Author: Riley

Scott and I went out at about noon. Stopped just outside of 1GW and just south. Saw a bunch of birds working but not a birdnado. Putting out the first set we caught one before the 3rd rod was out. Had a very consistent catch of 18-19 in. After about 20 min we caught a 22 in on “money” or white bucktail tandem. Maybe an hour we caught a 32 on the gold stretch.

Weather

• Air Temp 40 – 45
• Wind 5  – 10 from the Northwest
• Sky Clear 95%
• Pressure 30.20 steady
• Moon Phase 75%

Water

• Waves  .5+  to flat later in the afternoon from the north
• Tide LT  HT 2:40
• Temp 52.5
• Clear

Bait

Best was small 1/2 oz white red stripe bucktails

Various color combos and sizes

We ran tandems on the backs of 8,12,16,20 oz inlines

2.5 oz yellow, 2 oz white/green, 2 oz gold fleck, etc. and gold and black stretch 30

Started out so rough we had to turn back to port. It was orignally going to lay down early but in reality it didn’t until about 1:00 with the tide change. We didn’t catch anything until after 1:00 then the birds started working above NN Reef. The bite just went wild, from about a mile above the reef to about a mile south of 62. Birds were going crazy and the fish were going more so. Most were about 18″ but we were catching them in doubles a ton of the time and it was beyond crazy. So much so Scott trying to get the strecth out hit the rod holder and lost one of my rods.

At the end we ended up with two keepers, 26″ on the white bucktail and 24″ on a yellow head and gold sassy shad.

Weather

• Air Temp 40 – 45
• Wind 15  – 20 from the Northwest
• Sky Clear 95%
• Pressure 30.20 steady
• Moon Phase 50%

Water

• Waves  3+  to flat later in the afternoon from the north
• Tide LT  HT 1:40
• Temp 52.5
• Clear

Bait

Best was small 1/2 oz white red stripe bucktails

Various color combos and sizes

We ran tandems on the backs of 8,12,16,20 oz inlines

2.5 oz yellow, 2 oz white/green, 2 oz gold fleck, etc. and blue and black stretch 30

Went out with Scott and Alyssa at about 11:30, finished teaching Sunday School and met them on the my boat. Set out for the Potomac because we had been talking with Shoddy Dog. He caught limit and one of them was 32″. I’m pretty sure he caught all of them on a black and gold stretch. We caught a bunch but they were all under limit size. I guess it was an early morning bite. On the way back we hit a “birdando” at about Green 63. Couldn’t stay long but had a great time.

Weather

• Air Temp 40 – 45
• Wind 5  – 10 from the Northwest
• Sky Clear 95%
• Pressure 30.20 steady
• Moon Phase 95% waxing

Water

• Waves  1+  from the north
• Tide LT  HT
• Temp 55.5
• Clear

Bait

Various color combos and sizes

We ran tandems on the backs of 8,12,16,20 oz inlines

2.5 oz yellow, 2 oz white/green, 2 oz gold fleck, etc. and blue and black stretch 30

Friday Aug. 24th

Left my dock with Eddie and Scott on Fri 24th at about 7:30. Went directly to 62 and started with 3 num ones and 1 num two planer with a variety of colored spoons. Turned out green and gold number 0 worked the best. This was Eddies first Spanish and that is him in the pic. We ended up catching 14 most were about 20 inches had 2 throw backs and a couple of blues.

Weather

• Air Temp 73 – 80
• Wind 5  – 10 from the North
• Sky Clear 95%
• Pressure 30.20 steady
• Moon Phase 95% waxing

Water

• Waves  1+  from the north
• Tide LT 7:09 HT 12:59
• Temp 77.5
• Clear

Bait

zero Clark spoons

Red, Bubble gum, Gold, Lime Green

Went out with Alyssa, got more skates than was necessary. Tried to get a little shallower to get away from the skates but none the less got covered up with them yet again. I think if you get a bunch of skates you wont the get any cobia.

Weather

• Air Temp 78 – 82
• Wind 5  – 10 from the North
• Sky Clear 65%
• Pressure 30.20 steady
• Moon Phase 95% waxing
• 

Water

• Waves  1+  from the north
• Tide LT 7:09 HT 12:59
• Temp 80
• Clear

Bait

• Chum bag at the bottom
• Frozen bunker

Finally got a keeper. 41″ and overall nice to see him on the deck. I felt terrible all day long. Scott did most of the fishing and most of everything fishing related. Caught a couple of skates but not too many. Crabs didn’t bother the bait. The waves were pretty annoying and we were rocked all day long. Not so much you wanted to quit but close.

It is cool how you can tell the bite of a cobia vs. a skate immediately. This particular cobia did not really fight. They are long believed to best fights in the bay but this guy didn’t get the demo.

I recorded the catch on the VRMC page.

Weather

• Air Temp 78 – 82
• Wind 13  – 15 from the east
• Sky Clear 95%
• Pressure 30.20 steady
• Moon Phase 1% waxing

Water

• Waves  2+  from the northeast
• Tide LT 7:09 HT 12:59
• Temp 80
• Clear

Bait

• Chum bag at the bottom
• Frozen bunker
• cut bunker free ranging on the top
• Had bucktails and spoons for casting but didn’t see any

Got all of the materials ordered. Here is the new anchor, the line, chain, and swivel are being delivered from West Marine.

In some ways I just can’t believe we have this kind of luck. Set out at 5:00 with Scott, Bubba, and Tim. Everything looked great, good fishing. One maybe bite but didn’t take the hook enough to set. Then out of the blue the anchor rope broke. Needless to say that ended our fishing very early.

Weather

• Air Temp 80 – 55
• Wind 8  – 10 from the east
• Sky Clear 95%
• Pressure 30.26 steady
• Moon Phase 60% waning

Water

• Waves 1 -2  from the east
• Tide Ebb with slack for last two hours
• Temp 80
• Clear

Bait

• Chum bag at the bottom
• Frozen bunker and eels on the bottom
• Eel free ranging on the top
• Had bucktails and spoons for casting but didn’t see any

Skate Town USA! Wow we were completely inundated with skates. Great weather, 92 Deg light winds from the north. Left out with Ron on my boat around 7:15, went to the same place (won’t be back). Clear air and water, about one foot seas but overall very good day.

Not sure if we had any cobia in the area but they could have never gotten to the bait. Overall we had a very good day.

Weather

• Air Temp 80 – 95
• Wind 8  – 10 from the northeast
• Sky Clear 95%
• Pressure
• Moon Phase 90% waning

Water

• Waves 1 from the north
• Tide Ebb with slack for last two hours
• Temp 80
• Clear

Bait

• Chum bag at the bottom
• Frozen bunker
• Had bucktails and spoons for casting but didn’t see any

One cobia 38 inch (throwback).

Went out with Scott at about 8 am. Clearer and less wind than expected. The seas were mostly flat with some slow rollers on the way out. Went to our new honey hole 197, got setup and went through our ritual of a “first beer set” meaning as soon as we sit back after getting the gear in we drink one beer regardless of hour.

The gear and bait we were running. We had four boat rods out with 6 oz bullet weights with about 6 ft of 60# test leader on 7/0 circle hooks. Had a frozen chum block 1 gallon from Butlers, some fresh cum from the dock and about 15 bunker. We usually cut the head and tail off sending the rest of it down to bottom. Had an IV drip of menhaden oil off the middle of the boat. On one of the rods we had a small crab and one other with a live eel. I usually hook through the last 3 inches of the tail so they live longer.

Had not been there more than 20 min and saw lots of pairs of cobia just swimming on top. Of course, even after telling myself I would bring some casting equipment I did not. I did have one long line live eel swimming. They coasted by  the live eel so they were not extremely hungry. Finally just before slack tide we caught a 38 inch but again had to throw it back.

We left early around noon because we had Stella’s pool party to attend.

Conditions: about 80 deg, winds from the south at about 5mph, incoming tide to slack, water was clear, skys 85% clear.