Fishing Blog
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 It is with great enthusiasm that I am writing to tell you about Lateral Line. Lateral Line is a company that I started with my brother, Spencer, over two years ago with the goal of making a technical year-round fishing clothing system for striped bass anglers. The idea behind Lateral Line’s year-round clothing system is...
Fishing Reports
 We are now settling into to the summer patterns of fishing in the Maryland Chesapeake Bay waters. Striped bass have left the river systems from their spring haunts are and now chasing bait in the main portion of the bay offering light tackle and fly fishing anglers some fun chasing breaking fish. Anglers are still doing the trolling thing, however most anglers who are not fishing artificals on light tackle or the fly have taken up live lining now that the spot have moved up the bay in good numbers. Some anglers have started chumming, but from the reports it seems more anglers are opting for live lining right now. Schools of striped bass have been sharing the waters with feisty bluefish, some with some size on the lower Maryland Chesapeake waters. Black drum fishing has dwindled from the few good weeks we had, but their not so distant relatives, although smaller, croaker have invaded most of the area. In the lower Maryland waters there have also been good reports of keeper flounder being caught. On the Atlantic Coast off Ocean City there are reports of yellowfin tuna, bluefin tuna, lots of bluefish and some dolphin.
 The Independence Day weekend is not the only event causing fireworks. The saltwater action along the Mid Atlantic coast is also going off. The flounder action is explosive this week, with heavy flounder tipping the scales daily at local tackle shops. Anglers are pounding the Bay Bridge Tunnel and other lower bay structures, mostly with live bait and jigs. Live spot is working well near structure, while 2-ounce jig heads adorned with shad-style plastics are a good choice for jigging around the piling bases. Strip baits are also producing some decent fish. Gerald George of Suffolk scored with a 7-pound, 1-ounce doormat near the CBBT on bluefish strips. The Spanish mackerel scene is another hot topic. Folks trolling the lower Bay, the CBBT, and the ocean shorelines are finding limits of Spanish mackerel and a smattering of Taylor bluefish. Small silver and gold spoons weighted with in-line sinkers will do the trick in anywhere from 18 to 30 feet of water. King mackerel are next. Anglers continue to report sightings of kings skying and crashing on bait inshore, while small kings are biting trolled baits on the inshore lumps. Tautog are also back in the picture, with anglers beginning to show some interest. Rob Collins of Norfolk was rewarded for his togging efforts with a nice 11-pound, 4-ounce fish he hooked on a ...  Strange Days Indeed At times I get a little burned out on this guiding thing. It can get hard to stay excited about schoolie bass and bluefish as we get into the dog-days of summer… And believe me, getting up at 3:30 in the morning every day can wear on a guy, especially when you work another job that often requires late hours behind a desk. And then I’ve gotta write this stupid report every Thursday… If it wasn’t for Strabucks and Red Bull, I couldn’t do it.
Anyway, don’t mistake any of this for complaining. Because my life and what I do is pretty darn cool sometimes. Weird and interesting shit happens on the water all the time. And I’m out there enough to see it. And with the warming of the globe (whether you are a denier or not, the earth and the water is indeed getting warmer) things get weirder every year. Capt. Jim Hull emailed me the other day to say he saw a tarpon well north of 100-pounds swim off his bow. And last December? Forgetaboutit! As they say in Staten Island. Medium to giant bluefin off of the south shore of Long Island in just 26’ of water? And there were more sharks inshore last year than I’ve ever seen. Even had a big mako grab a bluefish right in front of us. And how about that adult Great White that leapt clear out of the water not 25-yards off my bow a few years ago. Not that was F’n cool! Today was just such a day… After acting excited about the umpteenth schoolie I’d see this week and hoping for some bigger fish to show, I got a frantic call from  This past week has been incredibly hot with temperatures nearing 100 degrees for several days in a row with little relief in sight. With this heat, it didn’t take long for any water in the 60 degree range to disappear. Despite the hot temperatures and calm seas, the offshore waters of Oregon Inlet have continued to produce some very good tuna fishing for both outboards and the OI fleet. Yft have shown in good numbers and fish ranging from 30lbs to some very large fish tipping the scales at 85lbs and more. Several captains are reporting tuna are being caught while feeding on Flying Fish on the surface and around Two-Tones (porpoise) that are chasing bait...  The offshore action seemed to centered from Pescadero north to the 88 this past week. Plenty of marlin are around but bites are tough to come by. Oddly enough, there were many patches of sargasso with some holding some good sized dorado. The trick was to be at the right patch at the right time. Another bonus this week was that a few tuna from 10 to 40 pounds were scratched out from under the white belly porpoise before the Mexican seiners came steaming over the horizon. Inshore the white bonito remained in front of El Cardonal until the wind blew...The roosterfish action down at Puerto Vicente Guerrero is outstanding. Jose Pino, on the panga Angelica, reported 15 roosters in one day. Up north, around the Saladita and Ranch areas, Adolfo on the panga Dos Hermanos is getting very good jack crevalle action.Marlin were in short supply for most of May but the number of marlin catches has increased over the past week. Spearfish are the most common billfish being caught right now but with the summer season just starting up, we should see the numbers of blue marlin increasing and the number of spearfish decreasing. May is listed as the peak season for black marlin in Hawaii but what most people don’t realize is that black marlin are a rare catch in Hawaii. The spot on Kona’s “Big Fish List” for the biggest black marlin of the year remains vacant. With most marlin being caught and then released by the majority of captains now, it’s possible that one or more blacks have been caught this year and released without it ever being known that it was a black. It takes a
Local Weather
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Featured Article
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| By Richie Gaines |
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 Having trouble finding stripers on the Bay the past few years? Well, you’re not alone. The days of fishing the same old spots the same old ways are gone my friend. While the spring trophy season is still very productive and predictable, once the Ocean run fish depart it’s a whole new ball game. The Chesapeake Bay is changing and the rate of change has accelerated in the past few years. The Upper Bay has been most notably affected but we’re also seeing sings in the lower portions as well. Water quality really comes into play once water temps reach the low seventies and above and this is dictating where the fish hold big time. Anglers who understand that water quality is much like structure are taking advantage of the knowledge, changing their tactics, and enjoying success. As an experienced guide I’ve been able to adjust and locate fish fairly consistently. Now, you know what the definition of experience is right? It’s the name we give to our mistakes so I’m confident in my experience…
To find keeper grade and above stripers consistently once water temps rise into the 70’s, look for three attributes |
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| By Steve vonBrandt |
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 The Upper Chesapeake Bay has been receiving a lot of notoriety over the last few years due to the improved catch rates and overall weight increases reported in the tournaments. While the “true” river rats have known of this bass fishing hotbed for some time now, the recent success is attracting clubs from all over Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and even as far away as New York. Most of this pressure has converged on the Elk River, and the Tyding’s Park area in Havre de Grace, Md., since these areas provide more than adequate launching and parking facilities that are necessary to hold the tournaments. Many of the smaller club tournaments also start from the Northeast and Elk River areas.
With this influx of angling pressure, many of the traditional “hot spots” have become increasingly crowded during the weekends, and have forced anglers to make longer and longer runs in search of untapped bass waters. Many of these anglers have now discovered that the twenty to thirty minute drive through sometimes rough and unsafe water, to the Sassafras River, has been well worth the effort. Upon arriving they realize that not only is this river not as pressured, but the fishing rivals or surpasses any that they previously encountered on any of the other Upper Bay rivers. Over the past five years, we have spent an average of four days a week on the Sassafras River, and over this course of time have learned many of the subtle intricacies of this scenic and fertile river. |
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| By Brett Gaba |
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 Typically in saltwater fly fishing, and more specifically with fly fishing on the Chesapeake Bay, heading out into the big water and searching for breaking blues and stripers is option #1, and fishing underwater structure is option #2. Both of these options require a boat that’s capable of moving from spot to spot, or from school to school.
I personally own a small, humble boat and I am on the water often, or as often as time and work permit. On good days, my boat is capable of getting from spot to spot, but not when the winds are over 10mph. Because of my restrictions I’m not typically in the open water of the Chesapeake Bay proper, or even the middle of Tangier Sound, but mostly about as far as my 16’ johnboat will take me on a nice day—maybe to the mouth of a river, or near a rip that sets up in a tributary creek.
This restriction forced me to discover an underappreciated fishery, a nearby fishery virtually unexplored and unfished with a fly rod. From a realistic standpoint, I could wait for that perfect, windless day to come in order to get out on the big water for stripers and blues, or I could explore the fishery that I had access to, nearby areas that held good numbers of croaker and the occasional seatrout.
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| By Maryland Department of Natural Resources |
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| Underwater bay grass acreage throughout much of Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay suffered a setback in 2006 as a result of high rainfalls in many parts of the Bay watershed. Total acreage in Maryland dropped to 32,586 acres in 2006, down nearly 9,734 acres from 42,320 acres in 2005. |
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| By Lenny Rudow |
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 You want a volcano-like explosion 30’ behind your transom? Tuna fish to come flying out of the water in attack-mode? Billfish to rise with their weaponry swinging? Then I sure hope you’re pulling spreader bars, because these lures will trigger more pelagics to attack than any other single lure in the water today.
Pelagic Magic
Spreader bars consist of multiple chains of baits—usually plastic squid, but also skirts or rubber ballyhoo in some cases—rigged to a single bar, which keeps them in an organized pattern as they troll through the water. The farthest aft bait should be a slightly different size and/or color than the other baits, and is rigged with a hook. Bars range in price from $40 (for a 32” bar pulling nine 9” shells, available from www.reeldraggintackle.com) to $210 (for a titanium bar rigged with 10 12” full-body squid, available at www.squidnation.com.) Some spreaders are also made with nylon bars, like those from www.fishmagiciantackle.com ($94 for a 10-shell rig made with 7” squid.) The nylon bars bend more than titanium but they have one significant advantage: thanks to light weight and flexibility, it’s possible to run them from much lighter rods than is the norm. In fact, you can run a light nylon bar from a 30-class rig or even a 16-S, while most full-size spreaders require a 50-class rig.
Naturally, you can also make your own bars by buying the squid, bar, and leader separately. This isn’t much work and there’s certainly a sense of satisfaction that comes from catching fish on a lure you made yourself. Don’t expect to save a lot of money, however. Since the tackle manufacturers buy their materials in bulk, when all is said and done, there isn’t a huge price difference between buying spreader bars and making them yourself.
Which colors should you choose when making or buying a spreader bar? As with other lures, the hot colors will change with the seasons and the hot bite. As a rule of thumb... |
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| By Brandon White |
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 The member profile highlights the type of fishing the member does, tells about their equipment (boat, reels, rods, etc) and a little bit about them as a person. This member profile highlights me, Brandon White, Chief Angler here at TidalFIsh.com.C Check out a little about me, what boat(s) I fish, what tackle I use etc... |
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