ESVA Speckled and Striper Day

[Hemingway]

I fished a favorite speckled trout spot today for the first time this year...the speckled have just not shown up in enough numbers for me to make the trip up to now. But with an under the radar report from my local bait and tackle shop I decided it was time. The report was "spot on". Large numbers of speckled are finally here, however they are all dinks. I must have caught at least 25-30 of my little buddies all under 11". The silver lining is that we should definitely have some keepers next year if they can make it through the winter. They hit everything I offered...red/gold medal flake 4" BA, smoke flake, and white/pink curly tail. The real fun of the day came when I encountered a large school of quality stripers chasing a big school of dink specks. I had 5 doubles on, and three other times, as soon as the lure hit the water, I was on before I could put the rod in the holder. The stripers were busting the speckled as I was reeling them in, and chasing them all the way to the yak. It was so fast and furious that I stopped taking photos and just dealt with releasing healthy fish. My guess is that I caught over 25 stripers today, and at least 12 were 20-25". Sure I was hoping for a stray large speckled (especially with the CCA tournament coming soon), but maybe they are on the way. In any case, I had one of my most enjoyable day's fishing ever, so I thought I would share

Striper1.jpg

[Mark]

That's a memorable day, indeed.

Congratulations.

[kevinfry]

That striper is a pig!

[Hemingway]

That striper is a pig!

Yup, all the fish in this school were thick as bricks and super aggressive. Hope they stay around until the Virginia season opens back up...released a lot of nice fillets lol

[RavensDfense]

Whoop whoop! Good going man. Wish I could have joined you.

[J.A. Veil]

Good report. Those fast catching days help to make up for ones with bad weather or a tough bite.

[Hemingway]

Good report. Those fast catching days help to make up for ones with bad weather or a tough bite.

John, your are so right about that. It was really cool to experience that quality of fishery for a change! We are so lucky to live where we do!

[CB kayak 02]

Just to verify the CCA tourney is the 19-20th not this weekend. Still another week for the specks to show up.
I also had the same report of all small specks this past weekend while prefishing down near crisfield for the tournament.

I fished a favorite speckled trout spot today for the first time this year...the speckled have just not shown up in enough numbers for me to make the trip up to now. But with an under the radar report from my local bait and tackle shop I decided it was time. The report was "spot on". Large numbers of speckled are finally here, however they are all dinks. I must have caught at least 25-30 of my little buddies all under 11". The silver lining is that we should definitely have some keepers next year if they can make it through the winter. They hit everything I offered...red/gold medal flake 4" BA, smoke flake, and white/pink curly tail. The real fun of the day came when I encountered a large school of quality stripers chasing a big school of dink specks. I had 5 doubles on, and three other times, as soon as the lure hit the water, I was on before I could put the rod in the holder. The stripers were busting the speckled as I was reeling them in, and chasing them all the way to the yak. It was so fast and furious that I stopped taking photos and just dealt with releasing healthy fish. My guess is that I caught over 25 stripers today, and at least 12 were 20-25". Sure I was hoping for a stray large speckled (especially with the CCA tournament this weekend), but maybe they are on the way. In any case, I had one of my most enjoyable day's fishing ever, so I thought I would share

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[Hemingway]

Thanks Matt, I should have checked my calendar when I was writing this post after a long day on the water lol The dinks do seem to be showing up in numbers a lot of places. Now we just need some of the big girls to follow them in.

[Slobber Bob]

Sounds like you had a busy day. Nicely done!

Lots of dinks is encouraging news too. It's sure better then no specks around at all!

[jhoss]

That's the kind of report we like to hear about! Thanks for sharing.

Nice to also know that the specks are rebounding after last winter