Josenhans Fly Fishing Blog

Tim King with a fat creek rockfish

I had a trip Friday a week ago where I decided to cancel due to the wind forecast. Well, to make a long story short, the guys wanted to give it a try. This time of the year you can safely fish the sheltered creeks near Crisfield even in forty knot winds – well that’s almost what we got! At the ramp bright and early you could hardly keep your hat on your head. The winds were 20-25 with higher gusts. Uncomfortable, but I could keep the boat in sheltered waters if I had to. I gave Tim King one last chance to back out but he and his brother Matt were eager to give it a try, and I was happy to oblige.

Matt with a creek rock

Off we headed towards some deepwater creeks near Janes Island to look for a hungry rockfish. The water was somewhat cloudy from the wind, but Tim and Matt began casting in earnest. After a brief period without any luck, the guys told me they saw a splash along the shoreline. Not unusual this time of the year as the stripers will invade these creeks to gorge themselves on killifish and small crabs. Even fiddler crabs walking too close to the water’s edge are in danger. We have caught rock with mud on their bodies from where they have knocked an unsuspecting fiddler off the bank for an easy meal.

Fall stripers cruise and feed along undercut banks

But back to fishing. Tim and Matt cast towards the area where they observed the splash and before long one of the guys hooked up. Not long after they had both boated feisty rockfish. After a drift through, I repositioned the boat and set the anchor. Six or eight stripers later and the action was over, but a relieved captain was suddenly re-invigorated and we went looking for more. The remainder of the morning was sight fishing “creek style.” We would motor along slowly until we saw a splash or swirl indicating feeding rockfish and immediately stop and cast towards the action. We hooked-up several more rockfish this way. It was fun to watch the fish feed, and we forgot all about the wind that was howling over, through and around our bodies. To be honest, along one stretch where we had the shelter of trees, it was almost as if there was no wind at all.