Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

On board today, regular angler Dick Bowman ( USMC) for striped bass light tackle & fly. At first light dense fog, dead-low tide, water temps 64, air temps in the 50’s. Winds near calm out of the ENE.

Rigged and ready, we headed out into the fog. We passed by a spot that I remembered fishing last year at this time and tide, with almost identical weather conditions. Wasn’t on my hit list, but I slowed the boat and looked intently for signs of life. Nothing… But we were going past so I set a drift and told Dick where to cast his topwater Coastal Popper. He hit the bullseye and made a couple turns on the reel… WHAM! Keeper on the line! What a pleasant surprise!

As we worked this little area, our tackle got the fish fired up to feed and several bass came up to the surface chasing baits. We were in 3 fow to 9 fow and the chase downs and hits were very exciting! As the tide turned and began to come back in, fishing slowed and then stopped. The fish had moved on.

On to our next spot and it was void of fish! So, we motored to our third spot of the morning and we got one fish to rise up and take our tackle. A few others did the curiosity follow but would not take.

Spot #4: Dead. Spot #5 Dead. Spot #6 – breaking fish on topwater with birds. We zipped over with the hopes of getting into some serious topwater striped bass like earlier in the morning. We landed a couple bass and then we landed mackerel on fly and light tackle! The blitz was actually macks chasing micro bait. There were a couple fish with them (two) and we got them both. Macks are a blast on the fly – IF you have a 5wt with you. It is some of the best “trout” fishing the east coast has to offer.

Well, on to spot #6 and we landed another keeper bass on a topwater lure. We also had a few curiosity follows. Spot #7 had Hickory Shad busting topwater. We did not really try for them but we did pick up another striped bass on the fly.

Happy and content, we called it a great morning with pretty much non-stop action for four hours. Total catch and release was 14 striped bass, all slot and over slot keepers but two. We also landed 3 macks on the fly and LT gear, for a total of 17 fish caught and released. Not a bad morning on the water with one of the Marine Corps finest. 

Back at it. Stay Posted:

Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, baymenlife.com 32 Years Guiding The Bay. Soli Deo Gloria!