Fishing : Sizzling Summer Stripers On Chesapeake Bay

Adead calm settles across Chesapeake Bay, and a blazing September sun hangs low in the sky as we motor slowly around the grass-lined fringes of Goose Island. The location may be only a short cruise from Tangier Island, Virginia, but it feels as if we’re a million miles from nowhere.

- Gary Reich

Suddenly, a beautiful tidal seam appears before us, off one of the island’s sandy points. Surely there must be fish here. With streams of sweat pouring from my brow, I do a backcast with a top-water fly into the middle of the seam and expect an immediate explosion. Five minutes later, we’ve made four drifts, and the fish remain as tight-lipped as a monk who’s taken a vow of silence.

This, unfortunately, is a fairly common scene during hot, hazy and humid summers, which often last straight into the first two weeks of September. In fact, striped bass fishing during the dog days can be among the most challenging of the entire season. The fish don’t like the heat any better than most humans, so finding them can be frustrating. And getting them to eat is another task entirely.

Still, if you know where to look and which tactics to use, summer striper fishing on Chesapeake Bay can be quite rewarding.

Striped Bass Psychology

The best way to understand the mind-set of a summertime striper — and hopefully catch a few of them — is to know what these fish seek out when water temperatures push into the mid- to upper 80s.

First, they tend to go where they can get some relief from the heat. That often means they’ll gravitate toward deeper holes, shaded areas under bridges and piers, or shallows that cool rapidly during the evening.

And regardless of temperature, striped bass like structures where they can hide and ambush bait. Bridges, rock piles, piers, oyster bars and breakwaters are good places to prospect. When your fishfinder says water temps are in the mid-80s, you’ll also want to look for ledges with sudden drop-offs into deeper water, such deep structures as industrial pipes and manmade reefs, and indentations in the bottom where fish can seek relief from the heat.