Striper fishing is getting good

I've been catching keeper size Rockfish on most of my trips, The majority have been small, but the last couple trips I've been finding fairly large schools of Rock that are all legal size. Lately it seems like the trick is to go while the tide is moving, A moving tide is usually the best time to go, but lately it has been even more important. I think it may have something to do with the warm water, the fish may be conserving their energy during slack tide. The White perch fishing is still also really good, I haven't had much trouble catching plenty of them when the tide isn't moving, which is a good way to pass the time while waiting for the Rock to bite. Some of the Perch are still Big to, my last trip out I caught another nice one at 13 1/2". I think it may be my new personal best. I really have a goal of getting one at 14" or over, and Im hoping it happens this year before the Bluefish start to take over in force and the perch bite dies down

P.S. The Catfish bite hasn't been to shabby either

Big White perch

The fishing this summer is turning out to be pretty good, There's been lots of Breaking fish in the area since june, There's an incredible amout of small Rockfish in the upper bay, with an occasional keeper, also some small blues (their numbers increasing every day), catfish and lots of perch, many good sized ones. On one particular day, I jigged up 5 perch over 10", with the largest at 13", I've caught many Perch over 13" before but the biggest this day was probally my personal best because it was very wide bodied, While fighting it to the boat I thought it was a Keeper Rock until I got a look at it. I think someone Breaking the State record White perch is very possible.

Another great spring trophy season in the books

As usual, I couldn't get out as much as I wanted this spring, it almost always seemed to windy for my 17' Boat. And I usually have to travel atleast 20 miles or more to get to where the large migrating Stripers are. But when I was able to make the long boat ride, It didn't take long until I hooked up with big fish, It usually took less then a half hour! The big trick was to get out early, by 9am the bay was usually crowded with fisherman and the fish wouldn't bite as readily with all the commotion.
I usually would mix it up by trolling and casting, the trolling was usually the ticket, but I had some good days on light tackle.
I would normally get a limit by trolling, then spend the rest of the day experimenting with different tactics and locations. eventhough I didn't have a lot of success experimenting, I think I get a lot better feeling of accomplishment then just trolling all day long, plus its less boring.
It would be nice if the big migrating fish stayed in the Chesapeake longer, but I can't wait to start catching the schools of smaller resident fish on light tackle with only a short boat ride.
What a great fishery we have here, I feel so blessed for living so close to the chesapeake.

2008 year in review

I've fished the upper bay my whole life and I can honestly say that the Striped bass fishing is better today then its been in the last 30+ years. Sometimes I don't know if Im just becoming a better fisherman or if the Striper fishing is better, but I think its a combination of both. (I wish I could say the same about some of the other species). I've had over 100 trips this year and over 50 of them I targeted Rockfish, And I've rarely ever had a problem catching lots of them, many trips I've caught fish 30" and over, with a few over 40". I've also had some good trips targeting Large mouth Bass, Pickerel, yellow perch and large White perch.
But overall, my best days of fishing has been targeting Rock. I sometimes miss the fishing years ago when we would bail Large horse Croaker for hours at spots like Belevedere Shoals, Snake reef and Love pt. We even got into them a few times at Pooles Island and Man o war. Back then you never knew what you were going to catch next, almost every trip was a surprise ( Specs in the patapsco, flounder at pooles and love pt, weakfish at Rocky pt. ect..) But I can't complain to much because the Striper fishing has just been off the hook this year from start to finish. Actually one of my worst trips of the year was when I went to the CBBT in mid December, I caught some fish in the mid 20" range, but it was nothing like the great fishing that I experianced in the upper bay during the spring summer and fall, and I didn't have to make the long drive or work near as hard to catch them. Every year just seems to get better and better

Nice beginning for fall

The summer fishing has been really good in the upper bay. I've rarely had a problem finding plenty of fish, but the fall fishing has started out to be even better for me. There has been a fairly large school of Stripers around the 30" range cruising around, and if you are lucky enough to find them, you are in for some fantastic fishing. I've actually been finding schools of Rockfish from the mid 20" to lower 30s all summer long, but they would usually just pop up for a short time and then be gone, they normally would be near the smaller Rockfish, Bluefish and white perch, but they would rarely be mixed in. Throughout the summer I would usually find them by hearing their splashes while they were attacking baitfish. The smaller fishes splashes sound like short snaps, but the larger fishes splashes are (of coarse) larger. It got to the point that I knew I was on the bigger fish as soon as I heard their splashes, There was no mistaking them, And they have been giving themselves away like that all season. All through the summer they were moving around a lot, I was finding them in a different spot almost all summer, But my last three trips they have been at the same spot. I actually found this spot a couple years ago, I past it by and didn't see any fish on the finder, but I thought it could one day be productive so I put it in my GPS, I would occasionally stop by and fish there and sometimes catch a fish or two, but recently it has been loaded with big fish, all of them around 30"!!

When I first found this school I was hooking up with a fish on every cast of my Spoofer spoon, they would hardly even give the spoon a chance to hit bottom and I could feel big fish nailing it.


The next time I went to the spot It didn't look to pomising, there were fish on the finder but it looked like Bluefish, I jigged for a while with no luck, But then I would sometimes notice Big swirls on the top of the water from the corner of my eye, (It actually wasn't as much swirls as it was just slightly disturbed water, where the fish would come near the surface to chase a baitfish that was on the surface). I grabbed my other rod that was already rigged with a surface popper and started popping it across the top of the water, and the fish were slamming it on almost every cast.

The next time out they were there again, once again I noticed the big swirls and started catching them with poppers again. Stealth was the most important ingredient in finding these fish, If I didn't approach the area quietly, I would had never even known the fish were there, they would had almost certainly shutdown or even left the area. I've caught lots of Stripers on poppers in the past, but I usually only topwater fished in the evening, the fish were usually smaller and I rarely ever caught more then a few in an hour or so, But this was no doubt the best topwater fishing I have ever experienced. If the rest of the fall is even half as good I will be happy

Catfish hitting lures

Its been a strange summer for fishing in the bay for me. I've been catching plenty of Rockfish, Big perch, blues and spot under breakers in the Bay, but I've also been catching lots of catfish in the same schools of breaking fish. I've caught them while jigging spoons, casting swimming shads, I even caught one with a spinner bait, I casted to a fallen tree where I often catch Large mouth bass and the catfish hit the lure on top just like a bass would. I've caught a few catfish with lures over the years, but nothing like this year, In 6 of my last 9 trips I've hooked up with them, A few of the days I,ve caught 2 and 3 catfish per trip on lures. There's been a lot of peanut bunker in the bay, and the catfish are taking advantage of it along with all the other fish. I guess that old belief that catfish have poor vision was just a myth. They are just opportunistic feeders. During the Rockfish moritorium I loved fishing for Catfish with bait, I was basically a Catfish addict, they are great fighters, plentiful and they taste pretty good to. I think its great to be catching so many now because I've often thought about targeting them once again, and getting them on lures is that much more exciting. I actually think catching a Catfish on a lure is much more rewarding then catching a rockfish on a lure, because its so much more unusual.

Trophy Striped bass season

I haven't been able to fish as much this spring as I want. but The few times I've been able to get out in the Upper bay it has been good for Upper bay standards. I'd much rather fish the mid or lower bay during trophy season. the fish seem to want to stop and hang out down that way for a spell during their migration, but its so much more easier to not have to travel far (especially when fishing solo). I've been mostly trolling and getting a couple fairly nice fish regulary in the 40" range. Some people don't like trolling but I think it can be very relaxing, kind of like sailing or bank fishing, just kick back and enjoy the Bays natural beauty until you hear a fish pulling drag.
One of my best trips so far was on may 1, 2008
I got through the cut at around sunset and tried jigging at a few spots without any luck, then I headed a few miles farther south to try some trolling. I put out my spread and literally seconds after putting my fifth and last rod in the rodholder, it doubled over and I reeled in a 40" fish


Right after taking a pic of it, another rod doubled over, This fish looked to be about an inch or two shorter but it fought a lot harder, right after boating that fish two rods went down at once, I released that fish quikely and I grabbed the rod that looked like it had the biggest fish and brought that fish in, meanwhile the fish on the other rod got off. by then my arms were tired. I started trolling in the direction of my homeport and put two of my deeper lines back in, about 15 minutes later I caught another mid 30s fish. It started to get a little to rough for my 17' boat, plus my arms were tired so I decided to call it a day. I looked at my watch and it was still only 8am, a lot of fishing in a short amount of time!! The way I like it..