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.

Fall patterns are shaping up nicely. Striped bass are starting to school and feed up for the winter. We are still finding some shallow when there is very little boat traffic. We have even caught a catfish while casting and jigging. There’s still some Redfish around and some Speckled trout. Techniques right now include casting to structure and breakers when found. Shallow and deeper water. We also will start trolling when we need to. It’s a great time to catch some nice fish for the dinner table. Mid November is usually the peak before they go deep and we start mainly trolling. But don’t miss out book a trip. The cooler weather is starting to kick them in high gear. Striped bass season runs till Dec. 10. We fish till the end. Then we’ll take a break till after the holidays and kick back up with catch and release of Striped Bass and start Cat fishing. Big Striped Bass start showing in mid to late November. It’s the perfect time to catch a Striped Bass of a lifetime. Don’t be left wishing let’s get fishing!