Help interpreting what I saw

[morsax]

Thanks!

Gary: Bob and I together isn't that bad...Mark survived a day of it with only minimal mental scarring

[crabby and son]

Originally Posted by morsax

Thanks!

Gary: Bob and I together isn't that bad...Mark survived a day of it with only minimal mental scarring

If Mark can survive me, you are a piece of cake. I just have a hard time seeing you and Bob in the same boat trying to scientifically figure EVERYTHING out...................Gary

[Skip]

I'd use the slack current as an explanation for the fish not biting.
One interesting thing about summer vs winter - in summer , the fish need to feed more often. Fish are cold blooded and speed up as waters warm.
They feed a lot but often when current is just right. With plentiful bait - it only takes a few minutes to find food.

After eating - they tend to go deeper and digest their food. After a few hours - time to eat again - as the current moves. One reason very beginning of current can be so good.

The fish near Annapolis face low oxygen levels and ofeten can not go deeper then about 30 feet. The water is cooler and darker - plus quiet down deep - Rock like it there. Years ago - those big marks would be down 40 feet - now they can only go down to 25 or 30.

In the bay - current , IMHO - is the biggest part of catching fish.
Sometimes we find them trolling - seeing the meter lit up. We circle until current is right and then often - they bite like gang busters for an hour or so.
After that - it can be 3-4 hours before they feed again.

Hit it right - it's fast fishing.

Get there an hour late - long wait until the current is good again.

You can adjust how you fish. Sometimes certain tactics work better at beginning of current then when current is screaming.

[goinsfishin]

I've been fishing further south, Deale to Breezy, but I've seen the same lockjaw pattern.......then it suddenly turns ON for about an hour just after the tide/current shift. I've also noticed that quite a few of the fish I've cleaned recently are chock full of Mayworms......I think they are gorging on worms still and then picking tidy morsels for desert from the available bait at the current shift.....makes as much sense as anything..

[morsax]

Glad to see that my thoughts on the situation were pretty much on. Unfortunately the storms drove us away before the bite turned back on. Oh well--there is always next time. Which will be in about 3 weeks after a week in Florida, a week in Delaware and another in Nova Scotia.

Hans

[Spot77]

garlien and I saw the same exact thing on Friday. Lots of baitballs but no fish near them.....then we'd hit a run of a few big fish but couldn't get a bite.

It was exciting to at least know that there's bait out there and fish. Didn't see any birds.

[Fish Nut]

Hans, I was in an area a week or so ago out of Sandy Point the Chumming fleet was going hard in deeper water 30 + In shallower water we found huge bait balls / rock stacked up.
I threw everything at them jig, bait no takers.. Finally went back to the trusted trolling gear with a 15tony and snagged one. Couldn’t get anymore bites after that. The one fish was full of chummed bait & worms .