Capt. Pete Ide, Charter Fishing, Solomons, MD

The fall trophy season in the Bay was fantastic this fall. The run started early (the first week of November) and lasted right through the end of the calendar year (the Potomac River and Virginia seasons were open until the New Year). We were able to catch our limit of big fish almost every trip.

We are currently fishing (attempting to fish) out of Virginia Beach. It’s been a terrible affair down there this year. You may have noticed that the weather has been somewhat less than optimal. As usual in cold years, the bulk of the fish are beyond the three-mile limit of state waters, where it is illegal to possess striped bass. We are doing our best, however, and on the days we have been able to get out, we have done well.

The weather in the past in late December/early January was typically in the 50′s, and indeed the average high for the entire month of January is 49. It was supposed to warm up this week, but I just looked at the forecast and I’m seeing more highs in the low 40′s. Ugh.

I am looking forward to some spring trophy fishing.

Check out this pretty redfish caught near Hooper Island Lighthouse. We caught in on cut spot while chunking for blues.

We had ten days of rotten weather lately and we’re trying to get our bearings. Nobody fished much during that period and we basically took a quantum leap from summer fishing to fall fishing. The Spanish mackerel seem to have disappeared, but there are LOTS of small blues around, and the fall run of rockfish is starting to show signs of life. The fat fall blues should be around anytime now as well.

The Spanish Mackerel have showed up in fair numbers. This was the first one of the year, caught a couple of weeks ago. Also, check out this peculiar little guy. It’s a burr fish. We actually caught three this year. In the oddball category as well we have caught four stingrays, quite a few whiting and even a keeper sea trout. It’s sad that trout are now a novelty, but that’s what they’ve been reduced to.

On a recent trip, we caught nine keeper flounder, including a beautiful 21-incher. Above is a picture of long-time customer Phil Wagner with that beauty along with the pride of Baltimore, a Natty Boh. Phil is a very cool cat who was once the manager of the world famous Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington. He has some great stories about some very famous people including J. Edgar Hoover and President Lyndon Johnson.

The past few weeks have been great for big, fat croaker. There have also been lots of small bluefish and a couple bunches of big (30-50 lbs.) redfish around.

A couple weeks ago we had the privilege of having Brian Westbrook of the Eagles on the boat along with some of his friends and family. If you are a football fan, you know Westbrook is a great player who kicks butt on the field. It was lots of fun and Westbrook is a very cool guy.

Finally more news. I am back to being incredibly busy this time of year and I’m very glad of it. Thanks to all of you who have fished with us or have booked trips for later in the summer.

Look at these beautiful flounder caught this week near Drum Point! One is 22 inches and the other 20. We caught 3 keepers that day. There are a lot of these beauties around this year and I hope to have an opportunity to fish for them more.

The schedule looks good for August but September is looking slim so far. It is traditionally slower business-wise but it is a great month to fish. We usually have every species that swims in the Bay.

Fishing has been good as of late with fantastic live-bait fishing for rockfish being the steadiest action around. Croaker fishing has generally been good but we hit a bit of a rough patch with all the cool, breezy weather. Last night was fantastic and the weather was (not coincidentally) warm and muggy with a light south wind.

I saw some Spanish mackerel yesterday that came out of a fish trap, so perhaps they will arrive early this year.

Also, it’s time to start thinking about fall and winter trophy trips. I have booked a couple this week so it’s not too early to call.

Hey all,

Fishing is now transitioning to full-on summer. The biggest rockfish have headed north to cooler climes (must be nice!) and the smaller resident fish have moved into many of their summer haunts. We have still managed to catch a few 30-inch plus fish here and there. There is some live bait fishing going on, but trolling has been more reliable, so we’ve generally been sticking with that. I will do some live-bait fishing this weekend and let everyone know how it goes. When the spot come in bigger numbers (mid to late June) we should transition to all live-bait fishing.

We ran our first couple of night trips over the weekend with mixed results. One trip was pretty decent and one was fairly slow. I am hearing reports of big croaker up the rivers and I’m hoping they just haven’t made it out to their usual places yet.

Remember that this year I am offering a ten-hour trip for the hardcore fishermen. This trip doesn’t cost that much more and you can do A LOT of fishing!

I hope to have some good croaker pics up after the weekend.

More great fishing news! For a solid week now, the big fish have been ganged up and fishing has been as good as it can get. Yesterday with long-time client Phil Wagner and his world-famous Monday fishing gang we had some kind of crazy scene. We had just put out the 15th rod when WHAM! I’m pretty sure ten rods ended up going off. One of the deck rods had a doubleheader with two 40-inch plus fish, the biggest being 47 inches. According to the guys at the University of Maryland there are still a few fish up the river spawning. We may see these big fish all the way through the month of May!

One of four 42-46-inch fish we caught Friday!

One of Art's crew with another jumbo. I'm pretty sure we had to let this one go...

Fishing has been great the past couple of days. On Monday the fish were up on the surface rolling and we had a big-time hook up with eight or ten lines down at once! We had a nice, fat 44-inch fish which weighed around 35 pounds. Today the same lure caught another lunker. We had six on at the same time today.

BTW, I need a couple extra people for a morning trip on Thursday if anyone is interested.

Justin Powers christened his new rod and reel with this 44-inch beauty!

This was actually the first fish Justin caught on that rod. A snagged bunker!

After a slow start, the fish are moving out of the rivers and back into the Bay. Fishing has really heated up this week. Yesterday, we caught 15 fish in an hour and a half. The fish are lean and a little beat up from the spawning activity. Fishing should be great between now and when they migrate from the Bay to the ocean. The fish will hang out, feeding heavily to fatten up for the long migration north. Toward the end of May, the fattened up fish will stage and school up. That is when we get lots of multiple hook-ups. It’s not unusual at that time to hook 4-8 big fat fish at the same time. It is wonderfully chaotic! I have an opening this Saturday afternoon if anyone is interested in a last-minute trip.

Mare great fishing today in the name of science. I will put some additional information about what Adam is studying with regard to the fish we are sampling right now.

Hopefully the fish hold up. Opening day is April 18. I’m getting anxious!

OK, we’re back in action! I had PhD student Adam Peer from the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Studies out yesterday. As you may recall, he is studying striped bass reproduction and we went out to collect samples.

We caught 29 fish ranging from 33 inches to 45 inches and nearly 40 pounds. It was quite chilly but we stayed warm by cranking in lots of fish and shuffling planer board rods. Indications are that we will have plenty of fish when the season opens.

I am available for pre-season catch-and-release fishing from now until April 17 when the season opens. Catch-and-release trips are only $525 for six people. Fishing is great and it’s nice to be able to fish with absolutely no other boats around. Come crank in a mess of fish and hit the market on the way home with the money you save by fishing pre-season.

I have been doing some work on the boat as I said I would. I have most of the inside of the cabin painted and I have ordered some new cushions and even a new seat for myself (as many of you will be relieved).