Question about Rockfish bite

[Slackdaddy]

I am very inexperienced in fishing for Rockfish.

In the last 2 weeks I have gone out twice on the PAX, specifically for rockfish. (between 231 and solomons)
I have launched at 5:30am both times, fishing by 5:45,, off the water by 9:00 AM

1st time I spent the 1st 1-1/2 hours in the cove, throwing topwater at rip/rap, grass, dropoffs, etc. Nothing.
went out in the main river to some know structure (9-11' depth) and threw 4" paddletail on chaterbait, saw bait fish and larger fish on the sonar and caught 1) 16" rock.
By ~8 am the sonar was quiet and no more fish

2nd time out (this week), headed straight out to structure in the main river, casting Both a white and chartreuse 4" paddletail. High tide was 11:00AM, so incoming tide.
Once we got to the structure (spread out over a ~1/8 mile x 1/8mile area.),, the sonar was showing balls of bait fish,, larger fish around the bait balls,, the surface would erupt and boil with large fish slapping the surface and gulls diving in. The surface eruptions would only last 30-60 seconds,, then show up 10 minutes later 200 feet away.

ended up getting 4 rockfish with meny other hits and "got offs",,
Sonar was constantly lit up.

at 7:45 - 8:00, everything died off and the sonar never showed another fish, off the water at 9:00


So,, when fishing for Rocks in Tidal River, such as the PAX, it is ~1.5 - 2 miles wide were I was at. (not the open bay),,
Is the fishing over by ~8:00 AM?? Where to they disappear to ?? And the baitfish,, they were gone too.

[dsaavedra]

From my experience rockfish don't like heat and they don't like light, so early morning is generally one of the better times to catch them (low light and the water cools down a few degrees overnight). This feeding window can be extended on an overcast day. The bite usually (not always) slows once the sun gets high and temps start getting hot. Evening is generally a good time to catch them too, though the bite is usually better in the morning, at least in my experience.

Tides also factor in. Tides will move fish in and out of areas and rockfish are generally drawn to areas of moving current. Baitfish can get disoriented or "stuck" in areas of higher current flow making for an easy meal.

Rockfish also follow seasonal patterns. You may find lots of them in one location - or type of location - during one part of the year, but at a different time of year they will not be there. The fish chasing big balls of bait and feeding at the surface is a seasonal pattern observed in the lower sections of tidal rivers during late summer. Those bait balls are juvenile fish (typically menhaden aka peanut bunker in the rivers) making their way down to the bay and ultimately the ocean and the rockfish follow them.

[UnkleRob2020]

Are you willing to troll? I would prefer to cast to fish, but have found trolling to be MUCH more effective.

I would prefer to cast to fish and I do not enjoy trolling quite as much as casting. That being said, I am a true believer in trolling now. I cannot tell you how many times I have been casting at "fishy looking" areas getting nothing and as soon as I start to troll...boom, rod goes down.

Any time that I am trolling and I am getting hits consistently in the same area, I will stop to cast to the fish. I am literally in the same area, with the same lure, and casting almost never works for me. Then, I will start to troll again and I catch fish.

There are lots of people who would prefer not to troll. I used to be one of them. I enjoy casting, but if I am not catching fish, and I want to catch fish, I will troll...

I rarely hear fishing reports from that section of the PAX. Either less people fish the tidal PAX or less people post about it.

The water temps are cooling and the next month or so should be prime time to catch stripers in shallow water....keep on trying and keep on positing...

[Slackdaddy]

Thanks for the replys..

Trolling would be hard,, as I am fishing in an area with 40-50 buoys (crab pots- oyster beds),,
This is my 3rd year fishing this area, and 3rd year going after Rock fish. I have not seen a single other person kayak fishing,, or even boat fishing the area. It is always just me, the wife and SIL.
1st two years I caught 3 rockfish in 5-6 outings.
What it lacks in fish,, it makes up for in crabs, wife 90% of the time is crabbing off her kayak,, AND lack of other people, a big plus for me.

[Oldbayrunner]

There are many factors that come in to play rock fishing of which time of day can play the least into it. Outgoing tides opposed to incoming ones in areas, depth of water and bait fish, fishing ledges, mounds and drop offs, waiting till bait balls rise to the surface opposed to fishing depths, on a fish finder are the schools of rockfish around bait balls in a horizontal position vs a vertical feeding position, types & colors of lures to use can vary... different areas one may find different patterns and behaviors. Often times I go out fishing for a different species such as perch then switch to fishing for rock when the conditions and my finder readings are more conducive to target them.

[Slackdaddy]

Funny you should mention the position of the rock fish.
There are times there is a bait ball down low (10' water total depth),, and a few roch fish staged above,, but I can not get a bite.
other times there are multiple clusters of bait balls, and many, many larger fish,, my screen goes almost solid blue with larger fish above the bait balls, but can't get a bite.

But when they erupt to the surface around me (or 10-50' away,, I can get a rockfish pretty much anywhere I cast. Then 30-60 seconds later the surface feeding is over,, I have large fish stacked all around me, at all depths,, but no bites.
seems when they feed for a minute or two, it's game on,, then they chill for 10-20 minutes.

But every time,, come ~8 AM,, bait fish and rockfish have vacated the area.

There are many factors that come in to play rock fishing of which time of day can play the least into it. Outgoing tides opposed to incoming ones in areas, depth of water and bait fish, fishing ledges, mounds and drop offs, waiting till bait balls rise to the surface opposed to fishing depths, on a fish finder are the schools of rockfish around bait balls in a horizontal position vs a vertical feeding position, types & colors of lures to use can vary... different areas one may find different patterns and behaviors. Often times I go out fishing for a different species such as perch then switch to fishing for rock when the conditions and my finder readings are more conducive to target them.

[Big Mike]

Rockfish will bite later in the day with the right tides and conditions, but generally the bigger fish move deeper as the sun rises. Some mornings the lure matters. I was fishing with Snoobs and we had trolled through a spot that I felt had fish. With no taps I stopped and put on a topwater and the fish were attacking with vengeance. When you’ve got those breakers around try a topwater, the sound and splash can draw hits when the paddle tail might not.

[Slackdaddy]

I had a wopper plooper on one of the rods,, but never threw it,,,, I didn't even think of that,,

Rockfish will bite later in the day with the right tides and conditions, but generally the bigger fish move deeper as the sun rises. Some mornings the lure matters. I was fishing with Snoobs and we had trolled through a spot that I felt had fish. With no taps I stopped and put on a topwater and the fish were attacking with vengeance. When you’ve got those breakers around try a topwater, the sound and splash can draw hits when the paddle tail might not.

[Shoobs]

Rockfish will bite later in the day with the right tides and conditions, but generally the bigger fish move deeper as the sun rises. Some mornings the lure matters. I was fishing with Snoobs and we had trolled through a spot that I felt had fish. With no taps I stopped and put on a topwater and the fish were attacking with vengeance. When you’ve got those breakers around try a topwater, the sound and splash can draw hits when the paddle tail might not.

And that was an epic morning !! We threw top water and all hell broke loose. Caught my first ever two-for that morning - striper and a bluefish on the same lure.

[ShaunGT]

I’ve been fishing an area near Clarkes landing with zero success on stripers. Tons of bluefish. Even broke off a really big red. The key for me has been live spot. Even when I know the fish are there and getting bites on spot I can’t buy a bite on lures. Even live bunker thrown to the same spot get ignored. I’d see if you can catch some spot on fish bites and drift one around while you toss the lures. See if it changes the luck. I’m definitely a believer now. The blues especially are keyed in on them. The small blues bite the tail off so I just reposition the circle hook on the head and toss it back to catch the fish. Fresh spot get bitten right away. When I tried to sub out frozen spot it caught only rays. Bigger blues take the whole thing and get caught by the circle hook just like a rock. I’ve been using a small weight to get them down. I’ve had more success with the weighted spot then just freelining but have caught fish both ways. I hope this helps!

[J.A. Veil]

Last summer you asked for guidance on fishing for stripers in the Little Choptank. https://snaggedline.com/forum/the-bo...tank-sanctuary. I suggest that you review the replies there.

There are some differences in fishing in shallow water areas (generally <6 ft), as I prefer to do, and fishing in deeper water (>10 ft) jigging, bait fishing, trolling deep diving or very heavy lures. The key is to find the fish (and make sure that what you are seeing on your electronics is stripers and not bait or something else). Then put something in front of them. Trolling allows you to cover more ground, but if you find the fish, casting or jigging works well too. If you see birds diving on bait (and see splashes next to the bait) try casting into the frenzy. You should hook up quickly. If not, try a smaller lure.

While they can be finicky, stripers often will hit almost anything put in front of them. Two weeks ago, I was fishing in southern MD and found a large school of stripers and bluefish in 2 to 3 ft water depth. I caught one after another on topwater, paddletails, and metal spoons. The bluefish wreaked havoc on the paddletails, but during the feeding blitz, I cast out the bitten-off nub of the soft plastic and continued to catch more stripers. They saw a colored item moving in front of them and reacted quickly to bite it.

In 2017, I was jigging in a roughly 20 ft spot in the main bay and caught some stripers pretty easily. As an experiment, I took an 18" long scrap left over from the lure molding process and jigged it. I caught a fish on that piece of scrap. The point is, stripers are not usually picky once you have found them.

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I have seen your posts mention fishing out of Nan's Cove. I fished there only once, in August 2016. I had no prior knowledge of the area and decided to follow my usual pattern of trolling. I started shallow (2 to 4 ft) and made a pass or two. My FF/GPS using was helpful in keeping me in the desired depth range. If that was unsuccessful, I gradually worked deeper. On that day I caught some smaller stripers but the highlight was this 26" fish I caught trolling in water less than 10 ft deep in late morning (full sunlight).

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[ShaunGT]

Hey Slack,

You could have just had some bad luck. The bite hasn’t been as good for me the last two weeks. The fish have bit best for me during a strong outgoing. My last 3 trips the tides were all weak or not flowing as expected. I think it’s a good sign that you’ve been marking fish as I know some boaters have been putting in some heavy miles looking for them. Keep at it!

[Slackdaddy]

Hey guys,,
I am slowly figuring out this area of the PAX near Brooms Island.
It is not a "Not Spot" by any stretch,, but it is somewhat local and typ low traffic.

I fished it this last Sunday,,7am - 9am, low wind, high tide was 6:30am,, so I was fishing the out going.
I did get 1) 22" striper,, I had to chase the seagulls for about 1-2 miles , The stripers seamed to be in an area where the bottom dropped from a flat 10' to 15-16'

I never got a single hit casting,, but trolling around the same area got hits.


So question: is incoming tide as good as outgoing ?? in a wide open area such as this ?

[dsaavedra]

So question: is incoming tide as good as outgoing ?? in a wide open area such as this ?

First, congrats on your 22" striper. That's a good fish and probably put up a good fight this time of year.

Regarding tides, I typically don't care which way its going as long as it's moving. Tides are my 4th consideration when planning a trip and not one that will determine whether or not I go fishing. In order of importance, 1st is do I have any obligations that would keep me from fishing? 2nd is what is the wind speed/direction? 3rd what's the weather like (Really hot? Really cold? Rainy?) 3rd what are the tides doing?

Sometimes one tide (in or out) will produce bites while the other tide is totally dead, sometimes direction doesn't matter, and sometimes tidal movement doesn't even matter at all. This is all extremely location specific though. The best way to figure it out is to fish the same location repeatedly during a variety of tidal cycles and pay attention to what works and when. Over time you'll have a sense of what are the most productive conditions at that location.

[Slackdaddy]

Thanks,
I only keep 1 striper a year (to eat), this was the one.
This fish did fight and head shake like a 30" fish,, and revealed some maintenance needed on the reel !

Like I said, I am slowly picking up on patterns for this area.
Wind, without a doubt is my #1 criteria,, I will not fish in the wind.
calm, Clouded in and a slight misty drizzle is my favorite,, it keeps the "Jack Wagons" off the water

First, congrats on your 22" striper. That's a good fish and probably put up a good fight this time of year.

Regarding tides, I typically don't care which way its going as long as it's moving. Tides are my 4th consideration when planning a trip and not one that will determine whether or not I go fishing. In order of importance, 1st is do I have any obligations that would keep me from fishing? 2nd is what is the wind speed/direction? 3rd what's the weather like (Really hot? Really cold? Rainy?) 3rd what are the tides doing?

Sometimes one tide (in or out) will produce bites while the other tide is totally dead, sometimes direction doesn't matter, and sometimes tidal movement doesn't even matter at all. This is all extremely location specific though. The best way to figure it out is to fish the same location repeatedly during a variety of tidal cycles and pay attention to what works and when. Over time you'll have a sense of what are the most productive conditions at that location.