Finicky Fish: 50+ hits, 6 landed
Greetings from Capt. Dave & BAYMEN!
On board today, One of my regulars, Baymen Dick Bowman, USMC, for light tackle striped bass. Dick has been fishing with me for something like twenty years now.
Yesterday’s pogy and striper blitz was long gone by this morning… Jaw drop, as I drove to the area again this morning and not a fish, bait, or bird to be found on the dropping tide. Yesterday – lights out. Today, ghost town… Onward and upward to new waters.
We were about to experience a lot of fish in singles, pairs and small schools around the bay. And we were about to discover that for some unexplainable reason, they were going to chase down, tail slap, and knock our tackle into the air and play with it all morning long! It was actually pretty amazing to experience. We threw a large variety of poppers and swimmers at them and even a fly. Tail slap, snout hit, grab and spit. Repeat. That was the situation for light tackle and fly this morning in my spots on the bay.
We did however, manage to hook into a half-dozen fish, including a 30″ keeper that was released with the others all in great shape. Another thing I was amazed at this morning was the fish that were in the bay were all on structure and acting like “summer pattern” fish and not migrating Spring Blitz stripers. There are fish all the way up into Canada now, so maybe the Spring Blitz on our bay is winding down. Or maybe there are a ton of fish south of us still on their way north. Time will tell if they keep moving…
So, it was a lovely morning on the bay with dead calm seas. The bay was almost like glass. No, bait, no birds, no fish to speak of. But it still felt like we were in a fairy tale on one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Every day is different, and no two tides are the same…
Capt. David Bitters, BAYMEN, baymenlife.com 31 Years Guiding The Bay. Still In Love.