As I told you at the dock the other day (I'll repeat it for other CBA members).
Two weeks ago, we were finding plenty of fish
;enough to be done early in the morning. Jigging under birds was productive until numbers of boats scattered them. Breaking out the trolling rods filled the rest of the limit on the scattered fish.
I was running 6 rods with #1, #2, #3 planers with tony's (15 and 17) as lures. Then, the fish became scarce. I switched over to running umbrella's; allowing me two lures per rod
Now I had twice the number of lures to catch, and the umbrella's put a lot more vibration in the water as an additional attractor.
The Fish Finder was now marking 8 to 10 fish in a pile instead of "lighting up" the screen. No more multiple rods going down
I was fortunate to get one rod "hooked up" that was running at the correct depth. I was still getting my limit, but spending more and more time working at it.
Recently, I have only been making short trips just before the current changes and after the current changes (three hours).
It seems that there is soooo much bait in the bay, the fish don't need to feed very long to get "stuffed" with peanut bunker or silversides.
I don't carry many buddies on board, so I only need 4 or 6 fish. Even this can be a challenge with todays conditions.
I have a couple of places that seem to hold fish. After looking at the wind, current, and most importantly, friends reports; I go to the area I think is holding fish and "Beat It To Death" until I find them.
They may be in the same place as yesterday, or they could have moved as much as two buoys north or south.
It doesn't hurt to be lucky either
If I "luck" into a school of keeper fish, I work them hard to fill the box.
Birds are always a clear indicator of feeding fish, but often the big bird shows are on small undersized scoolies. I've looked for a couple of birds sitting and had success under them
Four or Five birds circling is a big deal now. Don't dismiss them !!!
Don't get me wrong; I'm struggling with everyone else. I can't hope for bait to come out of the rivers with cooler water temperatures, because there is already a ton of bait available:roll eyes: Therefore, all I can hope for is as the water cools, the fish will feed more heavily. There is also the possibility of bigger fish coming down from the north and through the C&D in a couple of weeks.
Guess I'll be like everyone else and keep burning fuel, searching, and catching a few with Uncle Jake's help.
5th