Jack Daughtry
Eastern Bay Striped Bass 4/30/13

I had an opportunity to go fish in one of the recently opened fisheries for striped bass in Maryland’s Eastern Bay on Tuesday, and I took it. With the weather forecast looking gloomy I knew that it would be great bass weather.I Launched from Shipping Creek Landing around 530 just after sunrise.  I was looking for shallow ledges near deep water. I knew with an outgoing tide the fish would be stacked up on a ledge somewhere feeding on whatever edible fish food floated past their face.

It did not take long to find some fish and to figure out a pattern to their behavior for the day. At first I was looking to shallow in 4-8’ of water. After striking out on some shallower spots I noticed some moving fish on the fish finder. (shown Below)

With a DSI fish finder you need to remember that you are not looking for those upside down “V” shapes. The return you see is a return from the swim bladder of the fish. Striped bass look a lot like.. well you can decided what they look like from the FF captures. On the left you will see Rockfish in motion. This was in 14’ of water. I consulted the charts and now changed my game plan to look for fish in 15’ +or- on ledges. After a little bit of searching I found them, like cord wood (see right).

The bait of the day (shown of below) was a 7’’ ZOOM super fluke in baby bass. I spruced it up with a healthy dose of Herring Pro-cure and red spike it dye on the tail. The Jig head was a Kalin’s 3/4 oz, I love the hooks Kalin’s uses.

50+ rockfish were caught and all were released. The biggest fish landed of the day went 28''. the majority of the bass caught were between 18'' and 25''. They were all VERY healthy and VERY fat.