Season Opener: Chesapeake Schoolies on Topwater

First real outing of the log. Headed out before dawn on the lower Chesapeake to shake off the winter rust and see if the spring fish would play. Short version: they did.

Conditions

Date	May 24, 2026
Location	Lower Chesapeake Bay, channel edge near a rip
Tide	Outgoing, two hours after high
Water temp	~62°F
Wind	Light SW, 5–8 kt
Sky	Overcast, glassy at first light

How it went

Got on the water at 5:30 and ran to a channel edge where bait had been stacking up. Birds were already picking at the surface — always a good sign. Started throwing a bone-colored spook and got blown up on the third cast.

The fish were schoolie stripers, mostly 18–24", podded up on bay anchovies and pushing them against the edge of the rip. Classic spring pattern: find the moving water, find the bait, find the bass.

Topwater stayed hot until the sun burned through the overcast around 7:30, then the surface bite shut off. Switched to a chartreuse bucktail with a Gulp trailer and kept picking at fish down the edge for another hour.

What worked

• Walking a spook through nervous water — the overcast, low-light window was everything. Once it got bright, the topwater died.
• Fishing the outgoing tide along the channel edge concentrated the bait.
• Slow lift-and-drop on the bucktail once they went subsurface.

What I'd do differently

• Should've had a second rod rigged with the bucktail ready to go. By the time I re-tied, the best of the subsurface window had passed.
• Left the long-handle net at the dock. Lipping schoolies is fine, but a doormat would've been a problem.

Tally

Roughly a dozen stripers to hand, all released. No giants, but a great way to knock the rust off and confirm the spring pattern is on. Back at the ramp by 9.

Tight lines. More to come as the season heats up.