Late Fall Fishing in the Honga River Area "There were so many breaking fish, that frequently the birds would be working one school of fish, while we worked another. " By Ed Russell The Honga River is one of the most overlooked fishing spots on the Chesapeake Bay. With the exception of Capt. Mike Murphy, who runs regularly guided trips on his 25 foot Parker, few if any Chesapeake Bay light tackle anglers ever bother with the area. Why? I'm not at all sure, but it may have something to do with driving distances and lack of facilities. Hoopersville, the largest town on the Honga is somewhat set apart from the rest of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. If you are coming form the east, Salisbury is about the same distance from Crisfield as it is from Hooper Island. From the west, Deal Island is closer than Hooper Island, and although Crisfield is farther, the roads are much better so driving time to either location is similar. And Crisfield has a number of fine restaurants and good motels as well as available camping, hence its greater popularity. Hooper Island, by contrast, has no motels or restaurants worthy of the name, and the area lends itself to an overnighter. The nearest facilities are in Cambridge, but I'm told that Easton, another twenty-minutes farther away, has far better accommodations and eating establishments. However, these disadvantages translate into some advantages in that there is little fishing pressure in the Honga, and there are at least four launch ramps that have direct access to the river. The best of these by far, is at the very end of Hooper island Road in the village of Hoopersville. This is an excellent concrete ramp that can accommodate several sizeable boats simultaneously, and features good solid piers and deep water. It's also free. The other area ramps are best suited to boats under 19 feet. Launching at the Hoopersville ramp puts you very near the mouth of the river, in protected waters, and the fishing can be excellent just minutes from the ramp. I've fished there in the fall, and found excellent action for breaking stripers all over the area. Once, the action in late afternoon was awesome in an area between Aisquith Island and Bentley Cove, less than five minutes run upriver from the ramp. Small pods of striped bass were breaking all over the area, and it wasn't even necessary to do the usual run-and-gun procedure normally associated with working breaking fish. When an active pod sounded, we would either drift and wait for another pod to surface (which was never long in coming) or motor slowly a short distance to another active school. We didn't even have to depend on gulls, although there were hundreds of these feeding birds all over. There were so many breaking fish, that frequently the birds would be working one school of fish, while we worked another. Normally, the breaking fish will be smallish, with a five pounder a good catch, but there'll usually be no lack of numbers. "If you can't find fish, you might be able to get them to come to you. Mike Murphy always carries a couple of bags of frozen chum, and if things get tough, he anchors up and drops the bag of frozen menhaden over the side on a line." However, although the breaking stripers may be modest in size, larger versions can be found. As fall progresses, and the water cools, bigger stripers move into the deeper parts of the river. November and early December are the best times to find the larger fish. Check out the channels, holes and drop-offs. A good chart of the area, coupled with a quality depth finder can help you locate fish. If you want to target larger fish, there's another option; the waters of the open bay are quite near, and you're not far from the Middle Grounds one of the most popular mid-bay hotspots. This is one of the most popular areas of the bay for chumming, and breaking fish are usually an everyday occurrence. In addition to striped bass, seatrout have been quite abundant in the region in recent years. Again, check out the deeper lies in the Honga proper, near the river's mouth, and in the mid-bay deep spots. A 1-ounce Bass Assassin in limetreuse, or a 1-ounce sting silver are especially good choices. Just make sure you allow your lure to get to all the way to the bottom- that's where you'll generally find seatrout. If you want to use bait for seatrout, nothing beats a piece of soft crab, but that bait will likely be hard to find this time of year. But there's an alternative that has gained wide popularity a fresh strip of chicken breast. I haven't tried this myself, but all reports that I've heard indicate that white chicken meat is almost as productive as crab, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper. If you can't find fish, you might be able to get them to come to you. Mike Murphy always carries a couple of bags of frozen chum, and if things get tough, he anchors up and drops the bag of frozen menhaden over the side on a line. An occasional jiggle of the bag will create a small chum line, and you should be able to pick up some stripers or blues using small Bay Anchovy or Silverside imitations on a fly rod. Use an intermediate sinking line for best results. Cast out and retrieve with short twitches followed by longer pauses. In this instance, you are not trying to imitate cut up menhaden (as with a chum fly) but rather the prevalent baitfish that are attracted to the chum. Stripers and blues both target the baitfish, and since you are mimicking an active critter, you won't have to worry about deep hooking the stripers. For spinning or casting tackle, a small suspending minnow-shaped lure is ideal. The Yo-Zuri Pin Minnow, or Rebel's Ghost minnow work quite well. A 1/4- ounce jig head with a small glittery soft plastic tail (like Bass Assassins's Opening Night model) a Hopkins spoon or a Sting Silver, is another good bet, and since they go deeper than the plugs, may dredge up some larger fish. Another advantage to this area is the fact that you can usually get out of the wind if it's really blowing. Except for the open mouth of the river, the rest of the Honga is guarded by landmass, so you can get out of the wind in all but a southeast heading. Even then, there are several islands that you can duck behind. If you can't find fish in the Honga River itself, then there is another option. You can run out the river's mouth, through Hooper Strait, and then go north into the mouth of Fishing Bay, or go a little farther east and run up into the Nanticoke where you can almost certainly find sheltered waters, and good fishing. All in all, this area is well worth investigating. Fishing pressure is normally light, and unless the weather is unusually cold, November and early December are great times to find both striped bass and seatrout in the Honga River area. If you're a newcomer to the area, I'd strongly suggest hiring a guide. One I can recommend is Capt. Mike Murphy. Mike runs Tide Runner Charters, featuring a very comfortable 25-foot Parker. He specializes in light tackle fishing and knows the waters in and around the Honga River quite well. Call him at 410-820-8087 for information. I personally feel that hiring a guide when fishing new waters for the first time pays big dividends. You'll learn more in a day with a competent guide than you will on your own in a month. T I P One piece of advice it's best to replace any treble hooks with single hooks for this fishing. You are only allowed to keep two stripers, and it's much easier to release a fish unharmed that has been hooked with a single hook than with one or more trebles. In either case, bend down the hook barb. � Copyright 2000 World Wide Angler, Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Millis ini terselengara berkat dukungan PT. KreatifNet - The WebDesign Company http://www.kreatif.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website mancing-l at http://www.MancingL.com --> Fishing information, online chat, forum discusion, clasifiedads, etc MancingL Archive at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] ** Save Bandwidth... potong berita yang tidak perlu **
