On board today, I had repeat clients, Gary Condon,Greg Powers, and new charter, Bob, for light tackle striped bass. The crew met me at the dock with hot coffee and muffins for the Captain!

At first light, the bay was flat and stayed calm all morning. And the fishing was non-stop. The Fall Run is underway and a lot of fish are moving south. Lots of bait of various sizes as well. We got into topwater action all morning (take note FLY RODDERS!) and it was a blast.

At one point we were fishing beside a school of pogies with LT and a fish about ten feet long was making huge wakes chasing them. There was a classic explosion right in the middle of them and it was NOT a big bass. All four of us were 90% sure it was a shark. BUT we never got a good look at it and never saw any fins… “Probably a seal…”

Later in morning, we ran to the power plant in search of big blues. Zip! But we did find some bass and we had a seal chase down a fish Gary had on the line and take his fish! That is only the second time in 26 years of guiding that has happened on a BAYMEN Charter.

Back into the bay, we found lots of bass on topwater driving bait. Birds were active as well, but there are not a lot of them at the moment. With the flat-calm conditions, is was easy to pick out breaking fish a half-mile away.

After we boated and released our sixtieth (!) fish, we took a lunch break as is Gary’s tradition on all Baymen Charters over the last 20 or so years. Fresh subs with all the fixings and dressings, chips, various beverages (NA), and several packs of gourmet cookies for desert. Full and happy we set out to catch another twenty striped bass before heading for port.

Total catch and release today was eighty (80) striped bass and a couple small blues all on LT. The fish are VERY finicky and feeding on tiny minnows of about 2″ inches. We had success with a variety of gear if we kept at it. 3″ and 4″ rubber crank baits, topwater Spooks, Baymen Jigs, topwater poppers, and rubber eels. A great morning on the bay and the first day of the start of the FALL RUN 2019.

Back at it. Stay posted:

Capt. David Bitters, F/V BAYMEN, baymenlife.com

FLY RODDERS – NOW IS THE TIME! E-mail me: baymencharters@gmail.com