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PLO action picking up, 8/26
I've been working the night shift on a research cruise for the past week, and I thought a fishing trip would help reset my internal clock. :wink44: I launched at Point Lookout at a little after 1pm and fished until 8. That was from just before max flood to early ebb. I forgot my temp/salinity meter, but my sonar read 82-83* pretty consistently after a couple hours.
The main goal was to find some puppy drum for an easy entry into the Maryland Fishing Challenge.
Plus, I haven't caught one yet this year. I was feeling pretty lousy, so I mostly fished Lake Conoy and the jetties. I beat the shoreline to a froth using various colors of Gulp grubs, Redfish Magic, and my trusty 2" white twin-tailed grub on a spinner arm. I caught a 14" bluefish when I cast the Gulp grub into a menhaden school the blue was hammering. It was pretty feisty and spun my yak around. 
I hit the jetties and picked up a couple small flounder. That convinced me to try for bigger flounder, so I jigged a Spro bucktail/Gulp shrimp combo for awhile with no hits.
I saw some birds working out in Cornfield Harbor, so I high-tailed it out there while trolling a Stingsilver, but the fish disappeared, and nothing hit the lure. It was kind of rough out there, so I trolled a Pet Spoon back to Lake Conoy with no hits and recommenced my search for reds. Another sweep of the usual spots didn't produce, so I alternately hit the jetties again with a Rattletrap and jigged for flounder while soaking a bottom rig for spot. Livelining-sized spot were plentiful, but no jumbos for dinner and no hits on the other lures. At about 5:30, a few fish kept breaking at the outer end of the northern jetty, so I switched to a Chugbug. I missed a few hits, so I switched to a smaller popper with a small bucktail jig on a 18" leader and promptly caught a needlefish:
My father caught a much bigger one last year at about this time.
A few more casts later, a super-fat 17" striper hit the jig like it was fired out of a torpedo tube. I was glad I measured it because I was sure it was a keeper based on its girth and how hard it fought.
I headed in at 6:45 because I was pretty beat, but the evening was too nice to pass up hitting one last topwater spot on my way out of the park. There were huge schools of menhaden being driven into the shoreline by stripers and blues. I caught a ~17" striper on a Chugbug, which the fish came out of the water to hit. :clapping2: I caught another about the same size and a bigger, fatter one that was pushing 24 inches based on where it measured out on my rod. Those two fish were taken on a ~5in Bomber Long A. Nothing would hit a Rattletrap that was almost exactly the same size as the menhaden in the schools.
Since I forgot my measuring tape, all were released.
It looks like it's going to be a good year for topwater striper action. Hopefully, I'll be able to beat my 26" personal best this fall. Furthermore, I successfully reset my clock. Seven hours of fishing made me sleep like a log.
The main goal was to find some puppy drum for an easy entry into the Maryland Fishing Challenge.
Plus, I haven't caught one yet this year. I was feeling pretty lousy, so I mostly fished Lake Conoy and the jetties. I beat the shoreline to a froth using various colors of Gulp grubs, Redfish Magic, and my trusty 2" white twin-tailed grub on a spinner arm. I caught a 14" bluefish when I cast the Gulp grub into a menhaden school the blue was hammering. It was pretty feisty and spun my yak around. I hit the jetties and picked up a couple small flounder. That convinced me to try for bigger flounder, so I jigged a Spro bucktail/Gulp shrimp combo for awhile with no hits.I saw some birds working out in Cornfield Harbor, so I high-tailed it out there while trolling a Stingsilver, but the fish disappeared, and nothing hit the lure. It was kind of rough out there, so I trolled a Pet Spoon back to Lake Conoy with no hits and recommenced my search for reds. Another sweep of the usual spots didn't produce, so I alternately hit the jetties again with a Rattletrap and jigged for flounder while soaking a bottom rig for spot. Livelining-sized spot were plentiful, but no jumbos for dinner and no hits on the other lures. At about 5:30, a few fish kept breaking at the outer end of the northern jetty, so I switched to a Chugbug. I missed a few hits, so I switched to a smaller popper with a small bucktail jig on a 18" leader and promptly caught a needlefish:
My father caught a much bigger one last year at about this time. A few more casts later, a super-fat 17" striper hit the jig like it was fired out of a torpedo tube.
I was glad I measured it because I was sure it was a keeper based on its girth and how hard it fought.I headed in at 6:45 because I was pretty beat, but the evening was too nice to pass up hitting one last topwater spot on my way out of the park. There were huge schools of menhaden being driven into the shoreline by stripers and blues. I caught a ~17" striper on a Chugbug, which the fish came out of the water to hit. :clapping2: I caught another about the same size and a bigger, fatter one that was pushing 24 inches based on where it measured out on my rod. Those two fish were taken on a ~5in Bomber Long A. Nothing would hit a Rattletrap that was almost exactly the same size as the menhaden in the schools.
Since I forgot my measuring tape, all were released.It looks like it's going to be a good year for topwater striper action. Hopefully, I'll be able to beat my 26" personal best this fall. Furthermore, I successfully reset my clock. Seven hours of fishing made me sleep like a log.
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