Bay Bridge 05/25

[FRED driver]

Secured 2 outbacks to the roof of the car and made the first-ever drive to the BB today...got on the water about 645 with high tide at about 9 am...action was great, mostly small dudes for now. I caught 41 total with about 10 or so around 18 or 19 inches, rest smaller. The key was current and jigging the right bait! Once I found what they loved, it was nonstop hits. At times of peak current, hits every cast and a hookup every 3rd or so...used a silver and blue Zoom super fluke on a 1/2 oz white jighead (perfect weight). Never ventured deeper than 25 feet of water as they aren't holed up deep yet (not that we could tell anyway). If you go, make sure to go in between the tides when the current is running. The bite completely shut off at the the changeover. Good bites right on the bridge piles and up to 15 yards down-current.

Worked both north and south runs of the bridge, launched from G dock. My buddy also hooked a large cownose ray that broke his rod in half trying to lift it...will post a pic later.

Ryan

[chex]

Wow, very cool! That's a lot of stripers. Thanks for the report.

Too bad about your buddy's rod, but that musta been a nice fight.

How did the water look? Been hearing reports about not so clean water.

[FRED driver]

The water was super clear and very clean, make sure you use clear or green monofilament!...beautiful for jigging. Also, sorry I put this in the wrong forum. Amateur hour.

[tufnik]

Wow, that is a lot of stripers. Congrats on a good day! Waiting for the big ones.

(deleted now)

[frettr00]

I read an article recently that said due to lower dissolved oxygen levels in deeper water, the fish are holding up in shallower water. It makes sense that you're finding them @ 25 ft or less.

[daddyg]

I got out late for the tide at SP yesterday but hit 8 small rock as soon as I got out there after that nothing only put 1 on the ruler 17 in still luv a good day on the Bay Viz looked to be 3 to 4 feet

[FRED driver]

I got out late for the tide at SP yesterday but hit 8 small rock as soon as I got out there after that nothing only put 1 on the ruler 17 in still luv a good day on the Bay Viz looked to be 3 to 4 feet

How was the boat traffic?

As promised, below are some pictures of the cownose ray...the last one shows his rod breaking right at the moment it happened:

[tufnik]

Nice action shots. I noticed the matching rod, reel, tackle bag and yak. You must be a lemon/banana kinda guy....lol...

[Sun]

oh wow. that last pic is great. You can see that the rod has broken into two pieces and are parallel to each other. sorry about the rod!

[frettr00]

I lost a rod last year to one of those beasts @ PLO... http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v3...t=IMG_0170.jpg

[Spacebound11]

Yes it was a hell of a fight...it's amazing how a big/ cool catch can make you sound like a 6 year that found a dollar. It was $35 rod and reel combo so not a huge loss.

[chex]

Awesome that you got those pics. That thing is huge!

[Southerly]

FRED driver - that is a kick butt BB report!!!

i would print and frame pic of ray breaking rod. maybe worth the price of admission for that one

[FRED driver]

FRED driver - that is a kick butt BB report!!!

i would print and frame pic of ray breaking rod. maybe worth the price of admission for that one

I totally agree...so glad I had the camera readily available for that random occurrence. If you want cheap pullage mixed with a few keeps, BB is great right now! I may in fact head back tomorrow morning, the tides look perfect.

[J.A. Veil]

The bay bridge was not kind to me this morning. I fished from my center console (with a few suggestions from my mechanic over the phone yesterday I got the motor started this time).

I circled both rock piles and the large concrete pillars near them and saw almost no fish marks on the sonar. I tried jigging a bit but had no bites. The low point came when I was drifting slowly along the eastern shore rock pile directly underneath the bridge span jigging a BKD. Several gulls let loose with a poop bombing that splashed the water near my boat -- a few splats landed on the deck of my boat.

I set down the rod to wipe off the poop. I quickly finished the clean up, but found my jighead had found a permanent lodging spot among the rocks. The line broke as I attempted to pull it free. I realized that I did not have any leader material on board, so I had to retire that rod for the day.

I jigged several of the 6-legged pilings on the eastern side and jigged the Kent Island sewer pipe. Nothing was biting there.

I hope that MKF members can do better than I did on your next visit to the Bay Bridge.

As a side note, I bottom fished at Brickhouse Bar (off of Kent Island) and at Tolleys Point without a bite. I finally began catching white perch at Hacketts Bar in about 17 ft depth. They wanted only bloodworms.