Jakes outdoor adventures

One fish that I haven’t been able to fish for over the last couple of years is the Striped Bass or Rockfish. I learned to catch Rockfish when I was 5 years old in the Pasquotank River and Albemarle Sound. I later graduated to catching Rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay and the Ocean off of Virginia Beach. Then in 2011 the Rockfish made their way all the way down to Oregon Inlet and I really got the opportunity to fish for them on a weekly basis. However over the last few years, the Rockfish have not been showing up at Cape Henry or off the Coast of the OBX. Several factors for Rockfish not appearing near shore off the coasts are weather, water temperatures, lack of bait near shore, and migration patterns. Regardless of why they have not shown up the last couple of years, I know that it has left a large gap in my fishing plans. For years I knew I could look forward to days on the water in December and January fishing for these trophy fish.

One of my favorite ways to fish for Rockfish is live baiting them with eels. When we fish for Rockfish using eels, one of my favorite places to go is the Chesapeake Bay. This type of fishing usually heats up between November and December. Generally the harvesting of Rockfish within the Chesapeake Bay stops at midnight on December 31^st of the year and after that it is a catch and release fishery only. After several years of not fishing for Rockfish in the Chesapeake Bay, I decided I was going to go and give it a try regardless of the fishing reports or weather. So on the day after Christmas this past year, my Dad and I hooked up our Parker Center Console and make the trek from Camden, NC to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore. We left early in the morning and we were waiting for the folks at Oceans East on Northampton Blvd to open so we could buy some eels. While we were getting the eels, I also bought two Trophy Stalker Planer Boards to try in addition to my usual tactics.

We arrived at Cape Charles and launched the boat and headed out to the fishing grounds. On this trip, since I was using planer boards, I had to bump the motor in and out of gear. Bumping the boat in and out of gear kept my lines straight behind the boat. I was running a seven rod spread with live eels on corks set at different depths and one weighted down close to the bottom. I fished from early morning until I got my first and only bite of the day. After a short fight, I was rewarded with a 43.5 pound Rockfish. It had been a few years since I have landed one of these wonderful fish, and I look forward to my next trip out looking for them. Checkout my Facebook Page Jakes Outdoor Adventures.