Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

On board today, regulars, Gary Condon and Greg Powers for light tackle striped bass. At first light, choppy west winds and last hour of dropping tide. Water temps 64 degrees. Air temps about the same.

First stop of the morning – keepers! Two fine slot bass hit our topwater tackle in about 5-7 fow. As the tide slowed and bottomed out, those fish moved on.

Next stop, we fished an area that held some nice fish two days ago. Today, not a bump. The area was void of bass.

Third stop of the morning, Zip.

Fourth stop of the morning – fish on! We found a small school of schoolies on some bait over an eel grass bed. We set many drifts and figured out the technique with rubber cranks baits and hooked up on just about every drift.

Fifth stop: Some big fish on the bottom that ignored everything we threw at them. Several drifts later and not a bump and we moved on.

Sixth stop: Spooked two over slot bass in 3 fow working crabs tight to shore. Greg managed one fish that was a schoolie, on a topwater popper.

Seventh stop: LOTS of bait with a handful of birds working overhead. We worked the area to no avail and marked only big clouds of baitfsih. We also saw a massive school go under the boat.

Eighth stop: Seals. Lots and lots of big seals that came by our drifts and wondered what we were doing. We decided to break for brunch and Gary rolled out subs with all the fixings, chips, cold drinks, and to top it all off, Montilio’s pastries!  I was in a food coma as giant seals swam past me.

Ninth and final stop of the morning: Dead. Not a bump and nothing marked.

We ended the morning with 8 striped bass, including 2 slots and 6 small 18-24″ schoolies, all on light tackle. First true schoolies we have seen this season, and only a few fish compared to massive schools of schoolies in past seasons. The three bays I guide in continue to be very slow as far as numbers of fish marked or landed. There has been no “Spring Blitz” this season – first time in 32 years guiding the bay…

It was a lovely, warm day with some chop but far less than what NOAA had predicted yesterday, which made the going much nicer.

Back at it. Stay Posted:

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, baymenlife.com 32 Years Guiding The Bay. Still In Love.

Soli Deo Gloria!