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Winter 2008
March
11, 2008
- Between diaper changes, I've added a few fly patterns to
the website. Take a look at the
Fly Tying Section.
March
5, 2008
- At 11PM on March 1st, I made the catch of a lifetime
when Melissa gave birth to our first child. My trophy,
Evelyn Anne Newsome topped the scales at 6lb 8oz and taped out
at 19.5 inches. Now that baby and mom are settled at home,
I'll have some time to get back on the water. Let me know
if you are interested in getting out there.
 
February 4, 2008
- During the cold spell, we caught a plenty schoolie
stripers around the CBBT. However, the water temperatures
dropped enough to drive the big fish away. The waters have
now warmed again and the big fish are back in town! Trophy
fish have been gorging themselves on 1.5" anchovies which has
been awesome for fly fishing since we can scale down the size of
the flies and rods. We have been catching fish to 40" with 8wts and size 2 clousers.
It is quite a site to see 40" fish zipping under the boat as
they vacuum up the tiny bait!
      
January 19, 2008 - We've managed a few trips when the
winds have allowed - mostly at night. Under the lights of
the CBBT, quality schoolies in the 24-30" have been abundant
along with trophy fish to 42 inches. Unfortunately, as I
write this report a cold blast of Artic air is headed this way.
Hopefully, temperatures will rebound quickly so we can get back
out there for more great striper fishing!
      
January 10, 2008 - Epic!!! That's the only word
that comes to mind when describing the fishing last night.
When
I checked the forecast for the night it looked like all the
right conditions were falling into place for a perfect
opportunity to sight cast to big stripers with the fly rod under
the lights of the CBBT. I rounded up a crew of my fishing
buddies - George Hughes, Pete Maxwell and Art Greason. We
left the dock with a sense that trophy stripers were our
destiny. The fish gods did not disappoint us. When
we arrived at our destination we were greeted by 32-47" striped
bass sitting in the light line a foot or two below the water's
surface.
Pete
was first up to the casting deck since he was looking to best
his biggest striper to date of 31 inches. Pete made a cast
to a huge striper that inhaled his fly and it was off to the
races as the fish gave him a great battle before his tippet
unfortunately snapped. Down heartened, we encouraged him
to step back up and give it another try. Quickly, his fly
was engulfed by another fish and this time Pete came out the
winner as we hoisted the beast onto the deck of my Jones
Brothers. The fish taped out at 44" and was as round as a
barrel. We were all stoked to say the least!
As
the night continued we took turns battling huge pigs. By
the time the current ended, we had landed 12 fish over 36" and 7
of those were over 40" including two 44" fish. We also had
5 hook pulls and 2 break offs trying to negotiate
fish around the pilings.
Trips
like that remain sketched in your memory - keeping you're dreams
alive!!!
       
January 9, 2008
- Well, it doesn't get much
better than the last few days with calm seas and temperatures in
the 70's... not to mention insane amounts of fish! For the
last 6 days we have caught well over 100 stripers a day.
One morning, my two anglers had a total of 100 fish in just the
first 2 hours of fishing. Yesterday, schools of 5-8"
menhaden arrived and some quality stripers had the bait on the
run. We had several fat fish between 28-34". Striped
bass fishing inside the Chesapeake is catch and release only for
the rest of the winter so many times we have the stripers all to
ourselves when we find fish inshore of the ocean demarcation
line. I have a feeling the best is yet to come!
    
January 4, 2008
- It has been a Happy New
Year indeed with thousands of frenzied seagulls and stripers for
mile upon mile around the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. We
had an unusual December with very few of the large migratory fish
showing, but that is all about to change. I got a good
report from the Sandbridge area of big fish yesterday.
With some stable weather for the next several days, conditions
should be right!
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