I left my families house in Maryland following Christmas dinner to make a 3 hour drive to Hampton, Virginia to prepare for an early morning of chasing birds on the Chesapeake bay in search of Striped Bass. A friend and I met our guide Tommy Mattioli of Matty J charters at the docks and headed out for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to see if we could find any Stripers. The ride out was cold, rough and wet to say the least but it was well worth it. After the 30 minute ride we arrived to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and the birds were everywhere! Infact, the birds were so thick it was to the point that that you thought you could possibly hook one on a back cast. We used 8 – 10 wt fly rods tossing 250 – 400 grain sinking lines with Clousers and Half and Halves being the most successful flies. The fishing was hot right away and stayed that way until the end of the day. We chased birds in the morning and fished structure in the afternoon. We didn’t go more than 30 minutes without hooking up. We ended up hooking up with more than 80 fish between my buddy and I and not to mention that things were so good thatour captain Tommy was making a few casts here and there. It was a great day on a great body of water and one I will soon not forget.
Man i sure could go for being in the middle of a huge alfred hitchcock type scene of fishing birds and fish right about now (like your top picture shows) .. i miss that energy and all that life and the stripers … every year it is a bit dissapointing when the big migratory schools of stripers head down your way and leave maine and rhode island … but it makes it feel that much better when they show back up in the spring .. and hey, we all share the water and fish that we love so much, so in the end it is pretty cool that we all get our due time with this great species of fish … although, next year .. sounds like it might be worthwhile to check up on them and meet them in maryland around christmas time 🙂 .. Maybe we can make a few casts together, if that does happen .. I have only fished trout in Maryland .. never the salt .. I sure would like to though .. Now I know what to tell my wife what I want for a Christmas gift next year .. STRIPERS! Great fish tale man .. peace.
Sounds like a great day on the water…over 80 fish that is insane. your thumbs must have been raw from grabbing all those fish. It is always a gamble going out in cold adverse weather but when things pan out, like they did for you, the rewards can be plentiful. Nice Post.
I was trying to think of things I would actually like for Christmas and your holding it in your hand!! I did not catch one striper this year but I am glad to See someone did. It appears you were serious about you adventure, driving three hours on a Christmas dinner, thats a man on a mission! Congrats, nice story and the fish I never caught, I was wondering where he went. Thanks for the story and Pic.
Sometimes it isn’t easy getting to the fish but once you get there, the difficulties are soon forgotten, especially with red hot fishing for stripers! Sometimes you go through all of that only to find nothing at the end of your line. Sounds like you had the better alternative outcome and a great day, nice work!
What a day on the water that must of been, for sure a good sore arm the next day.
Alex