Striped Bass Fishing in the Chesepeake Bay

        Hello again to all my fellow fisherman and ambassadors out there, hope your fishing season is going great so far.  Back in April I posted a blog (An Attempt at Saltwater Fishing) telling about my first trip on salt water, as you read we were rained out that day and had to reschedule the trip.  Well thankfully that day finally came, and it was well worth the wait.



        We headed out of our home town aroun 4am on July 7 and headed for Chesepeake Beach Maryland, to hook up with Joe and Janet Rupp at Herrington Harbor.  After an event filled experience on the Washinton DC beltway, thankfully we made it there in one peice. (It is my opinion that half the people on that road should loose there drivers license)  We arrived at Herrington Harbor at 6:15am and started loading up the Lucky Duck Fishing Boat, on an overcast but warm morning.  Around 7am we were finally underway moving out of the harbors no wake zone to start our day of fishing.  After about a thirty minute ride we had arrived at our first spot of the day, where we park in a line of other fishing boatd to begin fishing for spots.  We rigged up medium takle spinning rods with two hooks, sinkers and blood worms to begin catching bait to use on the Striped Bass.  We spent about 40 minutes filling up the bait tank with 4-6 inch spots, and by now the sun had burned through the cloud cover and temperatures were soaring.  After all the rods were brought in and stored we began our run to our second spot to start fishing for stripers.



        As we pulled up we began to see multiple other boats had already anchored, but didnt appear to be catching many fish.  Captain Joe snaked the Lucky Duck to and anchoring position in the current, and we began to set up the rods.  His wife and deckhand Janet began rigging our rods, with 3 of us running a double hook (similar to a frog hook), and the other 3 running a treble hook.  The double hook was baited with a spot fish, by putting one hook up through the bottom lip and out the top of its head. The treble hooks were rigged by sticking one point of the treble hook through the back of a spot, the point was inserted under the spine just behind the front fines.  Stu and I hooked up first pulling in two nice stripers within the first three minutes.  I was the first to tag out catching two stripers, and spent the rest of the time helping Janet net, unhook fish, and rebait hooks.  Within 20 minutes the crew of all 6 fisherman had tagged out, and we were raising anchor heading back to were we caught the spots.  After a few pictures and lunch we began fishing for spots again, to catch bait for the next days charter.  We spent an hour drinking adult beverages and filling up the bait tank with spots.  Once the spots slowed bitting we raised anchor and began to head back to Herrington Harbor.  After refueling the Lucky Duck, and docking we began to pack up the pickup for the ride home. 



        I would like to thank the Captain and crew of the Lucky Duck, Joe and Janet, for a wonderful experience on the bay.  I can't wait to get back out there next year and hook up again. Be sure to check out my recent photo album and videos from the trip. Until next time good luck and great fishing.