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well i manage to hold on to 2nd place in the bass tornament this year with a 40.5 lber. prize winning with cover fuel cost lol.pulling the boat this weekend, iam done.

Congrats Charlie. Nice fish. Pictures?

John

great going charlie i can`t get any better then 22 lbs! just bad luck with bass.i have another year where i have been beat by jp kids if you remember that post.

BOB both jps kid and jr have you beat they throw back 22lbers.Nice fish charlie,we had a tournament last week and 27 lbs took all the money Bob next summer jr will give you a lesson on how to crack 40 Neil

next year i will take bass rods to montauk and take you and jr out.i am sure he will beat me ,but i will learn watching your son.

john pics to follow if i get them and can scan the on the computer might have to ask harv for help
bob jones inlet was dead this fall only a few quality bass, the fish that beat me by 3//4lb came from your inlet, fire island was on fire this fall with plenty of bait moving out. i find that over the years theres a two week period that the big girls come thru, and thats appox around mid oct to the first or sec week in nov.
neal thanks will have to try and do montauk next year

charlie,fishing here is still real good but most of the fish are tiny we can jig 50 and only one keeper. we need to come up with a location for 09s rendevous any ideas let us know

neil
small fish is normally a indictation that the end is near, unless you get the herring, then theres ussually some big fish following. i dont have a location for next year, probably montauk again

charlie we normally get the herring,only problem is that when they show up its time to take the boat out i only have untill the 15th. Montauk gets my vote for 09 its an easy 100 miles for us.After the new year we will have to get the ball rolling for the rendevous Neil

neil same here there just showing up now and iam pulling the boat on fri

I assume you guys are referring to stripers...rockfish here on the Chesapeake. How late into the fall/winter do you catch them up north (Long Island, etc)?

We are catching them in the mid-chesapeake from 36"-50" right now, 15-50lbs. We also have "resident" fish in the rivers and bay which can be caught by jig, trolling, and topwater (schoolies mostly 18-26"). I guess I was under the impression that the big fish had left your waters a month ago to head down the Jersey coast, show here in the bay, and then head to the Carolinas. They are already being caught as far down as Oregon Inlet...
-Joe

If we're lucky, we have a herring run in late November or early December and some big fish usually come with them. So far this year that has not happened. Walter

I see, does anyone use live bait for them in this cold water? How cold is the water where you fish, how deep, structure necessary or just baitfish present?

charle last sunday the weather was small craft warnings and gale warnings in afternoon.i was the only one out there you know thar sort of thing does not bother me (not to smart) but mainly just no respect for the water because of the bertram and frustrated because a guy got a 50pounder on the troll with white bunker spoon.next year your the first call on my list!

Face- As far as live bait up North is concerned, we use Eels and live Porgies (Scup). This time of year, Porgies are deemed illegal by the DEC. If the Herring arrive, we fish for them with Sabiki rigs (small multiple lure jigs) and use them as bait. As far as other "bait" fishing, we anchor on high spots and chunk pieces of Bunker (Menhaden) and drift out pieces on weighted lines. Our other bait fishing (herring, porgies, eels) is done drifting over popular spots, usually lumps and rips. Three way swivels, 5-8 oz sinkers based on current, 3-6 foot leaders with the suitable hook (circle preferred). Trolling is usually done with wire line, umbrella rigs, 2 1/2-3 foot long surgical tube eels, and flourescent green "parachute" jigs with red pork rinds that are jigged while trolling. Wire is worked with your depth recorder. Usually 10' wire to 1' depth. Most don't like using more than 300' of wire and work the deeper areas by making subtle turns so the lures drop deeper. Fishing two lines means the same length of wire on both rods to avoid tangling on turns. Walter

Walter, thanks for the reply. I'm a mate here on the bay and I fish a lot recreationally. A few things were curious to me about your striper fishing. I too use wireline on some of my trolling rods although it is pretty uncommon here and seen as oldschool. My dad and a few of the charter captains I know still use it religiously. Most have switched deep trolling lines to different braids. Secondly, the long surgical hoses are pretty uncommon here but are used by a few captains on the eastern shore of the Bay. You would get a kick out of seeing the boats here trolling 25-30 rods (10-15 boat rods, and 10-15 planar board rods) with umbrella rigs, single parrachutes, tandem parrachutes, and spoons. Most of the trolling for the big fish, spring and fall, is done in the shipping channel (60'-80').

I asked about live bait because I want to experiment a little bit next spring. Live eels are illegal here in Spring due to the likelihood of deep hooking. There really isn't much else to use as live bait this time of year. Later in the summer and fall live Spot are excellent bait until the water gets too cold. They seem to loose their nervous movement which calls in the fish.

60'-120' that is

face
live line bunker, work the different pods till you find fish under them, i gave up trolling the 300 ft of wire years ago, it produces at certain times of the year, but takes all the sport out of it, find the bait and you will find the fish

charle most of the sucessfull stripe bass fisherman in my club and this marina take a small boat and go to they secret spots or the dangerous rocks at the mouth of the inlet and use sabiki rigs to catch shad.they come back to the marina and put them in a 4' fish pen place in the water next to ware they dock there boat.next day they go out inlet or the shallow water next to west island and live line with a treble hook thru the nose (not to hurt delicate shad) they come back every damm time with a big one while i just sit back and scratch my head.one of the problems is is i take my boat i have to be on guard as i drift outside the inlet ----other boats,buoy,low water,rocks at mouth just can`t concentrate.i should mention when bunker come thru they snag bunker from the huge pods we had this year and live line that.once in a while they use live ells at wee hours of the morning but they don`t work like in montauk at night.

Charlie, I've only tried live-lineing bunker a few times for shits and giggles. I snagged some intentionally while casting (summer time). They seemed to stay alive okay in a live well with a good strong circular flow, but no where near as hearty as spot, croaker, white perch, bluefish. I really didn't give them much of a chance as at the time a spot would last about 5-10 seconds in the water before being swallowed by a rock. The other thing was they seemed to be a real pain in the ass, very fast and all over the place(maybe a good thing). I guess you could only fish so many rods with these guys.

I think I'll work on learning to throw my casting net this winter and give them a real try this spring in the channel over the big schools of what else, bunker, or L-Y here (allewive). If anyone is ever in the mid-bay area and wants to go fishing, give me a shout. I go as often as I can and am pretty well in the loop with whats happening out there.

Joe/Face-

Where are you on the Bay? I'm mid-Bay on Kent Island.

John F.

John, I grew up and fish out of Solomons. I guess I should say mid to lower bay. I'm a full-time MBA student, yeah go ahead guys let it rip, at Loyola for about 2 more weeks. It drives me nuts staying up here in Baltimore during the week. When I finish school I hope to take a month or so to finish up my B28, putting it all back together, and look for a "real" job. I also need to get my license to run parties, at least on the weekends. I mate for a half-dozen different boats in Solomons.
-Joe

Charlie, any tips on live-lining bunker? I've read that you can clip the top of the caudal fin to slow them down as well as make them dive. Should I try bridling a hook above the eyes? Treble, j, circle. I like to use a barrel sinker above a swivel when live-lining spot with treble hooks (for catch and keep only), fluorcarbon leader. I think I'll try some white perch this spring as well with their spiny dorsal fin clipped. The problem is rock don't seem to like them as much as other baits, especially when they are "on" bunker. I can read a depth finder well for bait as well as rock/stripers and other fish. I want to try something that will give me a better chance at catching a REALLY big fish.

I'll try to post some pics after my trips this friday and saturday, sorry for the hijack.

-Joe

cwj wrote:john pics to follow if i get them and can scan the on the computer might have to ask harv for help

Harv to the rescue............

when I want to catch big bass, really big bass, I use 15" fluke. Not something the DEC thinks is cool but it works great.

yea they have know sence of humor