October Fish in the Chesapeake Bay (Part 2)
At 200 miles long and 30 miles wide, with a depth of only about 46 feet, the Chesapeake Bay is not the largest body of water in the world, but offers fisherman a vast deal of fish to satisfy their desire of fishing, and can be caught throughout the year,
from the hot dog days of July, to the cold snowy days in January.
The Black Drum can be found in the Chesapeake from March to mid-October, and smaller ones, at around six to eight pounds, are as tasty as Redfish. Larger Drum tends to be quite coarse, but can be eaten. The best fishing style to catch these fish is anchored,
using clams or crabs as bait. Drum fish usually do not chase bait, but once caught these aggressive fish put up a great fight, and are very strong. Juvenile Drum usually weigh anywhere between one and 15 pounds, and older specimen can weigh much more. It is
not uncommon to catch 30 to 50 pound fish, while Drum over 100 pounds have been caught, with the current Black Drum world record at an outstanding 113 pounds.
Probably one of the most famous fish in the Bay, Trout can be caught until late November. Their sizes range from pan-sized to over 15 pounds. Trout have a very good taste and larger ones can be filleted. Although most Trout do not put up a fight, caution
must be used once they are hooked, as Trout have a very soft mouth and it is not common for a fisherman to give a hard tug and rip the hook out of the fish’s mouth. Almost all bait can be used to catch the trout, both live and artificial, ranging from squid
and peeler crabs to shrimp and live Spot. The best technique to catch Trout is drifting or anchoring for smaller fish, while trolling alongside underwater structures can yield larger Trout.
Bluefish range from seven inches long to over 40 pounds, although very few Bluefish have been caught over 30 pounds. Bluefish migrate to the Bay from Florida and leave around mid-October. Bluefish are exceptionally violent, and will frequently pursue bait
through the surf zone, and literally onto the beach. Thousands of immense bluefish will assault schools of unfortunate baitfish in sheer inches of water, churning the water. This behavior is referred to as a "bluefish blitz". Baitfish willingly swim onto dry
land and suffocate, rather than be torn apart by the frenzied bluefish. These cannibalistic fish swim in schools of similar sized specimen and can be caught by any bait, especially when in a feeding frenzy. Fisherman should use caution while handling the fish
and use a strong line, as Bluefish have razor sharp teeth and are known to attack anything when provoked.
Although they are rare to find, shark species have been caught in the Bay throughout summer and fall. The Sandbar shark uses the lower Chesapeake as a nursery ground so most seen here are juveniles. The adolescent vary from two to three feet long and adults
are up to eight feet in length. Two smaller sharks that have been found in the Bay are the Smooth Dogfish and Spiny Dogfish. Both sharks are only two to three feet long and journey in schools for safety from predators. Owing to the reality that it takes three
to 13 years for these sharks to grown-up and that they reproduce bi-yearly, their populations can be effortlessly over fished to perilously low levels.
These fish will only be around the Chesapeake Bay until late October or early November, so this is the best time for any fisherman to fulfill his urge to fish before the fish return next spring. In the winter months, the Bay becomes to chilly for many species
of aquatic life and many tend to migrate to the warmer waters of Florida. All of these fish, and many more, can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, from which many of these fish originally came from. Aside from the Chesapeake, if a fisherman has the need to fish
during the winter, the best place in the continental United States would be the Gulf of Mexico, with its year-round warm weather and many species of fish.
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