Baitfish

[scotttaylor]

Can anyone offer up a pylon number on the west end of the BB from which to head south when looking for bottom fish? I tried #12 last evening to no avail! I'm operating w/out a fishfinder but not for long! Just took delivery of a re-conditioned Garmin.
S.T.

[J.A. Veil]

I have never bottom fished adjacent to the bridge. If you launch at Sandy Pt., one of the more dependable locations would be Hacketts Bar. It is a few miles south of the bridge. A large green can buoy marks the approximate end of the bar where the depth drops from the teens into the 30s of feet. Try different depths to see where the fish are.

[27 sailfish]

Right now the White Perch are leaving the river to go to the summer spots in the bay. Some Perch stay in the river but most go to the oyster bars in 12-30 feet of water.

Before we had fishfinders - we would drift fish until we caught a few - the go back and anchor.

The area west or SW of Hacketts has nice shell bottom. Drift from the crab pots out to just past the marker or watch for others catching.

It will be about 2-3 weeks before Perch are near the bridge. Using the piling numbers of the east bound span - from #10 out to #17 south 1/8 to 1/2 mile has OK bottom fishing.

Off #14 1/8 mile is often good for Spot.

A good fishfinder really helps in the catching though - often the schools are only the size of a house - easy to miss them.

I hardly ever waste more then 10 minutes bottom fishing. No hits/fish in that time - I move. Often only 100 yds . If bottom fish are around - they often bite right away.