Chesapeake Light Tackle

The bluefish blitzkrieg in the mid & upper Bay is full force with thousands of snapper blues in the 15-20 inch class invading all the usual rockfish hotspots.  Blues are among the most aggressive fish in the world.  They’re known to kill other fish just for the sake of killing and they will occasionally attack humans.   Pound for pound, only the piranha can match bluefish in terms of raw fury.  They’re voracious predators that will even eat each other at times.  To prevent cannibalism, they’re known to travel in similarly sized schools.  Their aggressive behavior makes them great fun to catch and their oily meat can be delicious.

When blues are actively feeding they’ll eagerly hit almost any lure.  They especially like lures with a lot of flash. In 1993 a woman who was swimming at a New Jersey Beach had both her ears bitten off when a bluefish attacked her silver ear rings.  Once hooked, they’re known for strong runs and acrobatic leaps that can make landing them on light tackle very Read More!

Tonight’s fishing partners were Rich and James.  Rich and I have fished together frequently, and this is my third time on the water with James.  We launched into Eastern Bay at the Shipping Creek ramp and ran out toward the main Bay.  It took a little more looking around than it did Tuesday evening, but we eventually found fish in 33 feet.   We noticed a few bluefish on the surface here and there.  The sonar told a completely different story though, with fish stacked up top to bottom.

When I’m lucky enough to find breakers over deep water, I always reach for the bottom with my jig, even though it’s relatively easy to catch fish at lesser depths.  Bigger fish run deep beneath the breakers preferring to pick up the scraps left over by the more energetic younger fish.  Read More!

Looks like we’re settled in to a pretty typical summer pattern of breaking fish over hard bottoms.  The action around the mouth of Eastern Bay has slowed somewhat, but there’s plenty of fish on the west side from Thomas Point Light all the way down Cove Point.  I haven’t seen any huge schools of fish yet, just roving bands of stripers and bluefish.  They’re up and down quickly, so you have to have a good eye and react quickly when you see birds close to the water.  Since bluefish will quickly devour soft plastics, I’m throwing mostly metal jigs but occasionally switching to some of the newer generation plastics that are resistant to being bitten off.   Read More!