Fort Armistead - 10/25/19

[Big Boom Bassin]

Caveat: New to the Saltwater Game --- so excuse any ignorance.

I headed out of Fort Armistead around 8am on Saturday for about 3.5 hours. Shot straight out to the green buoy marker and worked the channel edges and I was MARKING quite a bit of fish. Primarily was throwing a 1/2oz red eye jig head and opening night paddletail, a 2.5oz white jighead with a white BKD, a pink/white skirted 2oz BKD and a silver jigging spoon. ( First time jigging and learned very quickly that I need a leader attached to that braid to prevent tangles LOL)

Fish were holding around 20 feet and I couldn't seem to hook up while trolling or casting but caught just a couple perch and a small 8-10 inch striper while jigging just above bottom.

Saw about an hours worth of baitfish busting the surface and some gulls dropping on them but couldn't capitalize.

Water temps were hovering around 59. Overcast.

By noon, it was CROWDED with big boats with no regard for anyone but themselves so I bailed.

Not a very helpful post for y'all but I'm interested to learn here.

[Big Mike]

Very helpful post. I don’t use a fish finder but folks I fish with do. I’ll here them constantly describing fish holding in a spot and almost universally we never catch a thing there. But what you described with bait on top and fish low tells me the fish will be feeding high in the water column. Yakscientist had this in the Severn. Perhaps trying lighter jig heads might have worked.
I rarely fish more than a 1/2 oz jighead. The thought of dragging around a 2oz or bigger head makes my arm hurt thinking about it (I don’t have rod holders, I fish one rod in hand. Trolling is boring and the rod in hand gives me instant feedback on short strikes or if I’ve picked up debris). But then again in about 2 weeks water will be colder than I’m comfortable fishing in so I rarely encounter the fish really feeding in deep water.

[ronaultmtd]

I am there...bait balls usually have mid column fish and smaller surface fish...depending on the bait size...big menhaden have big fish at all levels...peanut bunker and silversides (bay anchovies) are the norm, but as water cools, the bigger menhaden school up...bigger bait, bigger lures...but silversides call for, as Big Mike advises, lighter jigheads to keep the lures in the strike zones...I rarely ever troll a Jighead heavier than 5/8 oz...in deep water I will jig a 3/4 oz...but not troll it...late season trolling calls for deep diving crankbaits..