10-02 Piney Point report

[Pamlico]

It was a beautiful day out there. I launched right at sunrise and stayed on the inside. Water temps were mid-60s and there were bunker everywhere, though the water was dirty. I picked up a chunky trout on a Candy Corn Saltwater Assassin only a few minutes after I started trolling. Every minute or so there was another "smack!" that would echo around the quiet coves as trout fed at the surface. Most were shallow, around 3' or so, and concentrated on ambush points.

Unfortunately, something kept shredding my assassins so I changed it up. The grass wasn't bad so I put a 52 MR Mirrolure on one rod, which is usually deadly for slow-trolling trout further south, and a Zman paddletail on the other. I got a rat red on the Mirrolure but nothing would touch the Zmans, even when I tried a few colors. I pulled out Chicken on a Chain assassins (rootbeer color with a chartreuse tail) but the bite was dying as the sun got higher and they just didn't want it.

Before leaving around noon I hit the channel to jig a little. Something actually sliced the tail off a Zman, which I've never even seen blues do. Ribbon fish, maybe?

Takeaway: candy corn is disgusting, but Candy Corn is magic. That lure never fails me in the fall, and the puppy drum seem to like it even more than trout.

[dsaavedra]

Thanks for the report, glad to hear you had some fun action down there. In past years I've caught some decent trout and almost-slot-reds in that area late September/early October. I doubt ribbonfish are still around, I would guess it's small bluefish that are shredding your plastics.

[ski357]

Feel your pain, some trips the last few weeks I've used a couple of packs of paddle tails. I concur with the bluefish, though the trout have been hitting hard. Lizard fish are also around. About a week ago I went through a pack of Trout Tricks that got cut in half. Been meaning to post my last few trips, been hit or miss. The hits have been big though! I'm going out this evening and will report back.

[rugbyfish]

Experienced the same thing yesterday. Fishing was slow, as I only managed one puppy drum and a nice perch.
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[ski357]

I went out with two buddies for about 2.5 hours last night. I only managed a 16" puppy. One buddy got a 18" speckled trout, a dink trout, and a perch. Our other buddy managed a 15.5" bluefish and a 17" trout. We saw lots of bait on the surface and had quite few bite offs.

[Pamlico]

What struck me as weird was that the bites that were wrecking my plastics were almost non-existent. Blues (and lizardfish) are usually so aggressive that there's no mistaking them. But time and again it was just a little pressure, then sliced to bits. But I guess they are the obvious suspects.

For those of you who know the area well, won't the bite stay on for some time? I normally fish Tidewater and the Banks, and the trout and pups are just getting started down there. They will be up in the creeks and rivers and feeding hard until December. I would imagine as long as there's bait in the lower Potomac they should stick around?

[Big Mike]

I fish the lower Potomac all the time and this year has been as odd as anyone we’ve had. Usually by November we’re back to almost exclusively a striper bite, but good luck finding a striper. I expect the drum to hang around until then, trout will probably leave in next 2 weeks, especially with the mini cold snap this weekend.

[ski357]

What struck me as weird was that the bites that were wrecking my plastics were almost non-existent. Blues (and lizardfish) are usually so aggressive that there's no mistaking them. But time and again it was just a little pressure, then sliced to bits. But I guess they are the obvious suspects.

For those of you who know the area well, won't the bite stay on for some time? I normally fish Tidewater and the Banks, and the trout and pups are just getting started down there. They will be up in the creeks and rivers and feeding hard until December. I would imagine as long as there's bait in the lower Potomac they should stick around?

I like to imagine that those phantom bite offs are wiley gator trout.

[Big Mike]

What struck me as weird was that the bites that were wrecking my plastics were almost non-existent. Blues (and lizardfish) are usually so aggressive that there's no mistaking them. But time and again it was just a little pressure, then sliced to bits. But I guess they are the obvious suspects.

For those of you who know the area well, won't the bite stay on for some time? I normally fish Tidewater and the Banks, and the trout and pups are just getting started down there. They will be up in the creeks and rivers and feeding hard until December. I would imagine as long as there's bait in the lower Potomac they should stick around?

There’s a chance that pufferfish are biting your lures in half. They’re definitely around right now.

[Pamlico]

There’s a chance that pufferfish are biting your lures in half. They’re definitely around right now.

That is an excellent theory. It would explain the razor clean bite-offs I got jigging the shelly bottom under the bridge. I should have dropped some teeny hooks with fishbites...they're good eating.