Boating Report Upper Bay 7/18

[ChesapeakeBT]

sup Fella's! All year I have been skunked for rockfish but not today. Being a small business owner it's hard for me to get out on the bay and do some fishing. I don't get to pick my times as I work nearly everyday. Well today I actually had a day off so I made some phone calls and got a few friends together and stopped by my bait store and grabbed a few gallons of chum and a few fresh bags of alewives and headed out from mill creek. (2nd creek on the western shore south of the bay bridge.) ran up to Podickery Point to try and find the shelf i like fishing but since I am a low budget redneck fisherman i don't have a GPS yet...lol Last Gray house that sits by itself is where I usually line up visually. Today for somereason I couldn't find it. The depth just kept gradually going down and not the 20' to 35' drop off I like fishing. I found it thursday night and tore up some white perch with some bait shrimp after my buddy and I struck out again for rockfish. So I found a nice little hump that lit the FF up. Anchored out and sat there for about 2 hours with no Hits :( Tide was rolling pretty good as it's now approaching 3:30 pm. The anchor didn't take and we drifted. Now we are into 55' of water. I decide to pull anchor, chum bags, and rods up to cruise out to Belvedere shoals as I can see some boats out there. Get out there and idle around through the boats and find another nice little hump with alot of fish around it. Anchor out and this time i reversed thrust to set the anchor. Anchor set successfully and we throw the chum bags out and start to fish. An hour goes by and I'm starting to think we are gonna get skunked again then my buddies line starts getting tight. Bam pulls in a 19"er. Nice! Atleast the skunk spell is over on Rockfish! :D Bait fish are running all around us as are the Trollers :rolleyes: Then about another how goes by and WHAM! My 6' med action fresh water rod goes down with fury. I'm on it. Fight him good for about 20 mins and he makes 3 strong runs on the drag then we finally net him. 29" Rock Baby! YEAH! I'm estatic! Wait another 30 mins or so then another rod goes down. My other buddy pulls in a healthy 19" Rockfish. Not bad so far. Now we got in cooler a 29" and 2 19" fish. Sun is starting to set. Only boat around us is a Troller circling us......lol I pull out the 29" and show them and they are all thumbs up. About 15 mins later one of my 6'6'' med heavy action Ugly Sticks goes down hard. Buddy #1 is on him. I hear the drag start running out pretty good and I'm thinking this is the small med action rod as the hit came on that side of the boat. I look up and see a gold spool and know it's one of the heavy rods I got on the boat. Now the fight is on and this rod is bent over pretty damn good. I'm thinking maybe it's a skate but he keeps running towards the boat then back away and It's peeling line pretty good every time. I know this is a good fish or a skate and I'm expecting a skate. Gets to the surface and he jumps pretty good and it's a nice size Rock! I grab the net while my buddy is fighting it and he finally gets it next to the boat after about 5 or 6 good runs on the drag. Get him in and hold him up he's pretty damn big and still fighting so I throw him in the cooler to let him calm down and about 20 mins later I measured him. 33" and some change. Stayed another hour and watched the sunset hoping for another big one but got nothing. Surprisingly the 4 fish we caught was the only ones we caught! No Dinks! We missed a good 4 fish due to not paying attention. 1 of those fish was as big if not bigger because he pulled the knot out on the hook. Lesson # 2 fishing for Big Rock. If your using Spider Line use a double clinch knot with a dummy knot at the end because single clinch knots will pull through :(

All in all it was a pretty awesome relaxing day! Just wish I could get more of these :D Finished the night out by having dinner at Cantlers then cleaning the fish at the marina and as soon as I can figure how to get these pics off my camera phone I'll post them up!

[Hat80]

belong on the boating board. Transport this when you get the time Flea. ;)....Tightlines

[catman]

If you know how to use your GPS the upper bay is hot. The pattern is to find them in 25' - 30' of water (usually a cut channel) then look for the closest lump. They're not going to bite in the deeper water. They're only staging there. You'll catch them on the closest lump in about 12' of water. Tide doesn't seem to matter. We're catching them on slack tide. Man I hope this pattern holds all summer. It's critical to have you motor off when drifting over the lumps. Here's where the proper use of your GPS come into play. You can reproduce the exact drift time after time. Some of the lumps are only 15' wide so accuracy is the ticket. Stings are the lure of choice.

Catman. ;)

[catman]

belong on the boating board. Transport this when you get the time Flea. ;)....Tightlines

Seems reasonable to post a fishing report here. So what if he's fishing out of a boat. Now is he's asking a boating question I agree but to post a report, come on now. :D

Catman. ;)

[Hat80]

belongs on the boating board, thats why it's there. Sorry, just doing the job. Mods have to move threads all the time. @ times it can become a PITA. ;).....Tightlines

[catman]

You're either up late or up early. Yea it should be on the boating board. ;) I'm going to bed. :D

Catman. :)

[Hat80]

having some leg pain. No need to explain that to you, it's no fun :( Sleep tight buddy! ;)....Tightlines

[ChesapeakeBT]

Sorry Fella's i just seen Regional Report MD/DE so i posted there.

yes i hope it holds up this good through out the year! a friend of mine was trolling last week 10 rods with tandems between baltimore light and sandy point light and 18 fish was on at once! :eek: on 1 of the tandems there was a 28"er and a 38"er!

[catman]

LT (light tackle) trolling is very productive now in the upper bay. It's not uncommon to have multiple fish on. The upper bay fishing is absolutely outstanding now. :D Were're now seeing some puppy red drum mixed in with the croakers - definitely a good sign. To those that think the upper bay is a dead zone - YOU'RE RIGHT, STAY AWAY. :--|

Catman. ;) ;) ;)

[SeaSalt]

what does it mean if you see red drum up in upper bay? salinity is high?

[mike burgess]

Red Drum in the Upper Bay Bwahahahahahahaha Come on now guys the upper bay is going ok but when you have to measure all your fish to make sure its 18" thats not on FIRE!!!!!!! Im out there 4-5 times a week and im not a rookie I have put in my time.
When I can take the measuring stick off the boat cause I know the fish are legal then and only then will I say the Upper Bay is doing well.
Don't get me wrong were all catching legal fish but I sure would like to see the bigger fish come back up our way.

As far as any other fish up our way its the White Perch that are in the 10/14" range thats keeping it fun out there. No Spot/No Croakers but without a doubt the most Cow Nosed Rays I have ever seen.

[SeaSalt]

so no red drum? only time I seen red drum is down by PLO two years ago.

[mike burgess]

Maybe there mixed in with the Great Whites :D

[dckhd247]

Maybe there mixed in with the Great Whites :D


What'd ya do a search and join every board on the East Coast today??? :D

[catman]

Maybe there mixed in with the Great Whites :D

Talk to G-Man about the puppy drum - they're there. ;) BTW, nice to see Captn' Attitude over here. ;)

[mike burgess]

Im so bored with T.F. I had to expand my horizons today.

Hey Nick!!!!!!!

Jeff is there any more boards I can join today????

I want to be on all the ones your on !!! I miss ya Bro :D :--|

[catman]

Yea man. G-Man said he found puppy drum up his way. Surprised me too. Maybe they're coming through the C&D Canal.

BTW Pier&Surf rocks. Some really good people here. Notice my signature "one foot on the boat and one foot on the pier". Best of both worlds. :D

[Anthony]

Good to see Mike Burgess on this board, his experience will be well welcomed here. Not surprised on the red drum, bay is saltier than last year but temps are down. Trout have not shown up in any numbers anywhere and I haven't heard of any spanish macs anywhere in the bay.

[ChesapeakeBT]

here ya go fella's! :D

29"er

http://www.corvettekillstories.com/photogallery/albums/Mad-Mic/Fishing/IMAGE_059.jpg

33"er

http://www.corvettekillstories.com/photogallery/albums/Mad-Mic/Fishing/IMAGE_060.jpg

[Hat80]

Nice fish there ChesapeakeBT. I'll believe the Puppies when I see some pics. Sounds like a second hand report to me Nick, is it? Unless you caught them, I'm not buying it. You know how fisherman lie. :eek:.....Tightlines

[catman]

Hey Clyde, if there's any pups in the upper bay you can bet Burgess will be all over them. Guy's an absolute fishing machine. :) He just needs you to drive the boat again. :D

[mike burgess]

No im sorry Nick it like this!!!!

I have to take a leak can someone take the wheel!!!!! And I never come back :D :D

[Hat80]

whats that? Already talked to Mike today about pups in the upper bay. He had but two words to say, BS!.....LMAO :D.....Tightlines

[catman]

That'll change when he puts that LT trolling gear away and catches the first one but he ain't about do that until he catches the last rock in the upper bay. :D

[mike burgess]

Enough with the B.S. now its on to Friday nights All nighter catching the big fat wiskered beasts.

Can't wait Nick were going to have a ball, I got a new grill for the boat so we can eat our catch hahahahahahah

Who you have on your boat for Friday?????
Hope its not Chris !!!!

[mike burgess]

Well I will be heading out tonight on the Attitude with special guests from the T.F. board top of the line fisherman so I will report good ,bad or ugly tomorrow.
Oh yea heading over to Poole's Island / Worton Point area. LTJ Anyone out give us a shout on the radio ch 68.

Mike B

[catman]

Yep I got Chris on my boat. Denger and me fished the area this morning and early afternoon. Found a nice hole and pulled about 20 cats out of it. Got them all on Nitro's. The grill sounds great. See you late Friday afternoon.

Nick.

[mike burgess]

Well lets just say we took a long boat ride lastnight.
Started out on the Eastern side of Pooles Island and worked the lumps pretty good not seeing alot of fish on there this night compared to earlier on in the week.Picked up some White Perch and a few small Rock,decieded to take a run to Man-O-War marked alot of fish but nothing but Perch there as well.
Played around a little while longer then headed over around Rock Hall where we had the Furuno lit up but once again Perch/small rock and all of a sudden. Bamm Tim's rod went down and the fight was on and on and on for like 20 min meanwhile im laughing my butt off watching Tim fight this fish making all kings of noises I have never heard grunting,farting man we were laughing so hard I almost pee my pants,well this big creature come up and low and behold its a huge Ray just slapping the water.Well we decieded to net him to get the Trout bomb back and the dropper fly,man was that fun tring to get it out of her mouth flapping around on the deck well we got everything bach and her back into the water.
If anyone wants to know what a pod of rays look like on the fish finder ask me.We seen them suckers everwhere we went.
Well enough said about the fishing but we all had a great time lots of laughs.
So sometimes you get the fish and sometime you don't oh well thats fishing!!!!!!!!

[Hat80]

the upper bay being hotter then a firecracker. :rolleyes: Glad you guys had a nice boat ride! :D Rays, Cats and bugs, no thanks. ;) ....Tightlines

[catman]

Hey Clyde, it's still good for cats. Took 20 out of one hole around Pooles Island yesterday afternoon. :p That's pretty hot if you like cats the way I do. Better than catching rock......almost. :D I guess from here out it's a matter of chasing birds for the rock. :) At least I'm putting fish in the box. :D

[Hat80]

and I hope you rid the world of them. :eek: J/K Nick, I'm glad you enjoy the wiskerfish! ;).....Tightlines

[catman]

and I hope you rid the world of them. :eek: J/K Nick, I'm glad you enjoy the wiskerfish! ;).....Tightlines

I'm trying :p and saving on gas. :D Ain't a fish in the bay worth 50 miles of gas to me. :rolleyes: Pooles Island is 4.25 miles each way and I get to keep more than two. :D