First Chesapeake stripers of the year

[Bigbev67]

I went out last weekend with my brother in law, we were in the Severn and he forgot his mirage drive so it was a very short trip. I hooked and lost one fish on a small kastmaster.
I went out this past Saturday alone and caught two 20 inch stripers on a teaser in front of a white paddle tail. Felt good, I know there are bigger fish out there but I’m optimistic this will be the year. Hope you guys are having luck.
Tight lines

[mchottie]

Keep the optimism going, we are all hoping for a GOOD year!

[yakscientist]

Keep the optimism going, we are all hoping for a GOOD year!

I've managed to catch striper trolling on the past 3 trips in a row I've taken, and I know this time last year I think I had 3 or 4 trips in a row when I didn't get any bites before late April. In my mind, that's a very good sign. I've caught them in completely new (to me) spots as well, so this def bodes well. I think big cow striper may elude me again this year, but who knows. I caught a lot of big fish in 2017 which will keep me smiling for many years.

[Jimbo]

I've managed to catch striper trolling on the past 3 trips in a row I've taken, and I know this time last year I think I had 3 or 4 trips in a row when I didn't get any bites before late April. In my mind, that's a very good sign. I've caught them in completely new (to me) spots as well, so this def bodes well. I think big cow striper may elude me again this year, but who knows. I caught a lot of big fish in 2017 which will keep me smiling for many years.

Time to start thinking about a book title? Lol.


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[ronaultmtd]

Time on the water is one key to success...not wed to any one tactic or bait...being observant to tides, water conditions, phase of the moon, water temps, salinity...there are so many variables that go into fishing it isn’t funnny- safe to say that if the fish are not there you can’t catch them...finding the baitfish, structure holding fish, so forth and so on...then comes the fisherman...do you have the skill to make the catch, tie the knots, use the right hooks, landing techniques...and have the right equipment- rods, reels, lines, kayak, electronics, transportation to get your kayak and you in the right places...if you have done this long enough to kinda know without realizing you do all these things...it looks like it is luck...

[yakscientist]

Time to start thinking about a book title? Lol.


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I should! I will have some time over the next few days to write a bit, and then realize how bad it sounds, and then instantly delete everything.

[Bigbev67]

I’ve grown up as a surf caster and done very well with (3) 30 lber’s. The bay and kayak fishing is new over the past 4 years, moving here from Jersey. Biggest yet out of the bay was 30 inches on the fly, but the true spawning cows have eluded me. I think I started too late last year , so I want to stay ahead of the migration this time.
Meanwhile , today I have work in Annapolis and brought my gear to hit the Severn. Might stay til dusk , so if anyone wants to join I’ll be around the banks.

[J.A. Veil]

I trolled from Jonas Green to the river mouth this morning under flat calm conditions. It was a pleasant day to be on the water and to use a pedal drive kayak for the first time since last fall. I saw virtually no bait balls and only a few isolated small marks on the FF screen. In over 2.5 hours of trolling in a variety of depths from 5' to 30', I had a skunk trip. For most of the trip, I trolled 4 rods with lead heads (jigheads, bucktails) ranging from 1/2-oz to 1.25-oz with 4" to 5.5" paddletails. On my way back to the launch, I fished two lead heads on the left side and a single 5" Sebile crankbait on the right side. The crankbait had a good swimming motion but attracted no interest.

I saw one other kayak angler on the way in who said he had caught a fish further upstream. Based on today's experience, the fish are not yet thick in the lower section of the river. Water temp (read inside my hull) ranged from 48 to 53 deg.