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I cheated, but it was still good fishing...

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Rumble Fish aka Poppy

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OK, I cheated this past Saturday. I went out into the Atlantic Ocean on a water craft to fish for Stripers off of Virginia. Even though many of you are dye-in-the-wool terra-firma Stripermen and would not be found dead or alive on a boat, I think some will find my report enlightening about the bounty of Stripers the ocean currently has to offer in spite of the fact that it is winter and quite cold.

 

We left Rudee Inlet (south of the Chesapeake Bay) while it was still dark and very cold-air temperature was 26 degrees. As we headed east/southeast the water temperature readings were disappointing-a frigid 40/41 degrees for the first 10 miles or so. At first light we saw some diving birds and detected small bait fish in the water. We trolled slowly and threw some heavy jigs. In the process we picked up a few small Stripers to about 24". We then heard some radio chatter suggesting that Stripers were stacked like a pile of fire wood and very hungry at the 43 degree isotherm. We decided to make the run to the slightly warmer water...

 

As indicated, at the 43 degree isotherm, the scene was one of total chaos and something I have not seen often. With only a few other boats in the vicinity, the fish activity stretched for what seemed like miles in virtually every direction. Whether it was huge swarms of constantly swirling and diving birds; the occasional bait fish scattering about and breaking the surface, frantically swimming for their lives; or the sometime churning white water from schools of actively feeding Stripers, the commotion, to say the least, was intense and immense... Well before we even reached the edge of all this pandemonium, our rods heaved w/ hook-ups. These were small fish of perhaps 25", but there were plenty more to come... No sooner had we released those first couple of fish, we had more fish on... The action continued-as soon as the lure was in the water we had another hook-up. This is how it was...we had hooked-ups, almost none stop, all day long.

 

The surprise of the day came with 5 fish between 42" and 48" with the heaviest weighing a very respectable 43# smile.gif Our finally tally was close to 80 Stripers landed w/ many lost from thrown hooks, broken line/tackle, etc. We had a nice number of fish in the 15# to 25# range, but most of the Stripers were under 10#.

 

The other highlight came when I hooked-up with a fish that took off about 50 yards of line before I finally got her turned... As soon as I applied some more pressure, more line went out. I was starting to think that either I had the biggest Striper this side of Cape Cod or I had hooked into some other kind of demon of the deep. I let up for a moment and slowly reeled in some slack in the line. Suddenly, another burst...the power I felt on the end of that line was incredible! Before I knew it, the line parts... What the hell was that all about? My fishing partner playfully castigates me for losing what he thought was a giant Striper. I am not so sure, but it was history and I went back to fishing. Moments later we saw some large fish breaking the surface off in the distance. I grab the binoculars... The fish appear to be Tuna. Yellow Fin or small Blue Fin, I don't know. What I do know...that was no Striper that broke me off. Maybe it was one of those Tuna... And another thought...Tuna feeding on Stripers?

 

I don't believe the prevailing wisdom that Stripers stop feeding when water temperatures are 50 degrees or less. I even now question whether they stop feeding at 45 degrees. In the past 2 week I have taken Stripers in waters w/ temperatures in the low 40s.

 

Rumble Fish aka Poppy

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Poppy,

 

Nice report! I've heard about the January fishing in your area for some time now and last year I had a charter booked with Capt Eric Burnley of the Ebb Tide Charter Serivce. We left NJ during on ice storm on a 5am Sat morning, get down to Va around noon, and then call the Capt about our departure time for Sunday--he decided to cancel the charter! He said the NW wind of 15 knts would not be to his liking(he charters a 24ft Albemarle, one of the best boats ever made) He didn't even have the deceny to call me ahead of time(I had booked the trip with him 2 weeks in advance) to inform me he might cancel due to the "hurricane 15 knot Northwesterlies".

 

Sorry for the vent guys, but I thought it might prove useful info to anyone who wants to do a trip down there for the incredible Jan striper action.

 

John D

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CONGRATULATIONS, Poppy!

 

I'm very glad to hear that you got into them! It is a lot of fun, isn't it? You have just discovered why I'm finding it so hard to make it over to the rockpiles. Now maybe you guys can forgive me?

 

Glad you had a great trip. And remember not to underestimate the power of the dark side... smile.gif

 

TH

 

PS - Oh by the way, tuna will generally take the same lures that Stripers will. Pete once got a 70 lb yellowfin (or was it a bluefin?) on a Bass Assassin while chunking. All of the fish caught that day were caught on the assassins. Go figure.

 

Big tuna eat bluefish. Why not a striper?

 

 

 

 

[This message has been edited by thill (edited 01-24-2000).]

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Poppy, don't feel guilty about the boat thing and especially this time of year, a man's got to do what a man's got to do, in fact I'm quite jeallous.

 

Great report, sounds like a banner day.

 

 

 

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Dubs a.k.a., Charlie

Dubs

AKA: Charlie

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Tony, my ISP was down for a good part of the day... Here in northern Virginia where I live, we got pummeled w/ blizzard-like conditions. Winds have been gusting to about 30+ mph and temperatures here at the house have not been much above 28 degrees. Right now there is about 16" on the ground w/ much deeper drifts.

 

Back to fishing... We took pictures upon returning to the docks and that was only of the 2 fish we kept, both in the 25# range. I will send them up to Tim when I get them developed.

 

The 43# was landed by my friend and released. My biggest for the day was perhaps in the high 30#'s and she too was released...

 

That was one memorable trip... The weather held and the fish were everywhere smile.gifsmile.gif

 

Rumble Fish aka Poppy

 

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