Took two of my buddies to the JRFP wed and fri night. The first night, it was slow for the first hour due to the tide being slack. but once that current picked up we started doin really well. We caught our limit with our smallest keeper being 22 in. and the biggest a little over 25in. Very healthy fish! We caught about ten and we did catch a couple that were under size but pretty much all of them were very nice fish in the low twenty inch range

Fri night we went out again, (its fun having friends that are hooked on fishing just as much as you are after one trip) and we had high hopes. The first hour was rough again but once that tide picked up were slaying them. More fish but not as good when it comes to size. We caught atleast twenty fish but only four were keepers. Two 22 inchers and two 18.5 inchers. the rest were from 16 to 17 in. FUN, but of course you hope some better size. There was something funny about that night though. My buddy was using a 4 inch storm, and I was using a 5 inch storm, but he caught just about all the keepers! I was pullin 16in fish on a 5 inch storm and he was pullin the good, keeper fish on a smaller bait. I was puzzled so if any one can help me out on this one, I would appreciate it very much. Overall great night fishing and now I am back off to school and have to wait another 2 weeks before rock fishing again!
-manicone314

Nice fish! Alot of peanut bunker have been found in the bellies of the rockfish being caught at the JRB & the MMBT and they are probably closer in size to the 4 inch that your buddy was using. Maybe that is why he was catching more of the keepers. We were trolling at the JRB on Sat. and caught only one fish. It was caught on a 6 inch pearl Storm. Maybe we should have used a smaller bait. GIL

Way to go...you're on a roll...keep it up!!

Way to go nice job those sure will taste good.

Way to go ... nice catch!

I see Liberty U is king of Virginia Basketball, after beating UVA, William & Mary and George Mason last week! Go Flames! That Seth Curry looks as good as his brother down at Davidson.

Got Clemson coming up this week .......

Another thing, I have heard people not doing well trolling. I think i might have a clue on why. When we fish our storms, we let it sink about a sec or two and then BARELY begin to crank it. I guess it gives it the best chance for the bait to get down there. Its somewhat easy to set the hook also when you are SLOWLY reeling the bait, becuase then its easier for them to get the bait and hold it in their mouths longer! In conclusion maybe trollers are moving to quickly! A buddy of mine said he went trolling at the HRBT and said they didn't get a thing! Maybe if you were to drift, I don't know but I hope this helps a little.

Thats a good point. I think a lot of people troll way to fast for stripers. They are a slow moving fish. When trolling i will often just bump the trottle in and out of gear. Personally I like to keep my speed around 1.5-2 knots maybe more/less depending on current. If I'm not catching fish then I may try increasing the speed somewhat. I also agree with you on storm lures. I get the most strikes when I am slowly retrieving with frequent pauses letting the lure drop. Often the strike will occur when the lure is dropping.

Nice catch there. I have heard from sefveral folks the JRB is producing good size schoolie fish.


I agree on the trolling bit. as slow as you can go. I put my motor "in gear" and let her creep along when trolling.

Nice catch. A couple of them look pretty fat, should make for some good eating.

I always troll as slow as possible. When I just bump the boat into gear it goes about 1.7 to 2 knots(depending on the wind speed). I can't go any slower than that. That speed has always worked well for me. Gil