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Piney Point croaker chaos, 5/21
I launched at Piney Point today at 10am and fished until 2pm, which was mid-ebb to early flood. The water temperature was around 70* according to my fish finder. I forgot my salinity meter along with my cell phone and radio. Safety first. Anyway, the water in the creek was kind of muddy, but the water coming from the Potomac was clearer. There was some cool oceanography going on with fronts everywhere. Here you can see muddy creek water and the water from the Potomac (sort of):
If I had been thinking, I would've position my yak right at the front for the picture. There were tons of 4-6" menhaden in the muddy water. It was one of the biggest schools I've seen in a while, but I couldn't coax anything out of it trolling Bombers and Rattletraps.
My main goals were to find some flounder and croaker. I started off drifting for flounder around the bridge and channel markers. I picked up several stripers that were 12-16" long while jigging a bucktail/Gulp combo, but no flounder.
I trolled a 4.5" shallow diving Bomber as I headed into the Potomac looking for croaker marks. I picked up another 16" striper before stopping in about 20ft of water near the last line of crab pots. Here's what I saw:
Here's what it was:
I caught a mess of 12" croaker in fairly short order while using salad shrimp on a top and bottom rig. That school in the pic wasn't the biggest one that past under me.
I was able to jig up some croaker on the bucktail from schools that were even bigger. I caught fish on every drop and barely had time to take a picture or put the fish in the cooler before another fish hit. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, I finally managed to pick up a 14-incher before the bite died at noon:
I headed out to Stuarts Pier to see if I could find a better grade of fish but didn't have any luck. The bathymetry changes a lot out there, so I figured it was a good spot to try for flounder. I threw the bottom rig out while I rigged up my bucktail. I saw my rod bouncing, and found this guy at the other end:
I did several drifts in the area. I missed a couple hits and didn't land anything else.
I trolled the deep diving Crystal Minnow back to the launch without any hits. I tried for flounder again since the tide had changed, but I kept foul hooking small stripers and croakers, so I called it a day. It was a good, quick trip, and all the fish were fighting really hard today. I kept pulling in 14" stripers and 12" croakers thinking they were 20" stripers or 18" croakers. Hopefully, I'll be able to find the bigger grade of croakers I was catching last year soon.
If I had been thinking, I would've position my yak right at the front for the picture. There were tons of 4-6" menhaden in the muddy water. It was one of the biggest schools I've seen in a while, but I couldn't coax anything out of it trolling Bombers and Rattletraps.
My main goals were to find some flounder and croaker. I started off drifting for flounder around the bridge and channel markers. I picked up several stripers that were 12-16" long while jigging a bucktail/Gulp combo, but no flounder.
I trolled a 4.5" shallow diving Bomber as I headed into the Potomac looking for croaker marks. I picked up another 16" striper before stopping in about 20ft of water near the last line of crab pots. Here's what I saw:
Here's what it was:
I caught a mess of 12" croaker in fairly short order while using salad shrimp on a top and bottom rig. That school in the pic wasn't the biggest one that past under me.
I was able to jig up some croaker on the bucktail from schools that were even bigger. I caught fish on every drop and barely had time to take a picture or put the fish in the cooler before another fish hit. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, I finally managed to pick up a 14-incher before the bite died at noon:I headed out to Stuarts Pier to see if I could find a better grade of fish but didn't have any luck. The bathymetry changes a lot out there, so I figured it was a good spot to try for flounder. I threw the bottom rig out while I rigged up my bucktail. I saw my rod bouncing, and found this guy at the other end:
I did several drifts in the area. I missed a couple hits and didn't land anything else.
I trolled the deep diving Crystal Minnow back to the launch without any hits. I tried for flounder again since the tide had changed, but I kept foul hooking small stripers and croakers, so I called it a day. It was a good, quick trip, and all the fish were fighting really hard today. I kept pulling in 14" stripers and 12" croakers thinking they were 20" stripers or 18" croakers. Hopefully, I'll be able to find the bigger grade of croakers I was catching last year soon.
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