Let’s get some Chesapeake Bay light tackle fishing tips with Captain Pete Dahlberg, better known as Walleye Pete, of Four Seasons Guide Service.
Q: You run a lot of fishing trips with a lot of different people—are there any specific lessons or tips that regularly come up aboard your boat, which you hear folks say they’ve found really valuable?
A: I can’t begin to count how many folks have declared that learning to keep slack out of their line while working a lure has changed their catching success. I preach it on the boat every single trip when I see a slack line. My explanation is always basically the same: Slack line means you aren’t “in touch” with your bait and if a fish strikes while slack line is present you won’t feel it. Some fish will still get hooked, but not because you reacted to the strike. The fish got unlucky and hooked itself.
Q: Can you think of any lessons or tips you learned from a client, which proved to be so valuable that you incorporated them into your daily fishing routines?
A: I can and it happened in my first year guiding (2000), with an old timer friend, client, and life lesson teacher of mine. We were on a hot bite with surface plugs. I was doing all the hook removing and doing it very fast. Trouble is, I wasn’t in complete control of the top of the lure every time before reaching below to begin removing the hook. I was young, dumb, and full of ambition to make it happen fast! My buddy Pete Dressler, aka Superfish, warned me I was going to slip and catch a hook in my hand. My response was “Nah… I know what I’m doing.” Well, a few minutes later, you got it, I caught a hook because I didn’t have complete control of the top of the lure. A quick wiggle and an unexpected waggle and BOOM—there was a treble in my hand. Not fun! NEVER reach below the hooks before you have complete control of the fish above the hooks.
Q: By this point in the season topwater should be in full swing. Tell us your favorite topwater lure and your favorite type of place to try it.
A: My favorite for Chesapeake Bay is a simple Storm Chug Bug. It has rattle, a great face to make a nice pop, it’s not too big, and it’s not too small. Stripers, specks, and reds will hit a Storm Chug Bug. I like to modify it by cutting some hooks off the trebles to help keep fish from getting a mortal injury. Maybe leave one hook on the front and two on the back, or just change out hooks to singles front and back.
I love using plugs early, late, or in overcast conditions. Submerged riprap, wrecks, submerged stump fields, and over grass beds are good areas. If the fish are there, they’ll quite often demolish these lures.
Q: It’s the middle of June, it’s the middle of the day, and the tide is totally dead… what do you do to get fish on the line?
A: I’m going to run eight to 15 miles up or down the Bay to get into the beginning of moving current. For example: a dead low tide at Hoopers means running south to Holland, South Marsh, or Smith to get into the start of incoming current. The biggest factor to me is getting back into current. Current plus structure equals FISH, and I’m not known for conserving fuel, so running is what I do.
Q: Setting aside rods and reels, what’s the most critical tool on your boat for catching fish?
A: Currently in this age (of less fish in my opinion) on Chesapeake Bay the most critical piece of equipment is 100 percent my Humminbird Side Imaging. I’ve been running this technology since 2018, and the amount of structure I’ve found is unreal. This alone has assisted me in catching fish I never would have caught without it. Prior to this technology I was reading water, structure, and current, and catching plenty of fish, but Side Image eliminates a lot of time you’d spend covering every inch of fishy-looking water. And many times I’ve targeted structure to the starboard side but then see fish to port—it happens all the time, and prior to side imaging I just missed them. It’s a tool that has completely changed my game.
Thank you, Captain Pete! You can reach Walleye Pete at walleyepete.com, [email protected], or by calling or texting (703) 395-9955.