Fishing Report HRBT/HB

[J Lavender]

Finally got to fish for the first time in 2005 on Monday. Started out just inside the HRBT on the west side where we picked up one small flounder and about eight keeper size croaker.
Moved down the Hampton Bar around the ammo pier and caught a few more small croaker. All fish were caught on the Fishbites Bloodworm flavor.
Moved to the MM and caught nothin but seaweed.

Water was dead calm and the temps ranged from 56-60 degrees.

There was bait breaking the surface all around the HRBT. Shad, LYs,Mullet???

[BenoitBalls22]

there were some shad around the cbbt... probably what you saw... just hope some blues or stripers get under them...

[di hrd]

I'll bet it was fish breaking on bait, glass minnows that is. 60% striper 20% blues 20% shad.

[BenoitBalls22]

how long do the stripers hang around this area? do they follow the shad as they migrate? This is my first season here, so I basically don't have a clue.

[rlholt]

I have been hearing alot about these "Fishbite" artificial "live" baits. Do they really work????

Robert Holt
Salty Dog
Bennett Creek

[J Lavender]

Robert,
The fishbites do work. I don't rely on them as my primary bait but I keep some in my tackle bag as a backup.
I used the crab flavor last year and it caught pretty much all varieties of bottom dwellers.
This year was the first time I had a chance to try the bloodworm version and it works great also.
I used it alone and also put a small piece on the hook with a strip of squid.
I got it at the Bait Shack in Portsmouth and I assume some other tackle shops carry it also.

[Uturn]

You can pick up the Fish Bites over at Oceans East @ Baker & Northhampton. All flavors...aeven got the big sheets-to cut your own strips. They work as a tail on the flies.
This was a another post about Fish Bites:

The Naked Goby made a reference in one of his posts, once, that he was catching croakers at the Hampton River Bridge Tunnel on Fish Bites. That caused me to do a little behind the scenes research and inquiry about this product, and finally with a great deal of encouragement, Ken Lamb at the Tackle Box in Lex Pk, MD got some in stock. Of course they ain't cheap, but if you consider how tough they are, that they're serviceable for dozens of fish and that they dry-store in your tackle box indefinitely......they might be something you would want to look into.

[gaffcat]

went sunday 05/01 12:00 pm cbbt 3rd island got 60+ stripers 18-21 alll back in the water they are their shad to and blues also

[caryman33]

Where on the third? 12 pm, wasn't that dead low or thereabouts? east side or west side and if you don't mind me asking, what were you casting? Would love to take the boy down there and get into some hot stripers, even the little'uns. Would be perfect for my four year old!

[gaffcat]

east side in and around the bridge by the rocks birds were working casting 1/2 oz. red head jig with a white assasin tail up in the middle and around the pillers