Fishing Reports

Today we did not catch limit, did not put one keeper in the boat. I am going to stay short of calling it a skunk because we caught 25 unders. Some of those were so close that if we had any guts (which I don’t) we could have argued with the game commission they were legal. Do you ever win that argument? Not enough times to risk the fine for me and we are not out meat hunting anyway. There is no fish more expensive than the one you catch as the saying goes so if you don’t go for fun and sportsmanship you are far better off not going.

Started the day off at about 7:30 on my dock and had the greatest of aspirations on filling the boat with 28s and above. Dreams diminished pretty quickly as there was just not a life on our sounder. We tried at our traditional spots and got a call that down at the disposal grounds there was a lot of activity. Well we did catch 25 and that is 25 more than most any boat in the parking lot so we have that. We had 4 friends out fishing in their boat and neither caught any. We do have our Purple Passion bait that catches 90% of our fish so if they didn’t have that and they didn’t have any fish just that simple. I don’t always know why some colors just turn them on some years but we have that one that I should just call reliable. 

We had about 10 captains boats around us all day and I am sure they either did not catch limit or they were way later than normal. I saw a few of them heading back at 3:00 which for them is just unheard of so I am not so underwhelmed with our performance. 

Finally, I know it was a late bite, our friend Shoddy did not catch hardly anything until about 4:00 and he said the whole bay came alive at one time and he ended up with 4 nice keepers. 

Well a combination that few find on a boat but for our Motley group it’s just another beautiful day on the water. We have now decided that combination dramatically improves our chances of fishing success. Such a great day yesterday I am writing this at 5:30 Monday morning because I stayed on the dock with Mitch and Basil talking about how this has been such a good season for us. Well there is really no doubt this has been a memorable season for at least our creek. 

Started the day off at church, I teach Sunday School with Luke the subject this month. Yes I know a long way from where I started my life but I really enjoy the class. I stay up front, in my mask so the closest person to me besides Chuck is about 20 feet away and those are distanced and masked. 

Went in Mitch’s boat to the Asphalt Pile which has been a traditional yearly favorite of ours but for whatever reason has just not been there this year. Got a call from Scott that he was doing better further north. He was with Dave and Kirk, that group caught a limit in maybe an hour or so. They were leaving as we got there but we could tell where they were so the hunt was on. We caught one about 21 but we knew there were some much bigger ones in the water so we had him go back and grow for next year. Got a 24 then a 25 and then a 26. I love the look of a rod when you just know it is going to be a nice size fish. 

No boating story is complete without a Basil treat and this log will not be the exception. Mitch has a very nice deck chair on board and with Basil being the Chairman of the Board he gets that chair. With the bigger fish I move the chair out of the way to give us a bit more room, is it absolutely needed no, but I don’t want that to be the reason we lose a fish. I do this every time and I also tell him every time, “Basil I am moving the chair out of your way so you can fight the fish better”. This has been going on for weeks but today Basil forgot and tried to sit where the chair “was”. My gosh he was up so fast his pants didn’t even get wet. If I thought he was that agile I would have been sitting in the chair, someone would have to have helped me up. Of course we laughed once we realized he was not hurt and he teased me that I pulled the chair from under him. That’s just one of the million reasons you take every opportunity to fish if Basil is on board. It will be memorable if you catch a fish or not.

The weather was about as good as a Dec day could be:

• Air Temp 56
• Water Temp 48
• Waves 0.5
• Water Very Clear

So it happens this way sometimes, everyone can go out at the same time and we have enough boats to make it happen. Today we had Mitch on his boat with Basil and Scott, Scott on his boat with Bubba, Kirk, Andrew and Vince on his boat with me as the mate. Today was cooler than first thought it may be mostly because the sun rarely poked through. Wave action was about 1.5 ft really all day. No birds were working or maybe just a few. Tides4fishing had it as a two fish day but the current and tide was working against us. The water had really cooled off to 47 deg. So we may not be at Charter level yet but we are really making good on a season of stripers. Everyone caught limit.

Fishing was not blistering but all 3 boats got their limit so could hardly be a better day for the Whay’s creek gang. I finally caught a keeper this year on a stretch 25, I have been fishing one for the last few times becuase its just out of the way and why not.

After a pretty long stretch (too long) we got Basil back in the boat for a day of fishing. We left the dock around 11:15 to head out to 59A. That is called “Leroy” for some reason which I don’t know but we all know where it is located. We almost stopped at the Asphalt pile because it had a lot of birds working but Mitch and I decided to stick to the plan. Good plan and we started working the rods at about 12:30. It was a little rough going out in 1.5 feet of swell directly into us but really no problem for his boat. A little slow for the first 30 min but we hung a nice 23 incher. We kept picking up a few 18” every so often and you could tell it was steadily picking up. More birds hitting the water the whole thing just started coming alive. Got our limit and came back to dock. 

Glad to have Basil back on board. Next week’s lesson kids will be how to net a fish. Basil has a swat the fly on a counter kind of action approach where he beats down on the fish, gets everything tangled and lifts it all in the boat. Well Basil it worked and “never lost a fish” Basil said we will fillet that one tonight. Luv ya buddy.

Today the water was 49.9 or below 50 for the first time. I feel really good about the rest of the season. Clear sky and the air temp was about 50.

Well at least it is new for me. Scott, Mitch, and I went out this morning to the asphalt pile caught a few unders nothing much to report there but in the mouth of the first fish we caught had this in his mouth. Water is now in the low 50s so I can’t explain why shrimp are here. This may not look like in the pic but it would at least be considered a large.

Number 21 – Weather, Temperature and change, I’m talking water temperature. I am not sure I would have stated this before this year but I think the best water temperature in fall at least is somewhere between upper 50s and upper 40s. Good news for us on the bay is that the water temps rarely drop below 50 until Jan. As for air temp I would say it changes the water temp and is a portion of the weather factor but otherwise not important.

Number 22 – Weather,  Barometric Pressure and change, the actual pressure is not as critical as the direction and I think even more critical is the speed of the change. Best conditions I believe is a sudden change from high pressure to low. Now all things considered this does not last as long as you may think and I don’t know enough to tell you how long that is so get it done early.

During this time the fish know they are going into a lull so they try to eat as much as possible. Worst is when there is a sudden increase in pressure. This is because stripers have a swim bladder for buoyancy that gives them an uncomfortable feeling during this change. A good bite can easily be had as well on maybe the second day of relatively unchanged pressure. So if the pressure is just meandering for a few days in a row go any day except the day that it reaches that point. There are certainly as many opinions as there are fishermen and scientists will tell you that the pressure can’t change quickly enough for it to matter. I agree it is just one of the 50 things but my log book declares it does matter. 

Number 23 – Weather storms, I’m not a fan of thinking that rough water slows them down much. A windy day would not be a problem for the fish, the fisherman yes it can be zero fun to be out on a windy day. 

Number 24 – Fishing Poles, well let’s get started but I will likely break this one down into the various kinds of fishing you can do for stripers as opposed to hard line stance on a particular brand, style, etc. I will tell you after I have been fishing for a whole bunch of years is to buy something better than you would think you need. Yes, pretty much any kind of equipment can work in the best of days and with small to medium size fish but to land the trophy a ton of things must go right and your equipment will be tested. Are you ready to pass that test?

Number 25 – Fishing Poles – Boat Rods, yep designed to be connected to the boat, like during trolling. I like these aspects of the rod, your mileage will vary but give this some thoughts. I like a medium action rod any more and it’s a telephone pole and you may need that for tuna but if you are in the Chesapeake Bay medium is completely fine. You feel the fish more, better for a novice and you just have more fun. Length, I prefer 6 or 6.5 feet certainly no more and if you have less by a little that is ok but I am not a big fan of the much shorter cousins.

Number 26 – Fishing Poles – Jigging Rods, for me the lighter the better. It gets heavy quick if you are jigging a medium action rod with a big jig in deeper water. But, for me if I am jigging it is probably early in the season and we are catching a lot of undersized fish. Now there is nothing much more fun especially if you have a kid on board than to jig in a big school of small stripers. We tend to catch one every time you put the jig down so it is the best way ever to get our youth interested in fishing. Be sure to remove the treble hook completely and add back a single hook. It is far easier to keep fishing and it is far less likely to hurt a fish you will put back. 

Number 27 – Fishing Poles – Casting, Well I use either a light action or again smaller in size. A bait caster works better for most but don’t give it to your friends, give them a spinning reel. When I go we work the flats and banks of the river and creeks. Again for me this is in the early season of fall or summer time fishing for fun.

Number 28 – Bait – Trolling probably best to see my entry on setups. I’ll make another entry in for “stretches”.

Number 29 – Bait Live -Well lets put at least two on the menu. Eels and spot, I’m sure there are many others but those tend to be the majority share. Striper love them both, I tend to float those and the boat along with the current.

Number 30 – Bait Jigs – Jigging especially in the early season can be fun. If you find them you can catch hundreds even one every cast if you are lucky. No question if you compare trip for trip jigging produces more fish. However, they tend to all be throwbacks. But…if you have a child with you there may never be a better way to fish. For baits I find better success with the rainbow and tiger colors. For weight size that depends on depth and current but somewhere between one and five ounces. For the hook if you do nothing else cut at least one or two of the barbs off, you will have plenty of throwbacks and we certainly don’t want to harm the fish in any way.

Length refers to “total length,” measured from the most forward projection of the snout, with the mouth closed, to the tip of the longer lobe of the tail (caudal) fin, measured with the tail compressed along the midline, using a straight-line measure, not measured over the curve of the body”

This is from https://www.mrc.virginia.gov/Forms/2020/2020_Recreational_Reporting_Form.pdf

Does not seem to be correct to “squeeze the tail” but it makes more sense when you think it through. The fish to be measured multiple times by various people would need the same method of measurement and the fish will never be longer than with the tail compressed to it’s longest point.

Number 11 – Sonar, getting to know your particular sonar is just as important as going out and buying the latest or greatest new gadget. Choose the correct frequency for your purpose. For Striper I like to use the lower freq because as you are moving more slowly it actually improves detail as opposed to say Spanish where I bump it up to my highest setting because of how fast you are trolling. How fast your screen moves dictates how far behind the boat you are seeing the history of the water column. Learn this important feature as soon as you can because you can then understand when the fish is likely to strike and when to change speed etc of the boat. If yours has the option of combining both high and low freq it is kinda as close to perfect as you can get. Gain, run it as high as you can so long as you are not getting feedback. Sometimes putting the system in manual mode is far better but you need to be comfortable with the system before you get too advanced. Color, if you don’t love the color red you will likely not be happy but the more red the mark the more solid the fish and likely bigger as well. 

Number 12 – Weights Size. How much is the correct amount. Well before we get there you need to understand how the entire rig changes the dynamics of how deep it will go as opposed to only weight. Just as a for instance planners don’t weigh much but the shape they are drive them down pretty deep pretty quickly. So if you have something streamlined it may not take as much weight to get it where you want it as opposed to say an umbrella rig that tends to fly in the water. Also, for things like umbrellas the umbrella itself has a weight as does the lure you tie in so all of those add to the account. How far back you run and at what speed also changes the mix. At some point you just have to hit bottom enough while knowing how deep that bottom is to know how deep you are actually running. Logging that combination you will start to see a trend.

Number 13 – Weights Location. Of course this also depends on what kind of rig you are running but here is my general rules of thumb. For umbrellas I usually hook the weight directly to the umbrella with no leader. For Tandems I have a heavier of the two on a six foot leader and the lighter of the two on a separate leader back at least four more feet. For singles I will often put them in a three way heavy teardrop say 32 – 48 ounce where the weight will bounce on the bottom with a 3 foot leader to the weight and then a 6 foot leader back to whatever I am fishing. 

Number 14 – Weights shape. For trolling I like the cigar shaped weights but will settle for the standard inline weights. I wouldn’t go out to buy more just because they are not a specific shape but if you are trying to get your overall score up the cigar shape makes less interference and are likely more invisible to the fish. I just talked about the teardrop type for bouncing and for tandems I like the ones that already have the 3 way swivel connected.

Number 15 – Knots, well here we go again with completely my opinion but I like the Uni-Knot most for all uses. I lost a ton of gear over the years tying the various other knots. I went to Green Top to even change my line because I thought it was breaking. The person behind the counter convinced me it was my knot tying skills. Now without question the line I was using which was braid is certainly more finicky than other types but the uni knot on every instance has never failed. I go to this site for all my knot tying information. 

Number 16 – Line types, I use braided, fluorocarbon, and mono, they all have their uses and they are all usable in the correct place. Braid is strong but rigid, takes up very little space on the reel so you can spool a lot of yards on a small reel. Mono has been around a ton of years and is very dependable in most applications. Mono has a bit of give not like a leader but enough not break at an instant pull. Fluro is similar to mono looks but is great because it is virtually invisible to the fish so in high light days you are more likely to catch fish than with mono. Fluro certainly costs more so I tend to buy it as leader rather than spool up a reel. 

Number 17 – Leader types, mono, fluorocarbon, and wire are the main ones to discuss. Now I am talking about dedicated purchased leader and not just reeling off some spool you have in the box. Dedicated leader is purpose built to stretch with just a few feet which is great when you have a 20# leader and 50# main line. That stretch in the leader will land you more fish than just adding a 20# mono line that is designed to stretch at great lengths but not short lengths like you would be adding to a main line.

Number 18 – Bait Size, another controversial subject that I fall into the camp of the smaller of the two sizes you are thinking of is likely the best. “Match the hatch” is a well known phrase that all good fishermen live by which means what size is the bait the stipers eating should be an indication of what size bait they are looking for. So if you catch one, open him up and look at what is in his stomach. If it is a 5 inch bunker then put on 5 inch swim baits. I also like the saying that “Elephants eat peanuts” meaning fish will eat something smaller than they are searching for more often than something bigger. I have everything from 12 inch swim to 3 inch. Anymore I usually am at 5 leaning towards the 3 inch version. 

Number 19 – Crippled Alewive vs. Rapala, Well I like them both when fishing is slow while trolling. You can add either one way back behind your other rigs and let it just be there. I have definitely caught some of the biggest fish I have landed using both of this lures. Many people don’t like them and most try to use more than one at a time. Having two is like having wives, one is great, two is completely destined for failure. 

Number 20 – The deadman of we affectionately call it the Joe line. Wow what a system. I am adding a pic because most of you will just lose your mind. But, my buddy Virgil confessed after one day of fishing that when he got home he was going to throw away all of his rod-n-reels. That is just how good this system works.

The deadman is a series of weights you just tie one end to the lure (usually an umbrella rig) and the other to the boat. So you have 25 feet of rope to a 1 or 2 pound inline weight to 25 feet of 100# mono to a 32 oz inline weight to 25 feet of 100# mono to a swivel hook. I

I think this thing works so well because it is deep under the boat directly under the prop wash. It is a tremendous weapon in the tool chest.

I am starting a new series on the various factors that go into catching stripers. I came up with 50 as an arbitrary number that is no more factual than any of my opinions on fishing so use at your own risk. I think catching fish in general and striper specifically resolves down to a math formula. How many of these 50 factors can you get right determines how successful you will be with the catch. I think this is why professional charter captains always do much better than their amatuer counterparts. They simply get more of the factors correct than we do.

Captains do have a better network than we do and their network catches more fish so they have a big advantage on us but it still comes down to the factors. It is the same reason you catch more or less than your friend that is in the boat basically beside you all day trolling.

My guess is that I will be editing these pages more often than not as we continue to get better with fishing so if you are reading this by chance come back often.

Number 1 – Stripers tend to eat most often at sunrise and sunset. I think this is true, the question for me is can we get out or back safely.

Number 2 – Color of your lures matter big time. There is nothing that has more decision weighting than the color of the lures and the various combinations that you put in the water. Now all of this is in combination with water clarity, depth you need to fish, and especially the amount of sunlight. Stripers have a destinctive color range and guess what yellow and chartreuse are the center mass of that spectrum. For me the best antidote is to be ready with more combinations than you think you need. Fish need to see the bait stand out in the water so even when they are not completely ready to eat they will be opportunistic feeders so having something they can’t resist is key.

Number 3 – Full Moon, maybe no bigger controversy between fishermen than the effects of full moons on fishing. I have caught limit during full moons as well as being skunked so this effect alone does not have full bearing on if you catch or not. I do think it is true that fish can feed more at night during full moons but they also eat more because of higher tides and greater tidal flows. Add that to the mix of your formula but don’t count on it or not for success.

Number 4 – Sunlight by percentage, today’s weather apps can give you the percentage of sunlight. Add that to the angle of the sun’s rays by time of day and time of year you will have a better chance of finding them. For example, stripers do not have eyelids so as the water becomes flooded with light they tend to go deeper to get out of that sunlight and conversely when it is cloudier they can be found shallower. This is also a factor in picking bait colors. Fish need to see the bait stand out in the water so even when they are not completely ready to eat they will be opportunistic feeders so having something they can’t resist is key.

Number 5 – Tide, high vs low, incoming vs. outgoing, slack. Yep all of this matters for how much you will catch. I know a million people will disagree with me but I like the tide from one hour before transition all the way to one hour after. Most people hate the slack tide (cresting and not fast moving) but I find that is just not the case. Could be one of the other 49 factors playing out here but it does not bother me to be fishing in a slack tide. I have filled the boat up during slack tide. See this post all of this was done in a slack tide hour. I actually don’t think when the tide is ripping you get as many bites. We can fight about this when you get here.

Number 6 – Trolling speed. I tend to go the avg 3 kts for trolling but there are factors that come into play you need to be aware of as well. Speed over ground (SOG) is different from speed of the water (SOW) going under your boat. For instance if you are completely against the tidal flow of water the speed of water under your boat at 3kts SOG may be 6 kts SOW. and conversely if you are completely with the flow 3kts could effectively be 0kts SOW. Of course any angle other than 0 and 180 you will have to factor that in as well. If you are one of the people that must go 3kts you recognize this because depending on which direction you are going you either need to give it more gas or kick it in neutral ever so often. In reality, you need to take in the flow of water as well.

Number 7 – Add a Crazy Ivan (from Tom Clancy’s Hunt for Red October) over fish. When I see a big bunch of fish on the bottom they may not be ready to actively feed. I try to drop the bait right on their head then pick it up quickly. The way I do that is by turning the boat 90 deg from course which effectively slows down the bait and they drop. In just a few seconds I turn back to the original course and it lifts the bait off the bottom. There is little that creates a bite better than a piece of food getting away for a fish. You can also do this by kicking the motor in neutral for a few seconds. Either is fine and I choose mostly by what direction I would rather be going anyway.

Number 8 – Structure, Stipers will be in both but for various reasons. They tend to be structure oriented creatures and a very good place to look for them is on natural and man-made reefs. For us that includes the NNK reef, the Asphalt Pile, some of the wrecks around, Davidson wreck is a good one but please let someone that knows the area take you otherwise just stay away. But, like all good rules there are exceptions and you will catch likely bigger fish outside of structure you just need to find a big ball of bait fish. Sometimes the deeper the better, some of the very biggest fish we have ever caught is in the shipping channel under bait. I rarely fish directly over the reef as you get a bunch of schoolies and not the ones you are looking for (the honkers).  

Number 9 – Trolling. Overall, trolling yields the best fish for the least amount of time fishing. It is easy to control many factors that add to your formula. Speed, depth, can troll multiple rigs at one time (I have had as many as 12). With that you can add a mix of colors, styles, depths, etc. and cover more ground than any other method. I know some find it boring but it gives me time to think and put in alternate strategies. I am not just grabbing the elephant tale in front of me and walking like so many do when they are with the fleet. If you find it boring it’s likely because you are not catching fish and just out for a boat ride. 

Number 10 – Auxiliary gear, I’m talking about all of the things that make you lose fish that you would otherwise catch because you didn’t plan well. Line, leaders, swivels, snap hooks, etc. All of these should be in good working condition and be rated for the job. The big one does get away because we didn’t have the right equipment on at the time it called for it. I’ve had underrated line break, knots come undone, pretty much everything you can have happen it has happened to me. With that the saying goes and I believe it wholeheartedly that you catch all the fish at the dock. In other words, have your gear in top notch condition before you leave the dock. Have an extra rod or two so if something gets fouled you can quickly replace and straighten out any issues after you are fishing full strength again.

The boring part of the story. Well today we had our buddy Scott from Tappahanock come up for the day. Scott, Scott, Mitch, and I left dock around 11 am. They waited for me to get back from church. We couldn’t get to our reliable spot because someone had put a tremendous fish net out. It seemed to go to the Md. waters but at least we knew we couldn’t fish our hot spot. The fleet was over the NNK reef and south just past R 62. We fished the northern edge of the reef and picked up a few nice ones but decided to head closer to 62. Caught a nice 23″ just on the ledge and slightly north of the 62 buoy. Kept hitting dinks so we moved to the Asphalt Pile, wow a bunch of fish but mostly smaller in size. Finally, we got a 20″ fish and I mean 20.0085 but a legal fish. Moved back to 62 and added two more 23″ers, they came at the same time. We did have another good one that got off right at the boat that was definitely a keeper.

Ok, now for the real story, I saw three things I thought I would never see today. First, Scott told me to throw back the 20″er that was in the boat. I could not believe my ears so I asked again and again to confirm. Second, he had his hands on the weight of the last keeper only to lose it at the boat. This was the most surprised I have been and if I could describe his face when he told us if got off I would win a Pulitzer for sure. If you know Scott you know the face. And finally, as we were coming back in we saw 250ish birds just tearing up the water and he did not stop. I mean we only needed one fish. I thought he had had a stroke so I got up to take a look at him. He was dedicated to getting home before dark but this is the same guy that got me to stop for birds when we were in 5 foot seas and thought we were not going to make it back home. Birds are working…we are fishing just that simple.

Could have limit but read the second paragraph. Two 23″ and one 24″. But, as normal we had another great day on the water, caught fish, had a bunch of laughs and came home with a good haul. Scott is taking them home to share with his bride and we will see him again at fish camp after Christmas.