The last three trips for BAYMEN have yielded 22 fish caught and released. All very fat and healthy striped bass. Prior dates and the entire season since May, have yielded incredible numbers fish all season long, with few exceptions. So what do the current drop-offs in numbers of fish tell us? The Fall Run is coming to a close in our bay.

We will definitely have some more incredible days with a lot of fish and some big fish passing through on their way south in the migration. But the consistent high numbers of fish are coming to a close for another season. What happens next is what I call “Gap” days. Fishing is great one day, then very slow for two days, then great again for a couple days, then dead the next day. This pattern is the typical tail end of the fall run in our local waters. My dream some day, is to chase the fall run all the bay back to Chesapeake Bay!

I will leave you on this optimistic note: Local lobsterman and Island Creek Oyster godfather, Billy Bennett told me he once landed a keeper striped bass and a keeper bluefish on the same day at Gurnet Point in Plymouth on Thanksgiving Day! And, on October 3rd, 2017, I landed and released 120 striped bass with my charter, Gary Condon. Here are a couple final entries from my Baymen Charters Journal over the years, in no particular order:

November 1, 2016 – Tons of small bass busting in the bay at first light.

October 21, 2016 – Massive Fall Blitz in fog at first light. Thousands of fish in all directions on dropping tide, and nobody here but me.

October 9, 2012 – BIG bass to forty pounds out front in shallow water.

October 3, 2014 – 45 fish with my charters. Wicked seas and wind. Got beat up bad. Brutal conditions – but we got 45 fish.

October 3, 1998 – 97 striped bass on the fly with Scott Parry

Enjoy the Final Run of The Fall Run!

Sincerely, Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com Covid-19 Protocol Observed on all Baymen Charters *FISH WITH ME IN 2021 & 2022. BOOK EARLY*