FishTalk Magazine August 2023

See Your Local Suzuki Marine Dealer For All the Details

All Star Marine Inc | 410-574-8281

2434 Holly Neck Rd, Essex, MD

Bob’s Marine Service, Inc. | 302-539-3711

31888 Roxana Rd, Ocean View, DE

Danny’s Marine LLC | 410-228-0234

3559 Chateau Dr, E. New Market, MD

Fawcett Boat Supplies | 410-267-8681

919 Bay Ridge Rd, Annapolis, MD

Friday’s Marine | 804-758-4131

(Malise Marine Sales & Service)

14879 GW Memorial Hwy, Saluda, VA

Galahad Marine | 410-827-7409

121 Rental Ln, Grasonville, MD

Hidden Harbour Marina | 301-261-9200

600 Cabana Blvd, Deale, MD

Intercoastal Marine | 410-335-0458

2925 Eastern Blvd, Baltimore, MD

Jett’s Marine, Inc. | 804-453-3611

18477 Northumberland Hwy, Reedville, VA

JF Marine Service LLC | 443-432-3121

138 Bugeye Sq, Prince Frederick, MD

Legasea Marine | 757-898-3000

821 Railway Rd, Yorktown, VA

Maryland Boat Sales | 410-574-3988

2426 Holly Neck Rd, Essex, MD

North Bay Marina Inc | 302-436-4211

36543 Lighthouse Rd, Selbyville, DE

Pasadena Boat Works | 443-858-2400

4425 Mountain Rd, Pasadena, MD

Pontoon Express | 302-945-0654

22572 Harbeson Rd, Harbeson, DE

Powersports of Crofton | 410-697-5965

745 State Route 3 North Gambrils, MD

PYY Marine | 410-255-1771

1132 Pasadena Yacht Yard Rd, Pasadena, MD

Sandpiper Marine Inc | 757-787-7783

21530 Taylor Rd, Accomac, VA

Scott’s Cove Marina | 410-784-7624

10551 Eldon Willing Rd, Chance, MD

Thornes Marine | 410-957-4481

1237 Greenbackville Rd, Stockton, MD

Tradewinds Marina | 410-335-7000

412 Armstrong Rd, Middle River, MD

36

Creepy Crawly Crappie Fishing

Crappie fishing with a spider rig is a unique method of slab-hunting.

By Eric Packard

38

Beat the Heat: Night Moves

When fish seem depressed by the dog days of summer, night fishing can get epic.

By Staff

40

Tuna on the Lumps

Mid-Atlantic anglers should get a shot at either yellowfin or bluefin tuna – or both – at the Inshore Deli and nearby lumps this summer.

By Lenny Rudow

43

Fishing Quiz for Beginners

Test your knowledge and find out if you’re ready to graduate to intermediate angler.

By Staff

46

The Inhuman Hours

When it comes to fishing, timing really is everything.

By Alan Battista

48

Bay Entrance Structure, Part I

The CBBT and western approaches have gobs of structure that’s ideal for angling.

By Wayne Young

Dan, Kevin, and Alex revel in the glory of a mega-tuna, caught aboard the Heat Wave with Capt. Dale at the helm.

17TH ANNUAL YOUTH FISHING DERBY SATURDAY, AUGUST 19, 2023

BOYS & GIRLS AGE GROUPS:

Sponsored by the Kent Island Fishermen, Inc., and the Kent Island Estates Community Association

In memory of Jon Bupp

Bring your own rods. A minimal amount of Loaner rods available. Bait is provided. Wristbands are required for Fishing and Lunch admittance.

PRIZES

Largest Fish • Smallest Fish Most Unique Fish • Most Fish Caught in each age group.

Must be present to claim prize. No more than one trophy per winning child.

All participants must be accompanied by PARENT OR ADULT

ROMANCOKE PIER RT. 8 SOUTH KENT ISLAND

8AM REGISTRATION

9AM - 11AM FISHING

11:30AM - 1PM PRIZES & REFRESHMENTS AT THE KENT ISLAND

AMERICAN LEGION #278

612 Third Street, Suite 3C, Annapolis, MD 21403 (410) 216-9309 FishTalkMag.com

ANGLER IN CHIEF

Lenny Rudow, lenny@fishtalkmag.com

PUBLISHER

Mary Iliff Ewenson, mary@fishtalkmag.com

A SSoCIATE PUBLISHER

Chris Charbonneau, chris@fishtalkmag.com

MANAGING EDIToR

Molly Winans, molly@fishtalkmag.com

SENIoR EDIToRS

Beth Crabtree, beth@fishtalkmag.com

Kaylie Jasinski, kaylie@fishtalkmag.com

CoPY EDIToR

Lucy Iliff, lucy@fishtalkmag.com

FISHING REPoRTS EDIToR

Dillon Waters

ADVERTISING SALES

Eric Richardson, eric@fishtalkmag.com

Nathan Younge, nathan@fishtalkmag.com

CUSToMER SERVICE MANAGER

Brooke King, brooke@fishtalkmag.com

DISTRIBUTIoN /BRokERAGE /CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER

Beatrice M. Roderick, beatrice@fishtalkmag.com

ART DIRECToR / PRoDUCTIoN MANAGER

Zach Ditmars, zach@fishtalkmag.com

GRAPHIC DESIGNER / PRoDUCTIoN A SSISTANT

Royal Snyder, royal@fishtalkmag.com

TACTICIAN

Craig Ligibel

CoASTAL CoRRESPoNDENT

John Unkart

CoNTRIBUTING WRITERS

Alan Battista, Jim Gronaw, Chuck Harrison, Capt. Monty Hawkins, Eric Packard, David Rudow, Wayne Young

DISTRIBUTIoN

Andy Aviles, Martin and Betty Casey, Gregory G. Greenwell Sr., Dave Harlock, Ron and Colleen Ogden, Ross Thornton, John and Chrissy Wathen

Rudow’s FishTalk is a monthly magazine for and about Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic anglers. Reproduction of any part of this publication is strictly prohibited without prior consent of the officers of Rudow’s FishTalk LLC. Rudow’s FishTalk LLC accepts no responsibility for discrepancies in advertisements.

Rudow’s FishTalk is available by first class subscription for $45 a year, and back issues are available for $4 each. Mail payment to Rudow’s FishTalk Subscriptions, 612 Third Street, Suite 3C, Annapolis, MD, 21403.

Rudow’s FishTalk is distributed free of charge at more than 850 establishments along the shores of the Chesapeake and the DelMarVa Peninsula. Businesses or organizations wishing to distribute Rudow’s FishTalk should contact the Rudow’s FishTalk office, (410) 216-9309 or beatrice@fishtalkmag.com.

Member Of:

© 2023 Rudow’s FishTalk LLC

Rudow’s FishTalk Recycles

Notes from the Cockpit

Welcome to August, FishTalkers! Though it can get mighty hot out there this month, I absolutely love August because we usually have so many overlapping species cruising through my home waters of the Middle Bay. Along with rockfish we’re likely to enjoy the presence of Spanish mackerel, bluefish, redfish, speckled sea trout, and more. On windy days we can pay a visit to nearby lakes and rivers to catch crappie, bass, catfish, bluegill, and on and on. I enjoy all of them… because I can.

Not everyone is so lucky. Not everyone has a boat, much less multiple boats for different types of fisheries. Not everyone can afford to pay a charter boat or guide to enjoy the day out on the water. Not everyone has an easily accessed pond, lake, or river nearby. And not everyone can get to a good shoreline fishing spot or public pier. Access to our fisheries is limited, and in some cases and/or fisheries, very limited.

Access is such an important issue that we dedicated an episode of Chesapeake Perspectives to it (you can watch it and learn much more about the issue at FishTalk’s YouTube channel), and several very interesting points came out as we spoke with our panel of experts. One was the fact that in the post-Covid world, there’s a lot more competition for outdoor spaces. In many cases, as hikers or bird watchers or any other sort of user group expands, it puts additional pressure on angler access. A clear example can be seen at Calvert Cliffs Park. For several years fishermen lined the banks along one of the trails to fish the beaver pond for snakeheads, which riddle its shallow waters. But as the park grew more and more crowded some bikers or hikers saw fit to complain about people fishing close to

By Lenny Rudow

the trails. Net result? “No Fishing” signs unexpectedly appeared at the trailhead. Access, eliminated.

Another problem is development, which constantly encroaches upon areas once used by the public. That goes not just for private development, but ironically, even the development of parks and other areas intended for public use. When Beverly Triton Nature Park, right in my own neighborhood, was undeveloped, my kids and countless others in the neighborhood used to walk down to the pond after school and fish for white perch. Some days a dozen or more kids would spend hours walking around the banks and casting in the marsh — an activity most of us would agree is far better for their character development than sitting at home playing video games. But this spring the county completed a major development project at the park, and now you need to reserve a fishing pass, show it at the gatehouse, and fish from one of five designated fishing spots — if the fishing reservations aren’t already full. Several of the “fishing spots” seem strategically located where there are never any fish, and the best two spots I know of on the pond are now off-limits to anglers.

Even if you have a boat your options are limited. Have you ever tried to find a public launch ramp in the Magothy, Severn, South, or West rivers, or any of the Baltimore-area creeks? Your options range between limited and nonexistent, and often the limited access points are too far from the fishing grounds to run in a small boat, or too small in size to launch a larger boat.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to enjoy good access often forget about our fellow fishers who want to fish, but struggle with angling access on a regular basis. And that’s a shame, because we anglers are all part of the fishing community. A community which speaks loudest with a unified voice. Before you shrug off access as an issue that only affects others, remember that there may come a day when you park your boat for good. To take your grandkids fishing you might want to walk to the shore of a nearby pond or onto a public pier. But you’ll only be able to do so if that pond or pier is open to fishing.

# Access, eliminated...

Losing Your Marbles

Dear FishTalk, A

s a reliability and quality engineer who’s also an angler, I am always thinking about ways to catch more fish. One way is to fish more. And a way to fish more is retiring. In 2022 I reached minimum retirement age according to the Social Security Administration, after 41 years working as an engineer. So, I came up with a simple method to determine when to retire. Yes, math is involved. Place marbles in a jar, one for each year of working (in my case 41 marbles). From that point forward, remove one marble for:

• A bad day at the office.

• A bad day of commuting.

• Your neighbor goes fishing while you’re stuck at work.

• You’re driving past water while going to work and you see a fish splash.

• You have to go to a mandatory meeting on a beautiful, potentially epic fishing day.

The only way to add a marble back is for the next work anniversary. Some people, of course, may choose to retire before they lose all their marbles. I have only seven left.

Walt T, via

email

More on MRIP

Dear FishTalk, Good article on the video-count of boats showing how far off MRIP numbers are. I have a suggestion. Why don’t we put an RFID chip on every boat. Maybe embed it in the registration decal; it does not have to collect any personal information, just count the number of times that particular chip passes a monitoring device. It would not be hindered by weather like a camera, and the number of fishing trips would be monitored at a much higher resolution. Just a thought.

Tony G.

Dear Tony, That is a really interesting idea, one we haven’t heard as of yet. MRIP, DNR, and all the other agencies out there, food for thought!

Send your fish photos, questions, and comments to lenny@fishtalkmag.com

Fishing Kids Cover Contest

Here’s How it w orks:

• Visit fishtalkmag.com/cover-contest and follow the instructions to enter your favorite kids fishing photo by August 3

• Your photo submission should include youth anglers having fun while fishing on the Chesapeake Bay or in the Mid-Atlantic region.

• Vertical high-resolution photos work best, with room for our logo header and cover lines.

• If the youth angler is on a boat, make sure he or she is wearing a lifejacket (properly) in accordance with state boating regulations, or we won’t consider it for the cover.

• Once the submission period has ended, our graphic design team will disqualify any photos that do not meet our printing requirements (any images that are too low of a resolution, are blurry or too dark, if a child was pictured without a lifejacket, and if there was not enough room in the image for our FishTalk header, footer, and cover lines). We will then let you vote for the winning cover for the September issue of FishTalk Magazine!

For more details and to enter, visit

fishtalkmag.com/cover-contest

Blues on the Rocks

Dear FishTalk, Ialways enjoy Live with Lenny and usually listen on YouTube while walking the dogs at a later date, as was the case today. Two thoughts on the latest topic. It seems that the recent decline in rockfish reproductive success is going down as the number of blue catfish is increasing in the rivers where the rockfish spawn. It is always easy to point fingers or look for something to blame, but those small rockfish have to swim a long way through the waters where the blue cats have taken over. This was not the case in the not-too-distant past. This may be worth further study. Second, in regard to stocking, it would seem fairly easy to net breeders in the upper Bay spawning areas and provide some help with biology to increase the fertilization success rate. Then raise the fish to several inches and release them below the salt line, to give them a better chance of survival if it is found the catfish are partly responsible for the decrease in the spawning class. I would think most Bay fisherman would purchase a rockfish stamp to provide funding for a stocking effort if there was research to show it would help the rockfish population without harming it.

Donald B., via email

# Are these recent invaders chowing down on all the baby rockfish?

Fi SH New S

By Lenny Rudow

Feeling Crabby?

We got some good news (finally!) when this year’s winter dredge crab survey results came in from the Maryland DNR and Virginia Institute of Marine Science: results for 2023 are well above the 2022 count, shooting up from 227 million crabs to 323 million crabs. Spawning-age females rose from 97 million to 152 million, adult male crabs jumped from 28 million to 55 million, and juvenile crabs saw a slighter increase but still an uptick nonetheless from 101 to 116 million. Crab populations are notoriously variable from one year to the next but considering that last year’s low was the lowest count on record, this is welcome news indeed.

Crosby Crushed It

Fourteen-year-old angler Crosby Abe of Cumberland, MD, has earned a spot in the angling record books after catching a new Maryland state record fallfish. He was fishing from shore for smallmouth in the North Branch of the Potomac when the 2.27-pound fallfish hit a spinner. The fish was a jaw-dropping 19.5 inches (yes, a 19.5-inch fallfish!), and this is the second recent mega-fall to hit the scales in recent years, as the previous record was just set (at 2.14 pounds) in 2021 by 13-year-old Maxwell Diegel.

Attention, VA, Cobia Anglers

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission has announced a voluntary initiative to replace the retired mandatory cobia reporting program. They’re asking recreational cobia anglers to report length data on fish under 40 inches that are released; cobia over 50 inches released if a fish over 50 inches has already been harvested; cobia released after the daily bag limit has been met; and fish caught and released pre- and post-season. Anglers are asked to submit data via the Virginia Saltwater Journal (vasaltwaterjournal.com) or if actively tagging, the Gamefish Tagging Program. Length should be mouth closed to the tip of the pinched tail.

# Keep track of those cobia, and help Virginia keep tabs on how the species is faring.

# The boost in crab numbers is great news for the Chesapeake.

Tou RNAMENT N E w S

Kent Island Kids Go Fishing

August 19 is this year’s date for the Kent Island Fisherman Club’s Annual Youth Fishing Derby. The Romancoke pier on Kent Island is the venue, and all three- to 16-year-old participants must be accompanied by an adult. Note that bait, refreshments, and prizes are all provided, and this event is a smashing success one year after the next. Registration is at 8 a.m. and fishing takes place from 9 to 11:30. Visit Kent Island Fishermen on Facebook to learn more.

# Don’t miss the Kent Island Fisherman club Annual Youth Fishing Derby on August 19!

The. Big. one.

Yes people, it’s time for the tournament of all tournaments: the Ocean City, MD, White Marlin Open. This year’s dates are August 7 through 11, with the purse hitting $86 bajillion dollars. Okay, seriously, this year’s purse is expected to top $10 million, and it’s the tournament’s 50th anniversary. Last year’s field included an outrageous 408 boats, so expect the ocean to be crowded. Visit whitemarlinopen.com to get the details.

Feeling Poor?

The Poor Girls Open ladies-only billfish release tournament out of Ocean City, MD, benefitting breast cancer research, is set for August 17 to 19. This tournament has sent over $1.7 million to the American Cancer Society, so joining in with the 100-plus boats competing is an excellent thing to do. Visit poorgirlsopen.com to learn more. And whatever you do, don’t miss the Pink Party kick-off at Mahia Marina!

MidAtlantic Mayhem

Ready to slug it out with the Jersey anglers? With weigh-ins at both the NJ Canyon Club Marina and OC’s Sunset marina, millions of dollars will be on the line. Last year eight boats topped the $160K mark with the heaviest white marlin taking home over $871K. This year’s fishing dates are August 21 through 25, 8 a.m. through 3:30 p.m. Visit themidatlantic.com to learn more.

Bills for VA Beach

The Virginia Beach Billfish Tournament is set for August 23 through 26. This invitational charity event will benefit Achievable Dream, Boys and Girls Clubs, and the Woodington Scholarship Fund as well as other organizations. Now in its 20th year, the event has donated over $1.5 million to date. Last year 84 teams competed so if you’re not yet on the waiting list, visit vbbt.com and check it out.

Kent Narrows wrap-up

The 20th annual CCA-MD Kent Narrows Fly and Light Tackle tournament went off this June without a hitch, and Team Spring cleaned up with a 94.25-inch three-fish stringer that included the first and second longest fish in the running. Mike Bitting and Brandon Davis both topped the 31-inch mark, and Todd Patton took the largest fish on fly at 24 inches while Chuck Chambers got the biggest kayak fish, at 26.75 inches. Lisa Kehler won lady angler at 24.75 inches, and Ryan Patton took the youth category with a 23.75-incher. Congrats, all!

H o T NE w GEAR

Editor’s Note: We wish we could personally test every item that appears on these pages, but that simply isn’t possible. So that you know the difference between when we’ve physically tested a piece of gear and when we’re writing about it because it’s newsworthy and we think you’ll want to know about it, we’ve developed this FishTalk Tested button. When you see it printed next to something in this section, it means we’ve personally run it through the wringer.

Seeing Is Believing

By Lenny Rudow

Shifting from one manufacturer’s marine electronics to another is a big deal. You have to learn a whole new digital interface before you can even figure out if you like the performance, so when I made the switch to a Humminbird Apex 16 last October I wrote in these pages that I’d check back in once I felt like I had a handle on the system. That time has already arrived because the Apex is thoroughly intuitive and doesn’t take too much time to get used to. Here are my biggest takeaways:

• Thus far there have been zero physical hardware glitches; no moisture in the screen, failing pieces or parts, or ill-fitting bezels, all problems I’ve had with units from some other manufacturers in the past.

• The ability to adjust sidescanning system detail is an utter killer. Focus on learning to manipulate range, contrast, and frequency adjustments to get the best performance in different depths and structural scenarios in a matter of seconds, by spinning the dial as you see the changes on-screen in real time.

• The multiple-layer depth shading with Coastmaster chartography is a big time-saver. It’s customizable, and I set mine for different shades at five feet and two feet so I know when to cruise and when to creep along while going around points, between islands, etc.

• Having the Minn Kota and the MFD interfaced is tremendously helpful. Tap the screen and tell the motor to go there, then slowly fish through areas with scattered structure like artificial reef sites and stump fields.

• Radar performance is excellent, and overlaying on the chartplotter is automatic.

Of course, you folks know Humminbird is a FishTalk supporter and I may appear biased by that fact. Noted, but we’re always going to try to deliver the truth as we see it and nothing in this world is perfect. Thus, we also need to mention:

• If you have a complex network (multiple stations, multiple transducers, autopilot, etc.) know that the initial setup will take some time. Be sure to have your phone with you so you can Google questions and look at the manual as you do it.

• There’s no compass-rose-style steering screen in the chartplotter, so on long trips you’ll want to train yourself to use the digital display numbers for COG and bearing to steer an exact course (which is much more accurate than trying to follow course line displays). The bottom line? There’s very little to complain about and a lot to love in the new Apex 16, and I’m willing to bet that anyone you talk to who has one will have a similar opinion. Price: $4799. Visit humminbird.johnsonoutdoors.com/us for more information.

Chilling out

Remember the Chill-N-Reel, invented when some genius angler attached a spool to the side of his drink coozie?

Well, now it’s NEW AND IMPROVED!!!

The inventor went on Shark Tank and for some inexplicable reason, those genius investors bit. Now the Chill-N-Reel is injectionmolded plastic, has a flared spool that allows you to “cast,” and comes pre-spooled with 50 feet of eight-pound test. Best of all, you can now get accessories like a spill-guard for your drink, an extra hook and sinker, and Chill-NReel stickers. Ummm… yay? Price: $17.95. For a drink coozie. Visit chillnreel.com if you care more about drinking than fishing.

Flying High

If you’re looking for the ultimate in saltwater fly fishing reels, the Hardy Fortuna Regent is going to catch your eye. This aluminum alloy, large-arbor, narrow-spool reel has a sealed waterproof multi-pad carbo fiber disc drag system that can put out up to 12, 16, or 18 pounds of drag (depending on size). Line ratings range from seven to 12 weight in 8000 to 12000 sizes, with right/left handle positions, in gray/silver and black colors. The 8000 holds 175 yards of nine-weight line, the 10000 holds 200 yards of 11 weight, and the 12000 holds 250 yards of 12 weight. While it’s pricy it’s also utterly top-shelf, and Hardy backs the reel with an unusual five-year warranty. Price: $750. Visit purefishing.com to learn more.

Raising Cain

Sick and tired of stumbling over your dredges? Are you looking for one that’s easy to stow aboard a small boat? The Fish Razr bucket dredge is the answer. The two-tier, 21 (nine inch) squid dredge (with 10-inch bars) is designed to collapse and stow neatly contained right inside of an included 3.5-gallon bucket with a top. It comes ready to troll with a four-pound weight and connection cable, and is available in pink, blue sparkle, red sparkle, and green sparkle. If you need a hassle-free dredge that’s easily packed away and kept neat during the cruise, this one’s the ticket. Price: $299 is the MSRP but this one is on sale (Sale! Sale! Sale!) right now for $50 off at alltackle.com — so check it out fast!

Salty Dawg

The Strike King Sexy Dawg Hard Knock has been a favored topwater bait for years, featuring a 4.5-inch LOA, 5/8 ounces of weight, realistic 3-D eyes, saltwater-grade Mustad Triple-Grip hooks, and a steel sound chamber that rattles like nuts. Now, however, it’s available in a new wide range of colors. There are nine different patterns ranging from “Lemon Trout” to “Gold Croaker” to choose from. Price: $11.99. Visit strikeking.com to see the new offerings.

Fluking for Bass

Flukes are a great choice for fooling predators into pouncing, especially when you need a weedless option that sinks slowly and can be used in shallow water and/or thick cover. Ready to try fluking? Get yourself some four- or five-inch fluke tails and 3/0 to 4/0 fluke hooks (the ones with the funny bend just past the eye, properly called an offset shank). Tie the hook to the end of your line, and slide the tip of the fluke onto the hook. Then double the hook back and insert it through the body so it pops out of the hook pocket with the point exposed but lying against the soft plastic. Now, you’re ready to:

• Cast out as close as possible to the target cover.

• Twitch the bait a bit to make it look alive without moving it away from the cover, as it ever-so-slowly sinks.

• Twitch a bit more and reel in some line so the fluke appears to be swimming in zigs and zags away from the cover.

• Speed up as the lure gets away from the target zone, but keep twitching and swimming the fluke so it zigzags right up to the shoreline or boat because sometimes fish will follow it for a while before striking. If not, pick the fluke up and recast.

• When a fish strikes, wait for at least two to three seconds to let it take the fluke all the way into its mouth before setting the hook. When you do set the hook do so with gusto (and note that a rod which is too limber at the top can inhibit hook-setting ability with flukes).

Spanish Refresher Course

We’ve covered standard-issue Spanish mackerel trolling tactics more than once in FishTalk, but it’s been a while and now that August is here most of the Chesapeake should be riddled with these critters. So, here’s a refresher on some top tips for catching Spanish mackerel in the Bay.

1. Pull small (#00, 0, and 1) wobblers like Drones and Clarks behind planers. A full spread will have #1, 2, and 3 planers with the larger planers set closest to the boat. If you don’t remember how “Mack Speed” works to calculate the best trolling speed on any given day, check out “Finding the Ideal Spanish Mackerel Trolling Speed” at FishTalkMag.com.

2. Cast fast-sinking jigging spoons like the G-Eye Rain Minnow or Stingsilvers (Gotcha plugs work great, too), let them sink five to 15 seconds, then rip them back to the boat cranking your reel at full tilt.

3. Cast a popping cork with a three- to four-foot leader and a toothproof plastic paddletail on a half-ounce jighead. Pop it back to the boat in a very fast, steady cadence, never pausing or stopping.

# The simple white fluke fooled this fish into attacking.

C HESAPEAKE C ALENDAR

3

August

Amm tides and tunes summer concert series

Live music by Wheelhouse Rock Band. 7 p.m. at the Annapolis Maritime Museum’s waterfront Mcnasby campus. Concerts are free; however, donations are gratefully accepted.

3 Yorktown sounds of summer concert series

6:30 to 9 p.m. at Riverwalk Landing in Yorktown, VA. Free. Live music by Slapnation.

4-5 marlins for mason tournament

Marlin release tournament to benefit the Dravet Syndrome Foundation in honor of Mason Prather. Registration August 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Ocean City Marlin Club. Entry: $500. (302) 581-9323 or marlinsformason@gmail.com

5 Perch-A-Palooza

Prizes for biggest overall as well as a youth division with prizes. Presented by Amped Up Outdoors.

5-6 National lighthouse Weekend at Piney Point

lighthouse museum

10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Piney Point Lighthouse Museum in Piney Point, MD. Free open house weekend in recognition of National Lighthouse Day. Enjoy tours of the museum, Potomac River Maritime Exhibit, lighthouse tower, the Keeper’s Quarters, and grounds.

6 Annapolis first sunday Arts festival

Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. May through November, thousands of visitors enjoy the festival featuring over 100 vendors, live music, and cafe dining along the first block of West Street in Annapolis.

7-11 White marlin open

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the world’s largest and richest billfish tournament! In Ocean City, MD.

10

Amm tides and tunes summer concert series

Live music by Loose Ties. 7 p.m. at the Annapolis Maritime Museum’s waterfront Mcnasby campus. Concerts are free; however, donations are gratefully accepted.

10 Yorktown sounds of summer concert series

6:30 to 9 p.m. at Riverwalk Landing in Yorktown, VA. Free. Live music by The Main Event Band.

11-13 Pirates & Wenches Weekend

Come by land or by sea to the town of Rock Hall, MD, for a town-wide family theme party you won’t soon forget.

12 Explore the smithsonian by canoe

Join Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) naturalists for a tour of the Rhode River. We’ll cover basic paddling and provide canoes and PFDs. While on the water we’ll look for wildlife and discuss SERC research. For ages 8 and older. A minimum of 1 adult per child is suggested. July 1, July 8, August 12, and August 26 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Advance registration required: email SERCOutreach@si.edu ($20 adults, $18 children 8-13 years).

13 Watermen’s Appreciation Day

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels hosts this annual event featuring a boat docking contest, steamed crabs by the dozen, live music, family activities, and more.

17 Amm tides and tunes summer concert series

Live music by Mike McHenry Tribe. 7 p.m. at the Annapolis Maritime Museum’s waterfront Mcnasby campus. Concerts are free; however, donations are gratefully accepted.

17-19 Poor girls open Ladies-only billfish tournament benefitting breast cancer research.

19 children’s Day at st. clement’s island museum

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the St. Clement’s Island Museum in Colton’s Point, MD. Families can enjoy lots of kids’ activities including games, crafts, outdoor fun, and lots more throughout the day.

19 kent island fishermen 17th Annual Youth fishing Derby

Sponsored by the Kent Island Fishermen, Inc. and the Kent Island Estates Community Association in memory of Jon Bupp. At the Romancoke Pier on Kent Island. Age groups: 3-5, 6-10, and 11-16. All participants must be accompanied by a parent or adult. 8 a.m. registration, fishing from 9 to 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. prizes and refreshments at the Kent Island American Legion #278. Bring your rods (minimal loaner rods available); bait provided.

20 cmm Waterside music series

Live music by The Concert: A Tribute to Abba. At the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD. Tickets: calvertmarinemuseum.com

20-25 the midAtlantic fishing tournament

Two weigh-in locations: Canyon Club Resort Marina in Cape May, NJ, and Sunset Marina in Ocean City, MD. Millions of dollars will be on the line!

26

A ugust (continued)

cmm Waterside music series

Live music by Brett Young. At the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, MD. Tickets: calvertmarinemuseum.com

28 charter captain’s course

100-ton master’s, OUPV, towing, sailing. Classes start August 28 at Milford, DE, Fire Dept. Coast Guard approved to teach and test. Call Capt. Ken, (410) 2280674 or visit chartercapt.com

28

Rockfish Rodeo fishing tournament and crab feast

At the Crab Deck in Kent Narrows, MD. Participating anglers fish from one of the many Maryland licensed charter boats. The winning rockfish is based on the longest length, as reported by the captain, and confirmed by the tournament officials. Afterwards enjoy food, beverages, live music, games, silent auction, and awarding of the Rockfish Rodeo winners. Benefits Talisman Therapeutic Riding.  info@talismantherapeuticriding.org

31 charter captain’s course

100-ton master’s, OUPV, towing, sailing. Classes start August 31 at Kent Island Fire Dept. Coast Guard approved to teach and test. Call Capt. Ken, (410) 2280674 or visit chartercapt.com

31 lessons from America’s flatboat Era

7 to 9 p.m. in-person and virtual event at The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, VA. Rinker Buck built a wooden flatboat from the bygone era of the early 1800s and to journey down the Mississippi River to New Orleans, illuminating the forgotten past of America’s first western frontier. A book signing follows the Q&A. Advance registration required at marinersmuseum.org. Cost: $10 for in-person, free to watch online.

8-9 havre de grace Waterfront festival

The festival will kick off with a Lighted Boat Parade on Friday evening: $10 registration fee at boatparadehdg. eventbrite.com or call (410) 939-2100. The boats will cruise along the shoreline from the Amtrak bridge to the Concord Point Lighthouse Park. The festival runs from 5 to 11 p.m. and the boat parade starts at 8 p.m. On Saturday, enjoy the festival at Concord Point Park from 3 to 9 p.m. Live music, food trucks, beer garden, vendors, demonstrations, and a thrilling acrobatic show by The Pirates of the Colombian Caribbean. Fireworks will begin at 8 p.m.

Reservoirs like Piney Run, lakes such as Deep Creek, specific eastern shore ponds, and tactics and techniques for bass, crappie, and other freshwater fish are covered in detail. Whether you’re a bank angler, a reservoir runner, or a pond hopper, you’ll find this one interesting.

(Price: $2.99)

To Downloa D T his e-gui D e an D more, visi T : fish T alkmag.com/e-gui D es

This how-to, where-to e-guide from Lenny Rudow covers Maryland’s freshwater fishing possibilities.

9 Blue Water Bash

2 to 5 p.m. at Barcocina in Baltimore, MD. Three hours of celebration that also provides vital support for Blue Water Baltimore’s programs across the watershed. On this 15th anniversary, they hope to raise $120,000.

9 lil’ Amps Bent Rods inaugural Rockfish tournament

Rods in at 6 a.m. Arrive at weigh-in station at Red Eye’s Dock Bar by 3 p.m. Registration deadline: August 19. Registration is $500.00 per registered Captain and 4 Anglers. Additional Anglers are $100 each. Donate to your favorite boat/captain (Not My Child is fighting the heroin and opioid epidemic).

9 third Annual Portsmouth Paddle Battle

9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth, VA. SUP and kayak categories. New race option this year for tandem kayaks and canoes. The race course will once again be from High Street Basin in Olde Towne to the Hammerhead Crane on the Shipyard and back. Live music, food and drinks, prizes, events for children, and more. Proceeds will help The Friends support the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum and the Lightship Portsmouth Museum. Register: friendsofportsmouthnsm.org

10 free kids fishing tournament

Hosted by North Bay Fishing Club from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration at 8:30 a.m. at North East Community Park, 250 West Walnut St., North East, MD. For age groups 5-8, 9-12, and 13-16. Loaner fishing rods and bait available or bring your own. Free picnic lunch for all with hot dogs, water, and snacks. RSVP to Daniel R. at dano5191@aol.com or Stan C. at stanleycebula@gmail.com

21 A chesapeake Perspective

This new series moderated by FishTalk Angler-in-Chief, Lenny Rudow, will feature industry leaders from the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic region with whom viewers will be able to engage with by asking questions during the live stream via Facebook on YouTube. 7 to 8:30 p.m. “Habitat Preservation and Restoration.” fishtalkmag.com/chesapeake-perspective

# Arley started his fishing career out the right way, landing this 24-incher.

# It’s his ‘n hers catfish, for Nick and Fish Crushin’ Kaylie!

# gregory had a blast learning how to fish with his dad at a Delaware pond. photo courtesy of greg hupka.

# Ryan went crabbing in the West River, and took home a very tasty dinner.

# gideon hooked into this monster sheepshead while fishing in hatteras inlet.

# Will and Cooper enjoyed some catching at harbor hills Beach.

# gary stalked the gunpowder, and came up with this nice rainbow.

# Zach had a great crabbing trip to start off the season.

# here’s a nifty catch — @baitwatch. fishing got a gar on the pocomoke.

# ellen scored a walleye at Deep Creek Lake. photo courtesy of Bill Rader.

FIS H PIC

THE MONTH

Reader Photos presented by Reader Photos presented by

# Brian got a nice one in Baltimore harbor, casting topwater.

# Junior and his crew had some excellent topwater action north of the bridge.

# Logan is just two, but he’s already cranking ‘em up.

# herb got a nice early season speck in the Choptank.

# gabe jigged up his first ever striper (with a little help from father Mark) on the patapsco. OF

# Fred tangled with some fat cats early this summer.

# Rich tied into another Susquehanna MoNSTeR!

# gideon tackled this monster speck while in Rodanthe, NC.

# Chase and Todd enjoyed some fine multispecies action running the Dream Maker out of Virginia Beach.

# Marty and his crew had a solid bite up Baltimore way.

# Zadalynn and Silas jigged up some rockfish to 24-inches on g - eyes and chartreuse paddletails in the Upper Bay.

# Matias helped little bro Andres catch his very first fish. WTg, guys!

# Austin caught this ChUNK of a bass fishing in a southern Maryland pond.

# William got this beaut while casting a four-weight!

# Brian and Jacob enjoyed some catfish action right outside the back door.

# Dale White was catching sea bass off the coast of oC when a juvenile great white ate his catch! he managed to snap off this shot before the hook broke and the fish swam off.

# Casey tempted this 26-incher with peelers.

# Jackson enjoyed a bangin’ bite on the pax early this summer.

# Arlo enjoyed one heck of a birthday present just before turning five –look at that big flattie!

# Brad hooked up with a 30-inch snakehead in the upper Bay this spring.

# Kaden, Alex, Craig, Jeremey, and Matt enjoyed a great bite at the flats on the Mis Mer-Sea.

Hot New Fishboats

By Lenny Rudow

Cobia 301 CC: Stalk the Salt

Pop Quiz: How do you get the entire family excited about getting the bay- and oceancapable fishing boat you’ve always wanted? The answer is simple: take them to see a Cobia 301 CC. You won’t find anything lacking in the angling department whether you plan to sling jigs for rockfish or troll for tunas, yet you will find plenty of comfort-inducing attributes that will make those spouses and siblings smile.

Case in point: the cockpit setup. The aft seat folds completely flush with the transom (which has four flushmount rodholders), so you can have a 100-percent fishing zone. Just as important, the integrated angling features are better than most boats of this size and type deliver. A particularly strong example can be seen in the back of the leaning post, which incorporates a rigging station with a sink and cooler/bait compartment, two bulk stowage drawers, and a tacklebox with four pull-out trays. Then consider the livewells. There are two in the transom at

28 gallons each, which are oval, lighted, blue inside, and have clear gasketed lids. Next check out the in-deck fishboxes. They’re insulated, evacuate overboard via macerators, and they have a whopping 80 gallons of capacity with two aft and two more forward.

You say it’s time for a post-fishing pleasure cruise with the fam? Fishy though it may be they’ll like the cockpit too, thanks to the freshwater shower by the transom for rinsing off after a dip, the comfortable-leaning coaming bolsters, and the side entry door. When we tested this model we noted that the transom seat was easy to manipulate open and closed and simple to figure out, unlike some of the Rube Goldberg folding seat designs you’ll run across (and gaining bilge access under it is button-press-easy as the entire structure rises on an electric lifter). The cocktailcruising epicenter of the boat, however, will surely be the bow. Cobia utilizes a U-shaped seating arrangement with the sides extended and swing-out backrests

to provide full-length loungers. We give Cobia bonus points for utilizing swinging backrests that stow flat against the inwales. And more bonus points are awarded for the electric cocktail table which rises off the deck, and can be set at the same height as the flanking loungers for use as a full-sized casting deck.

The anglers and non-anglers in the family may be smiling aboard the 301 CC, but will they still be smiling when the seas kick up? An extra measure of insurance is delivered via Cobia’s VARIS construction method, a version of vacuum-infusion where the hull, stringers, transom, and core materials are all infused with resin in one fell swoop. This creates

Qu ICK F ACTS

LoA: 29’7”

Beam: 10’0”

Displacement: 7230 lbs.

Draft (hull): 1’9”

Transom Deadrise: 21.5 degrees

Fuel Capacity: 267 gal.

Max HP: 600 hp

AREA DEALER

Bosun’s Marine, grasonville, MD, (443) 347-6314 or bosuns.com

see the cobia 301 cc in action, in our video boat review at youtube.com/fishtalkmagazine

a single unit, rather than laminating the different pieces-parts together. You get the best strength-to-weight ratio and a stiffer structure, translating into fewer vibrations and less noise on wave impacts. We felt the ride was noticeably better than that of many competitors when we ran the boat in the lower Chester River. In the interest of full disclosure we should note that the seas were calm, but there were plenty of boat wakes to cut through and even at top-end speeds the hull sliced ‘em open as smooth as a Dexter goes through a sea trout fillet. Still, this is a subjective assessment so we don’t expect anyone to merely take our word for it—while we could blather on about ride quality all day, the fact of the matter is that you should schedule a sea trial, point the bow at the waves, nail the throttles, and then make your own judgement call.

Speaking of nailing the throttles… tell everyone to hold on tight. Our test platform had a pair of F300 Yamaha outboards on the transom, and we shot up to a low- to mid-40s cruise at 4500 rpm. Opened all the way up we touched 57.1 mph. And here’s another area where that VARIS construction shines. Remember the part about minimizing weight? That translates into better fuel economy, and you can cruise along in the mid-30s while getting around two mpg.

The bottom line? Lots of center consoles claim to be both fishy and family friendly, but most force some serious concessions. If you don’t want to “settle” in one direction nor the other, check out the Cobia 301 CC.

Bonus Perk: rather than trying to shoehorn in a berth cobia dedicates the entire console compartment to a head area with a forward entry door. as a result, you get a massive entry and gobs of elbow room — this is one console head nobody’s ever going to feel cramped inside of.

Aquos… or Fishme?

Regular FishTalk readers know that we reserve this space for weird, wild, and wacky fishing machines, and we almost didn’t put the Fishme in here because we can see it actually making a pretty cool angling platform. But we’re confused. According to what we found online it’s either a fishing boat, or maybe a pleasure pontoon. It has one seat, but it’s the “For Two” series. It claims to have two “storage spaces” in the bow and two more in the stern for fishing rods, but there aren’t any holders or racks in sight. And in various places we saw it called the Aquos, and the Fishme. So yeah, we’re confused. But the ads say it comes with a fishing bag that’s “convenient to carry more fishing bait and to quickly replace bait during fishing,” so we’re all-in. Price: $Doesitreallymatter? Contact: noitdoesnot.com.

# Check out that rigging station and tackle center — sweet!

Hot New Fishboats

Parker 2900CC: Rockfish Rumba

Parker fans have undoubtedly noticed that this boat builder has been on a tear, revamping its entire lineup boat by boat. The latest: the 2900CC.

We ran across the 2900CC at the Miami International Boat Show this winter (you can see the video we shot on the boat at FishTalk’s YouTube channel) where it was on display at Yamaha’s dock sporting a pair of F300s. And it’s no wonder Yamaha wanted the boat there. Parkers have never been known as performance boats, but with the 600 Yamarabian stallions on its bracket the 2900CC can hit a hat-stripping 60 mph. Dial back to a comfortable 4500 rpm cruise, and you’ll be trotting across the Bay at speeds in the mid-40s. You couldn’t so much as hope for speeds like that from an old-school model.

Along with stellar performance the boat delivers another surprise in the comfort department. Remember how the Parkers of yore were rough and rugged? This boat sports a double-wide lounger in front of the console. There’s a folddown transom bench seat that’s anything but bench-like, flip-down bolster seats on the leaning post, and an aft-facing seat behind the leaning post. Additional luxury perks include a six-speaker Wet Sounds stereo system, a head in the console compartment, six stainless-steel cupholders, USB charging ports, and LED under-gunwale lighting.

Qu ICK F ACTS

LoA: 28’3” (30’4” w/bracket)

Beam: 9’6”

Displacement: 8682 lbs.

Draft (hull): 1’5”

Transom Deadrise: 21 degrees

Fuel Capacity: 191 gal.

Max HP: 600 hp

AREA DEALER

Tri-State Marine, Deale MD, (410) 867-1447 or tristatemarine.com

Despite making the major shift to emphasizing comfort along with fishability, Parker maintained its fishing-first attitude and rigs the 2900CC for serious angling. There’s a 25-gallon livewell and tackle stowage in the leaning post, a 40-gallon livewell and a 67.5-gallon fishbox in the transom, two 137.5-gallons split between three in-deck fishboxes with macerators, six gunwale rodholders, and a raw water washdown. Stock. We also need to note that the new T-top design incorporates a threesided enclosure with D-channel pipework, and integrated spreader lights, courtesy lights, speaker pods, an electronics box, and four rocket launchers.

Wait a sec — when going in this new direction, did Parker dumb-down their reputationally rugged construction? Heck no! This boat is still through-bolted at the hull-to-deck joint, stringers are fiberglass, hardware is stainless-steel, and the hull is backed by Parker’s 10-year limited warranty.

Parker has been building boats since the 1960s, and if you’re an angler, you already know that in that time they’ve maintained a reputation for building rock-solid no-frills fishing machines. The 2900CC proves that they’re still as rugged as they come, but today’s models have a pinch of performance and a dash of familyfriendliness that’s new for this builder — and will be appreciated by hardcore anglers and family fishermen alike.

# Comfort levels get a serious boost over the parkers of yesteryear.

Creepy Crawly Crappie Fishing

By Eric Packard

Crappie fishing with a spider rig is a unique method of slab-hunting.

Afriend of mine, Dennis, had asked a few times if I’d like to do some crappie fishing on the Potomac River with him. But I always had some other commitment, so when I read a text from him saying “Final Offer, spider rig crappie fishing in Washington, DC, tomorrow morning,” I frantically adjusted my schedule and headed to the river the next morning.

Spider rigging would be, for me, a new type of fishing. The array of rods hanging off the boat gives this method of fishing its name, since the boat looks a lot like a water spider moving over the water’s surface once the rods are deployed. And it’s a great way to target big crappie. In fact, the average size crappie we’d end up catching that day were in the 12- to 14-inch range.

We launched from a small marina near Fort Washington and headed upriver just north of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, fishing Maryland and District of Columbia waters, focusing on Oxen Creek Cove and the Spoils. Once there, we deployed our spidery equipment. We placed rod holders, each able to accommodate up to four rods, on each corner of the boat.

We deployed a dozen 12-footlong telescopic crappie fishing rods which didn’t have reels; just enough line is attached to the end of the rod to add a bobber with an additional five feet of line, capped off with two jigs on a weighted spreader arm. So, at any given time we had 24 baits in the water.

Spider rigging is a method used mostly in the south where regulations allow you to use any number of fishing rods per angler. Here in the MidAtlantic region we do have maximum numbers of rods and hooks in some of the different jurisdictions (hence our 12-rod total), so be sure to check the local regulations where you plan to fish before loading your boat up with dozens of rods.

The advantage of spider rigging is that you can fish multiple styles of jigs and baits as you drift about or slowly troll along with an electric motor. Once you start catching, take note of which color and style jig is being eaten so you can adjust your other baits. If you are fishing baits at varying depths see which get bites and make any needed adjustments.

For this trip we were slow trolling. Once a bobber went down we would simply lift the rod up and net the fish using an extended handle landing net. The extended handle net is a must with these reel-less rods, making the job of landing a fish much quicker and easier.

You will want to keep a close eye on your bobbers. The rod, once bit, will normally take a quick pull towards the water with the bobber disappearing under the surface. But a bite may come in the very subtle form of a bobber moving in a different direction than the others. So, keep a keen eye out for any odd bobber behaviors.

Are you ready to try a new form of fishing? Head out to your favorite crappie hole, drop a few spidery lines overboard, and hold on for a fantastic day on the water. #

# Spider rigging can lead to some very fast action on crappie.

Spider Rigging Gear List

Ready to try spider rigging? Here’s what you’ll need:

Multiple-rod rodholders set to spread the rods as much as possible and hold them in a more or less horizontal fashion (sometimes called “T-Bars”).

Telescopic crappie rods, 10’ to 14’ long when extended.

Lengths of 12-pound test (often about as long as the rod itself).

Spreader or tandem rigs tipped with one to two feet of eight- to 10-pound test and small jigs of varying colors and styles.

Bobbers.

Long-handled landing net (necessary because the long, limber rods with no reel can make it difficult to bring fish close to the boat).

Dennis’s Rig

The setup we used is one that Dennis came up with after a few years of crappie fishing on the Potomac. The boat has both bow and stern sonar units, so everyone in the boat can monitor what the boat has just passed over and can anticipate a bite, and everyone can see the fish below when sitting still. Some spider rigs are set up with rod holders only on the bow of the boat, with two anglers sitting beside each other watching the rods.

Dennis’s rig allowed us to have an additional angler and rods at the back of the boat. As we trolled, the rods on the front of the boat got bit more often than those on the back of the boat. But once a fish was on we looked at the sonar, and if there was a school under the boat, would stop trolling and monitor all 12 rods while drifting. Any number of them would get strikes and once the bite stopped, we resumed trolling.

The bait that got hit most was a 1/16th oz jig with a white twister tail tipped with a bull minnow, but you should plan to adjust to different types of baits throughout the day as the action picks up or drops off.

# The spider-rigged bow, fully deployed.

# Lines terminate with spreader rigs and pairs of different jigs.

Night Moves Beat the Heat:

Maybe your idea of a good time fishing means hauling up one crappie after the next, or maybe you sit at the opposite end of the angling spectrum and tugging on tuna is more your style. Whatever fishery gets you jazzed up one thing is for sure: when the heat becomes oppressive it has just as big an impact on the fish as it does on us humans. It can become nearly impossible to get a bite on reservoirs that you know are teeming with fish. At times you can literally see your quarry swimming in a river with your own eyes, yet are unable to tempt them into striking. And your offerings may go untouched on the Bay even as the meter indicates hordes of fish are under the boat.

During such times fishing at daybreak and sunset is commonly the move. But fish that are active only at dawn and dusk usually provide you with mere minutes of action before returning to their funk. How can you possibly get those finned critters to start snapping for hours at a time? Become a creature of the night.

By Staff

Lighting up the Night

At night fish are attracted to light — any kind of light. That leaves you with two options: fish around preexisting lighting, or come armed with your own.

Preexisting lighting can be found at bridges, piers, and sometimes along bulkheads or sea walls next to large facilities. All will attract hordes of bait, which in turn attracts predators. And when fishing from a boat or an unlighted pier you can drop your own lights into the water. Large cylinder lights can be weighted at one end and hung over the side, and all sorts of colored lights are available, but green attracts the most fish, period. I spent over 50 hours testing white, pink, blue, and green Hydroglow and Electralume lights on a series of overnighters, hanging different color lights off each side of the boat and comparing the results. No color ever had even half as much bait in it as the green. (Blue came next in effectiveness followed by white and then pink.)

As a general rule of thumb you won’t want to fish right in the middle of the light, but instead, make your casts and place your baits at the edges of the lightline, where the illumination fades out into darkness. While bait is often in the most illuminated areas, the hunters will lurk in the darkness just outside of it and wait for careless quarry to wander too close to the edge.

Preexisting lights do have an advantage over lights of your own in that over time, fish become conditioned to return to them night after night. Talk to any dock owner with a lighted pier, and they’ll be happy to describe the schools of fish and sometimes the specific individuals that return night after night. So if you’re fishing in a river with lots of lighted piers or a bridge that’s brightly lighted, you may be better off fishing the existing lights as opposed to picking out a dark spot and dropping down your own. In the best-case scenario, however, you won’t do either — you’ll do both.

Bridges are killer for this tactic, because they have long, continuous light-lines stretching from one shore to the other. Try to anchor your boat just outside of the light-line in a promising area, and deploy your light so that its light-line intersects with the preexisting one. Just as two intersecting structures are more likely to hold fish than a single one, the intersecting lights draw in fish like moths to a porch light.

Dancing in the Dark

Okay: you’re in position and ready to catch fish. What next? First, remember that it’s smart to come armed with bait because it’s usually tougher to fish artificials at night. That’s not to say it can’t be done effectively (stick with dark colors like black and purple), but it is tougher since the fish are hunting by using senses other than sight more so than they do in the daylight. So as a general rule, bait that smells or wiggles wins out.

When fish seem depressed by the dog days of summer, night fishing can get epic.

# In the heat of summer the night bite is the right bite.

Even better than coming armed with bait is coming armed to catch live baits on the spot. Matching the hatch is always a good move, and if you can pull a livie out from the lights, put it on a hook, and send it right back out, you have an excellent chance at hooking up.

Just what armaments you’ll need depends on the environment and the type of baits you’re attracting. Offshore this means having squid jigs to pull in live squid, and/or Sabikis to catch tinker mackerel. In the Bay where peanut bunker are likely to show up having a cast net at the ready is in order. And on a reservoir a dip net and a fast arm can help you fill up the bait bucket.

Night fishing certainly isn’t for everyone. But if you don’t mind missing out on some sleep and you want to enjoy hours of action during the dog days of summer, night fishing is the move. P

Gear for Dark Ops

Night fishing does require a few special items you might not otherwise carry. Obviously having a flashlight on hand is a good idea. But it won’t help much when you’re using both hands to tie knots or bait hooks, so make sure you have a hands-free headlamp or a light you can clip onto the brim of a hat. If you’ll be running a boat after dark having a handheld spotlight is also a good idea. Don’t cruise around with it on—that just destroys your night vision—but it will prove helpful when used sparingly to spot markers or buoys. A full complement of safety gear is also in order, as being out at night is always a bit more dangerous than it is in daylight. And consider getting an inflatable PFD or belt pack, and wear it at all times. Everyone aboard should also crack a cyalume light stick and use a rubber band to secure it to a belt loop. That way if anyone ends up in the drink they’ll have a light source handy which can be spotted.

Timing Is Everything

Evening is a great time to fish, but after the sun sets the bite usually dies off for a while and on most night fishing trips you need at least an hour of total darkness before the action picks back up. Don’t abandon a spot 45 minutes after sunset just because you didn’t get bites right off the bat; instead, chillax for a bit and give the fish time to adjust to the dark.

# Fish LoVe green lights!

Tuna on the Lumps

Mid-Atlantic anglers should get a shot at either yellowfin or bluefin tuna – or both – at the Inshore Deli and nearby lumps this summer.

When tuna move up the coast, anglers from Wachapreague to Indian River hope and pray that they decide to set up shop at the inshore lumps. With the fish feeding just 20 to 40 miles from the inlets, usually in water as shallow as 140 or fewer feet, fishing for big game becomes a whole lot easier. Half the running time and half the fuel costs associated with cruising to the canyons is quite enticing. Added bonus: the fish can only dive so far, and using lighter than normal tackle becomes possible. When it happens, these tactics will put them into the box.

Chunking

Chunking is a favored method for pounding on tuna at inshore lumps for several reasons: it’s highly effective, it allows you to fish much deeper baits than you can when

By Lenny Rudow

trolling, and it’s a relatively easy tactic to master. That said, there are a few chunker’s tricks that separate the sharpies from the wannabes.

The basic concept is easy as pie. Toss handfuls of cut fish or squid (butterfish is most common) over the side of the boat to attract hungry fish, while also tossing out hooks baited with the same chunks. It’s important, however, to make sure that your offerings cover the water column— yet at the same time are positioned amongst the falling chunks. This is easier said than done, since you’ll have to let different length lines out to different distances. A bait set under a float at 15 feet, for example, will be dangling near your chunks just 20 or 30 yards behind the boat. But a bait set at 50 feet will need to be significantly farther back to be in the chunk flow. And just how far that is will vary depending on factors like current and wind.

Along with baits set at specific depths, anglers need to be stripping back lines. Not should be—need to be. While any particular line can be hot any particular day, over the long haul these “feeder” lines, as they’re often called, catch twice as many tuna as any other. The rigs consist of a straight line-leaderbaited hook, with no additional weight or tackle except possibly a swivel. Most anglers will use 50- to 80-pound fluorocarbon leaders tied off with 8/0 to 10/0 circle hooks, though the tuna do commonly get line-shy mid-season and leader size may need to be dropped all the way back to 30-pound test in order to get a bite. The bait should be dropped next to the boat as a handful of chunks go over the side, with the rod in a holder and the reel in freespool with the clicker on. As the bait sinks naturally with the chunks, the angler grabs

# The hot Dog produced a sweet yellowfin chunk bite for the Rudow clan.

the line above the rod’s tip and consistently strips it out, so there’s never any tension on it. This allows the bait to sink as naturally as possible, right amongst all those chunks. If it doesn’t get hit in five or 10 minutes, crank it back and start over again.

Finally, unless you’re getting mauled the moment your feeder lines pass from sight you should set a bait on bottom. While it occasionally accounts for a yellowfin, more commonly, this is the line that gets attacked by any larger bluefin that may be in the area. Standard operating procedure is to weight this line with 10 to 16 ounces of lead attached via a rubber band so it breaks away on the strike. Set it 10 or 12 feet off bottom, and allow it to rock with the motion of the boat.

One big question you’ll commonly hear when discussing chunking on the inshore lumps: how do you know whether to anchor or drift? This is dictated by the combination of wind and tide. If the boat sits at anchor in such a way that the lines trail behind it, great. Anchoring will allow you to sit right over an edge or contour of the lump

and pound on the fish. But if the wind and current conspire to draw your lines under the boat or into constant tangles, it’s best to try repeated drifts across the spot. Also note that if a fleet is drifting you’ll cause havoc by anchoring right in the middle of them. Conversely, when everyone’s riding at anchor drifting through can make problems for everyone.

Trolling

Trolling at the inshore lumps is usually best early in the season, before large numbers of boats set up shop chunking. Once a fleet begins chunking, it can become extremely tough to distract the fish from the “free” food and try to get them to chase after your trolled baits.

Spreads for trolling inshore lumps are commonly 100-percent tuna-centric; while these fish most certainly will hit the dink ballyhoo commonly run for whites or the horse you tow for larger fish, a mix of medium-sized offerings is the norm. Skirted medium ‘hoo, Green Machines run behind birds, spreader bars, and Tuna Clones should all be on the list.

One important note: when bluefin are around in good numbers, a blue/white Ilander

rigged with a ballyhoo is a must. This lure can be particularly effective when the bluefin are sighted on the meter but seem unwilling to come to the surface to bite, often due to an ocean overcrowded with boats. Run it in a way, way, way back position, as much as several hundred yards behind the boat, and when fish are spotted down deep some captains will even shift out of gear for a bit and allow the Ilander to sink.

Jigging

The inshore lumps also present an awesome opportunity for anglers who want to hook tunas on jigs. There are two basic methods applied: the first is to jig while chunking, and the second is to scout for fish on the meter then drop jigs directly onto the fish’s heads.

Jigging in a chunk line is exactly what you’d expect: drop the lure down to the bottom while other anglers work the chunk rods, vertically jig it a time or three, then speed-jig it back to the boat. Five- to seven-inch jigs

# Jiggers get a shot at ‘em, too — this fish smacked a Butterfly at the Dump Site Lump.

Tuna on the Lumps

are usually best since they have enough weight to get down deep quickly but are still small enough for a decent-sized tuna fish to inhale. Larger jigs often take a lot of missed hits, and remember, the sand eels which regularly attract tunas to the lumps (and which those jigs certainly must look like as they flutter around) are usually small enough to fit in your hand.

When there are schools or pods of tuna shadowing schools of sand eels down close to the bottom, keeping on the move and scouting for the fish is much more effective than jigging in a chunk line. Motor around, looking for the clouds of lightcolored marks on your meter that denote the schools of sand eels. Find these, and you know it’s time to work the area a little more thoroughly. If you start seeing big red arches hovering close by those lighter marks, shift into neutral and send the jigs down to the fish’s depth. Again, it’s usually best to stick with jigs small enough that the tuna can simply inhale them; pink, blue, and green metallic color patterns tend to be stand-out offerings.

Are those tunas set up along the inshore lumps right now? We can’t say as we go to print—check the fishing reports at FishTalkMag.com to get the current intel. But one thing is for sure: sooner or later those fish will stage on the underwater humps and bumps just 20 to 40 miles from the inlet. And when they do, anglers up and down the coast will be enticed beyond all ability to resist. #

Numbers Game

Finding the inshore lumps isn’t difficult, as these spots have been well known since the days of LoRAN and when the tuna are in town, commonly have dozens of boats in attendance. here are some top starting points.

off Delaware, the closest lump to hold tuna with any real frequency is the Dump Site Lump (1), about 44 miles out at 38’30.1 x 74’13.1. Running out from oC or Wachapreague the “Inshore Deli” is the place to be. It consists of the Ham Bone (2), 36 miles from the inlet at 38’11.9 x 74’24.5; the Chicken Bone (3), 32 miles at 38’14.0 x 74’26.7; the Sausages (4) at 38 miles off (to the middle lump) at 38’03.9 x 74’25.9; and the most famous of them all, the Hot Dog (5), 44 miles out at 38’06.9 x 74’17.2. Some years tuna will also come as close in as the Jack Spot (6), just 24 miles from the oC inlet, at 38’05.2 x 74’45.1.

fishing Quiz for Beginners

By Staff

Test your knowledge and find out if you’re ready to graduate to intermediate angler.

You say you picked up angling a few years ago and you’re not sure if you’re still considered a beginner, or if you’ve made it to the intermediate phase? Part of knowing what you’re talking about is linguistics, and fishing lingo is a language all its own. Take our quiz and put your knowledge to the test — by the time you reach question 10 you’ll know whether or not it’s time for a promotion.

Bailing – When used with reference to mahi-mahi, the term “bailing” means:

a. Gaffing fish one after the next as multiple anglers reel them up to the boat.

b. Tossing bait and baited hooks into the water next to flotsam or floating objects to (hopefully) trigger a feeding frenzy.

c. Stacking huge numbers of fish, one atop the next, in the fishbox.

d. Trolling in circles in the same general area over and over, until deep fish come up to the surface and strike your lures.

Chatterbait – People cast chatterbaits for everything from largemouth bass to striped bass. These lures have:

a. A metal blade attached to the front of a jig or jighead, which swings back and forth as it moves through the water.

b. A metal blade attached to the back of a jig or jighead, which swings back and forth as it moves through the water.

c. A metal blade attached to the jighead with a small swivel, which spins as it moves though the water.

d. Metal balls inside a lure’s plastic body, which rattle around and create a “chatter” as the lure swims.

Flipping – Flipping is a form of…

a. Celebrating, after you catch a fish. It’s best done on land and not in a boat.

b. Jigging, where you pop the rod tip quickly enough to flip a jig or spoon under the water.

c. Casting, where you pull off some line then pendulum the lure and flip the rod tip to propel it.

d. Reeling, where you turn a spinning rod reel side up.

Jerkbait – A jerkbait is…

a. What you call your cousin every time she brings a new boyfriend out on the boat and he sinks a hook into a seat cushion or T-top.

b. A plug similar to a crankbait which has a neutral buoyancy and is designed to be retrieved with a stop-and-go cadence punctuated by occasional jerks of the rod tip.

c. Any jig retrieved with a jerking action.

d. Plastic worms hooked “wacky” style.

For more article on how to learn to fish, visit fishtalkmag.com/tag/fishing-beginners

# Which angler is really the expert? Judging by the size of their fish, we’re saying Isaac has the upper hand…

Lead-Head – A lead-head is…

a. What you call your cousin every time she brings a new boyfriend out on the boat and he sinks a hook into a seat cushion or T-top.

b. A piece of lead molded to a hook, which is then dressed with soft plastics, a skirt, teaser, bait, or combination of the above.

c. A lipped plug with a lead head and a hard plastic body.

d. A spoon with a lead keel.

Ferrule – This term is used to describe:

a. The part of a spinning reel that you flip over before casting.

b. The eye on a lure you tie off to.

c. The reinforced joint where a two-piece rod fits together.

d. What happens to a cat if you leave it outside too much.

Stinger – A stinger is…

a. Why you hate bees.

b. A fish that strikes at an unexpected moment, with gusto.

c. A type of small, slender spoon, often cast or trolled for toothy fish like blues or mackerel.

d. A second hook added to the first one which (hopefully) decreases the number of missed strikes.

Tenkara – In the world of fly fishing, Tenkara means:

a. Rolling the rod tip to form a loop that travels down the line and casts the fly (also called a “roll cast”).

b. Tying two flies or streamers on the same line.

c. It’s a trick question — Tenkara isn’t related to fly fishing.

d. A form of fly fishing with the line attached to the end of a long rod and no reel.

BoNUS QUESTIoN:

Tippet – Tippet is just another word for:

a. Leader.

b. The tip of a fishing rod.

c. A hook point.

d. The end of your mainline (where you attach the leader).

Walking the Dog – Walking the dog is a technique used for:

a. Topwater fishing, where you cause the lure to dart right and left by constantly working your rod.

b. Topwater fishing, where you cause the lure to dart right and left by speeding it up and slowing it down as you direct the rod tip.

c. Jigging, where you bounce your jig along the bottom in a steady cadence.

d. Jigging, where you reel quickly enough to prevent the jig from ever hitting bottom.

Which of these escape artists are NOT an invasive species in the Mid-Atlantic region?

Answers:

1. B

2. A

3. C

4. B

5. B

6. C

7. D

8. D

9. A

10. A

BoNUS: B (a speckled trout), e (a rockfish). A, C, and D are snakeheads, the king of all escape artists.

Scoring:

0 – 5 correct: We’re guessing you picked up this magazine in a restaurant or liquor store and haven’t tried angling before. Welcome to the wonderful world of fishing, rank beginner!

5 – 8 correct: Nice try, but we’re afraid you haven’t earned this merit badge just yet.

8+ correct: You’ve just been promoted!

Editor’s note: If you want to brush up on your terminology, note that we have a comprehensive fishing glossary at FishTalkMag.com. Just type “lingo” into the search box in the upper right corner of the homepage and you’ll be talking the talk in no time.

The Inhuman Hours

By Alan Battista

It’s one a.m. The winds howl as ice forms on the surface of the Bay under the crisp black sky. The rest of the world sleeps, but a few bleary-eyed, battle-tested anglers overcome the somatic calls to rest. Every urge — except the one to fish the full moon tides — begs the angler to stay in the comfort of his home. We call this time the “inhuman hours” because of the discomfort in this environment. Why endure this time when there are plenty of comfortable hours in the day to fish?! I’ve been trying to answer this question for as long as I can remember… and I’ll attempt to explain what I’ve uncovered as it pertains to striped bass.

I need to preface this article with some assumptions because there are exceptions to every observation. This

discussion focuses on the shallow-water fishery where light penetrates the entire water column, not a deeper-water fishery where the depths attenuate light and fish may stay highly active throughout the brightest periods of the day.

Over the years I patterned areas both in the daytime and the nighttime, and the differences are, well, night and day. Consider the last time you walked through the woods at midday, feeling as though the area was barren of life, only to return at dusk as everything comes alive. The water is that way, too. You can hear it happening all around. Bait skims the surface, interrupted by larger splashes of predators in pursuit. The sounds envelop you, and if you weren’t wiser, you’d believe ghosts haunted the darkness. Because humans can’t see well in the dark, the Humminbird MEGA Side Imaging and, more recently, MEGA Live Imaging

sonar has really helped understand the magic happening below. Using these tools, I remained in an area for 24 hours and used them as my “eyes” to try to understand what happens.

At midday, very little happens. Seldom does life show itself on either the surface or on side imaging. As the sun falls lower in the sky, baitfish slowly arrive, marking the first signs of life. The late afternoon just before dark is one of the most productive times to catch a striper in the shallows, but the window is small and you have to be at the right place at the right time. As the sun disappears and night takes over, baitfish numbers increase dramatically, even blacking out the sonar at times.

Then, the splashing begins as war breaks out.

When it comes to fishing, timing really is everything.

# The author with a chunky nighttime striper.

This occurs throughout the night, with increased activity at the best tides. The first glow of daylight brings another key opportunity, and it also seems to mark the time when bait begins to leave the shallows, which perhaps drives a striper to get a last easy meal. After a few hours, the bait completely vacates the area and the cycle begins again.

Consider this baitfish behavior, combine it with tidal cycles and the coming and going of daylight, add in your ability to see through the night with your electronics, and you may have a good idea why you’d want to fish through the darkness. These magic windows are hard to hit at only dusk or dawn. And even if you miss the magic windows, your odds of catching are still better at night than during peak brightness at midday.

That prolonged ability to target fish improves your odds of success, however, reduced visibility comes with a multitude of safety concerns. Hitting floating or unlit hazards tops the list. Another issue of fishing in the darkness is that it’s hard.

It’s hard to tie knots, cast to spots, find lures in your box — pretty much everything is harder without light. You must prepare for that with auxiliary lighting. I carry both a lantern and a headlamp in addition to a downward shining light that illuminates my vessel. All of these typically remain off so as to not alert the fish. Turning them on when moving from place to place alerts other vessels to your position (especially if in a kayak) and helps you see very nearby hazards. With your headlamp, you can even light up vessels that may be coming too close for comfort. I have been amazed at the lack of required navigation lights on small vessels venturing out at night and even in a slow kayak, I’ve nearly hit unlit vessels because it’s just impossible to see them.

I’ve taken a very simplistic approach in describing the advantages of targeting striped bass at night, discussing only food and tides, without going into how a striped bass has evolved to take an unfair advantage over its prey. And I’ve done so because as anglers we really only care about catching fish by imitating

Editor’s Note

The USCg regulations stipulate that oar-powered vessels, including kayaks, “exhibit an all-around white light or have ready an electric torch or lighted lantern showing a white light which shall be exhibited in sufficient time to prevent a collision.” Regardless, as a matter of safety we’d recommend always having some form of illumination visible from all angles, at all times. Note that powered kayaks with motors (including electric) fall into the category of powerboat lighting requirements and must have red/green sidelights and a stern light illuminated while underway.

its food. Understanding when maximum feeding behavior occurs maximizes the chances of catching fish, especially the biggest fish that seemingly only exist in the shadows.

From my experience, catching hundreds of very large striped bass in shallow water, a rough average of 95 percent have come at low or no light conditions. For some reason, the fish do feed throughout the day at times. But statistically speaking, anglers are wise to stick with the timeframes that maximize their chances. This opportunity for the catch of a lifetime is why the blearyeyed angler leaves all the comforts of home, ignoring all other instincts and braving the darkness, cold, and danger to fish the inhuman hours.

Alan Battista is the author of “Light Tackle Kayak Jigging the Chesapeake Bay,” “Light Tackle Kayak Trolling the Chesapeake Bay,” and “Light Tackle Fishing Patterns of the Chesapeake Bay.”

Bay EntrancE StructurE, Part I

The

Coast Guard Cutter Eagle, the Service’s 295-foot square-rigged barque, was standing into Chesapeake Bay under full sail. It was the late 1960s, and I was the first-class cadet coxswain of the watch. My duty: carry out steering and course orders from the cadet officer of the deck. My specific task was directing third-class cadets who were manning the ship’s helm. Although there was only a slight swell and mild breeze, we were in a busy shipping channel. So, four cadets were at the helm to respond rapidly to rudder commands. Cadets performed under the watchful eye of a commissioned officer, and when the situation demanded, the ship’s captain.

Lessons from these experiences proved helpful in my later seagoing service. Applying what I learned saved my butt (and vessels from mishaps) more than once during difficult operating conditions. But, these were future events. And I couldn’t have imagined that some 60-plus years later I would be writing about natural and artificial fishing reef structure in and around the Bay entrance where I had once stood watch.

The mouth of the Chesapeake Bay has always been a hub for maritime commerce, commercial fishing, and naval activity. It’s also a huge inlet with massive flows of water in and out where the Bay meets the ocean. Little wonder that the Bay Entrance became a naval hunting ground during wartime and a graveyard for

By Wayne Young

vessels and cargoes lost to natural conditions and marine casualties. The area is also the final resting place of deliberately placed bottom structures intended to serve as marine habitat and sportfishing grounds. Sites #1 through #14 are discussed here, and the remaining sites will be examined in Part II of Bay Entrance Fishing Structure, in next month’s edition of FishTalk.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (CBBT), which spans the western side of the entrance is longer than the run to get there from many Tidewater marinas and ramps! And there are some spots to check on during that run. For example, Site #1 is a “40-foot obstruction,” hydrographer jargon that means the charted “least depth” is 40 feet. Generally, hydrographic surveys conducted from the mid-2000s forward involved the use

CBBT and western approaches have gobs of structure that’s ideal for angling.

# Chart 1

of multibeam sonar. The data was used to create Bathymetric Attributed Grid (BAG) Color Shaded Relief images found using the Bathymetric Data Viewer (BDV). This imagery, where available, provides additional details that help us understand what is on the bottom and how it is configured. In the case of Site #1, both BAG Color Shaded Relief and color multibeam sonar images show a feature resembling a dredge pipe that is broken into sections, which is about 125 feet long, and appears partially buried.

Site #2 is a 43-foot obstruction and was investigated by divers who found a sunken circular mooring buoy with a 1.5-meter diameter. The BAG image shows the obstruction lying in a scour hole. Although charted, this structure would be hard to find and difficult to hold over. Better for the angler will be Bluefish Rock and Bluefish Rock Reef (Site #3). The latter is one of the newer Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) artificial reefs. The materials and layout of this reef are presented in “Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reefs: Voyages of Rediscovery.” Look for distributed wreckage at Site #4 (Chart 2). Shown by a BAG image, it is widely dispersed wreckage lying in two scour holes. Overall length is about 200 feet with a maximum width of about 50 feet. Although there’s not

a lot of structure here, the configuration looks like a good spot to prospect for spot, croaker, and flounder.

Moving southeastward past Willoughby Spit to East Oceanview brings us to East Oceanview Fish Haven, Site #5. This VMRC reef was the site of an early reef material field experiment using junked automobile bodies. A lot of material has been deployed there since. The experi-

ment, reef materials, and layout are presented in “Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reefs.” There is one wreck of particular interest, a menhaden boat broken into two pieces. The 21-foot wreck just north of the fish haven boundary is the front half of the fishing vessel. This section is about 120 feet long. An object that by appearance is the back half of the boat, about 75 feet long, is inside the reef boundary. The two sections are electronically stitched together on Chart 3. Intact, the vessel would have been a large trawler about 150 feet long.

Site #6 is a small, 24-foot obstruction. The BAG image shows five small objects with three of them appearing as if covered with sediment. There are several more tempting obstructions along the northwest side of CBBT Trestle C. The largest, Site #7, is a charted 17-foot obstruction. The feature is about 150 feet long and 30 feet wide. Multibeam sonar images show very rugged features, with a configuration suggesting a deteriorating wreck, perhaps a sunken barge or the cargo that was aboard. Site #8 is about 100 feet long and 10 to 15 feet wide. It consists of several clusters of small objects lying in small scour holes.

A 32-foot unknown wreck at Site

# Chart 2 Bottom right – BAg Color Shaded Relief image. Screenshots from NoAA Bathymetric Data Viewer.

# Chart 3: Menhaden boat wreck. Top right – BAg Color Shaded Relief image. Bottom right – electronically stitched together front and back sections of menhaden boat. Screenshots from NoAA Bathymetric Data Viewer.

#9 lies to the north. The BAG image shows what presents as the gunwales of a small vessel. The eastern end appears to be broken off and lying in a north-south scour hole. Using the BDV distance scale suggests a length of about 60 feet and a width of 15 to 20 feet. Although relatively small, it and the surrounding area may be worth a few drifts for bottom fish.

Site #10 is the wreck of the 65-foot tug Columbia, lying in a scour hole. A 100-foot derelict vessel is at Site #11. The AWOIS entry reads: “Wreckage consisted of two large metal boxes, wooden remains of a ship, and a metal pole protruding out of a sand bottom…”

Site #12 is a 26-foot obstruction.

Two sections are lying in a scour hole. It’s possibly a deteriorating wreck. The feature has a length of about 62 feet and width of 20 feet and is oriented northwest-southeast. Site #13 is a 21-foot unknown wreck. BAG, side-scan sonar, and color multibean sonar images all are in close agreement, showing the outline of an unidentified vessel with a few broken-off bulwark sections lying alongside. The interior is filled with sediment. This is another wreck to try for spot, croakers, and flounder, and there might be some tautog here as well.

Site #14 is, in effect, an unintended artificial reef. It consists of bridge sections broken off from the CBBT trestle when a Navy ship dragged anchor and collided with the bridge in 1970. The reef lies alongside the eastern side of CBBT Trestle A, as shown in the color multibeam sonar image (Chart 4). There’s plenty of structure here to check, and multiple species should be in attendence at any given time.

Moving north to Trestle B there is additional structure to consider. About a mile north of the shipping

channel is a charted 11-foot wreck under the southbound trestle. There are conflicting accounts of what is there, so it’s shown as a questionmark on Chart 1. The feature was investigated with side-scan sonar and by a diver in 1983. Reports are that the diver identified a steel pile driver that rose 15 feet off the bottom on a crane barge measuring 30 by 20 feet. The barge rose about two feet off the bottom. AWOIS records the name as Big D and states that the size is 70 feet by 150 feet, an obvious conflict with the DR data. “Gary Gentile’s Popular Dive Guide Series: Shipwrecks of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia Waters” (Gentile, 2014), reports that the wreck is the William Donnelly, a wooden schooner that went down with a cargo of 155 tons of coal in 1914. Gentile records that the wreck was demolished with explosives by a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor in 1915. Which account is correct? We can’t say, but in any case, the feature is worth checking out when fishing in and around the CBBT.

Structure in the vicinity of the CBBT is varied and plentiful, providing a range of fishing opportunities for diverse species. If the fish aren’t biting at the CBBT, head out the channel or over to Cape Henry where a cluster of wrecks and obstructions beckon.

Wayne Young is the author of many books detailing bay and ocean structure, including “Bridges Under Troubled Waters: Upper Chesapeake and Tidal Potomac Fishing Reefs,” “Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reefs, Voyage of Discovery,” “Phantoms of the Lower Bay,” and “Hook, Line, and Slinker.” All are available at Amazon.com, and you can find his Facebook page at Chesapeake Bay Fishing Reefs.

Next month: b ay e ntrance s tructure, Part II

# Chart 4: Bridge sections knocked from the bridge when it was struck by a naval vessel in 1970. Top left – BAg Color Shaded Relief image. Screenshots from NoAA Bathymetric Data Viewer. Bottom – Color multibeam sonar image.

Che SA pe AK e AND M ID -A TLANTIC

Fi SH i N g F OR e CAST

Editor’s Note: We all know printed fishing reports are generalized, and weeks have passed before the report gets into your hands. for timely, up-to-date reports, visit our website fishtalkmag.com current reports will be published every friday by noon — just in time for your weekend fishing adventures. in the meantime, here’s our monthly prognostication.

Coastal

The heat of summer is on, but will there be some additional heat generated by screaming reels at the offshore grounds? The chances are good we’ll have action at the canyons, but if the tunas and bills are in short supply remember that at this time of year flotsam and floats are almost always loaded up with mahi-mahi. There’s a good chance of finding them inshore, too, around the bass pots from 15 to 30-plus miles out. Added bonus: there should be plenty of other inshore options if those dorado don’t come in close, and remember that the past couple years several of the inshore shoals from Delaware through Virginia have had held solid numbers of cobia.

Freshwater

This can be a slow month on the freshwater front, as many waterways are warm enough to send the fish into a funk. Daybreak and sunset will likely offer windows of opportunity, as the fish in reservoirs and ponds tend to be most active when it’s cool out. Catfish sharpies: night fishing can also be a way to enjoy lots of action.

way North

Blue cats and snakeheads can be depended upon to stay active through the heat of summer, and with a little luck, when striped bass open back up on the first of the month the edges of grass beds on the Flats will prove productive. Remember to check the DNR’s Striped Bass Fishing Advisory Forecast, and when it’s in the red, choose a different target during the heat of the day.

happy one-year anniversary to dillon, who began working on these reports a year ago this august and has been doing a fantastic job for all us anglers, each and every week since!

u pper Bay

Anglers in this area have undoubtedly spent the tail end of July counting down the days to rockfish reopening, but again, keep tabs on the Striped Bass Fishing Advisory Forecast and remember that when it’s in the red it’s best to avoid fishing for this species. Luckily, August is a prime month for catching perch and there should be some fat cats around to play with, too.

Middle Bay

Just how far up have the mackerel progressed thus far this summer? Are there hordes of bluefish around? And, what about those big bull redfish? If those mass schools of reds chase bait in the Middle Bay zone as often as they did last summer, we’ll have plenty of options to keep us busy through August. Note: the past three years in a row the mackerel and blues have been thick in the Poplar-to-Choptank zone, and reds were popping up in the greatest numbers from the Choptank to Bloodsworth along the eastern side channel edges.

Gathered over the past month by Dillon Waters

# Reports editor Dillon Waters and his brother Brady got into the mackerel last summer.

Fishing Forecast

Lower Bay

The middle of the summer is here, and our lower Bay options should give us plenty to choose from. Macks and blues chasing bait in open water—don’t forget the binoculars so you can spot those birds from afar—bulls roving around looking for dinner, and hopefully the cobia will give us some action, too. Let’s also remember that last year we saw sheepshead come as far up as the Target Ship, so any lower Bay wreck or reef could be holding ‘em right about now.

Tangier, Pocomoke, and Lower Shore

If the heat becomes overbearing the shallows may get slow after the sun is high in the sky, but look for windows of opportunity when sunrise or sunset more or less coincide with high tides and moving water. And don’t forget that last season there were lots of Spanish mackerel and blues busting in the open water. Be sure to load up on spoons and planers before leaving the dock.

way South

The options in this neck of the woods are virtually limitless at this time of year, but a big one many anglers will be looking to take advantage of is sight fishing for cobia; wait for those calm, sunny days and enjoy a fight that few… er, maybe zero… other species that prowl Chesapeake waters can match. Meanwhile, anglers working the CBBT will be able to find sheepshead, spadefish, and more. Remember that last year good numbers of trigger fish moved in here and there was even a solid bite for pompano for a couple of weeks in early August.

# here’s a rockin’ cool flashback to last August, from Leah and the Bowling crew.

Big Water, Little Kayak

Have you ever dropped your kayak in at the launch and then looked out and thought, “now that’s a lot of water,” as you wondered where to start fishing? Well, I have! To solve this problem, I do some pre-trip planning.

First, look at an area using either a chart, paper map, Google Earth, or all of these resources. What you’re looking for is structure. As we all know fish seek out structure for protection and to hunt for food. Structure like laydowns, grass, and lily pads will hold fish. Pools or depressions and deep holes will, too. Consider the species you’re hunting, the season, and whether it’s a freshwater, brackish or a saltwater fish, and if you’re fishing a lake, river, creek, or the Bay.

Let’s pick an area, say Mallows Bay, which is situated on the Charles County side of the Potomac River in Maryland. It has the largest ghost fleet of shipwrecks in the Western Hemisphere. It is also fed by two creeks and is tidal. We have several target species to pick from here, such as blue catfish, channel catfish, carp, white perch, crappie, largemouth bass, and snakehead. You don’t have to pick a single species, either. There are times I’ll pick snakehead, for example, but I’ll always have a fallback fish. For this trip, let’s pick snakehead and blue catfish. Okay: now we have the fishery and species of fish.

Looking at a map you see that this area has two feeder creeks, one at the head of the Burning Basin and the

By Eric Packard

other across the bay. In this example let’s make a plan for targeting both creeks, plus a backup in case they don’t produce. You can see that the Burning Basin has lots of prime-looking cover all around, so it makes sense to plan to target that area first. But you don’t necessarily want

to spend a lot of time here if the bite isn’t on, since there’s a lot of water to fish. If the Basin area isn’t producing, be ready to work your way to the creek across the bay — while trolling along the way. Make sure you have an offering that trolls well from a kayak, like a chatterbait, and there’s a good chance of hooking up on a blue catfish or maybe a nice largemouth bass.

If the second creek isn’t producing either, move to plan C and focus on fishing the outer edges of the nearby shipwrecks on the Potomac River. Starting at the Accomac, the large steel ship which is most visible, troll or cast chatterbaits and/or half-ounce jigs alongside the wrecks and cast inbetween the wrecks.

Taking a large area like this, breaking it down into small segments, prioritizing them, and creating a plan will help you stay focused on catching fish rather than trying to figure out which way to head before taking the next cast. #

# The author holds up a blue cat that hit a chatterbait near the Accomac.

Paddler’s Edge

Tips & Tricks

For summer fun at the beach don’t forget to toss out a spinning rod with a small rig baited up with a tidbit of Fishbites bloodworm or shrimp flavor, alongside of your larger surf rig. You may not reel in any monsters on that line but it will usually be the one getting the lion’s share of the action.

When deep-dropping with braid line and heavy weights, always have a good leadering glove handy. otherwise, when you go to swing a fish aboard you might end up with a nasty line-cut.

hum… we don’t have a tip for this one. It’s just such a RoCKIN’ CooL pic we wanted to put it in the pages of FishTalk!! photo by parker Martin.

Charters, Guides, and Headboats

One of the most difficult ways to learn how to fish the chesapeake Bay and atlantic ocean is trial and error. then there’s the boat issue; we don’t all have one. luckily, the Bay is full of knowledgeable guides and charter captains ready to show you the ropes. Below you will find a directory of professional guides, charter boats, and head boats to get you started on your quest for the perfect fish. Whether you like to fly fish, troll, or bottom fish, there’s likely a local expert who can lend a hand.

Fish With Weaver

BR ok ERAGE & CLASSIFIeD SeCTIoNS

BOATs4HEROEs.ORg

P o WER

2019 Sea-Doo Wake Pro 230 IBR Jetski Rotax supercharged engine w/ 230 hp and only 60 hours! Load Rite Trailer included, Storage Cover, bluetooth sound system, ski tow, and more! $14,995 Riverside Marine, 410.686.1500, sales@riversideboats.com www.riversideboats.com #20372

2021 Sea-Doo Fish Pro 170 & Sound System Jetski iDF & Sound System, Rotax 170 hp, Karavan Trailer w/ Spare Tire, Storage Cover, Bait Cooler, Bow Storage hatch, Removable Transom Cooler w/ Rod holders, Stereo, garmin DF / FF /gpS, Trim Tabs, In-Dash hour Meter, (5) Rod holders, and more! $16,995 Riverside Marine, 410.686.1500, sales@riversideboats.com www.riversideboats.com #20424

22’ Shamrock ‘96 $17,500 David Robinson 410.310.8855 david@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

2023 Boston Whaler 240 Vantage

Another Chesapeake Bay icon of the Boston Whaler family is our 24 Vantage. perfect ski boat for the family, fits 11 people and has a top speed of nearly 50mph. Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

27’ Grady White ‘18 $209,000 David Robinson 410.310.8855 david@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

1993 Boston Whaler 210 outrage

A classic 21-foot outrage ready for the Bay in any conditions. Repowered with a 300hp four stroke, only 7 hrs. $46,000 Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

2012 Boston Whaler 230 Dauntless Lift/boathouse kept, this pearl will not last long. Less than 100 hrs, single owner, and in great shape! $62,000 Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

(key Gull) 25’ Carolina Classic ‘06 $54,500 Curtis Stokes 410.919.4900 curtis@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

(off Duty) 28’ Bertram ‘83 $25,000 Curtis Stokes 410.919.4900 curtis@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

2023 Boston Whaler 210 Montauk

This is our 21 Montauk, our most popular seller! Safely holds 9 people and has plenty of power with the 200hp four stroke made by Mercury. Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

2021 Sportsman open 232 CC

F200XB Yamaha outboard. Yamaha Warranty until 5/26/24. hour Meter140, Venture Tandem Axle Aluminum Trailer w/ Brakes, Solid Ice Blue hull, White powder Coat, Desert Tan Upholstery, platinum package, premium Dual Chair Leaning post w/ Flip-up Bolsters, Under Leaning post Tackle Storage, Bow Filler Board w/ Cushion, garmin 9” MFD DF / FF / gpS, ShipsDek Flooring, Bottom paint, Very Clean. $79,995 Riverside Marine, 410.686.1500, sales@riversideboats.com www.riversideboats.com #20501

2014 Crownline Eclipse E4 Mercruiser 350 MAg MpI, 300 hp, w/ Bravo3 outdrive, hours - 230, Includes Venture aluminum bunk trailer, Inverse Razor gelcoat pattern, Sport package, Bow Filler Cushion, Sound System upgrade, Black dash wrap, Freshwater transom shower, White aluminum Arch w/ Suntop, Canvas Covers, Side Mount Cockpit Table, Underwater LeD Lights, electric Flush head. $52,000 Riverside Marine, 410.686.1500, sales@riversideboats.com www.riversideboats.com #20475

2020 Sportsman Heritage 251

CC Twin Yamaha F150XCA, digital controls/optimus electric power steering, eng Warr until 1/29/2024, hours - 93, bottom painted, Trailer not included, available separately for $7,408 fitted & loaded, Shark gray hull, platinum gray Upholstery, White powder Coat, Windshield Close-out, Dual Chair Leaning post, Tackle Storage, Slide-out Track w/ Yeti cooler, on-Board Battery Charger, garmin 12” chartplotter/gpS w/ Sonar/fishfinder, garmin VhF, Stereo with (6) Speakers, Underwater Lights, Anchor Windlass, electric head/Macerator. $115,000 Riverside Marine, 410.686.1500, sales@riversideboats.com www.riversideboats.com #20480

2021 Sportsman Heritage 251 CC

Twin F150XCA Yamaha outboards, Yamaha extended Warranty until 8/7/2024, 51 hours, new trailer available, Steel Blue w/ White Bottom, Desert Tan Upholstery, White powder Coating, hard Top, and more! $124,995 Riverside Marine, 410.686.1500, sales@riversideboats.com www.riversideboats.com #20367

2020 Sportsman 282 TE Twin Yamaha F300XCA’s under 500 hours, eng. Warr. until 6/11/2025!, optimus power steering, Boat kept in wet slip, trailer not included, New triple axle aluminum bunk trlr available for $9,988, Ice Blue hull color, White powder Coat, Ash gray upholstery, (2) garmin gpSMAp 1242XSV Touch 12”, garmin Fantom 18 Radar, Arimar B175M 1kW ChIRp transducer, JL Audio sound system w/ 8 speakers, on-Board battery charger, electric Flush head w/ holding tank, SeaDek flooring throughout. $179,900 Riverside Marine, 410.686.1500, sales@riversideboats.com www.riversideboats.com #20500

2021 Boston Whaler 280 Vantage Lightly used and lift kept. 600hp with joystick, autopilot, and way point tracking. Steal of a deal priced at $299,000 with less than 100 hrs. Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

2023 Boston Whaler 280 Dauntless A center console favorite would be the outrage and Dauntless series. our 28 Dauntless here is a born fishing machine. equipped with the maximum horsepower (400hp). Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

29’ Tiara ‘00 $44,500 Curtis Stokes 410.919.4900 curtis@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

(Severn Sunrise) 31’ Tiara 3100 open 1985 Dual Crusader 454, Furuno Radar, plotter, Sounder, Digital Yacht AIT 2500. $24,900 Call Charlie Iliff 410.227.1066

2023 Boston Whaler 360 outrage

Built for the ocean but easy enough to handle through ego alley downtown Annapolis! equipped with white 600 v12 engines maximize performance on our newly designed outrage. Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

2023 Boston Whaler 280 Vantage our 28 Vantage is a cruising delight, dual console, twin 300hp, plenty of room to host for any occasion or head out and catch some local rockfish out on the bay! Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

(Hot Pursuit) 30’ Pursuit 3000 ‘00 $54,500 Curtis Stokes 410.919.4900 curtis@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

(Busted Flush) 32’ Stamas ‘78 $28,500 Lars Bergstrom 910.899.7941 lars@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

2023 Boston Whaler 380 outrage The pride of our Boston Whaler line up, the 38-foot outrage will draw attention in the best way possible! perfectly equipped with twin 600 v12s and a pair of 16” screens. Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

2023 Boston Whaler 320 Vantage This is our 320 Vantage, and comfortably fits 14 people. An adjustable port lounge gives you lots of options for your boating enjoyment. Bluetooth ready. 3/5/10 year warranty available. Chesapeake Whalertowne 410.827.8080 www.whalertowne.com

(Game Hog) 40’ Robbins ‘99 $120,000 David Robinson 410.310.8855 david@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

33’ Bertram ‘80 $45,000 David Robinson 410.310.8855 david@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

(Martini & Me) 42’ Post ‘81 $65,000 Andy Stratton 908.265.7670 andy@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

(Reef Dawg) 34’ Hydra-Sports ‘14 $254,500 Curtis Stokes 410.919.4900 curtis@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

MAR k ETPLACE & CLASSIFIeD SeCTIoNS

HELP WANTED

P/T Delivery Drivers for three-day-a-month magazine distribution routes in Maryland. Compensation based upon quantity of stops. Must have a valid driver’s license in good standing, reliable vehicle, and be able to lift up to 25 lbs. Contact Beatrice at 410.216.9309 or beatrice@spf-360.com

Yacht Sales - Curtis Stokes and Associates, Inc. is hiring new salespeople for our Chesapeake area operation. Candidates must be honest, ethical and have boating experience. This is a commission only position. Contact Curtis Stokes at 410.919.4900 or curtis@curtisstokes.net www.curtisstokes.net

MARINE SERVICES

Guardian Award

On June 6, James P. Muldoon received the Guardian Award from the US Coast Guard Foundation. The award is presented each year to recognize individuals, companies, or organizations who have provided significant support or have demonstrated exemplary commitment to the Coast Guard Foundation, U.S. Coast Guard personnel and families, or members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. Nineteen years ago, Muldoon was one of four board members who started the Coast Guard Foundation’s “Tribute to the Coast Guard.” Since then, the annual event has raised more than $15 million for the foundation’s programs, which assist Coast Guard members and their families. In addition to his work with the Coast Guard Foundation, Muldoon, a Chesapeake sailor, has served in leadership roles with 30 maritime organizations, including: chairman of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Boating Safety Advisory Council; president of US Sailing; chairman of DC Sail; and founding board member of the Sailing Hall of Fame. He is also the founder of the Brendan Sail Program, which he started after noting that his son with learning differences, Brendan, grew in competence and confidence as his sailing skills developed. coastguardfoundation.org

Celebrating 10 Years

The Boathouse Marina, serving the boating community of Colonial Beach, VA, is celebrating 10 years in business. Since the spring of 2013, the marina team has been pleased to provide quality service to its boating family of customers. As owner Bill Bowman likes to say, “The Boathouse Marina is a peaceful and friendly floating neighborhood within the town of Colonial Beach.” Over the past 10 years the marina has steadily upgraded its facilities, new piers and floating slips have been added, and the electric service has been improved to support the latest 2021 codes and building upgrades. The Boathouse is also proud to be the largest marina retail store in the Northern Neck of Virginia. The Captain’s Lounge is complete with restrooms, showers, Wi-Fi, an ice maker, and laundry. Other conveniences include three electric car charging stations and a BoatsUS life preserver loaner program. theboathousemarina-va.com

New o wner

For more than a decade, Capt. Chris Parker has been helping recreational boaters on the Chesapeake Bay get home, first as a hired captain and later a port manager of several TowBoatUS on-water towing ports in the Tidewater region. Wanting his own on-water towing and assistance company, he journeyed east across the Bay in 2019 to open TowBoatUS Crisfeld. Now on the Bay’s Western Shore, the captain is the new owner of TowBoatUS Reedville, VA. When asked how he manages the challenge of owning two on-water assistance locations on either side of the Bay, Parker said, “I’ve got really good crew who do their jobs extremely well.” All the company’s captains are U.S. Coast Guard-licensed. Joining Parker is his wife, Katie, who handles 24/7 dispatch and business operations. “She’s a key part of my team,” he added. TowBoatUS provides professional on-water towing, battery jumpstart, vessel ungrounding, and fuel drop-off services. Parker’s company has five red towboats from 20 to 27 feet that are part of a nationwide fleet of more than 600 response vessels. Separate from towing services, the locations offer salvage and environmental remediation services. Parker also continues to manage TowBoatUS ports in Upper Rappahannock and Gwynn’s Island. The fastest way to request assistance from TowBoatUS Reedville is to download the free BoatUS App, which connects boaters to the closest local towing captain. Additionally, the company can be reached at (804) 286-9386, or by phoning the BoatUS toll-free 24/7 Dispatch Center at (800) 391-4869. BoatUS.com/Towing

Partnership

Tri-State Marine (TSM) announces an exclusive partnership with Annapolis School of Seamanship (ASOS). While Tri-State Marine has always provided boaters with access to the boat brands on the Chesapeake Bay, including Grady-White, Parker, and Sea Pro, Annapolis School of Seamanship has provided boaters with expert skill and safety training through their on-the-water courses for more than 20 years. When combined through this exclusive partnership, TSM and ASOS now offer Chesapeake boaters a unique combination of skill, expertise, and access. From new boaters getting out on the water for the first time to hands-on expert level courses in marine systems, electrical, navigation, first-aid/CPR, and more, this partnership will have you covered. All summer you will find TSM’s new Grady-White 180 Fisherman boats in ASOS’s fleet on Spa Creek where their captains will lead onboard training courses every week, including Junior Captains 1 and 2, Basic Boater Operator, Docking Training, Women Behind the Wheel, and more. TSM is also offering free on-the-water training through ASOS with every boat purchase, course reimbursements with the purchase of a new boat from TSM, new boat purchase discounts for all program graduates, and special end-of-season pricing on all fleet training boats. “It’s really incredible to think how two top Maryland maritime small businesses can combine in a unique way to the benefit of so many Chesapeake Bay boaters. We’re thrilled with our partnership with Tri-State Marine, and we look forward to working with the team for many years to come—including the potential of expanding to new locations,” said John Martino, owner of Annapolis School of Seamanship. “Keith and the team there are great to work with, and now it’s even more exciting that they have a new location at Bert Jabin Yacht Yard on the waterfront in Annapolis. That makes it even better!” tristatemarine.com/asos

s end your c hesapeake Bay business news and high-resolution photos to kaylie@fishtalkmag.com