Found Some

[J. Rentch]

John Veil and I hit Eastern Bay yesterday looking for fish. We launched abt 8:30 to light NW winds and a falling tide. I was trolling a 1/8 jig with a white 3” swim Shad and a 3/8 jig eye with a 4” chartreuse swim Shad. About 30 minutes in, I found a mess of schoolies over an oyster bar. Landed 6 within 30-40 minutes. Nothing large, but felt good hearing the reel giving out that “zigging” sound. As I was about to leave, had a big tug and thought I had a 20+” Striper, instead it was a 21” Catfish. After I left the oyster bar, nothing for the rest of the day. The winds picked up, so decided to head back to the launch. Felt good to fish local salt water again. Hoping to find some specks soon.

[ronaultmtd]

Glad you got some "pullage" John!

[jbrown]

Do specks come to Eastern bay? Spring or fall? Didn’t think they would come up this far


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[J. Rentch]

I landed one last May while trolling for Stripers. They are more common further south, but do migrate up- weather permitting.

[J.A. Veil]

I caught fewer than five specks in Eastern Bay over the years (two last year). They are around, but not common.

John Rentch and I fished different sections of the same water area at different times. He worked north early, then south later. I did the reverse. I trolled three 6'6" spinning rods (MH, ML, and L) with 3/16-oz jigheads and 3" to 5" paddletails. I was fishing in 3' to 4' water depth (no fishfinder -- depth judged by sticking my paddle down until it hit bottom) and caught 15 stripers in three hours, Six of them were 21" or larger, with the biggest at 26". The fish were not scattered uniformly -- I found pockets where they were biting and stayed in those areas. On two occasions, I had all three rods go down at once (lots of excitement).

One downside to fishing in water that shallow is that occasionally I do snag items on the bottom. This is more common when I have stopped paddling to wind in a fish. The loss of forward momentum allows the other lures to drag along the bottom.

I had not fished that area before until about Memorial Day and did not know what to expect for an early May trip. I was quite pleased with the results.