Nite Bite Report - 24 POUND Edition

[hillbilly]

I have had the pleasure of fishing several evenings and nights over the past two weeks with my brother, and a few of our friends. We did fish a few evenings with live bait (ales, and a few mongo size shad), but spent the majority of our time on the water after dark fishing top water and other artificial lures. We caught a number of fish over that time, with most being small to medium in size.

However, on Friday night while fishing with two great friends who I've known for over 30 years, I was lucky enough to boat this 24 lber.

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I caught it casting a monkey w/fluke combination to a spot that I've had a lot of success at over the past few years. It took a bit of time to work this fish to the boat, and I was happy to get a few quick pictures before successfully releasing it back to its waters. I'm also happy that VTSuperFluke makes a strong, quality SwampMonkey lure


Here are a few more pics from the last few days -

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[rdnkjp]

Nice fish. Hope to have my boat fixed before night bite ends. Very happy to see reports of 20+ pounders being caught. Maybe someday I can post a pic of one.

[striperjohn]

Thanks for the report. Good fish. That night blast on the banks is crazy at times.

[BentRod]

Nice!

[mwardncsu]

Nice fish Hillbilly!

[Dorange]

Nicun

[Live Bait JunkEE]

Looking good !!!!!

[PA Ken]

Congratulations on a really nice fish, Hillbilly! My friends and I will be hitting Smith Mountain for a week of top water starting Saturday night. I will be sure to have a Swamp or Spunky Monkey and a Super Fluke on one of my rods for sure. We've fished the last two years above Hales Ford Bridge but are staying at the sate park and fishing the lower end of the lake this year. Hope we made the right decision!

[8pointer]

Great fish congrats. Just out of curiosity did you measure it? Was wondering how long it was?

[shortbus1397]

Dang hillbilly that's an awesome night thx for the report we are gonna try it Thursday night with the yaks

[hillbilly]

8Pointer - I did not measure the fish. Most likely it was high end of slot, maybe 38" - 40".

[8pointer]

Just wondering what a 40" weighs .I was guessing about 25lb.

[striperjohn]

A 24'9" fish was 41 inches long a few weeks ago.

[Eric]

May 12, 2015 17:35:43 GMT -5 hillbilly said:

8Pointer - I did not measure the fish. Most likely it was high end of slot, maybe 38" - 40".

According to my chart a 39 inch fish would have the following weight:

Minimum......20.7 pounds
Average.......24.5 pounds
Maximum.....27.2 pounds

Just wondering what a 40" weighs .I was guessing about 25lb.

8pointer.....Your very close.

My chart shows the following for a 40" fish:

Minimum...........22.0 pounds
Average............26.0 pounds
Maximum..........29.5 pounds

Here is a link to my chart if you ever want to use it:  thestripermanual.weebly.com/striper-age-to-weight-chart.html

[BentRod]

Your chart forgot my 39" 17lber....