Fresh Bellevue Fishing Reports

Well at 2:19 pm today it will be officially Fall. Saturday was a rough one. NE wind which makes fishing difficult by itself. But add in 10 to 15 mph winds and it was definitely a grind. We managed to tuck up inside the river to get out of the wind. We found a few spot but not many and the bite was definitely slow. But we did find a couple keeper croaker. Roberto caught a 14 incher. That’s the biggest I have seen in quite a few years. The wind layer down some but not enough so we went to live lining. Wind and waves made it tough to position properly. But we gave it our best and was rewarded with a nice Striped Bass. Bottom fishing is slowing down with the cooler weather so we will be focusing mainly on Stripers until the winter closure. Now is a good time for jigging and chasing breakers. We also do trolling trips if that you like. We will still be live lining also but we will be buying our spot ahead of time. There will be additional charges for that but we will work it out with you ahead of time.

Cooler weather is in the air! Water temps have come done and the days are cooler! Striped bass are staring to transition to fall patterns. We have seen some very nice healthy Stripers the past few trips. Jigging structure has been productive and so has been live lining. Its not a home run right away as conditions have to be right for live lining. But we have been making it work. Bottom fishing is still decent. But the fish have moved a little deeper. Still some big jumbo spot still around tho. This weekend we had some Whiting show up and even a Flounder. Bottom fishing should be good for a while and Striper fishing will get better as the fall goes on. Birds are starting to work but not real consistent yet. But it is only a matter of time. November is when we usually see some Big migratory Stripers start to show back up. Its isn't a given as every season is different but you don't know if you don't go. If your looking to catch a monster Striped Bass late November thru March is the best time on the Chesapeake! Message us to setup your fishing adventure today! We trailer our boat to be as close to the fishing action as possible and give you more time fishing then running.

Here is a video of the top water action from Saturday’s trip. I absolutely love this style of fishing. You get to watch the strike and feel the hookup! Absolutely awesome. That fish was 26 1/2 inches!

The weather has been hot and this weekend so was the fishing! Roberto joined me for a full day fishing trip this past Saturday. We started out bottom fishing for spot. We have been catching some really nice big spot. They did not disappoint this day either. We used a mix of blood worms and fish bites in blood worm flavor. We bailed spot for 2 hrs some 2 at a time. Michele the fisher girl even got a 12 1/4 white perch. That’s huge! Roberto also got a 22 inch channel catfish. Nice perfect diner size! After the tide died out the bite slowed way down. We had a few small spot that we kept to live line for Rockfish. So off we went. Our first stop was an old light house ruins. It’s a perfect spot for Rockfish but they aren’t always there. Unfortunately they have tails that they like to use to swim around. They love to make you work for them. We put out 2 lines with live spot and the wait began. We dropped the bottom rigs over also just see to if anything else was willing to bite. This spot can be good for catfish sometimes also. Me being impatient and not 1 willing to wait for the fish to decide to bite I pulled out a rod with a top water lure. The wind was perfect causing the boat to lay stern to the rocks on anchor. I had my doubts they were there. They usually bite pretty quick when using live spot if the current is moving and it was. First cast as I worked the lure past the corner I had a blow up. Then another and then another. He just didn’t take it. I cast back and on the 2nd blowup he came tight. I handed the rod off to Michele who fought the fish just like I instructed and she was reward with a nice 22 inch Striped Bass. Next cast bam fish on I handed the rod to Roberto and he had a fat 18 1/2 incher. Back he went as the size limit is 1 fish per person 19-24 inches. I asked who wanted to learn how to do it. Michele was first up. I showed her how to work the lure and she was getting multiple blow ups but they just wouldn’t come tight. She got tired so I asked who else wants to try Roberto was up next. It didn’t take long and he was hooking up constantly. The ladies and his nephew didn’t want to cast so he would hand the rod off to someone when he hooked up. After 2 hours of non stop action they had their 6 fish limit. With many many throw backs over the 24 inch mark. The biggest was a 28 1/4 incher. With a limit finished and time to spare we went back and bottom fished some catching more spot and white perch. We ended the trip with them taking home a lot of fish. They had 92 spot all over 8 inches 12 white perch, 1 catfish, and 6 rockfish! The have enough fish for quite some time. Rockfish season close on the 15th and reopens on Aug1. Will be targeting bottom fish during that time. Then pick back up hopefully where we left off with Rockfish . Summer is going fast so book a trip before it’s to late.

Fished Wednesday with my son in law on his boat. It's nice to set back and let some else handle the controls once and awhile. Storms came thru the night before. The wind was suppose to be 4mph. Well when we got to the ramp it was more like 15mph with 2 foot waves. Still some of the wind moving thru. He has a small boat so we tucked behind a point and fished for about an hour. That gave the wind time to die down. Then we made a run to the Island. Tide was a little lower than I like but we still had an outgoing. We fished paddle tails and top water. They were there but the bite was slow. Caught a few and keep a nice 20 incher for diner. You kind of had to aggravate them to get them to bite. We had multiple blowups on the top water. Headed in around 11. Did see a lot of small bluefish chasing bait. So that should kick off soon. Striped bass season closes on the 15th. We still a few dates left so book a trip to get in on the action. Bottom fishing has also been real good with a lot of big spot and some croakers.

Casey, Colby and Trey joined me me for opening day and what a great day it was. We left the dock at 6AM under cloudy skies with possible showers in the AM. High tide was expected at around 8AM. perfect conditions for some shallow water fun. We hit our first spot which has a mix of sod banks and tree stumps. The stiff SW wind made it hard to stay close for too long. Then we got an alert on the VHF about a severe Thunderstorm cell crossing the bay to the south of us. We weren't finding what we we looking for so we moved to another location. This provided us with protection from the SW wind and still gave us clean water and current. It wasn't long before Casey felt some weight on the line. At first he thought he was hung up. But then the line went in the opposite direction the fish realized he was hooked and the fight ensued. He made quick work of it and harvested a nice 22 incher to put in the box and get the skunk off the boat. We continued to work shallow water structure and marsh banks. But weren't finding much. This is a game of seek and destroy. It can be nothing 1 minute and game on lights out the next. When it happens it is a blast. It sure beats trolling and sitting watching the rods and hoping. You are constantly casting and when a fish hits the lure you feel it all. Then it's just you the fish and the rod. We drifted making a few casts to each spot. If we didn't get a hit we pulled up and moved on. These fish are prowling looking for bait fish or soft crabs or anything washing away as the tide drops. We had a few showers but they didn't last long. We worked a lot of fishy looking areas. Finally Colby gets a hit this time it was next a rock pile with some sod banks mixed in. After a nice little fight a 19 1/2 incher goes in the box. We drifted that spot a couple more times but only caught 18 that had to go back. The limit is 19 inch minimum 24 inch maximum. So we continued to move. The sky started clearing and the sun was coming out. We hit a spot with a dock and riprap wall with marsh and sod banks along the shore line. Trey got a hit then another. Then on the third cast bam. Another nice healthy 18 incher. Back it went. We cam up for another drift and everyone started getting hits. The Colby got a reallly big hit. This fish was definitely bigger. Not only did it swim the opposite direction but it started trying to circle the boat. After a brief game of tug of war I netted a beautiful 26 1/2 incher. Absolutely beautiful fish and great catch. The fish was released after a brief picture and swam away healthy! It was game on we drifted this spot for an hour catching and releasing numerous fish. After a few casts I decided to cast myself. No sooner did I engage the reel and start to retrieve the lure WHAM! Holy crap he hit so hard he went airborne 3 feet. It happened so quick I didn't even think it was a Striped Bass. I asked Someone to get the net and Colby did a great job of netting my fish for me. Another over slot at 26 1/4. Beautiful fish. Once again it was released healthy and swimming away. We left them them biting as time was up. Everyone caught multiple fish and they were able to take 2 nice size slot fish home for dinner. We were a good ways from the dock and with the wind more than it was in the AM it was gonna take a little extra time to get to the dock. As I said in the beginning it can be nothing then its game on. That's exactly what happened. Thanks for a great trip Casey, Colby and Trey and Thanks for not giving up. We didn't see any Speckled Trout or Redfish today but I know they are around.