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Tangier Sound - 7/1 & 7/2

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  • Tangier Sound - 7/1 & 7/2

    I went out and tried two different spots in Tangier Sound Wednesday late afternoon and Thursday during the day to hopefully find a speck or two. Reports haven't been all that great for specks on the eastern side of the bay this year; just a scattering of a few fish from time to time from what I can gather. I was hoping that a few had slipped into the shallows and maybe nobody had noticed because they haven't really been targeting them since reports haven't been that great? Kinda wishful thinking but I was off the rest of the week for the holiday so I thought I'd might as well try anyway.

    Wednesday was still a little breezy and the open water was still 1 - 2 ft chop with whitecaps so I was forced to find some somewhat sheltered water when I left the landing. Despite the wind, the water was still very clear though and the floating grass wasn't too bad. I trolled and cast over grass flats, points, flats outside a few creeks on a falling tide, and inside a couple creeks. Skunked all around. Nothing. I had a paddletail bit off 100 yards from the landing and that would be all the action I had. Pretty sad when you can't even muster up a dink striper.

    Thursday I launched early hoping I wouldn't be blown off the water by storms that were passing through the area. Aside from a few light showers, the big thunderstorms missed me thankfully. Started out trolling and casting paddletails and got a few 15" stripers. I eventually made it around a point a got into some good shallow grass flats where I switched to topwater. Game on! Landed 8 or 9 keeper size stripers 20" - 25". Missed a few other keeper sized ones that kept blowing up on the plug, but missing it. One threw the plug 4 ft out of the water and then hit it again where it landed. Good healthy looking fish too that you could tell had spent some time in the grass flats as they were very dark and green on top. I got a few more 15"ers, ran across a bunch of dink 10" busting bait, and one little 10" blue. All the keepers were in grass flats with 3 ft of water or less or right up tight to the bank.

    Sadly no specks, but it's hard to beat a good topwater bite!



    Brian

  • #2
    good looking fish

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    • #3
      Nice work the keepers sized fish have been hiding lately

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      • #4
        Fun! Where did you launch from? Thanks

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        • #5
          Ditto on the launch site, where is it and can you take a trailer there? What top water lures did you used that worked?
          Anyone want to hit that location next week sometime?

          Yak67
          2015 Hobie PA-14

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          • #6
            Great job on the keeper rockfish. I was near the Tangier a week ago. I wanted to fish for two days, but I got only to fish one day because the storms hit the second day. Fishing was slow for me also. All I could muster were a few large perch and several croakers to the end.

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            • #7
              Looks like the striped ones like the Ole Saltwater Super Spook. Nice fish
              Freddie T

              2016 Hobie Outback LE #236
              Torqeedo Ultralight 403

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Fishinfool View Post
                Where did you launch from? Thanks
                Originally posted by Yak67 View Post
                Ditto on the launch site, where is it and can you take a trailer there? What top water lures did you used that worked?
                Anyone want to hit that location next week sometime?
                I think it was YakFish earlier this spring that said something to the effect of "it's not the where, but the how...". The launch site really doesn't matter. The point was more to say that there still are some quality fish lingering in the shallows, so don't overlook them. You can take that info and apply it just about anywhere in the bay. I just happened to be in Tangier Sound. There are lots of launches in the Sound from Deal Island to Saxis, and further south, that will all put you in close distance to good quality grass flats. Plus, chasing reports really never gets you anywhere - it's always more satisfying getting out and finding them yourself, in my opinion.
                Brian

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                • #9
                  And the lure was a Tsumani Spook. I'm sure any topwater would have worked. That one is just the one I like best and almost always reach for first.
                  Brian

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                  • #10
                    Congrats on your trip....

                    Originally posted by Slobber Bob View Post
                    ......chasing reports really never gets you anywhere - it's always more satisfying getting out and finding them yourself, in my opinion.
                    I like that !!!

                    Although.... the reports do get one motivated to explore !

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                    • #11
                      SlobberBob is spot on. You guys will be much better anglers if you put in the time and learn through experience. I'll add to his report a little by adding some observations I made yesterday, also fishing in the sound. I had several blow ups, caught a few keepers and even had a 30" surprise bluefish absolutely crush my Mirrolure Top Dog.

                      I noticed the fish were easier to locate on low to mid-flood tide. Summer fishing usually means a lower concentration of larger fish. I found my fish on the grass flats (i.e.- think about where the bait would be) that were a little deeper than the water surround it. These deeper pockets of fishy water concentrated what few fish were around. As the tide came in and the water rose, the fish dispersed into a much larger area. They had a much larger area to hunt in. The number of blow ups decreased significantly when I though they should have increased. Also, as the tide was falling, the mouths of little feeder creeks and ditches were productive. As bait was swept out, some larger fish were waiting to ambush them.

                      I hope Brian's report and my observations motivate some ppl to explore a new spot or two.
                      ___________________________

                      Hobie Fishing Team Member
                      Survival Products, Salisbury, MD

                      2017 Camo Hobie Outback
                      2015 Olive Hobie Outback

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