Flats kinda stunk today

[capt. ed]

Today Mr. Ray (Bucktail) Ekblad drove down from Garwood New Jersey to join me on the Susky Flats.
He told me he didn't care about small fish, just as long as he could catch a bunch of 'em. I told him no problem we've been hammering little schoolies all week. Well today they hammered us. In spite of our best efforts, intensive searching, never give up attitudes and combined expertise...we managed a measly 10 striped ones between us. (all VERY small) Here's Ray hooked up on ultra-light tackle:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h21/captainedwin/rayflats002.jpg

Ultra-light because the fish looked like this:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h21/captainedwin/rayflats003.jpg

Aside from the lame fishing...it was a wonderfully sunny, clear and calm day on the Upper Chesapeake. Forecast called for winds of 15-20. We were amazed at the lack of wind for most of the day, finally started blowing up at 3 p.m. and we called it quits.
For Capt. Skip: Ray insisted on using Bucktails till I had six fish to his none. Turned him on to Bass Assassins and got him some hookups. However, I can't argue with your success...I oughta be over there fishing with you!

[Partnership]

Capt Ed- kind of know the feeling.
Skip and I fished "our" flats today with just about everything in the box and came up empty. We did have a few bites- but no hookups.

The day got nicer and nicer as the day went on and the bay laid down real nice. Learned a new ramp today and successfully navigated a new creek. (well- 2 ramps, but that's another story).

Talked to Five Paces and Wish2Fish on the radio and RodDad, TRMB, and others on the cellie.

Better days are coming!

[TheAdamBomb]

Ed, all ya' can do is work your tail off and give them your best effort! Tough days where you're beating your head against the wall and pulling every rabbit out of your hat and trick from up your sleeve make the great days seem all the greater!

[DEEP POCKETS]

Capt Ed - we arrived on the flats this morning around 10:30 ish and talked to a friend who had em pretty good early in the morning. Nothing real big but most in the 20 inch range.

We fished down in the area in your first picture but we were closer to the boundary line and tight closer to shore and picked at the schoolies, but like you only caught fish in the 12-16" range most on 5" chart BA's but also picked some up on small rattle traps and husky jerks. Something about those BA's and they were hitting them pretty good.

Made a move up on the flat hoping to find some bigger fish but only picked a couple schoolies and shot back down to SP and continued to pick away at em.

Made a run out not far from your shot but closer to the NE side around 4 pm and starting picking up the schoolies pretty good once again on chart BA's.

My brother had the hot hand today and outfished my father & I 10 to 1 but we prob had 50 or so and 2 nice fat white perch.

Water temps were mostly 52 degrees but had as high as 54 later in the day. Water clarity was as good as I've ever seen it sometimes close to 4 feet or so. Got checked out by MD State Police but was a real nice guy but wouldnt tell us where the big fish were :D Did hear a report of some bigger fish Thurs evening on topwater at the ramp but you know how that goes.

Great day on the water and we were happy it didnt really kick up & had a blast catching them on the light rods. :cool:

Should be a great season with the clean water and temps on the rise, good luck if you get out this weekend.

[capt. ed]

Deep: glad you had more action than we did. I did pick a couple dinks up at SP, but the water looked ugly there. Out in the mid section I had clean water and up to 55 degree late in the p.m. kept waitin for 'em to turn on and they just didn't. The pics I show are where we caught the majority. Note the yellow hull/Gary Neitzky and beyond him Richie Gaines. Also saw Tom Hughes puttin around today. Walleye Pete is bringin his boat up tonite. Did not see Mike B. at all today.

[ 04-01-2006, 08:17 AM: Message edited by: capt. ed ]

[DEEP POCKETS]

We noticed the exact same conditions Capt Ed, up on the flat the water was real clean yet we were picking up more fish in close to land where the water was a little stained. We decided to give it a try up in the clean water right before dark and had the warmest temps of the day and the schoolies were hitting pretty good with most boats in the area picking them up.

Talked with a friend who trolled all over up on the shallow flats and only picked up a few small onese here and there on rattle traps.

We saw the yellow hull and I'm sure fished near you also. Hope you get em next time out and they are of bigger size. With the water clarity and the water temps on the rise, it should be getting good real soon. Catch em up and keep the reports coming :cool:

[striper2278]

Originally posted by capt. ed:
For Capt. Skip: Ray insisted on using Bucktails till I had six fish to his none. Turned him on to Bass Assassins and got him some hookups. However, I can't argue with your success...I oughta be over there fishing with you! Ed,

Had a couple of guys fish with me in January with the BA's. They did very well! For some reason the bass in the rips like bucktail alot!!! I think they resemble what they have to eat down there!

P.S. come on over! ;)

[capt. ed]

Skip, my gig slows down early May. Then I try and catch some Tiderunners over Delaware way. I wouldn't mind doing a combo Drum/Striper deal with ya though.