There are still some nice striped bass at the CBBT.  The water temperature is 45.7 degrees and they should stay around until the water hits 42 to 40 degrees.

On Monday, 01/16/12, Ralph Mitchell from MD and Lewis Clayton from NJ teamed up to catch many stripers from 22” to 31”. These fish were really fat and carry a lot of weight because they are feeding up for the winter.  The 31” striper weighted 15lbs.  The productive locations included the islands, the tubes, the pilings, and between the bridges.

There were many gannets diving on bait throughout this week on the Ocean side of the CBBT, but no fish were topwater feeding.  There were some fish located off of these birds but seemed to have lockjaw.

On Tuesday, 01/17/12, Bill Johnson and I when out of Lynnhaven and cruised to the 2^nd Island.  At that time the chop was 2-foot.  We caught some nice stripers and when the bite slowed down we moved toward the west.  The wind had picked up and the seas got nasty.  So we decided to head to the barn and call it a day.

The most productive lures this week in order:

1    10” BKD in Chartreuse/Glitter fished on a 1 ½ oz. jighead

2    7” Bass Assassin in Chartreuse/Glitter fished on a 1 oz. jighead

3    6” Storm, WildEye Shad in Shad

4    2 oz. Butterfly Jig in Yellow/White/Red

If you have cabin fever hook up the boat and go on down to catch some nice stripers.  The Days Inn at 1000 Atlantic Ave. has a fishermen’s discount on - $28.00 during the week and $34.00 on the weekends.  The rooms are really, really nice.  They are large, all the lights work, have a coffee maker, icebox, digital flat screen TV’s and plenty of HOT water.   I have made the move to ‘the other side’ for future trips down here.

Fishing Tips:  DON’T FISH ALONE in the winter.  Be very careful and have a plan if someone goes overboard. 

Tight Lines,

Tom Hughes