Yesterday morning, my friend Rob and I towed our rigged up jet skis from Poquoson, Virginia to Kiptopeke State Park and dropped in at the Concrete Ships of the Eastern Shore.
It hurts paying the $16 toll each way, plus the $8 ramp fee and about $20 round trip for gas. That’s $60 before I even touch the water! But on the positive side, I did not have to run across the bay in fog, rain, or 2-to-3 foot chop and I only burned two gallons on my jet ski.
We fished a couple miles off of the ships in light-to-medium rain and 40 degree temps. The 10-15 mile per hour southwest winds gave us a steady drift for eeling.
It was very slow fishing, but as luck would have it, a big striped bass took off with one of the eels that I had in right next to my ski. He gave me a nice run for my money, turning my ski around twice before getting close enough for me to grab him with the net. Thankfully, he was solidly hooked in the upper lip.
With the bass on board, we stayed out another hour and a half, hoping for another fish for Rob but it was simply not meant to be.
We weren’t the only ones out as we saw one lone kayaker on the lee side of the ships looking for a big one. There were also several boats around the area, but as per usual, we were the only ones fishing from a pair of jet skis.
Back on land, I weighed the striped bass I caught at Bull Island Outdoors in Poquoson; amazingly, it went 42.5 pounds, my largest catch this season!
Looking back, my new record catch was well worth a couple hours on the water on my jet ski in the rain. Back at home, I had everything cleaned up and put away by dark. For dinner, I pan seared some thick striper steaks in herb garlic marinade for dinner. Not a bad way to end the day.
“Big Striped Bass Pullage On My Little Jet Ski!” was originally published by “Jet Ski Brian” Lockwood on December 10th, 2013. You can read the original report here.
