PSCR spread

[Skip]

Hopefully the water temps. rise enough to convince the fish to come up the bay.

Weds was such a tease with nice weather - then holy hell hit with 40* temp. drop

I'm thinking a trip around the 20th - likely down south near CP marker.

Six rods - five off boards - staggered at various depths , one boat rod deep with umbrella or daisy chain..

Mix of blue / white , chartreuse , and white. Depending on how water looks - might run green glitter shads on some. Starting with tandems - just to get more lures in water.

Once see some on meter on get hooked up - will adjust spread.

So - what are your ideas ?

[5th Tuition]

My idea is to get as much intel from you as possible

I've been watching the "Northern Neck" and "Virginia" boards on TF. Not much "sign" in the way of bait or fish on their meters. Spoke to a friend on Tilghman and he said lots of fish (30+) in the rivers

Water clarity looks good but I want to know about winter jellies. If you do get a couple, don't tell anyone but me how far off the boards they were

Good luck to you, if its nice weather I may get out for a shakedown cruise real soon. Sat. looks good as far as temps, but I already have plans

Keep us posted.
5th

[bhl]

Originally Posted by Skip

Hopefully the water temps. rise enough to convince the fish to come up the bay.

Weds was such a tease with nice weather - then holy hell hit with 40* temp. drop

I'm thinking a trip around the 20th - likely down south near CP marker.

Six rods - five off boards - staggered at various depths , one boat rod deep with umbrella or daisy chain..

Mix of blue / white , chartreuse , and white. Depending on how water looks - might run green glitter shads on some. Starting with tandems - just to get more lures in water.

Once see some on meter on get hooked up - will adjust spread.

So - what are your ideas ?

Probably 4 board rods w/ tandems, 1 deep boat rod with large umbrella and 1 wwb 250-300' small umbrella with 4 green / black back 6" teasers and a 4 oz parachute w/ 9" green shad w/ no weight. This wwb rod caught a bunch of fish last year.
I'm splashing the HOOK 'EM in 6 hours and 30 minutes, but who's counting

bhl (Bruce)

[Chessie27]

Bruce- good luck today, I am wicked jealous. I am so far behind in getting ready, I probably won't even PSCR Due to some scheduling conflicts I think I am waiting until May 1st to take the boat south to Kent island. Hoping with the cool water temps, I won't be missing too much at first

I do plan to fish above the bridge before May but not worth the fuel and slip to run south for only 6 rods. (Preseason money/taxes spent- Jeff $$$ - State of MD 0)

[B-Faithful]

My PSCR spread

To start:
4 board -
3 oz solo
3/6 tandem
5 or 7 oz solo
5/9 tandem

Boat:
umbrella with 20 oz
umbrella with 28 oz

once the planers get hit, I will move pull at least 1 umbrella and put another 3/6 tandem out on the boards. I may even pull both umbrellas and stick a 12 oz solo off the board too.

[5th Tuition]

Speaking in "extreme" generalities

If its a cloudy start to the day, fish tend to be caught with deeper lures. As the sun rises and warms the surface water, I get more hits off the lighter lures.

With this being said, you can see why Greg begins with two deep umbrellas and moves at least one umbrella to a board line.

Check some of the buoys on the Chesapeake Bay interactive buoy system, it will give two water temperatures, one for the surface and one for the bottom.

The MSSA meeting at the Broadneck Chapter (Monday Night) will give you information about thermoclines

5th

[reds]

My question is: If the three rod rule has not been rescinded yet, which is the correct number this time of year, if you are trolling by yourself?

[jwinds]

My boat should be back in the water next week. As soon as the water temps rise enough, I plan on spending the time to see what the fishing will be like this year. I love to catch big fish but am all for C&R with exception of an occasional meal made up of 18" to 28" fish.

Question, how many of you fish the regular season with no stinger hooks or the same barbless rig you use for PSCR? Also, I thought the 3 rod rule was no more....good thing I read this thread?

[Mikie]

I don't really see a conflict between the 3 rod/person rule and the 6 rod/boat max rule in pre-season, other then if there's only one person on the boat they would be limited to 3 rods. Oh, the 3 rod/person rule also includes hand lines/dummy lines. I doubt that NRP is going to be enforcing the law under the circumstances - they didn't enforce it last fall before there was any uproar.

[B-Faithful]

Hmmm tough one. The regs "No more than 6 lines may be employed while trolling regardless of the number of anglers on board."

Does that mean if 1 is fishing he can deploy up to 6 rods since it is regardless of the number of anglers on board? or is the 3 rods per person in effect here too?

I still find it funny that when the suggestion of 3-5 rods per person was suggested to DNR for the preseason a few years back they said it would be too difficult to enforce as they didnt want officers to have to count anglers and number of rods. They said it would be easier to just count 6 rods. (we all know it was their goal to reduce participation and not violate the freedom to fish act though)

I also find it funny that when I made an official request to have the rod restrictions lifted for the preseason (leaving the regs that focused on reducing release mortality like no stingers, barbless, circle hooks with bait) that DNR stated that they were not it a position to "liberalize" the striped bass regulations.. I should have made that request this year.