fish.

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Just a fun morning with a great crew fishing a flat-calm bay. Only one seal spotted today – and no sharks :o)

Back at it. STAY POSTED:

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