rigs and baits for fishing eastern bay off the chesapeake

[piano player]

we were out today fishing along the channel from tilghman point to tilghman island. a number of charters were anchored and we stopped and anchored near them and in the same line. there were boats above and below us and all were catching fish. the nearest boat had about 15 fishermen and they were catching fairly steadily. we assume they were catching hard head, spot, and some small striped bass and blues.

after about two hours we had gotten not one bite! we fish a spot not far from there and generally have no problem.

i believe the charters were using a double bottom rig and the only thing we could figure was that they were using a different bait. maybe crab.

out on tilghman island, at the point, shore fiserman use a double rig with crab on one hook and a live minnow on the other.

does anyone have ideas? we have not been using live bait. what would you recommend?

 

[Outta Here]

IMO, live bait will almost always outfish plastics, metals, etc. There's hardly a fish in the ocean that doesn't eat menhaden. Get a cast net and...Catch-M-Up.

 

[Megabyte]

Most of the boats fishing the False Channel right now are livelining Spot for Rock...

Many of these guys will go out early and fish for Spot using bloodworms or cooked shrimp. They'll load up on small Spot, which unlike menhaden, keep very well in a livewell, then go to the False Channel and liveline em.
Spot are like candy to a Rockfish.

Other charters are fishing cut bait, minnows, or bloodworms for croaker, perch, spot, rock, and the occasional flounder.

For more (local) information on fishing that area, check out the Chesapeake board ("Chesapeake Angler - The Original Board") at http://www.tidalfish.com/forums/

If you want a "how-to" on how to liveline for Chesapeake Rock, do a Tidalfish search for a post by member Sailfish27. Capt Skip published a step-by-step primer on the best baits, methods, and locations for livelining not long ago, and it's a great reference guide.

BTW - Using cast nets to catch bait is pretty much useless in our area. The Omega Protein factory ships working the Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay means Maryland is lucky to see any schools of menhaden.
Sometimes small schools slip through to us, but not often.

 

[piano player]

thanks for the valuable feedback. we have been lucky with fake bloodworms. and i will look into the link you suggested.

when we used to fish out of the indian river inlet in delaware we oftentimes fished for spot and then went for rock fish with some success. sounds like we will try this again.