The amount of baitfish this year in the upper Bay is amazing.  Since I drive across the Bay Bridge every morning on my way to work I get a birds-eye view of the conditions on the bait.  Even on the windiest days I can usually see huge schools of baitfish from one side of the Bay to the other. 

Most of my fishing this week has been around the bridge.  There are now dozens of one and two year old striped bass around the shallower columns of the bridge.  Occasionally, especially during the last hour of the incoming tide, there have been breaking fish in the mid 20 inch range near the bridge.  Since there is such an abundance of bait, the fish have been pretty spread out. Once in a while I’ll get a respectable sized fish from either the Kent Island sewer pipe or the bridge pilings, but most are 16-22 inch range.   I’ve caught most jigging soft plastic baits, specifically Mann’s Hardnose jerkbaits.  I use the pearl ones and dip the tails in blue, chartreuse, or orange scented dye.  I’ve also managed a few topwater fish. 

I had the opportunity to fish the Tangier Sound this past Friday evening.  I launched with Dave Wolf out of Jane’s Island State Park in Crisfield, MD.  Since it was my first time fishing the area, I sought out advice from some fishermen more familiar with the Sound.  Following their suggestion we ran out to the rip just south of the Puppy Hole and found breaking bluefish.  I guess we caught a hundred or more, but I really wanted to see some striped fish.  I looked at the map in hopes of finding somewhere that would have both cover and current.  Since there are so many islands and the Sound is relatively shallow (except in a few spots), the only place I saw that looked promising was Kedges Strait.  I figured something called a strait would surely create current.  Fortunately, we found the necessary ingredients near Solomon’s Lump light.