Crab Alley Bay 9/3

Well it looked like a great day of fishing and calm winds and waves. Mark, Raptor, and myself launched around 6:30. Started fishing near the launch area and soon picked up a striper near two duck blinds. Raptor was catching perch and Mark was trying. Fished a little bit around Johnson Island and had to take the picture of the seagulls in line on the pilings. Anyway, Raptor and myself deceided to paddle out to Parsons Island, really didn't look that far, but boy was it a long paddle. Raptor did unknowingly hook a small striper and then we deceided to paddle back and that was a work out!!! Wind in our faces, waves about 2ft., what a paddle! Anyway, Mark caught a spec, stipers, and I think perch. He lost a lot of soft bait tails to what he originally thought to be blues. But the Specs sure do have teeth. Raptor caught a lot of perch and some small stripers, I caught one striper and one croaker for the morning. I will let them add anything I left out but still a good day. Came in around 11:00

[Mark]

That's a good report above from On the Fly. It was hard fishing today. Many casts and few rewards but I did catch my first spec.

While my fishing companions disappeared across Crab Alley I worked a very long shoreline, perhaps a thousand yards long that started close to the launch area. It certainly looked like it held fish. There was riprap and then wooded shoreline and more riprap and areas of reeds and grass right up to the water's edge with muddy pockets formed by erosion. I'm thinking redfish in the grass as I looked at that environment...didn't catch any of course but I tossed every soft plastic lure I had on the four rods I carried today.

I then moved offshore about 200 yards and trolled back to the start of the inviting shoreline. I fed a couple Mister Twisters and Paddle Tails to toothy fish during that trolling trip but I hooked nothing. Then I worked the entire shoreline again and trolled back to the launch area (feeding more plastic to the fish and hooking nothing) and waited for the boys to return from their open water voyage. They were pretty spent from battling the wind. I was less fatigued because I stayed in protected water most of the day except when I trolled.

I caught only seven fish -- five white perch (3 big enough to lip), a dink striper and a small spec -- each were on that beautiful enticing shoreline. I got them casting jig spinners with soft plastics. I got none trolling.

Let's hope Kent Island waters are more forgiving during the tournament.

[J.A. Veil]

Nice work guys. Congratulations on finding a spec. Sorry I was not available to join you this week.