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Shallow water action, Piney Point, 9/11
I finished the first round of this weekend's chores early enough to get in some evening fishing. I also figured out what is wrong with my fish finder, which I have to fix today (loose negative connector).
I launched at Piney Point at 5pm, which was high tide. I fished until 7:45, which was from the beginning of the ebb to almost max ebb. Water temperature was 78* and salinity was 16.5, which was a lot higher than the previous two years, I think.
Since the tide was high, I started off looking for spot, perch, and puppy drum. No jumbo spot at the usual place, but I caught some 4-6 inchers at my perch/redfish spot on Fishbites. No luck finding any redfish, but I did see something coppery jump a few times. It was probably my buck fever making a bluefish look like a redfish.
I found a 10" perch by some large woody debris, but only one:
It was weird finding a solitary perch, but it was the only hit I had in the entire area. I caught it on a 2" white twin tail grub on a spinner arm. Nothing hit the chartreuse Gulp grub I tossed around with and without a gold spinner arm.
At 6:45, I started heading toward my topwater spot. I trolled a 5" shallow diving Bomber minnow (black back, orange belly) under the bridge and caught a 18.5" striper. Fighting the fish in the current by the bridge was interesting. I released it since I thought it was a sign that bigger fish would be biting.
As it turned out, my topwater spot was on fire. No fish were rolling, nothing was hitting my Chugbug, but I couldn't keep fish off the Bomber. I caught another 18 incher upon arrival, which I released, and the next cast brought in a 20 incher:
The fish was bleeding, and the lure got all tangled up in my anchor trolley, my pants, etc., so I kept it. As I untangled everything, I noticed that the hook on the Bomber was bent.
I straightened it and kept fishing. I caught three more fish in the 17-18 inch range, missed/lost three or four more more, then I caught a nice 22-incher, which I kept:
It was about 7:30 at this point, and, for some reason, I started catching much smaller fish in the 14-16 inch range, so I decided to troll back to the launch (without any hits). Every fish I landed bent the hooks, even the smallest fish, and even after I loosened the drag. That's pretty unacceptable.
I had a nice sunset and saw a sundog that foretold of this morning's rain:
It was a good thing I quit when I did because the wind picked up quite a bit. There's been a solid southerly breeze every time I've fished Piney Point this year. Anyway, it was an awesome evening, I caught enough fish for several dinners, and my manly man baitcaster got a good workout. It was funny that the fish only wanted subsurface lures. Also, I have to do some hook swapping today, apparently.
I launched at Piney Point at 5pm, which was high tide. I fished until 7:45, which was from the beginning of the ebb to almost max ebb. Water temperature was 78* and salinity was 16.5, which was a lot higher than the previous two years, I think.
Since the tide was high, I started off looking for spot, perch, and puppy drum. No jumbo spot at the usual place, but I caught some 4-6 inchers at my perch/redfish spot on Fishbites. No luck finding any redfish, but I did see something coppery jump a few times. It was probably my buck fever making a bluefish look like a redfish.
I found a 10" perch by some large woody debris, but only one:It was weird finding a solitary perch, but it was the only hit I had in the entire area. I caught it on a 2" white twin tail grub on a spinner arm. Nothing hit the chartreuse Gulp grub I tossed around with and without a gold spinner arm.
At 6:45, I started heading toward my topwater spot. I trolled a 5" shallow diving Bomber minnow (black back, orange belly) under the bridge and caught a 18.5" striper. Fighting the fish in the current by the bridge was interesting. I released it since I thought it was a sign that bigger fish would be biting.
As it turned out, my topwater spot was on fire. No fish were rolling, nothing was hitting my Chugbug, but I couldn't keep fish off the Bomber. I caught another 18 incher upon arrival, which I released, and the next cast brought in a 20 incher:
The fish was bleeding, and the lure got all tangled up in my anchor trolley, my pants, etc., so I kept it. As I untangled everything, I noticed that the hook on the Bomber was bent.
I straightened it and kept fishing. I caught three more fish in the 17-18 inch range, missed/lost three or four more more, then I caught a nice 22-incher, which I kept:It was about 7:30 at this point, and, for some reason, I started catching much smaller fish in the 14-16 inch range, so I decided to troll back to the launch (without any hits). Every fish I landed bent the hooks, even the smallest fish, and even after I loosened the drag. That's pretty unacceptable.
I had a nice sunset and saw a sundog that foretold of this morning's rain:
It was a good thing I quit when I did because the wind picked up quite a bit. There's been a solid southerly breeze every time I've fished Piney Point this year. Anyway, it was an awesome evening, I caught enough fish for several dinners, and my manly man baitcaster got a good workout. It was funny that the fish only wanted subsurface lures. Also, I have to do some hook swapping today, apparently.
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