NOTE: Pics from my  daily BAYMEN Reports can also be seen on my business FaceBook page at Baymen Guide Service, Inc. Baymen Charters. Also, from here on out, I will date my daily Baymen Reports in the heading for easy reference in case you want to look back to previous Baymen Reports.

Today’s Report: On board today, Baymen Dick Bowman, USMC, for fly fishing and light tackle striped bass. At first light, winds were S and brisk and the tide was on the the last hour of low. Skies were sunny and water temps 68 degrees.

First observation today was almost all of yesterday’s fish were gone, moving south in the migration to the Chesapeake bay. Some new fish came into the bay on the rising tide, along with thousands and perhaps millions of baitfish. Most of it was peanut bunker (baby menhaden) in large schools.

Second observation was the wind shift overnight from W to S. It was choppy most of the morning and the S wind was just enough to nag at us all morning. Drifts were difficult and VERY fast, and casting a fly rod was a chore. So, we made the switch over to light tackle and never looked back.

The bass were honed in on the peanut bunker as it typical in the Fall Run. Yesterday, the bass were feeding on just about anything they could get into their mouths. Today, they wanted the peanut bunkers! We tried a lot of tackle and did the best on a 3-4″ rubber crank bait in pearl with an olive back (see the photo on the Baymen FB page). We fished them fast and that seemed to get the most hits.

Almost all of the fish were on the flats today and we were bumping bottom all morning long in 6″ inches to 36″ inches of water, which made for slow going. But that is where the fish were and that is where we spent most of our time.

Many times during the morning, we could look down and see huge schools of striped bass going past the boat. Almost endless streams of bass at times. Most were big schoolies and some were at least 36″ inch fish! So cool to see in such shallow water. At several times during the charter, the bass would corral the peanut bunker up and absolutely destroy them in only a few feet of water. It was almost more exciting to watch it than to try and catch the fish in it!

Total catch and release today was 16 striped bass to 26+ inches. One other note: if the winds were dead-calm this morning it would of been a fly rodders paradise.

Back at it and watching the weather. Some rains and more winds in the forecast…

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, www.baymenlife.com 29 Years Guiding The Bay. Booking 2022 & 2023 Fly Fishing or Light Tackle. Dates go fast, don’t wait.