4/29 A Foul Smelling Cooler, but a Gorgeous Day
 

A Foul Smelling Cooler, but a Gorgeous Day on the Water, April 29th, 2015

I typically target Chesapeake striped bass in the spring starting with the first week after opening day weekend, but the high winds over the past 10 days have kept me off of the water. Suffice it to say, I have been climbing the walls. I finally saw some relief in the winds during a weekday, and took full advantage of it. Today was my opening day/

Today, I returned to the marina with a foul smelling cooler, but I enjoyed a spectacular day on the water. The Fishweather forecast for today was for clear skies and 4-10 mile per hour winds; the forecast was spot on, but unfortunately, I could only muster two missed knockdowns and took a skunk. Based on my firsthand experience today and the chatter on the radio, it was a very tough bite.

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With me today, was me, myself, and I. Going on some winter jelly reports, I was underway at 6:30 am, and ran south to between the radar towers and Sharp’s Island Light to try and get away from the snots. While I could not boat a fish, I did manage to avoid the jellies for the most part. I started fishing at 7:30, and had my last line pulled and put away at 3:15 pm. I ran an east to west pattern from about 100 feet in the mid-channel, to about 40 feet on the western side. I trolled from 2½ to 3½ miles per hour as indicated by my chart plotter’s paddle wheel.

I marked most of the bait and the occasional fish on the western side in shallower water from 40 to 50 feet, and I got both of my strikes fairly early on the western side. Both strikes came on tandem rigs, 60 and 100 feet back. It was a gorgeous day for a boat ride, and I would like to get a couple more cracks at those big and thinning in numbers stripers before they depart for New England for their summer vacation.

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It was a Spectacular Day

“That’s a Fish!”At about 8:45 in about 45 feet of water, I heard a pop followed by a rattling noise. I turned to see the #3 tandem, a 6 oz all-white Alien with silver tinsel with a 9” see-through green glitter shad in tandem with a 2 oz Alien with a purple head and chartreuse hairs with a 9” pearl shad set back 60 feet twitching in its rod holder. “What the? That’s a fish!” I thought, as I grabbed the rod and started a retrieve. No sooner than I grabbed the rod, the twitching ceased. “Maybe it’s running at me” I thought with hope as I continued my retrieval. But alas, the fish did not hold.

On the same eastbound pass at 9:15 am, a fish hit a 2/4 white tandem set back 100’ in about 70 feet of water. Once again, this fish did not hold, and the lines were re-set after clearing small amounts of jellies off of some of the baits. That was the only other strike that I got today, but I was glad to have gotten out. I trolled four tandems on the starboard boards, four singles off the port board, and one deep boat rod.

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Conditions
In short, spectacular. Air temperatures were seasonal; the air temperature was in the low 50’s when I arrived at the marina. High temperatures were in the low 60’s on the water, and in the low to mid 70’s inland. Water temperature was 54.6° out front and 56° by mid morning in the south off of the radar towers.

Winds started out of the WNW at 6-8 knots when I arrived. Laid down to 2-6 mid morning, and shifted to out of the south at 10-13 in the early afternoon. Skies were clear and cloudless, and the seas were very forgiving. The waves were anywhere from flat to a 1½ to 2 foot chop.

The boreal (winter) “lion’s mane” jellies were not as bad as reported, but lines were checked regularly; the jellies thinned out as the day progressed.

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This was the Exception Rather than the Rule Today on the Meter. Note the Thermocline at 30 Feet