Greetings from BAYMEN & Capt. Dave!

On board today, Frank Harrington from the A-Team, along with his crew: his son, Brian, and friends Mike and David for light tackle striped bass. At first light, a calm SSW and half-tide rising. A drop dead gorgeous sunrise sky right out of a fairy tale. 

Water temps 64.6 as we head out of the harbor in search of the first striped bass of the morning. As has been the norm for several days, zero birds on the bay, little to no bait inside, and no fish on topwater or on sonar down below. Time to go to work!

First stop, a nice incoming rip along a flat. No sign of fish but we drifted it anyway because it looked so good! And we got our fist couple of fish of the morning that slammed our topwater hardbody poppers and spooks rigged with single inline hooks.

Next spot, more of the same. No birds, no bait, no topwater action. But solo and pairs of striped bass were moving through and to our delight, we picked up a few more nice fish.

From there, we ran about a half-mile and fished two of my spots that have held fish over the past week. Ghost town… So, I decided to skip over several of my other spots and run across the bay to fish some new waters. First stop of the morning could not have have looked more perfect… A couple long, slow drifts over gorgeous structure with out a single hit. Next spot deep in the bay yielded one solo fish which we were happy to land.

I can’t remember what spot came next but we found a ton of bait on the dropping tide and we picked up one more solo fish. No other fish seen or marked on that school of bait. Then, looking up bay I say lesser terns working over some bait. We zipped up there at 30 knots and got one fish before the birds, bait, and handful of bass were gone… Another spot yielded no fish, and out last spot of the morning yielded another solo bass all by himself, passing through a cut between flats.

It was tough fishing today with almost no bass inside the bay. But my crew worked hard as they always do and managed to land and release 11 striped bass, 2 of them “keepers” over slot, that weighed 11.5 pounds and 13 pounds on the Boga. Fish were landed on a variety of tackle including hardbody poppers, super spooks, and rubber crank baits. All rigged with single hooks.

As I type this now, winds are cranking on the bay and it is choppy. The SSW has kicked up as promised by NOAA. But the morning was flat, near calm, and dreamy. Just the way we like it. A lovely morning on the bay with the A-Team.

Back at it. STAY POSTED:

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

Soli Deo Gloria!

BOOKING 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028 SEASONS ON THE FLY & LIGHT TACKLE. BOOK EARLY, SEASONS ARE TYPICALLY BOOKED SOLID A YEAR OR MORE IN ADVANCE.