Romancoke Wednesday Aug 23rd...

[rob-kayak]

The week before... well winds were crazy from the west... tried perchin' in some creeks..
they didn't look favorable and didn't produce.. wasn't really trying too hard just working some new territory..
But that day did bring home a nice 23incher rockfish first keeper on the new yak..

This Wednesday.. calm as could be.. hot.. hot... hot...
Rolled out of bed at 2am.... finally got on Rt 50 and the big rig trucks were rolling fast and heavy...
Apparently they had a mission that I did not know at the time...
Well.. even when you try to get to launch to get to the tide swing... stuff happens..
And the Bay Bridge was closed down when I got there... work had closed one span..
and an accident had stuffed the other in the toilet.

Breaker breaker good buddy.. got smokey on my tail... well that would have been 30-40 years ago with the CB Radio..
but it wouldn't have helped get to the bridge any sooner.. or better.. one road.. one bridge..
Got to the bridge.. only 15 cars and trucks in my lane for the toll both... saw two kayak laden cars/trucks...
try to give a wave and or thumbs up but nobody was even looking my way.. I know I'm ugly.. but not that ugly.

In line at the toll booth... I pulled up on the Cell Phone traffic cameras of Sandy Point and back...
it was totally stuffed with backup... Breaker breaker good buddy... it was worth rolling out of bed at 2am.. it in the que at a good time.

Another toll both opened up and I snaked my way to sixth in line...
Finally the accident was cleared... and the bridge opened up...

Hot.. hot.. hot.. at launch... got on the water at 7am... worked the near area 20-30ft and shallower... lots of bait fish..
some top water splashes... got the binoculars out and looked around for birds.. none...
made my way to the south side of Eastern Bay... worked some channels into shallow to deep..
Nothing.. but still lots of bait fish.... and splashes here and there on top... may some snapper blues..

Took 10am lunch on a beach on the south side.. just chillin a beautiful day... and walked along the beach area..
And came along a 12inch dead fish.. not very decayed.. but with almost a square patch of skin remove from it's side.
I didn't flip it over.. I thought maybe it was a crabbers bait.. but this area doesn't have crab pots... and it wasn't picked at by gulls.
Had a very small mouth.. like maybe a bottom feeder.. not slender... "wide" top to bottom and a very long anal fin..
Wanted to take a picture but I was far away from the yak... thought I'll paddle back over and take a pic... on exit...
As of this writing week(s) later... I looked at fish pictures... maybe a black drum.. but not the "black"... the anal fin resembled a Porgy..
but it wasn't no porgy...

Well back at the yak... and a brief swim and leisurely lunch... three boats were showing up about a mile out... still chillin' and enjoying the day I watched them dance around for a while... and finally pulled out the binoculars and saw the top water action they were chasing.
One boat would come in, fish for a while.. and then race off to a distance... maybe.. doing the catch me if you can cat and mouse game.

With reluctance... I decided to join the group and paddle out.. the cat and mouse boat had left the area pernamently.
Well it was dinks and small rocks and bird action... it was fun... top water boiling water...
Before lunch... I had switched on copper colored soft plastic.. and brown/clear on chartreuse jig head... and caught some small fish.. and one CNR.
That is what I was using now.. four lines in the water... one white paddle tail, one blue and whiteish paddle tail..
The brown/copper color was the ticket...

After a while... and many fish.. but no size.. it was time to stop tearing up the fish and head back four miles to launch.
The smart thing would have been to try and work the bottom as there were "some" larger fish showing on the sonar.
And it is often known that the larger fish hang low under the top water small fish...
But it was time to go... and beat the traffic back home.

A beautiful day.. a nice swim... fish.. hot.. hot.. hot...
about 14 miles of paddling... the new kayak and "real" seat... sweet !

[Mark]

You certainly worked hard for your catches.

My last trip across the Bay Bridge was 29 August and it resulted in a skunk in Prospect Bay. it was my first outing with no pullage in quite a long time and inexplicable given the food present.

Like you I saw bait fish splashing everywhere. At times they surrounded my Revo and one even jumped in. It slid under my seat where I could not reach it.

P1040094.jpg

I tried everything from top water to well-proven paddletails. I trolled. I cast. I got nary a tap in 3 hours on the water. Perhaps the stripers had gorged themselves during the previous night's full moon. Or maybe the water temperature was just too high for them. In any case, it's amazing how they can disappear from previously proven areas that give every indication of their presence with abundant baitfish.

Congratulations on your productive outing.

[Big Mike]

The moon definitely affected Fishing down south as well. We went Tuesday and Thursday last week with similar slow bite results. For the first time ever I caught more baitfish than gamefish. I didn’t know that menhaden would eat a bait, but they will eat Gulp. Caught one in the mouth and snagged one.

[HJS]

Thanks for the report. Sometimes dink breakers do have bigger fish below them... but mostly not... I'm not sure what it depends on. Back in the day there'd be gray trout under dink breakers... only fond memories now.

Question about BB tolls. As of recent years I cross the BB maybe once or twice a year or so, tops. Earlier in the year there was talk about eliminating the cash toll booths. What's the status of cash toll booths now?

[Mark]

What's the status of cash toll booths now?

There are still cash booths. There are E-Z Pass booths too. Each is well marked.

[yellowyak]

I fished the Bay Bridge last week during the full moon at night time- I think I had one bite, but that was it. Nothing else- as others mentioned, there was bait fish jumping all over, but I think the strippers had full bellies- I went out the to the Bridge about two weeks before that, first time on my new yak, and I caught keeper rockfish off the pilings, near the channel, primarily off a pink bass assassin. After reading this string, it's good to know that it wasn't my fishing skills that got me the skunk during the full moon. After fishing Solomons, I think I like fishing there better than the Bay Bridge (for now) because the water seems to be cleaner (no debris floating around like the Bay and no stench) down there and because there seems to be more fishing locations that you can fish within two miles up or down from the Solomons Bridge.