Capt Brady
New Member
Three days of NE wind, increasing in strength each day, set the stage for yesterday's guided excursion into Chesapeake Bay beginning at the Solomons boat ramp. It was planned to be a trip that served two anglers: one who flyfished almost exclusively, and the other a novice spinning rod caster. We departed The Solomons ramp at around 6am and traveled immediately to the rip off Cedar Point to intercept fish that might be breaking there, and offer my clients some easy surface targets. But the fish were uncharacteristically not cooperative, and although a few smallish bluefish were jigged off the ridge, there seemed to be no pattern to it, and a half a dozen other professionals trolled all around us with very little success.
So we headed eastward, out across the bay, in my 19' open, center console guideboat, named "Cortland" taking a course that paralleled the wave sets and headed for Hooper's Island Bridge. The wind was about twelve knots from the NE and appeared to be increasing. The idea was to get to the windward shore where the wind would not create waves too uncomfortable to fish. Once there, we could motor about the entire length of the island chain from the Choptank River down to Hooper Straits, while staying in the lee of the wind.
As I had been in the Honga River the day before, we next went to the Hoopers Island Bridge and fished there for a while. By drifting under the bridge , we located, caught and released, many small stripers and bluefish. The fly fishing guy worked a double fly rig with the leading fly being an extra heavy Clouser deep minnow, and the trailing fly a floating deerhair diver. Both were white with highlights of yellow that brightly contrasted the water color. I think the florscent red nose wraps also aid greatly. The flyline was a Cortland 325gr Quick Descent, that carried the flies down to the bottom, about fourteen feet, in twenty-one seconds or so.
The spinning lure was a whitehead 1/2oz Gotcha-type with a salt and pepper Twister Slimey-Slug. The spinning gear, if anyone cares to note, was a 6 1/2ft Cortland CTR graphite rod with a Bass Pro Mega Tx 40 reel, spooled with 14lb flame green Fireline. There was a three foot piece of 25lb mono shock tippet on the end of the Fireline, tied with a triple surgeon's knot, and connected to the jig with a "no-name+ loop knot.
More later.....
So we headed eastward, out across the bay, in my 19' open, center console guideboat, named "Cortland" taking a course that paralleled the wave sets and headed for Hooper's Island Bridge. The wind was about twelve knots from the NE and appeared to be increasing. The idea was to get to the windward shore where the wind would not create waves too uncomfortable to fish. Once there, we could motor about the entire length of the island chain from the Choptank River down to Hooper Straits, while staying in the lee of the wind.
As I had been in the Honga River the day before, we next went to the Hoopers Island Bridge and fished there for a while. By drifting under the bridge , we located, caught and released, many small stripers and bluefish. The fly fishing guy worked a double fly rig with the leading fly being an extra heavy Clouser deep minnow, and the trailing fly a floating deerhair diver. Both were white with highlights of yellow that brightly contrasted the water color. I think the florscent red nose wraps also aid greatly. The flyline was a Cortland 325gr Quick Descent, that carried the flies down to the bottom, about fourteen feet, in twenty-one seconds or so.
The spinning lure was a whitehead 1/2oz Gotcha-type with a salt and pepper Twister Slimey-Slug. The spinning gear, if anyone cares to note, was a 6 1/2ft Cortland CTR graphite rod with a Bass Pro Mega Tx 40 reel, spooled with 14lb flame green Fireline. There was a three foot piece of 25lb mono shock tippet on the end of the Fireline, tied with a triple surgeon's knot, and connected to the jig with a "no-name+ loop knot.
More later.....
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