Fishing Blog
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 I hope this is not the start of something bad. A lot of us have been saying that the striped bass population was not as healthy as some has said. All it takes is a poor young of the year like this and things start to go downhill fast.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Service recently finalized the 2008 striped bass (rockfish) juvenile index, a measure of striped bass spawning success in Chesapeake Bay. The 2008 index is 3.2, below the long-term average of...
Fishing Reports
 Labor Day comes each year with mixed emotions. It marks the end of summer, summer vacations are over, summer hours at the office are over, the kids go back to school, work seems to get more serious, the traffic on rt50 through Easton lightens which I greatly welcome, the Canada geese start to tickle in their annual winter migration and as importantly it marks some cooling weather and schooling, breaking fish throughout the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. And in the fishing reports this week we see just that, breaking keeper stripers, nice sized bluefish and nice catches of Spanish mackerel from the upper reaches of the Chesapeake in and around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge all the way down to Point No Point. The inshore water temperatures are still cooling, encouraging a larger class of stripers to move into lower Bay waters. And although the hogs are still yet to arrive, fish to around 45-inches are keeping anglers content in the meantime. These larger fish are not biting in a frenzy, but the outgoing tide is providing the best luck with rockfish of all sizes. School-sized fish are available to casters working the pilings of the lower Bay structures, while boats using live bait and wire-lining over the tubes and near the 4th island of the CBBT are finding bigger fish. The folks at Ocean’s East 2 report that the HRBT is holding plenty of school-sized fish, while the JRB and the M&M are giving up fish averaging up to around 32-inches. For those using eels at the high rise, the best bite is usually at night. Ben Sheppard and Rudy Levasseur of Chesapeake put their crew on several nice fish toWRAPPING IT ALL UP
 I never really understood the majority of anglers’ behavior this time of the year. While the fishing gets better, folks begin to drop out. Boats are being shrink-wrapped, and gear is being stowed while the peanut-bunker amass and the feeding activity increases. I suppose there is the “freezing-your-arse-off” factor, which indeed can make things less fun, particularly when it’s windy. But there are still those gem days where the wind sits down, the water is glass and the air temp stays in the high 50’s. And those are the primo striped bass days. The ones where you can watch fish chasing down menhaden on the surface and where one can stick 20-plus pound bass with some frequency on topwaters… Yeah man, I live for those days.
Of course, as an angler, it’s always a good thing to have less folks on the water. Despite increasing fuel prices and an ailing economy, the boat traffic was as bad as it’s ever been this year. Thus, savoring the late fall days and the drastically reduced crowds certainly adds to...  It seems that Fall is now in full force around North Carolina. With the wind blowing and rain falling more often than not it is tough to schedule a fishing trip. Make it out when you get a chance, because the offshore boats have been loading up on Yellowfin. Water temps around the coast have already been recorded around the 60s--I would look for the Striped Bass to show up in full force this year. Sound fishing is still producing good numbers of Speckled and Gray Trout, as well as small rockfish. Puppy drum are also being caught in pretty good numbers.
Bill from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center reported: "
November 3, 2008 Fishing Report
Sunday-11-02-08 offshore the catches consisted of yellowfin and blackfin tuna.Two boats caught a wahoo each. Inshore caught triggerfish and sea bass. Monday 11-03-08 all the boats limited on yellowfin tunas.Two dolphin were caught, a marlin was caught and released. An open boat's morning trip caught rockfish in the sound. The afternoon trip had good puppy drum fishing and lots of sea bass."
TW's Bait and Tackle reported: "
November 6, 2008 Fishing Report
The wind and rain have prevented any long term fishing attempts on all the piers and no offshore fishing today. There have been a few catches at the small bridge but it is slow. However, on the brighter side, there have been some catches of puppy drum, trout and sea mullet in the Hatteras Fishing Tournament this morning."
 East Cape
Just to set the record straight, daylight savings time officially ended in Baja last Sunday morning, one week earlier than in the United States.
Today is picture perfect in East Cape, exactly how you would expect it to be in late October.
In the billfish sector, the sailfish led the way this week, spiking the action up to a handful of shots a day with a few stripers and even a very occasional blue showing.
Dorado action went off five miles from the beach, while tuna rounded out this week’s catch. Some of the luckier boats in the right place at the right time caught as many as five ...
Marlin were in short supply for most of May but the number of marlin catches has increased over the past week. Spearfish are the most common billfish being caught right now but with the summer season just starting up, we should see the numbers of blue marlin increasing and the number of spearfish decreasing. May is listed as the peak season for black marlin in Hawaii but what most people don’t realize is that black marlin are a rare catch in Hawaii. The spot on Kona’s “Big Fish List” for the biggest black marlin of the year remains vacant. With most marlin being caught and then released by the majority of captains now, it’s possible that one or more blacks have been caught this year and released without it ever being known that it was a black. It takes a
Local Weather
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Featured Article
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| By Richie Gaines |
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 Having trouble finding stripers on the Bay the past few years? Well, you’re not alone. The days of fishing the same old spots the same old ways are gone my friend. While the spring trophy season is still very productive and predictable, once the Ocean run fish depart it’s a whole new ball game. The Chesapeake Bay is changing and the rate of change has accelerated in the past few years. The Upper Bay has been most notably affected but we’re also seeing sings in the lower portions as well. Water quality really comes into play once water temps reach the low seventies and above and this is dictating where the fish hold big time. Anglers who understand that water quality is much like structure are taking advantage of the knowledge, changing their tactics, and enjoying success. As an experienced guide I’ve been able to adjust and locate fish fairly consistently. Now, you know what the definition of experience is right? It’s the name we give to our mistakes so I’m confident in my experience…
To find keeper grade and above stripers consistently once water temps rise into the 70’s, look for three attributes |
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| By Steve vonBrandt |
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 The Upper Chesapeake Bay has been receiving a lot of notoriety over the last few years due to the improved catch rates and overall weight increases reported in the tournaments. While the “true” river rats have known of this bass fishing hotbed for some time now, the recent success is attracting clubs from all over Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even as far away as New York. Most of this pressure has converged on the Elk River, and the Tyding’s Park area in Havre de Grace, Md., since these areas provide more than adequate launching and parking facilities that are necessary to hold the tournaments. Many of the smaller club tournaments also start from the Northeast and Elk River areas.
With this influx of angling pressure, many of the traditional “hot spots” have become increasingly crowded during the weekends, and have forced anglers to make longer and longer runs in search of untapped bass waters. Many of these anglers have now discovered that the twenty to thirty minute drive through sometimes rough and unsafe water, to the Sassafras River, has been well worth the effort. Upon arriving they realize that not only is this river not as pressured, but the fishing rivals or surpasses any that they previously encountered on any of the other Upper Bay rivers. Over the past five years, we have spent an average of four days a week on the Sassafras River, and over this course of time have learned many of the subtle intricacies of this scenic and fertile river. |
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| By Brett Gaba |
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 Typically in saltwater fly fishing, and more specifically with fly fishing on the Chesapeake Bay, heading out into the big water and searching for breaking blues and stripers is option #1, and fishing underwater structure is option #2. Both of these options require a boat that’s capable of moving from spot to spot, or from school to school.
I personally own a small, humble boat and I am on the water often, or as often as time and work permit. On good days, my boat is capable of getting from spot to spot, but not when the winds are over 10mph. Because of my restrictions I’m not typically in the open water of the Chesapeake Bay proper, or even the middle of Tangier Sound, but mostly about as far as my 16’ johnboat will take me on a nice day—maybe to the mouth of a river, or near a rip that sets up in a tributary creek.
This restriction forced me to discover an underappreciated fishery, a nearby fishery virtually unexplored and unfished with a fly rod. From a realistic standpoint, I could wait for that perfect, windless day to come in order to get out on the big water for stripers and blues, or I could explore the fishery that I had access to, nearby areas that held good numbers of croaker and the occasional seatrout.
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| By Maryland Department of Natural Resources |
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| Underwater bay grass acreage throughout much of Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay suffered a setback in 2006 as a result of high rainfalls in many parts of the Bay watershed. Total acreage in Maryland dropped to 32,586 acres in 2006, down nearly 9,734 acres from 42,320 acres in 2005. |
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| By Lenny Rudow |
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 You want a volcano-like explosion 30’ behind your transom? Tuna fish to come flying out of the water in attack-mode? Billfish to rise with their weaponry swinging? Then I sure hope you’re pulling spreader bars, because these lures will trigger more pelagics to attack than any other single lure in the water today.
Pelagic Magic
Spreader bars consist of multiple chains of baits—usually plastic squid, but also skirts or rubber ballyhoo in some cases—rigged to a single bar, which keeps them in an organized pattern as they troll through the water. The farthest aft bait should be a slightly different size and/or color than the other baits, and is rigged with a hook. Bars range in price from $40 (for a 32” bar pulling nine 9” shells, available from www.reeldraggintackle.com) to $210 (for a titanium bar rigged with 10 12” full-body squid, available at www.squidnation.com.) Some spreaders are also made with nylon bars, like those from www.fishmagiciantackle.com ($94 for a 10-shell rig made with 7” squid.) The nylon bars bend more than titanium but they have one significant advantage: thanks to light weight and flexibility, it’s possible to run them from much lighter rods than is the norm. In fact, you can run a light nylon bar from a 30-class rig or even a 16-S, while most full-size spreaders require a 50-class rig.
Naturally, you can also make your own bars by buying the squid, bar, and leader separately. This isn’t much work and there’s certainly a sense of satisfaction that comes from catching fish on a lure you made yourself. Don’t expect to save a lot of money, however. Since the tackle manufacturers buy their materials in bulk, when all is said and done, there isn’t a huge price difference between buying spreader bars and making them yourself.
Which colors should you choose when making or buying a spreader bar? As with other lures, the hot colors will change with the seasons and the hot bite. As a rule of thumb... |
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| By Brandon White |
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 The member profile highlights the type of fishing the member does, tells about their equipment (boat, reels, rods, etc) and a little bit about them as a person. This member profile highlights me, Brandon White, Chief Angler here at TidalFIsh.com.C Check out a little about me, what boat(s) I fish, what tackle I use etc... |
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