On board today, I had repeat clients Scott Chatlin, Chris Barry, and Jay for light tackle striped bass.

At first light the winds had turned East and I was not expecting to see a lot of fish today. Thankfully, I was wrong. There were a lot of fish in the bay today, most of them small schoolies that we have not seen this spring. They were rolling and boiling on bait balls around the bay. The east winds were almost flat, so that helped to keep the bite going all morning.

We never went past Bug Light today, unlike previous trips. All the fish were inside the bay (as far as we know). The bait today was a small, brown backed, silver bodied minnow of about one inch in length. This is what we saw the mackerel feeding on yesterday.

Lots of small schoolies in the bay that are great fun if you match the tackle to the fish. We started the morning with 4″ rubber crank baits. About mid-morning, the fish would no longer take them. So we went smaller, to a 3″ inch bait and that did the trick.

At one point, we left the schools of fish and drifted some structure. We landed a keeper there. We landed another keeper that was mixed in with the schoolies and cruzing the bait on topwater.

Total catch and release today was an incredible 79 fish, including two keepers that will be celebrated around dinner tables this evening and weekend.

Today was another wonderful day on the bay with great clients.

Back at it for three days, fly only, with “the machine” Col. Richard Comstock. Stay Posted:

Capt. Dave, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com