Left Little Creek at 0600 and headed to Cape Henry to see if the reports of fish moving South would pan out. Just three of us headed out, Pat elected to stay warm and read the Sunday Paper, but kind enough to get up at 0430 and make me fresh coffee!
Don worked the Pit and Fred (Pop) filled out our roster. Starting at the Green Can off Cape Henry we maked scattered fish and some small bait pods. The birds were not working real hard, but would occaisionally start diving. They moved on quickly. The Tide Rip running NW to SE right past the Green Can produced some good marks and we worked both the clean side and the dirty side to no avail. About 10:30 we headed out to work a bit deeped and had good fish marks but only scattered bait. The current/wind made the East to West troll a bit too fast so we quartered and then picked a West to East course, trolling right at 2.5 knots. Water was 53 degrees. WE ran a mix of Mojos in white and Chartr., a Stretch, a Secret Spoon and both Eel and Shad Umbrellas. At 10:35 the Chartr. Umbrella gets hit and Don clears as Fred took the rod. We were praying for a keeper fish, our first Rock Trip of the Season. Good living must have paid off for Fred for he was rewarded with a fat 42" Striper as one of the first Coastal fish reported!
The area around the Green Can has some whelk pots that are on short lines and don't show well at high tide. We caught them a few times trolling as the markers were not showing well.
That was the only hit of the day, but as we turned and trolled towards the Cape a large fish we think was a King skyed after my Secret Spoon, fully out of the water and moving fast.
Great talking with some of the guys from the Board (DoubleTime and Full Throttle) who I think moved up to the CBBT after finding it slow at the Cape. Pictures and video to follow soon!
Tight lines. The Big Fish are starting up!
Dave

YouTube Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRDJ43EFxsY

Good deal guys. It should be a great season.

Great report thanks.

Mark

good report. glad you got somthing!

Glad you picked up a good one. We had a knock down shortly after you landed yours, but didn't get it aboard. Headed to the high rise and trolled down to the 3rd. Good marks, right temp, birds diving, no hits. Must have been 50 or more boats anchored and drifting over the tube, but I didn't see any fish being brought up - headed home. At least we did get to see several whales, and one breached a few hundred yards off our bow. Must have been over 15 feet of whale in the air when I saw it coming back down.

Way to blaze the trail Captain...good job....Maybe it's time to put away the Tuna gear....nah...one more tuna trip then striper season,.....bob

Nice report!

Curious... is that the best method (trolling) to pick off those FATTY Striper out there near Cape Henry or the Oceanfront area? I was lucky enough to get some good fish last week at the CBBT and now i'm JONESING...

Great job Dave, hope we can find a couple like that next weekend for the ASA tourney.

Nice talking to you guys today, congratulations on the 42 incher. We saw some fish caught over the 1st and 4th tube but didn't feel like fighting the crowds so we drifted live eels by some of the pilings and trolled some also with no sucess. It was still nice to be out on the water today!

Way to go Dave. Thanks for the report.

I'll be working that neighborhood in the next few days. Prior to the ASA.

Stop by, I just moved over to (A) pier.


Sinclair

Good times!!! Glad to see that fish this time of year. I was thinking we'd hit some shorts and may be a couple just over 28, but when I saw that one in the net...oh yeh!!

Here's the pics!

Dave wanted a pic too...

Thanks for the Pix Don!
We had to work for that fish, but she was worth it! The belly was empty when you cleaned it. Those fish will be starting their active feeding as the temps drop to build up fat for the the winter. We should see Beehives of birds working the bait pushed up soon. Larger numbers of fish in the area will concentrate the bait which has been scattered in small pods right now. This is just the start, and some nice fish should be around this season!
Tight lines.
Dave

Nice fish. I had thought about making the run to cape Henry, but decided not to after the dissapointing day fishing around the third and fourth. We marked bait everywhere, but very few fish.

Jason

That's a nice first fish!!

Many thanks to Dave and Don for another great day on the water.That Topaz is a fantastic boat, and with Dave at the helm and Don in the pit, you couldn't get a better combo. Thanks again to two real pros.

great report! Nice Fish.

Man I hope my first fish this year is that big.

great report

Congrats on the nice striper
Pop sure looks happy!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice fish guys. I think next time I'm gonna give the coastal trolling a try. Hopefully this weekend if the weather is good.

Thanks for the report Dave. Sounds like they are getting close.

My brother and I stayed around the HRBT on Fri and Sat. Limited out both trips but had to work for them with the biggest being a 24" pulled in off of a finger mullet on the bottom behind the boat.

Lots of schoolies (16" - 22") pulled in with pearl white bucktails with chartruesse tails attached and 4" and 6" plastic lures by berkley lures. Seems like the ones that were shad or spot colored worked the best.

Spent Sunday morning making fresh striper nuggets up as a snack to watch the Vikes kick some Giant behind and got my umbrella rigs all cleaned up and ready to go.


Gonna try pulling a few this weekend if weather permits and I don't decide to go deer hunting.

Been reading the Maryland, New Jersey, and New York reports and the concensous seems to be the Bait has not moved south out of the Tributaries yet(weather temps are not cooperating) putting a hold on the bigger Stripers showing up for the annual Menhaden runs. A few scattered reports seem a bit unsettling because the fisherman up there are worried that the Menhaden Fleets will over fish the run this year, and put a big burden on the Stripers which enter the Bay around the middle of November. It seems sure that they have good reson to be cautious because we all know what the Fleet(s) do to our fishing around here.

Check out the Video.

YouTube Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRDJ43EFxsY

Nice video Dave!! The one thing I liked about that day was the lack of 100's of boats...that's going to change now that we've blazed the trail!!

You guys ain't got nuthin on me!! If I put 2 of the 3 I caught on Sunday end-to-end they might make 42"!!!

Nice fish guys, it's game time.

Tom, you crack me up.

NICE FISH! GLAD TO HEAR THEY ARE MOVING OFF THE BRIDGE

congrats on the fish and i wish more people would post videos up, that was pretty cool

Nice job on the fish.