Sorry for the delay in the reports. We have been on a roll here lately and today we are getting a much needed break from the action. I hate to miss a trip, especially on a Saturday but mother nature and her forecast of Northerly winds gusting to 30 knots figured we needed a day off. So now we can catch up on the business of letting you guys know what we have been doing the last couple of weeks.
Its really only a couple of words we can say to sum up the bottom fishing as we close out the month of September--------WIDE OPEN!
We have a new class of Spot that have showed up the last couple of weeks and they are big and hungry.
Fish approaching citation status are arriving in numbers in both the Piankitank and Rappahannock rivers making for some excellent cooler filling action. I must caution that we still have a slower day from time to time but in general it truly is all you want. Just yesterday I had one of my regular charter groups with a 9 angler party and everyone had well over 100 spot per person with my top angler reaching having 174 fish. Not only did we load the coolers but we did so by 11 am. Our evening trip came out at 1pm and by 4pm we were back at the dock with the same results.
The fish the last few days have been at the mouths of the rivers and this makes perfect sense. We are getting fish that are starting to school up with the cooler weather and will soon be leaving the scene. At the same time we are getting fish from the Northern bay that are also beginning to migrate down and this is the time we "whack em". As we get into October we are really on borrowed time as far as spot fishing goes. Depending on temperatures and weather patterns we could have these fish until Halloween or it could be over tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out.
We always book through the first 2 weeks of October and then we "play it by ear". If we still have fish we will book more bottomfishing trips. If it looks like its "game over" we will call it off and get ready for the striped bass and tautog fishing seasons. October dates that are currently open are the 3rd and 5th right now. Anything after the the 13th is also available for bottomfishing, tautog or stripers.
Speaking of stripers! Anyone looking to striper fish with us this year should not wait to book your trips. We are filling up fast and we want all of our regulars to get the dates they want. November we will be fishing the bay from our home port of the "ISLANDER" and starting Dec 1 we will be departing RUDEE INLET. Come on down and get yourself a trophy like Shannon Williams of Gloucester Va. did. 52 pounds! Also check out the new world record croaker that was caught in Mathews. Ken Jenkins 8 pound 11 ounce whopper!
