The Chesapeake bay striper fishery at the concrete ships and off of Kiptopeke state park is real water temperature sensitive, so planning the movie shoot week was sketchy. In the past few years the second week of December has been typically the best chance to run into the migrating stripers. Last year it was the week when three of us landed 50lber’s. the two weeks before the guys flew in I landed a 49lber. I committed to the second week of Dec and secured one of the awesome Kiptopeke state park lodge. The park as five of these cozy lodges that can sleep fourteen.
This winter we had been having strong cold front blasting through every few days. This brings in hard north west winds that blow the cold river waters down from the upper part of the bay. When the water temps drop to 42 degrees the striper either cut off or move out, but if the water warms up and stabilizes they turn back on.
The day Jim, Will and Jock flew in a cold front hit and dropped the temps to the dreaded 42 degrees.
The first morning was cold and the water temp was low and my confidence in hooking up to a striper was even lower.
The forecast for the rest of the week was cloudy and rainy, so I know that this was going to be the only clear crisp day for Will and Jock to get some good scenery shots. There was still a small shot in finding a cold hungry striper. So we fished.
As usual in the Chesapeake bay, the wind shifted around hard from the south the next day and we only got a couple of hours on the water before we got blown off. With the warmer south winds the water would slowly warm up and the hope to turn on the big stripers slowly rose with the temps.
The next day we paddled out into a heavy fog. The water temp was a good 44 degrees and we fished our butts off, and didn’t have a run. I had gotten a report from the southside of the bay, about stripers in the 30″ class. With the wind forecasted to be south at 15 mph, we headed across the bridge to troll in the lee of the southern shore.
We began to troll artificials inside of Cape Henry into scattered working birds. It looked real fishy and I was real surprised we didn’t wack’em. I think there were small ones around, I had a 20″er that got off. I don’t think he was hooked just holding on the tail if my swimming shad.
We chased the birds out with the tide to the edge of the ocean. Jim and I both knew this was a bad idea but it looked so good I was expecting to see fish rolling on the water. The problem with running with the current is having to paddle back into it. It was a strong full moon current which basically stopped us in our paddling tracks. It was a Chesapeake bay treadmill, at one point we went 200 yards in a half hour.
Facing a skunk for the entire week and with a short last day, we went for smaller fish, just to catch something. Jim had never caught a striper or redfish. If I couldn’t get him on a striper, I might be able to get him on his first red.
We headed for Rudee inlet, a small protected from the wind body of water which was likely to have late migrating reds. We paddled directly to a spot that was likely to hold reds and began casting. It wasn’t long before we found them, and I have never been more happy to see 16 to 18 inch reds. We all caught a few and got some fish for the shoot.
The forecast for the next night was looking good and wish the guys could have stayed. Because the next night the water temps leveled off at 46 degrees and the fish turned on, big time.
I lost one big striper and landed five that night, from 42 to 48 inches.
Fishing partner Lee landed a 42 and a 45 incher.
What should have been the best week of striper fishing in the Chesapeake bay, ended up being the very worst week because of a strong cold front. The front dropped the water temps, then it warmed up to fast, only to get right a day after Jim, Will and Jock were already gone. We did what we could with the winds and water temps for the week. At least we caught some reds
Kevin
