Fishing for me this spring has been non existent primarily due to windy-rainy weather. I had yet to catch a keeper 20. I have been sailing primarily, and "Mama Dogg"had been seriously neglected. So Sunday morning I took everything except a pair of wire cutters, a box of Papa Dog's, and my rod off the boat and scrubbed her down. We had a party at the house that afternoon, so I had not finished with my spring cleaning project when my buddy Glenn showed up at 4 Memorial Day to head out.
There was a ton a boat traffic, but the spot was calm as low tide was at 4pm. Glenn picked up one small one during the hour we were there. I decided it was time to head out into the real world and try open bay fishing. I had heard from several people that Eastern Bay had been doing well so we headed over to Poplar island. It was like a different world on the Eastern Shore. There was not another boat in sight, which meant I was on my won as to where to fish. I called Dabney to see where he had been doing well, as he has been fishing over there quite a bit. His answer did not give me much comfort. "We were about a mile off the Northern most point of the island in 60 to 70 feet of water. The fish have been on the surface with very few birds around". Not much to go on, but I decided to wing it. When we hit 70 feet, I did see three white birds sitting on water, so that is where we stopped. Within seconds we saw a large pod of fish maybe 100 feet way with their "tails a slappin". On my first cast I brought a nice 26 on board who swallowed the plug. As I was attempting to extract the hooks, without my needle nose pliers, Glenn brought on board an even bigger 28, which was followed by one too big for me to guess. We had no measuring devise, but it was BIG and by far his biggest Chesapeake Striper on light tackle. After literally 20 minutes of trying I finally decided to cut the line and toss Popa and the fish in the box. After re-tying, another big one slammed, which broke the line as I was attempting to swing her over the gunnel. Well thats 2 of my 6 Popa's down. A few fish later, I got my biggest Striper on life tackle ever. This pattern continued until sundown. It was simply incredible. Every fish was huge. I lost the other 4 plugs and several of Glens to break off's. I simply was not prepared for fish of that size. My 10 pound braid had not been changed in 6 months. Still, I did boat the fish in the pic on 10 pound line and a 15 year old reel. Next time, if there is a next time, I will be better prepared. If there had been any boat traffic or wind stirring up the water, we would never been able to follow them that long. I may never have everything fall in place again, but I will be prepared.
I was anxious all day today to get back out there. Unfortunately, it was spitting rain, a little too choppy and appeared that fog was moving in. I was all settled down in my winter gear when Dabney texted me that him and our buddy John were heading out in 30. It took me less than that to be sitting in his cabin, re-rigged, with an assortment of plugs. Dabs set the chart for a spot similar to yesterday and off we went. It actually was not bad. Within minutes of arriving, we hit another large pod of breaking fish. Dabs had promised fish to several neighbors, so we quickly filled the box with fat broad shoulders 26 and 28 inch fish. On the way in we ran into Dave from "the spot". He and his boys were sitting over a huge school sitting right on the bottom in 14 foot of water. We joined them for longer than planned as the action was incredible with 1/2 ounce jigs snapped off the bottom. I left my rods on Dabs boat as we plan on hitting it again tomorrow.
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Dabs with a 26 |
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I topwater guys dream screen- Memorial day |
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My biggest topwater fish ever!!! |
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Tonights Haul |
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Glenn's biggest |