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8/2 Mid-bay, Tilghman Island. Unusual day as well!
Left the house around 4am for the 1.5 hr drive to Tilghman Island, about 10 miles past St. Michaels. Reached the launch area and ran into Coop enjoying the pre-dawn waters with a nice cup of coffee. Hit the water around 6:15am-ish to calm waters with an increasing northwesterly wind of 5-7 knots. Trolled paddletails with 7-11" schoolies primarily hitting. One mystery fish, I'm assuming a blue, screamed off with one of my lures about about 50 yards of braid before snapping the line. Decided to change to location to choppier waters towards the bay while I still had energy left to work the 2-3 ft waves and hunt for bigger fish. Arrived on site, around 15-19' waters and paddled for another hour to no action.
Just as I was about to leave, about 50 yards away, I noticed a frenetic bait ball bubble up from the 19' depths swirling. Not in the usual calm toilet bowl vortex I'm use to seeing, but like a boiling, frothy kettle of tea. Immediately after bubbling up, I saw the jumping attack of large fish on the prey. At this point, I am BOOKING it like a mad olympic wannabee kayaker to get within casting range. Within reach, first cast flying, HIT. Pulled a 24", KEEPER! Second cast, HIT. Pulled a 28", KEEPER (and limit out). Every subsequent cast was a hit, as the Stripers were in full on hunting mode and had absolutely no discretion whatsoever. Even the second line that I was trolling and didn't have time to pull up got snagged by a 22"er as it was floating. About 10-15 minutes later, I was joined by one, then 4 power boaters dropping in on the action but by the time they got there the main action was other.
Total count: Over 20, lost count, all stripers. 2 keepers, the rest C&R. 7 miles paddled.
Lesson/s learned: I need a faster boat.
Just as I was about to leave, about 50 yards away, I noticed a frenetic bait ball bubble up from the 19' depths swirling. Not in the usual calm toilet bowl vortex I'm use to seeing, but like a boiling, frothy kettle of tea. Immediately after bubbling up, I saw the jumping attack of large fish on the prey. At this point, I am BOOKING it like a mad olympic wannabee kayaker to get within casting range. Within reach, first cast flying, HIT. Pulled a 24", KEEPER! Second cast, HIT. Pulled a 28", KEEPER (and limit out). Every subsequent cast was a hit, as the Stripers were in full on hunting mode and had absolutely no discretion whatsoever. Even the second line that I was trolling and didn't have time to pull up got snagged by a 22"er as it was floating. About 10-15 minutes later, I was joined by one, then 4 power boaters dropping in on the action but by the time they got there the main action was other.
Total count: Over 20, lost count, all stripers. 2 keepers, the rest C&R. 7 miles paddled.
Lesson/s learned: I need a faster boat.
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