Lower Chesapeake Summer Fishing...

[nocturn]

Any other lower bay Triumphs out there getting ready for the summer flounder action?

I went out last month a little to premature and got skunked. I had the itch bad and couldnt wait for the water temp to come up.

Im going to give it another shot tomorrow....before the Memorial day weekend nightmare starts up.

 

[cagrove]

I'll be out on the Potomac looking for a big Catfish. Speaking of Catfish, I just heard that a new Virginia State Record Blue Catfish was just weighed in and is pending certification. A whopper of 102.5 lbs from the James River. From early reports, the fish was weighed in on a certified scale and witnessed and then released back into the James by an angler from Lexington. See pic below.

 

[nocturn]

Wow. Thats one big ugly fish. I caught a 30lbber off my dock a few years ago on 10lb test. Good fun.

Thats the biggest one I've ever caught. Not that I target them. I didnt think they hung out in 3 feet of water.

 

[cagrove]

I didnt think they hung out in 3 feet of water.

In the Spring and again in the Fall they will come surprisingly shallow fairly consistantly...usually chasing bait. I've hooked 40 lbers in less than 2 feet of water that jumped like a bass when I set the hook. Great fun!

 

[nocturn]

Yea. The one I caught above was in Fall, Labor Day to be exact. She was definitely up shallow looking for food. Its hard to tell from the pic but her head was way out of proportion with her body, like she had a hard summer and didn't feed well. If she was as fat as she was long, I probably would have had a citation fish in the 36-40 pound range. She was 35.5".

I later found out that 32" makes a citation also...not just weight. Oh well.

 

[nocturn]

Made the hour and forty-five minute trek down the James from the Appomattox. Got to the MM around 7:15am. Set up a drift in about 25 feet of water using Char and White buck tails, squid strips on a 2oz sinker. Lots of croaker nibbles but no flatfish. So I decided to grab some insurance bait and took about a dozen croaker in the 8"-10" range. Also grabbed 2 in the 1-3/4lb range. Tossed them in the live well.

No Joy at the MM so I headed out to Thimble Shoals light at around 10am. The bay was total glass and the outgoing current was ramping up. Made 2 passes over the 15' to 45' steep drop with one char/white buck tail and one hook and blade, both with croaker strips and a stinger. Pulled up 4 flounder in the 16" range. Also pulled up a couple chopper blues. Made a second pass slightly east of there. One 18.75" and a few more blues. Made a few more passes closer to TSL. One 19" and about 15 more bluefish. Decided to keep 2 blues for bait because the croaker stash had gotten depleted from the constant barrage of teeth tearing them up.

Headed back towards the middle sister. Dropped lines in about 15 feet of water with a combo of big Croaker and Bluefish strips. Caught a nice 1.5 knot drift running parallel with the FM beach. After a long BS session with a buddy on the cell phone, I realized I had drifted into 10 feet of water. BAM! a 23". As soon as I get him in the boat, a 23.5". As soon as I get him in the boat...a 20". And so on. The fish are shallow and are all over the place.

I marked the spot and continued to work it at least 5 for passes. In total, I pulled up 9 keepers (about 30 total) and lost 2 keepers at the rail. One was probably a 24. I slipped on bluefish guts while trying to grab the net and made the fatal slack line move.

I even got to cull 2- 19" fish for a 20" and a 21". How awesome is it to cull flounder??? LOL

All in all, I left with two 20's, a 21" a 23" and a 23.5.

 

[nocturn]

 

[boostjunkie1]

Now that is SWEET!!!!!! Oh, and you look 95% like my Cousin ...... So, when is the next trip and how much room do you have on that boat ??? Boost

 

[nocturn]

Just drop me a line when you're going to be in town. I'm coming up on my 100 hour so it may be a few weeks before I'm ready to head back out. Plus that's a lot of flounder meat in the freezer now. I still have about 15 pounds from last season I need to gobble up.

 

[cagrove]

Nice job on the flatties. That's some good eatin' there!

 

[boostjunkie1]

Just drop me a line when you're going to be in town. I'm coming up on my 100 hour so it may be a few weeks before I'm ready to head back out. Plus that's a lot of flounder meat in the freezer now. I still have about 15 pounds from last season I need to gobble up.

Well it sounds like I will have to take you up on the fishing and help you get rid of some of those flounders.... Thanks, Boost

 

[Genelie]

Wow like you said, sounds like both sides of the country did well on flaties

 

[nocturn]

Heading out tomorrow (21June) for round 2 hopefully. I'll report back.