The heat may be brutal but the fishing is fine

It is hot enough out to bake your favorite fish cake recipe in your mailbox. Preferably a metal mailbox, they really work the best. No one likes micro mailbox plastic in their food. If you aren’t into fish, maybe a nice lasagna, just adjust your cooking times. Cookies do well on the dashboard with direct sun on a metal cooking sheet. As if there were plastic cooking sheets, but it has to be said. Stay hydrated out there — it is brutal.

Despite the insane heat the past few days and the advisories, the fishing has been decent. You just have to be careful in the heat. If you get lucky, the breezes off the water are cooling the coastline off, inland not so much. The upwelling is helping keep the beaches a little cooler, unless that west wind kicks up then not at all, but the water is wonderful.

The weekend will be in the mid-80s so it won’t be as bad as the past week. But that heat warms up the water faster.
Look for those pompanos any day now. I’ve been hearing they are around Virginia or a little farther up by now. The Outer Banks has some nice pompano action. They are a favorite summer fish for the grill. Add that to the kingfish and spot tacos and we have some great meals ahead of us for the remainder of the summer.

Kingfish and spot action have been great in the surf. The piers are seeing decent action around high tides, and croaker are in the mix, too. Low tides are tough at the Cape Pier — the closed sections make that difficult. But anglers are creative and have been doing decent with the limitations. Renting a kayak will increase your chances a great deal.
Flounder action around the inland bays and canals was decent last week — a lot of throwbacks with the random keepers between. Spot are pretty much everywhere around the inland bays. Peanut bunker are thick in the back bay areas, too.

We have been spending most early mornings and the occasional late evening fishing close to home. That humidity is overwhelming some days. Mornings are better than evenings for avoiding the heat. If I can cut the air with a butterknife before the sun comes up, then I know it’s going to be a rough day. It’s best to get some fishing in early and then spend the day in the air conditioning working. We have a lot of preparation ahead of us now for fall runs up and down the coast. Much like wintertime planning for spring fishing, in summer we plan for fall. Not just striped bass runs up here, but the drum runs and pompano runs as far down as Florida into the Gulf Coast.

Bluefish action has been random schools coming into the local inlets. The beaches are seeing some of that action — mostly schools around inlets following bait.
Offshore anglers are doing well, with decent tuna action and all the summer species. Check your favorite charters for available trips.

Bowers Bayside Bait and Kayak Rentals’ first annual kids’ tournament was a great time. There were a lot of anglers and the kids all had fun. The amount of oyster crackers and catfish we helped check in was unreal. I am pretty sure those kids were training the same fish to bite all day. There’s nothing like eight kids doubling up at one time on fish. Well done to Jayme and April. They hosted a great event. The whole town turned out to check it out or participate. They are definitely making this an annual event. Every kid went home with a lot of fishing gear and memories made with the family. Spot, croaker, oyster crackers, white perch, sharks and big rays were all caught on a variety of baits and Fishbites. Anglers fished from the jetty, the surf or the bulkhead at the boat tramp and town docks. Bowers is a great little town to check out and fish for the day or just hang out and relax.
Freshwater action has been fun top water. The evening heat not so much.

The first annual Invasive Species Fishing Tournament is July 20, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. It should be a cool annual tournament with weigh-ins at the American Legion Post #47 in Havre de Grace.

Be careful in this heat. Heat exhaustion comes on fast and it can hit hard. Stay in the shade as much as you can and drink a lot of water. If you start feeling “weird” in the heat, go indoors immediately and cool off. Our bodies can only process or absorb four ounces of water every half hour. Drinking a glass of water an hour is all you need and a bit more in extreme heat. Don’t drink ice cold water when you have been out in the heat. That can cause you to cramp, too. This is that time of year you take a lot of extra water everywhere you travel.