Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

“Consistency breeds consistency” is an old corporate slogan and today’s charter was a carbon copy of yesterday’s charter: 9 fish, 3 keepers.

On board today, Baymen Dick Bowman, and his friend, Evan, for Fly and Light Tackle striped bass. At first light, calm seas, high tide, NW wind, and water temps 64 degrees. Air temps in the low to mid 50’s. Sunny.

We skipped the bay at first light and ran just offshore and found fish as soon as the sun came up. Once again, like yesterday, the fish were VERY selective. (I secretly can’t wait until this ultra selective feed is over!) LOL… It tries your patience and makes you really work for a handful of fish. But the great part? Everyone is always up for the challenge and today was no different.

First one on the board was Evan with a fat sub-legal striped bass. Then Dick put down the light tackle, picked up his fly rod… WHAM! Fish On just like that! A fat slot keeper. Next up, Evan, not to be shown up, hooked into a fish on the LT. Another keeper! Now, since the beginning many years ago, Dick Bowman has always insisted that I throw a fly with him. Not wanting to let him down, I picked up the TFO Blaine Chockett 9 Wt with an intermediate line and a Mike Rice Peanut Bunker pattern and threw the fly into a boil… WHAM! Keeper On The Fly! A nice fight that felt like a much bigger fish that was released to swim another day.

Several other boats finally made it out to join us to chase the schools of bass working topwater under birds. I am sure they were hooking up, but I never saw any bent rods. Ultra selective Fall Run striped bass will take almost nothing when they are on the selective feed. Our fish today came on a Mike Rice peanut bunker; a tiny 1″ inch all white sparkle flash baitfish pattern, and a chartreuse rubber crank bait. We threw a ton of other tackle at them and it was all useless. Count yourselves blessed if you can land a handful fish in the current situation…

Total catch and release today was 9 striped bass, 3 of them slot keepers. No sign of blues today. We did see several seals again. The winds really laid down and it was near calm and lovely out there on the dropping tide. Best wishes to everyone fishing the Fall Run. And if you tap into the magic fly or magic light tackle lure that the bass slam all day long… Keep it a secret and share it with only one professional guide :o) 

Tight Lines & Good Fishing.

Sincerely,

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, baymenlife.com 31 Years Guiding The Bay. Still In Love.

• Baymen Runs On Dunkin

SOLI DEO GLORIA!