Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!

On board today, local fly rodder, Ben Piggott, for some pre-season RECON. At first light, seas were calm, water temps were 52 degrees (!) and tide was high and ebb. 

As you know, pre-season is always a gamble and educated guess on where the striped bass are or are not. I had my “Hit List” and we target a half-dozen spots out of more than fifty that I fish in the bay. A week ago this past Friday, Jim Barr and I marked some huge schools of striped bass moving north with a stopover in our bay. Today, I checked those spots again and they were void of fish. So, we started hitting the little rips that set up on the dropping, and also worked several beautiful pieces of “micro structure” around one part of the bay. Gorgeous water.

At one point, we saw a cloud of birds working in the distance, up on a shallow flat, in 2 fow. We got on them, but no bass were with them. All signs pointed to a Sand Eel hatch, but we could not see them. So, not sure 100% of what bait it was, but I am sticking with sand eels in the sand on the flat. The gulls were going wild!

At another spot we worked some structure and Ben had a solid hit and spit, but no hook-up. We worked the area with more several drifts without another bump.

All in all, a gorgeous pre-season RECON on the bay in search of the early fish. When I got home, I had e-mails from several anglers who were also out on the South Shore this morning and none of them got a fish – yet…

Back at it. Stay Posted:

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