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Last year I started hearing buzz about cutlassfish, an "exotic" new summertime visitor to the Chesapeake bay. I use quotes on "exotic" because they are not an invasive or introduced species, but their natural range has expanded in recent years and they are now found regularly in areas where they were not previously found. I sought to catch one for the first time last year and I was able to do so on two separate trips in August 2022. By September the fish had moved out of the area.
Feeling a bit bored lately with the tidal offerings near my home, I ventured back to the lower Patuxent to try to catch cutlassfish again. I went on two trips over the past 2 weeks and did well both times. The first trip was a bit slow, I caught 10 cutlassfish but had to work hard to catch them over the span of 6 hours. I faced countless short strikes and hookups were few and far between. Yesterday I had much faster action and I put 29 cutlassfish in the boat, though the bite slowed considerably in the late morning. I still had to deal with short strikes (they are part of the cutlassfishing game) but they seemed more willing to eat rather than just "taste test" my lures. Here are a couple pictures from my trips:
20230703_053214.jpg
20230712_064855.jpg
My approach to catching them is to troll around the edges of deep channels and marinas until I start feeling taps on my lures. Cutlassfish are notorious for short-striking and I don't actually catch many while trolling, but it is a useful search tool. When I feel taps and see the distinctive wispy looking signatures on the fish finder, I know the cutlassfish are around and I stop trolling and start casting to thoroughly cover the area. It takes a while to figure out what retrieve they prefer on any given day, but lately they have been preferring a slow retrieve several feet off the bottom in ~20ft of water.
I know a lot of people consider them a nuisance fish, but I think they are really cool. They are uniquely challenging to catch and also put up a unique fight with their backwards-swimming abilities. These cutlassfish trips are a fun change of pace for me now that's we're entering the oppressive part of summer.
Feeling a bit bored lately with the tidal offerings near my home, I ventured back to the lower Patuxent to try to catch cutlassfish again. I went on two trips over the past 2 weeks and did well both times. The first trip was a bit slow, I caught 10 cutlassfish but had to work hard to catch them over the span of 6 hours. I faced countless short strikes and hookups were few and far between. Yesterday I had much faster action and I put 29 cutlassfish in the boat, though the bite slowed considerably in the late morning. I still had to deal with short strikes (they are part of the cutlassfishing game) but they seemed more willing to eat rather than just "taste test" my lures. Here are a couple pictures from my trips:
20230703_053214.jpg
20230712_064855.jpg
My approach to catching them is to troll around the edges of deep channels and marinas until I start feeling taps on my lures. Cutlassfish are notorious for short-striking and I don't actually catch many while trolling, but it is a useful search tool. When I feel taps and see the distinctive wispy looking signatures on the fish finder, I know the cutlassfish are around and I stop trolling and start casting to thoroughly cover the area. It takes a while to figure out what retrieve they prefer on any given day, but lately they have been preferring a slow retrieve several feet off the bottom in ~20ft of water.
I know a lot of people consider them a nuisance fish, but I think they are really cool. They are uniquely challenging to catch and also put up a unique fight with their backwards-swimming abilities. These cutlassfish trips are a fun change of pace for me now that's we're entering the oppressive part of summer.
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