Have you ever heard this? I had not until a few years ago and now I can’t get it out of my head. As we come closer to striper season I am getting more excited to go through my baits of choice. Humpback and Baleen Whales eat krill (shrimp like critters) for just a couple of extreme examples. The notion is that just because there is a big fish does not directly correlate with the size of the lure. Sometimes and I would argue many times big fish love little baits.
One example of how you have to change from year to year is the size of the baits these guys are interested in biting. Years ago if you did not have at least an 8” bucktail on a 9 oz jig you were not going to land anything. Those days may return in the future and it may be this year but I don’t expect that to be true. So for the last few years I have run about 4” swim baits with great success so I will at least start off the year with those and change if I feel it necessary.
Match the hatch, that quote is synonymous with professional fisherman meaning investigate what the fish are eating and as much as possible match your bait to what is in the stomach of the fish you are catching.
I hope to be adding a few short but hopefully informative post leading up to striper season. And if you see me misspelling striper please send me an email, not intentional just a lack of ability. My wife trys (intended sp) her best with me but to no avail.
These are called Peanut BunkerThis is the elephant that was eating the peanuts
Well as many of you know, the boat engine died a while back and I have been relying on some of the best people in the world to take me fishing. Well as good as that is and as blessed as I am to have such friends I can say that I finally got my boat back and I am so thankful. Dave R at Coastal Marine did a great job and let me help to save some money and learn. Not that I want to do this again. It was (now looking back at it) a great experience.
I took the boat out most of this weekend to do all of the sea trials and to break the motor in properly. A fairly extensive procedure and the final leg was to go full throttle for 10 min. WOT turned out to be 4400 RPM and 43 mph. That is just too fast for me, the boat felt out of the water and not 100% under me so that will be the last of that maneuver.
Well to fishing, we got back from church this afternoon and decided to go Spanish Mackerel fishing. The water was too rough for Angelique (aka Chuck for those that know us well). We stayed out for about 30 min of fishing. Caught five threw one back but got enough for a good meal and lunch tomorrow. We are beyond blessed to have the best seafood at our fingertips in Reedville.
We fished around R2 to 1GW and just around that area, it was too rough to go out further. Just a note, I didn’t see anything that I would take for stripers out there so early season for stripers will be in the river and creeks. I’ll let you know when that changes.
Ran my normal setup and as normal there was only one rod that continued to go off. It was the same green that I had in one of the previous posts. Chuck did a good job of getting the fish in while I drove the boat.
Weather:
Waves were two to three feet, from the south which meant we were in the ditch the whole time.
You catch the first fish before you can get the second rod out. Yep, Scott and I had an early morning Spanish fish scheduled and we did all the damage we needed in about an hour and a half.
The weather, waves, just about everything was settling in to be a great day. We left the dock at about 6:30 and went straight out to R4 just out of the Great Wicomico River. We started setting out the first number 2 planner with a green flash number 0 Clarkspoon. I had no more than picked up the second rod and that one hit. The bite was steady from that point on. There were a few times we got doubles but for the most part it was just a steady one then another. We did pick up about 5 that were really short, I would estimate maybe 10 inches which for me at least tends not to happen. Of course, sent them on their way and back to more fishing.
I may be wrong but I think we only lost three total the rest of the 15 and one blue came in without an issue. We have started to slow the boat dramatically after a strike to help increase the bag limit. Spanish are traditionally hard to get to the boat because they bounce on the water at high speeds. The line goes slack when they are in the air which risks the planner from setting again, this resetting is very difficult to keep the fish on the line.
Green was the color if you didn’t have this color go back to the dock. I would say about 70% were on this one rig.
Weather:
Waves were at most a foot but even then it continued to become more calm.
Air Temp 86
Water Temp 82
Pressure 29.74 (Hurricane Henri was in NY by this time)
Went out with Charlie, Katie, and Sarah for a quick morning Spanish Mackerel day. My gosh is it hot right now, the heat index is reaching 108 with a dew point of 80 deg and climbing. The water is the only place to be so we went trolling just outside our Whays Creek and headed east to the bay. It is amazing just how much cooler it is fishing than cutting grass 🙂
Well we had a very good day, we hooked a bunch and ended the very short two hour trip with 5 keepers. Spanish are notorious for getting off before they get to the boat and today was no exception. Charlie driving the boat with Katie and I trying our best to get them in. Sarah was just too relaxed in the front to go through all of the stress of reeling these guys in. She was a very good sport but was just content to smile and point to the rod as it hit.
We hooked I would estimate 10 but at the end we got 5 in but most were very good size. Maybe another time when they have more time we can get everyone in the game. The color of the day was silver and silver with green flashing. We teased Charlie that his leader was so long that we were fishing west of the mississippi. He just said it was working so there.
Always fun to get people out on the water and get a few fish in the boat. I had a good time laughing with everyone which is what the game is all about.
A typical day I run four rods, rig the weight (I am not sure that the shape matters here), I like to run something a little heavier than most, maybe up to say 8 – 10 oz and since I have many of them I just use an inline weight. From that weight I definitely like to run a true leader line just shy of my main line. So the rods I use for Cobia I have 60# mono so my leader I run 50#. Seems extreme but these are killer fish and I definitely like dedicated leader lines as opposed to just adding another length of mono. Dedicated leader tends to take the shock of a quick strike far better than regular mono. Mono is designed to stretch over a long run of line being out and leader is designed to stretch over just a short length.
The leader length I guess can be a few lengths but based on my bait I like to vary that length between about 3 feet to 8 feet depending on the water depth I am fishing. I do this because I use live bait and all of those baits swim and I try to cover the water column if possible.
Bait, I have two primary ones, live eels and live spot. I think both work well but maybe give the edge to eels but only slightly. Spot are generally free but you have to fish for them. I have a good spot for spot 🙂 so I go out in the afternoon before fishing to get a few.
Fish on: Good job, first things first give the rod a couple of good tugs to ensure the hook is set. Then I would not get too excited to pull the fish close to the boat. First thing is to get up every line or anything else that is hanging from the boat. This will hopefully keep the fish from getting tangled in other lines or chum bags, etc. After that keeping him away from the anchor line is most key. You will need to tire him out so bring him in and set the drag so he can swim away as he likes. Also if you have a lever drag reel (which I prefer for cobia) let the drag out more if he goes under the boat. The line is easily chaffed under the boat and you will be more likely to lose the fish. Walk around the boat if needed and do whatever you can to keep the boat, motor, etc. off the line.
Netting these guys can get tricky especially as they approach 50 and over. My best advice is to be far more patient than you ever want to be and let the fish tire itself out. If you try to take it too early you can tell it bye for now. This patience takes practice and dedication, your first instinct is to get it in the boat as soon as possible, don’t do it.
Hooks: For me I like good quality 7/0 J hooks. I know plenty of people that use circle hooks but I just prefer the old J hooks. Make sure you have a good quality knot, I like the Uni-Knot but others work well.
Bait:
Eels: These guys are tough to rig, I always say they are like a rodeo bull, you have about 8 seconds to get the hook. One of the best ways is to cool them down on ice for about 10 min before you rig them. For how, I hook them about ⅓ up from the tail, hopefully center mass as possible. Put them in the water as soon as possible, they can tangle themselves up on their line if left to their own devices.
A typical day I run four rods, rig the front two rods with #2 planners and the rear two with #1 planners. As for how far back behind the boat you go you may just have to work that out but I try to do either odd or even runs. For me a run is the level wind full right or full left but not both. So one run is from full left to full right of the level wind device. I run the front two deeper but closer to the boat and the back to shallower and further back. For me it just works better, has less chance of having tangles and when you catch a fish I think it increases the chances of not having the fish cross a line. Overall, I think this is contrary to popular fishing technique but I have good success with this setup.
Certainly one very important aspect is to actually count the distance out every time. This is the most likely reason for people having tangles between the rods. This happens more after you catch a fish so definitely take time to count each and every time. Your day will go better.
Speed: Ok ready to rumble? I tend to go more like 7 knots and it seems to work best. There is an old fisherman’s tale that says that if you are catching blues, speed up as blues can’t swim that fast. Now I don’t believe that is the reason but the effect is the same. I believe that blues don’t find the bait attractive at higher speeds. I say that because I have pulled through a school of blues at 10 knots and caught plenty. If a blue wants the lure it will take it but yes you do tend to get less blues at higher speeds but up to 10 makes it more difficult in my opinion and I think 7 serves me fine.
What to do when you catch one? Seems obvious you should just reel it in but Spanish are notorious at getting off especially if you are trolling fast. I have some friends that slow down dramatically, maybe 3 knots and I do agree that is a very good way to get them in especially if you have a novice reeling in the fish. You may not hook another fish while you are going that slow but you are more likely to get that one fish in the boat. If you do keep the boat in at full trolling speed it is important to coach the person to keep the rod tip up and reel as smoothly as possible. The key here is to keep the planner out of the water, if the planner sticks back in the water it is very likely that you will lose the fish. Kids seem to do better than big strong men because they can only reel but so fast.
Rigging: Off the back of the planner I connect the leader by at least one to three snap swivels. I use 20# flouro carbon leader and I make two sections of about 8 feet each tied together with a swivel in the middle. Keeping the lure from spinning is a key feature.
Bait/Lure: Either Clark or Drone spoons, I like Drone better only because the Clark hook is far more likely to break and I just get tired of that “feature” of the clark. I tend to go with 0 as opposed to the 00 or ones but I am not confident that matters a lot.
Had a great time today with our neighbor Tim and his daughter Lolo. Went out hoping for some Spanish Mackerel and a good day on the water with good friends. We (Scott’s boat) knew the seas were going to be choppy but decided we would at least look around to see if we could fish at all. The winds were strong and from the north. As we got out it was mostly calm until the fish trap areas at the mouth of the Great Wicomico. Instantly it would go from almost no waves to 3-4 feet. I can’t remember such a dramatic change in really just a hundred yards or so. So keeping closer to shore on the GW from about Cockerell’s to our Whay’s Creek we trolled for a few hours.
Well we did catch some fish. Ended the short day with 4 in the boat. Lolo of course showed up her dad by catching the most and the first and the biggest (by far). We lost the first one at the boat, mainly because he was across another line and Tim and I were not in sync on the lines crossed. Well a few minutes later she landed her first ever Spanish and it was a nice 23”.
We got a few more during the morning even though we caught as much grass as we did fish but it was a very good day. Lolo learned everything there was about fishing for Spanish. She reeled them in, set the lines, pull one over the transom that I caught, and every other aspect of the day. She was a good sport when we teased her a bit and seriously was one of the few that took the advice to smoothly reel in the fish. Many people tend to pull them in too quickly and they get off.
Just another good day on the water in my books and I am sure we will be taking them out again. She has gotten the bug!
Me showing her how she can safely hold her fishI guess this says it all
I can explain later about the title of this post, it has to do with the method of fishing. Stolen from Bonefish and Capt Ron P (below).
Well some days are just better than others, Vince called yesterday late and asked if I wanted to go fishing with him. Well that is a question that answers itself along the way and I didn’t let that lack of judgement affect my answer.
Looking at Tides for fish.com I told him we didn’t need to rush so we were scheduled to meet at my dock at 8:00. I took my truck to the bait store and got 5 gal of bunker and 6 six eels. Didn’t have any chum more on that later on to the fishing.
We got on the spot in our reliable area of Dameron Marsh around 9:15 and the tide was moving but really only a little bit. I cut up a bunch of the bunker just tossing it over at a steady rate. You could tell it was going down at about a 45 degree angle which meant movement but not heavy current. I made the comment to Vince that it was just starting to turn and to drink water now before we got busy. The first fish which turned out to be the 53 inch guy took the eel fairly slowly and my first thought was it was a skate. He stopped cold about 30 yards from the boat and he just sat. Sometimes patience does help bigtime. I told Vince it was probably a skate but I was going to slowly try to take it from him hoping it was a fish and if he thought it was getting away he may just take it hard. Well that did it, he took off like a bolt. I was still scared it was a skate until I saw him out of the water.
Vince was a nervous wreck with the net, he was so scared he was going to knock off the fish. We could tell it was a big fish. Once I finally got him to the boat Vince asked did I think he was ready because he was just hanging around at the back of the boat. I told him no but to put the net in the water but not to try to net him. Well when he saw that net the answer was a definite no, he was still 20 min from ready. He worked both sides of the boat but thankfully did not go to the anchor. Actually, he went on both sides multiple times, under the boat, the whole nine yards. Finally, he did tire and thank God because I sure was and Vince did a nice job on the net.
One really cool thing that we saw was that there were two little (and I mean keeper size but not the size of this guy) swimming along with this one while he was hooked. Vince asked did I want him to put out one of the rods to see if he could hang this one. I have heard this is true even if you could not see the others but with this one being so big I ASKED please don’t that we were going to have all the trouble we could handle getting this guy in. Good lesson though if you have one on put out another bait (hopefully further out) to see if you can hang another.
Fish number two was Vince’s turn, I did pick up the rod and handed it to Vince. He thought he had lost it and said we shouldn’t have switched but just like the other one he picked up steam pretty soon. Unlike mine this one swam straight for the boat. I had gotten one rod up but the other two he was just too quick and he hooked both. Thankfully he was the 43 ” one so I didn’t know whether to cut everything but the fish or net him. Finally, netting seemed a better approach so we got the second one in the boat.
Vince lost his mind, I think those were the two biggest fish he has had in his boat. I did too, we caught both fish and were in by 12:30. Another good day on the bay. The water, wind, temp, waves, everything was perfect.
Bang Bang came to came to me by way of the NNK anglers club. I can’t remember the person’s name giving the talk but the one thing I got out of the meeting (that changed the way I fish) is he suggested “chunking” up a bunker and just throwing it in the water. He used a hollow kids bat but I just threw out the chunks. Anyway that seems to work best. I first tried it with Ron. It worked well there, won’t do it another way. One change is I did not use any chum, glad not to, it is just mess in the boat.
Just a quick view of how much 10 inches of fish makes
I went out with Scott to do an exploratory venture to find where or if the Spanish Mackerel. It is often amazing to me that spanish are in fact different day to day and certainly year to year. Some years they tend to hug the coast in relatively shallow water and other years they are out in the deepest part of the bay. Day to day they will have a different color and can certainly be effected by the amount of sunshine, water color, etc.
We have gone out the last two Thursdays and in general we have not found them in numbers. First day we ended up with 4 and yesterday ended the day with 8. Adam was with us and caught the most. But as always it takes a boat to catch a fish and it is always easier with 3 onboard.
One highlight of the day was Sutton called his dad before he went to bed and just as he called we hung a fish. So Adam was able to facetime with Sutton to watch us catch the fish.
The wind was from the north (which is not my favorite by a long stretch) and we were 1 -2 foot for about half of the trip with the bay settling down nicely from about 6pm onward. Temps were perfect, had a glorious sunset and a full moon rise.
Forgot to take any pics so you will just have to trust me on this one. Plus it was dark when we got back so there.
Finally got out for a Cobia round, got packed up early, took off for the bait shop. Nothing quite has that early morning smell like a bait store. If you are prone to being sick on a boat this is not your kind of fishing. We got eels, had caught some spot the afternoon earlier in the week and for “chumming” we had whole and ground up menhaden.
We took off for one of our favorite fishing holes, the flats around Dameron Marsh. There were about 10 other boats and the sea conditions were pretty sporty. I would guess around two feet and about 5 second intervals. The wind was moving very strong, and the waves were kicking. No problem, we were determined to get on the fish.
Got anchored up in about 18 feet of water close to a ledge. We got the chum flowing in a new contraption I built out of PVC pipe. I’ll try to get a picture of it soon. It works far better than anything I have found on the market.
For fishing we set out 2 spot and 2 eels on opposite sides of the boat. The first couple of hours we were fishing backwards. I call it that when the boat is pointing one way but the bait and chum are flowing the opposite, “Chumming the anchor”.
Fish number one: Well despite all things seemingly working against us we hooked up with a big one. These fish are impressive, pull like they are intent on getting you in the bay, and just because you get them to the boat does not mean that you are even close to getting him in the boat. This guy swam directly under the boat straight to the chum line, yep got caught in it and I am thankful Scott was in the boat. I let off the drag as much as I could to let him swim while we maneuvered around the line, the anchor, the motor, and again. This guy was not going to make it easy. Finally, he tired out and we grabbed him in the net. It is the one I am holding.
Rain storm: We could see it in the distance, got calls from people on land and we knew a deluge was on the way. It did not have any lightning in the storm and we knew it was too late to run so we decided to just hunker down. Kept dry for the most part and Scott being a sport took the side that was getting wet. He and you all know I am not much for getting wet. Finally, the rain cleared but it was still a good wind.
Fish number two: Well it took a few hours of working on setup and bait and chumming but we hooked another one. Turned out they were both the same size. It can be remarkable how two fish can fight so differently. This one just kind of hung out by the boat with no particular place to go. We were leery of trying to land him so quickly but at some point we just gave it a go. Well, it turned out he was not ready at all. He jumped out of the net, back into the water and took off. Certainly we took another 10 min of fighting and we finally got him into the boat. He was in fact still powerful, the last picture attached is where he slapped my leg. The pic only shows half of his tail width.
Interesting site: We saw a sea turtle, I have a video that I will try to edit a bit to focus just on it and updated this post.
