Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

On board today, regulars Gary Condon & Greg Powers for LT striped bass. At first light, air temps 41 degrees, water temps 51 degrees. Winds near calm SE. Dropping low end of tide.

Zero fish in the bay at first light. Total ghost town. No topwater, so we started right in on fishing the “micro structure” around the bay. No marks but one hit. That was all. But as the tide bottomed out and turned to come back in, it brought some striped bass with it. We found a school of about 200 fish marked and they were top to bottom for a solid hour. We worked that school and as the tide flooded over the flats, the fish and the bait that was holding them vanished like switch. Amazing…

I had found fish two days ago at the opposite end of the bay, so we made the run to see what was there. BINGO! Another nice school of bass with 200+ fish, again top to bottom. Same school we were on three miles away? We will never know. The winds were calm and it was easy setting drifts with the incoming tide. We made big wide loops around the fish each drift and got way up tide, shut down and drifted through them. This way, you don’t spook the bait or the bass and scatter them. Two other boats with us and everybody was hooking up.

We finally broke for “brunch” and Gary had a coolerful of subs, drinks, chips, and Montilios pastries. We dined like Kings!

Total catch and release today was 37 striped bass, 4 keepers to 32″ inches. All on LT. Fish are VERY selective and hit a variety of tackle with a lot of coaxing and changing up techniques. It took a lot of patience but it paid off. The bait is still the 1″ – 1.5″ inch very slender minnow in olive and white. That’s what you want to tie up if you are heading out with the fly rods.

Back at it. Stay Posted. The season is off to a great start!

Capt. David Bitters, Baymen Guide Service, Inc. 32 Years Guiding The Bay. Soli Deo Gloria!