Fishing Blog
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 Looking for the perfect Christmas present for a fisherman this holiday? Look no further, Lateral Line's Crisfield fishing shirt is the perfect gift for any fisherman this holiday season. And even better, if you order before December 21, 2008, you get and exclusive Tidal Fish discount of 20% off and FREE Fed Ex Shipping...
Fishing Reports
 Do not put those boats away just yet, if you have not heard the Maryland Striped Bass Season has been extended through December 31st. The recent cold front has lowered water temperatures, but there are still breaking stripers to be found and trolling anglers are picking up some very nice stripers. If you are looking for the bigger striped bass make your way to... The big news flash is that the really big rockfish moved into the lower bay this week. The influx of the big boys became evident with several catches topping 50-pounds this week. So now the chase is on! And with decent weather on the horizon for the Thanksgiving Holiday, anglers are flocking to local tackle shops to load up on eels and lures to target these popular game fish.
Anglers are hooking big fish while dunking live eels at various depths from the 4th island to the high rise section of the Bay Bridge Tunnel. Many slobs are also coming from drifting eels along the channel edges and shoals off Plantation Light and the bayside of Cape Charles. Drifting with eels is the latest trend, and is an effective technique resulting in fewer, but a larger class of fish. One boat was trying this technique on Latimer Shoal this week, when a freight train...WRAPPING IT ALL UP
 I never really understood the majority of anglers’ behavior this time of the year. While the fishing gets better, folks begin to drop out. Boats are being shrink-wrapped, and gear is being stowed while the peanut-bunker amass and the feeding activity increases. I suppose there is the “freezing-your-arse-off” factor, which indeed can make things less fun, particularly when it’s windy. But there are still those gem days where the wind sits down, the water is glass and the air temp stays in the high 50’s. And those are the primo striped bass days. The ones where you can watch fish chasing down menhaden on the surface and where one can stick 20-plus pound bass with some frequency on topwaters… Yeah man, I live for those days.
Of course, as an angler, it’s always a good thing to have less folks on the water. Despite increasing fuel prices and an ailing economy, the boat traffic was as bad as it’s ever been this year. Thus, savoring the late fall days and the drastically reduced crowds certainly adds to...  More excitement again this week from the rockfish that have showed up in NC. Lots of big fish being caught around Oregon Inlet with a lot of citations being given out for the fish over 45 lbs. Weather was also friendly for offshore anglers this week. A good number of yellow fin and blue fin tuna were caught.
Bill from Oregon Inlet Fishing Center reported: "
November 29, 2008 Fishing ReportFishing offshore was oustanding yesterday. Boats came back to the docks with limits of yellowfin tuna. Bill will post pictures later. Striper fishing was still not that great yesterday. The SW winds made the fishing tough. There were some stripers caught. 3 citation stripers were weighed in at 44lbs, 45lbs and 47lbs. These citations wre caught by Clinton Wright of WV and Jason Wright of Fl. William Flannagan Jr. of Va caught a 37lb citation. Scott Segel Jr. of Il caught a 35lb citiation. This was one of those days where you had to be at the right spot at the right time. Stripers caught in the ocean have to be 28" long and any striper 35lbs and over are citation size fish. You can keep 2 person per day. Offshore boats have left for the day and the nearshore and inshore boats will be leaving at 7am."
TW's Bait and Tackle reported: "
November 30, 2008 Fishing Report
In Summary: We fished Coquina at daybreak (in the rain) and caught 2 eighteen inch Puppy Drum. All piers are catching Puppy Drum this morning. Avalon and Nags Head are also catching Trout. It looks like an all day of rain."
Local Weather
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Featured Article
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| By Lenny Rudow |
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 Bottom bouncing may not be new, it may not be trendy, and it may not be “hot,” but it is effective, period. It’s also a fairly straightforward tactic and once mastered, can be applied to any drop-off, ledge, or channel edge holding stripers in the Chesapeake bay—or for that matter, up and down the coast.Bottom-bouncing is the only form of trolling that requires an angler to constantly work the rod, and it’s usually used to target specific fish in a very specific spot—on a small hump, wreck, or drop-off, for example. It requires some pretty stout gear, with conventional reels spooled up with monel line. (Steel and superbraid lines will both work, but not as effectively; monel cuts the water well and makes it easier to keep your line on bottom, it doesn’t rust, and it won’t cut into the spool if you hook bottom, as some superbraids will.) Rods should be... |
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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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Latest Message Board Posts
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Posted By: Michael W. Rose
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