BB 8/20/2011 East side

[HokieDJ]

Launch off at the G dock at 8:30am to fish the high tide around 10am. Tried jigging at the north span bridge and lost a couple of my jigs and still couldn't
get a single bite. I must suck at jigging (the current was slow though) or the fish didn't like jigs that day. Saw a party boat use cut crab and catching a bunch
so I managed to pluck one off the piling and quartered him. On the first drop, a 27 or 28" took the bait. I only had a 24" check it stick and he was about
3" outside of it. He didn't fight hard which was disappointing. Dropped another bait and a 15" took it. He too was lazy and when I put him back, he was
just floating and didn't take off like i normally see them do. One more WP and that was it so I called it a day.

[tufnik]

Good show. Didn't know you could catch rocks with crab. Blue crab, right? I guess you quarter the meaty body without the legs.

[missedshed]

Sometimes you can get your jig back by paddling up to the location and pull your line with your hand. I got all but one back the other day that I snagged. Frustrating. One day no snags another snag after snag.

[ronaultmtd]

Remember to take a pair of needle nose pliers and re-bend your hooks back to the original shape after a hard hangup. Lost good fish because the hooks were not right- resharpen them too-

[J.A. Veil]

Good show. Didn't know you could catch rocks with crab. Blue crab, right? I guess you quarter the meaty body without the legs.

On Labor Day weekend in 1997, I fished the bay bridge pilings with peeler crab on a standard bottom rig from my 13' inflatable boat. I eventually hooked a 31" rockfish that towed me around a bit. Another angler used my camera to snap a photo of me holding the fish. It was featured in the next week's issue of Fisherman magazine.

Soft crab or peeler crab will catch nearly anything in the bay. In a pinch, you can use a regular blue crab with a hard shell. Break it into a few pieces and thread the crab on your hook (I usually thread the hook through a leg joint).

[HokieDJ]

we saw some crabs hanging on the pilings a few inches below the water line. I floated next to it and grabbed one with my pliers. It isn't easy for sure. I would just go buy crab from the asian stores next time. It was just a moment of opportunity I took.

You can catch anything off cut crab. I kept the legs on. The perch will eat it and peck at the meat if they can't eat it whole. Rock will take it for sure.

[mmanolis2001]

Very nice. I think i said Hi to you out there on Saturday when you were re tying your rig. I was in the orange Prowler 15. There was a constant line of Kayaks leaving G-Dock that day. At one point i counted 10 on the water at the same time.

Weather was perfect but the fishing was slow for me. I jigged for around 4 hrs with only a 19" rock and a 3 lb toad to show for my efforts. I caught the rock on one of the shipping channel pylons in 70ft of water. There were several marks suspended around 15ft to 30ft right against pylons but I could only get one to the boat.

I did snag someone's fresh crab rig with hook, sinker and a fresh half of a crab. If i knew i would have rigged it up.

The snags were getting annoying towards the end of the trip. Me and Codfish added at least 10 jigs to the mess around the pylons.

[tufnik]

Three pound toad? Did you eat'um? I heard they're good.

[frettr00]

Very nice fish, didn't realize you could use crab for stripers.

[ronaultmtd]

Everything eats crabs- especially big red drum and big trout

[HokieDJ]

Very nice. I think i said Hi to you out there on Saturday when you were re tying your rig. I was in the orange Prowler 15. There was a constant line of Kayaks leaving G-Dock that day. At one point i counted 10 on the water at the same time.

There were so many yakers out there that day I figured one of you guys were on the forum. I hear toad fish are good eats but then again, anything fried with a good sauce is good eats if you can get over what it looked like before.

[mmanolis2001]

I have heard they taste good but i would have to be starving to eat one of those nasty slugs. I don't think there is a fish on earth i despise more than those pukes. At least they don't swallow jigs like they do hooks on bottom rigs.

[eastonkayaker]

Very nice fish, didn't realize you could use crab for stripers.

Fishing gets good mid-may - mid-june in shallower waters when crabs shed the first time, attracts rockfish, blues and croaker.

[DOGFISH]

Years ago, when I had my boat, I was tired of the loss of bottom rigs around the bridge. I started using a slip float rig. I would tip a bucktail with a large bull minnow. It worked great. I suppose that would also work with crab. I would also use a slip float around the fish reef, which is just South of the West River. Back then I got the idea from watching fishing shows from the great lakes, with anglers using slip floats for walleye. Now days, alot of those great lakes tactics have made there way here, such as trolling with boards and dipsys.

[ictalurus]

Awesome work, Dave. That's a good looking fish and nice picture. Catching your bait by hand was a nice touch.