Personal best LTJ striper

[J.A. Veil]

I fished this morning with Capt. Walleye Pete at a well known winter time spot in the mid-Chesapeake Bay. We barely caught the tail end of the bite. We used light tackle jigging (LTJ) techniques. On the first drift I caught a 26” striped bass. On the second drift I caught a 33” striped bass that pulled hard against the drag. It was my personal best fish using LTJ techniques. Both of these fish were caught on 10" BKDs on 1.5-oz jighead. After that first 15 mins, the bite was very slow. I caught a few smaller striped bass over the next few hours.

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[eyedaddy]

Congratulations John! You went with one of the "Best on The Bay". I have always heard a lot of compliments about him!

eyedaddy

[chex]

Nice going John!

I hope they're biting next tuesday too!

[daddyg]

NICE fish.. I Hope to get out Sunday..

[Goody]

Very nice. Congrats.

[Shady]

Nice fish! I hope you aimed her in the direction of the Susky flats on the release.

[Mark]

Very nice!

[DanMarino]

Very cool John! Healthy looking stripers.

[J.A. Veil]

Mike -

Pete had a great bite last week. For the last few days (before yesterday) the bite was not good (only a few small fish). Yesterday morning started well but the good bite lasted only 15 minutes before it shut off. On our way from the ramp to the fishing hole we were stopped by the Coast Guard for a routine inspection. The inspectors took their time and held us for more than 15 mins. If we had not been stopped, we would have had that extra time onsite while the bite was happening.

Good luck when you fish next week.

[mytmouse]

WTG John! That's a beauty! It's on my bucket list to get out there with Walleye Pete. I need to hone in on my LTJ skills!

[eyedaddy]

I always appreciate the job the Coast Guard and DNR do to make sure we are safe and in the long run any time spent with an inspection to me, is time well spent.
Pete always lives up to his reputation as a one of the "Great ones". The greatest compliment about him came from a retired charter Captain who is a personal friend of mine and he said " I would go out with him anytime". This was from a no nonsense guy that I have known for 20 years and he is like the old E.F.Hutton commercials "...when he talks people listen".

eyedaddy

[buzz]

Oh my... that 33 is just gorgeous!

What pound test were you using?

[J.A. Veil]

The rod I used for both of those fish is a Carrot Stick 6'7" MH. It is probably not the optimal rod for LTJ, but it has worked well for me. The reel is a Shimano Stradic 3000 spooled with 20-lb Powerpro in yellow. (As an aside, when I troll for stripers in the Severn and on the Flats, I often use this as one of my 4 rods). I added 2-3 ft of 20-lb mono leader. The jighead was a candycorn color in about 1.5-oz or 2-oz weight. The soft plastic was a 10" BKD in the alewife color.

The water depth was in the mid-20s -- we were drifting fairly fast so a heavy jighead was needed. The strong fish swam under the boat. I had to walk the rod around the stern of the boat. That was particularly challenging since the 250-hp outboard is on an extended bracket out the back plus Pete has two large Powerpoles on the stern. I ended up plunging the bent rod more than 2/3 of the way underwater in order to clear the outboard. Once on the other side of the boat the remaining battle was relatively easy.

[Skidsteer]

Congratulations - beautiful fish!

[camelbird]

Nice fish John!! Congrats on the PB!!!