Anybody Going Out This Weekend?

[CHOC]

Curious to hear how the trip went. I’m proud of myself for not getting a babysitter and spending the entire weekend with my daughter.

[Yakmac]

Curious to hear how the trip went. I’m proud of myself for not getting a babysitter and spending the entire weekend with my daughter.

You did good spending quality time with your daughter because the fishing was very low quality. But, a beautiful day on the water good to see Belairfishig again and meet a couple of other fellow anglers. Some people did better than others but for me I caught a 15” striper right out the gate and nothing worth mentioning the rest of the day.

[CHOC]

Yikes. If the 15” striper is worth mentioning...

[Yakmac]

Yikes. If the 15” striper is worth mentioning...

Exactly!! And honestly, I’m getting tired of saying “it was nice just being on the water.” [emoji23]

[belairfishing]

Keith, nice to see you again, and nice to meet the other guys on the water. A few highlights from me:

1. My biggest fish of the day was a 17 1/2 inch striper on a Yozuri minnow. First one I have ever bought, and I can see why they cost so much....the action on them is amazing! I also had a short 12 incher trolling a ZMan Diezel in Opening Night. And then a teeny tiny baby striper in with the white perch, on a beetle spin.

2. My wife and I got into kayaking together after an alligator sightseeing trip in the Everglades. She is always very patient when I fish on our sightseeing trips, but I told her THIS was going to be a fishing trip. Well we bought her a fishing license last night, and today she caught an 11 inch white perch! I think it was the first fish she has caught since she was 12 or 13 years old. We really had a nice day on the water together, and although she hears about the guys on this board from me a lot, she really enjoyed talking to some of you on the water. I think there will be more fishing trips in our future. Now I have to get her on a striper!

3. I saved the best for last...Keith's random thoughts on the radio:

- "Why do we use treble hooks"

- "Everything I thought I know about fishing was wrong"

- (while trolling) "I just caught a fish barely bigger than the lure I was using...who knows how long I have been dragging this thing around!"

Steve

[CHOC]

- (while trolling) "I just caught a fish barely bigger than the lure I was using...who knows how long I have been dragging this thing around!"

LOL. That’s great.

[rugbyfish]

It was great meeting you guys on the water yesterday, we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Fishing was slow for me too but I did manage to catch and release one 19-20" striper. I also ended up bringing home 11 crabs after 4 and a half hours of crabbing. All in all it was a great day!

[Mark]

...Keith's random thoughts on the radio:

"Why do we use treble hooks"

Keith -- Don't! Switch the trebles on those lures to in-line hooks.

Steve -- Congrats to you and your wife. How nice to share the hobby with your spouse.

[J.A. Veil]

Eastern Bay has not produced many fish for me this year either. For the past five years or so, I made numerous trips in my Scout center console boat to fish various shallow spots with structure in Eastern Bay and have gotten to know the area pretty well. These spots are scattered around the edges of the bay, requiring a powered vessel to cover lots of ground. So far this year, I made four trips there -- each covering 30 to 40 miles. Trip 1 produced two modest stripers. Trip 2, with John Rentch and Mark, produced no bites in over 4 hours. Trip 3 (last Tues) produced one 20" striper on topwater and 25 stripers (15" to 20") on paddletails -- but 22 of those came from just one location that is hard to get to and risks damage to a propeller from submerged rocks. It also produced 5 large perch from 10" to 12.5". But none of my other locations produced any bites.

At the Annapolis CCA banquet in April, I donated a half-day trip on the Scout to visit the shallow water spots in Eastern Bay. After Tuesday's results, I called the guys who won the CCA trip, and we went out yesterday afternoon. We were on the water from 2:30 until nearly 8:00. I covered 39 miles and visited more than a dozen locations that have all produced stripers for me in the past. At one spot we caught about 5 perch, including a massive 13.5" beauty that was the first fish to the boat. At our last spot of the day, we caught about 15 stripers from 16" to 20". Those portions of the trip were great, but we drew a blank at every other spot. In previous years, it was not unusual to catch 30 to 50 fish in these locations.

I keep waiting for rising water temperatures or some other factor to improve the bite, but so far it has not gotten any better. I am considering selling my boat and sticking to kayak fishing. As a side note, any Snaggedline member interested in a very fishable and stable 16' boat with a 70-hp Yamaha motor and a Minnkota trolling motor, please send me a pmail and we can have a discussion.

[mike o]

It was nice meeting everyone Sunday. The fishing was not good but that happens sometimes. Atleast I got to try out my Mirage drive after I completely disassembled and lubed it. It still works. And I made up for my lack of success by Going out with Walleye Pete today and got a 34" so there are still some big fish around.

[Mark]

...I got to try out my Mirage drive after I completely disassembled and lubed it. It still works. And I made up for my lack of success by Going out with Walleye Pete today and got a 34" so there are still some big fish around.

I did that one time with the Mirage Drive on my old Revo. I took photos and labeled the parts with masking tape as I disassembled it making sure not to mix the right and left sides of the unit. I too was very pleased that it still worked when I was done.

Congrats on your big catch with Pete.