Migratory Striped Bass have moved into the Chesapeake Bay

This Saturday a few people showed up to help clean the beaches in Delaware Seashore State Park.  We met at Keybox beach access and cleaned to about conquest access.  I told the parks we would stay above the beach grass planting event so we would not be in the way.  We didn’t have a huge turnout but the group managed to pick up about two hundred pounds of trash.  The kids kept finding sunglasses, I even found a nice pair of Jackie “O”‘s.  We were met by Chirs Flood from the Cape Gazette and he interviewed everyone about the beach clean ups and why they come out to help.  I appreciate everyone pitching in, Amy’s kids were like a small army out there, picking up all kinds of crazy debris.  Speaking of which I still have it in the back of my truck and I didn’t go all picture crazy like a normal day.  South of us at Faithful Steward access DNREC held their annual beach grass planting, and it looked like they had a decent turnout.  I did find a horseshoe crab tag in the wrack line and called that in today,they are sending me a certificate and a pewter pin.  It was not attached to a crab it was just laying in the sand.  The beaches are carved up from the last storms and there are pieces of horseshoe crab everywhere.  I did rescue one crab that was washed up on the beach at the high tide line.  Ben Smith and I were looking at cuts all day wishing it were warm enough for fish out there.  He saved a few key spots on his GPS, I made a mental note from the surrounding scenery.  There are some very defined cuts and sandbars, and these will move eventually and change positions.  We will see fish soon enough, in fact probably sooner than we hoped.  The spring run is starting in the Chesapeake Bay.

Some friends of mine have been fishing the last few days in the Chesapeake Bay and have been catching several forty plus inch striped bass.  This morning Chris Nosher and Shawn Kimbro guessed that the one they had a picture taken of was about forty six inches.  Shawn wasn’t sure, they didn’t take the time to weight or measure the fish before the release.  The first wave of the migration has moved into the Chesapeake Bay and the boys down there are excited.  I asked Shawn Kimbro for some details … “Yeah, they’re migrants. Lots of schoolie males too.  Mid Chesapeake Bay above Cove Point.  Incoming tide. Water temp in Bay is about 42 right now.  10″ soft plastic bait (Bass Kandy Delight) on 2 oz jig head. ”   The pictures he sent me have been killing me all night.  These boys are all about catch and release.  They are also Coastal Conservation Association members (CCA MD) and support their new campaign “My Limit Is One”.  If you want to learn more about CCA there will be a table at Lurefest this Saturday March 29th for the CCA DE chapter.  Feel free to drop by and learn what you can do to help the Delaware angler .  Every state has different needs and CCA DE is working on what this state needs to have addressed.  Lurefest is held in Bowers Beach at the fire hall and starts at 10 am.  Hope to see you out there.  So, get your gear ready it is almost time for us to see some of these big striped bass in our waters.  As soon as this winter spring is over, the temperatures will rise much faster, we are still averaging forty degrees in the surf.  The State Surf Fishing Striper Wars will start in May for Delaware, a strictly catch and release tournament.  Hopefully we will have a lot of great catches to choose from.  I will tell you all about that very soon.

Fish On!!