Middle river area report

[Fishguts430]

Got to the water around 630 am. I put in around Martin's airport. My goal was to goal for perch and largemouth thinking the strippers weren't up this far in the bay. As soon as i got the kayak into the water there was fish blowing up everywhere couldn't figure out what they were so i brushed it off as carp as i could get them to hit anything I offered. After a while I started to fish for perch and hooked into a 7 incher. As soon as I got it up around the kayak a massive striper ( my guess is 25 inches or so) was trying to attack it. So that's what i figured was blowing up. Not to sure why i couldn't get a bump but oh well. Around 9 they disappeared and stopped surfacing. My hunt for a striper still continues. The hour drive was worth it for that close call though. All together I got about 6 or 7 white perch and one really nice yellow perch. Going to try the bay bridge on Wednesday. Hopefully the weather's decent as that's where i was Going to go today but with the wind and rain i didn't feel comfortable out there by my self for never being out there. The hunt continues for a stripped fish!

[mi327]

Got to the water around 630 am. I put in around Martin's airport. My goal was to goal for perch and largemouth thinking the strippers weren't up this far in the bay. As soon as i got the kayak into the water there was fish blowing up everywhere couldn't figure out what they were so i brushed it off as carp as i could get them to hit anything I offered. After a while I started to fish for perch and hooked into a 7 incher. As soon as I got it up around the kayak a massive striper ( my guess is 25 inches or so) was trying to attack it. So that's what i figured was blowing up. Not to sure why i couldn't get a bump but oh well. Around 9 they disappeared and stopped surfacing. My hunt for a striper still continues. The hour drive was worth it for that close call though. All together I got about 6 or 7 white perch and one really nice yellow perch. Going to try the bay bridge on Wednesday. Hopefully the weather's decent as that's where i was Going to go today but with the wind and rain i didn't feel comfortable out there by my self for never being out there. The hunt continues for a stripped fish!

I have been finding that as well in another location. Try to get an idea of the size of the bait they are chasing. If it is like what I have been experiencing its small minnows they are feeding on. I had a day where I could throw my go to larger shad baits with fish blowing up all around me and never even a bump, I tried a popper and all I got was short hits with no hook ups. After seeing a couple small minnows jumping out of the water while being chased I switched over to a small 3" Paddle Tail then was catching frequently. I also had luck with a Live Target Baitball rig, that looks like a small school of minnows but it got tore up pretty quick and eventually lost.

The funny thing was a couple days before in the same area the Rockfish were in 2-3 feet of the water chasing the same size bait but were smashing the popper.