Post by mwardncsu on Jul 14, 2015 21:47:02 GMT -5
Weather: Mid 80s, humid, winds from S around 5 with storm front approaching from the West - and pressure bottoming out around 29.6 Hg
Water: 85, visibility of a 5 feet - no problematic thermocline - baits were happy below 20'
Techniques: 44 hour old alewifes on downlines (4 then 6), and light-lines (4 then 2).
Time Fished: 6:30p - 8p
Tyler, Nathan and I decided to take advantage of my left-over ales from Monday to do a little evening fishing. Nathan had not been fishing in way too long and things worked out that Nathan's son Ethan could come, so my son Matthew decided to tag along - always great to get the boys out fishing.
We met up about 6:15 and headed out to start looking. I don't fish in the evenings much during the summer, so I was not really sure where to look, but we started in the area where Tyler and I had had a big school on Saturday. We marked one or two scattered fish, but just kept going in search mode. Got to an area with a 30-40' bottom where we started marking more and more fish - no monster school, but enough I decided to drop the trolling motor and start pulling some baits before the boys got too anxious.
We baited up the rods - putting the down-rods out around 25'-35', and put the light-lines out about 50'-55' for the 3/8 oz light-lines and 65' or so on the 1/4 oz light-lines. Things were quiet for a while, but the company on the boat was good and the boys were enjoying hanging out. We marked a few fish off and on and then hit a nice pod of fish holding close to the bottom in about 30' of water.
(if you're paying attention - the sonar shot below shows 88' of water but an image of only 30ish..... we had scrolled back at that point after landing a fish to try and get a photo of the school.... we were out over 88' of water at that point in time I guess......)
A downline bounced and then bent into the water and I handed it over to Ethan - guest privileges. It took a bit to get the rod out of the holder, and then Ethan had a bit of a fight on his hands with the Ugly Stick 7' ML noodle rod.
He got it to the boat, landing a 31" / 11 lb striper
Matt was next on deck, and it was not too long before he had his chance... again on a down-rod. This one about 8 lbs or so...
Ethan had honors for the next - small enough that it did not get a photo credits....
We kept working 30-35' contour, marking pods of fish on and off - though never picking up more than one when pulling through. Only the down-lines were getting any attention, so we changed two of the 4 light-line rods over to down-lines, fishing 6 down-lines and 2 light-lines the rest of the evening.....
Matt was back up for the next download that buried over..... with a good fight to bring the best fish of the night to the boat - 35" & 15 lbs
We were not quite done for the night...... Ethan landed another nice one at around 9 or 10 lbs - and then Matt rounded it out for even catch total at 3 each with a small dink that maybe went 20"
We decided it was time to call it an evening and head to grab a late Mexican dinner at Cancun restaurant.... the boy's had worked up quite an appetite!
Great times on quick evening trip with the boys.... good to get everyone back out there together again.
Water: 85, visibility of a 5 feet - no problematic thermocline - baits were happy below 20'
Techniques: 44 hour old alewifes on downlines (4 then 6), and light-lines (4 then 2).
Time Fished: 6:30p - 8p
Tyler, Nathan and I decided to take advantage of my left-over ales from Monday to do a little evening fishing. Nathan had not been fishing in way too long and things worked out that Nathan's son Ethan could come, so my son Matthew decided to tag along - always great to get the boys out fishing.
We met up about 6:15 and headed out to start looking. I don't fish in the evenings much during the summer, so I was not really sure where to look, but we started in the area where Tyler and I had had a big school on Saturday. We marked one or two scattered fish, but just kept going in search mode. Got to an area with a 30-40' bottom where we started marking more and more fish - no monster school, but enough I decided to drop the trolling motor and start pulling some baits before the boys got too anxious.
We baited up the rods - putting the down-rods out around 25'-35', and put the light-lines out about 50'-55' for the 3/8 oz light-lines and 65' or so on the 1/4 oz light-lines. Things were quiet for a while, but the company on the boat was good and the boys were enjoying hanging out. We marked a few fish off and on and then hit a nice pod of fish holding close to the bottom in about 30' of water.
(if you're paying attention - the sonar shot below shows 88' of water but an image of only 30ish..... we had scrolled back at that point after landing a fish to try and get a photo of the school.... we were out over 88' of water at that point in time I guess......)
A downline bounced and then bent into the water and I handed it over to Ethan - guest privileges. It took a bit to get the rod out of the holder, and then Ethan had a bit of a fight on his hands with the Ugly Stick 7' ML noodle rod.
He got it to the boat, landing a 31" / 11 lb striper
Matt was next on deck, and it was not too long before he had his chance... again on a down-rod. This one about 8 lbs or so...
Ethan had honors for the next - small enough that it did not get a photo credits....
We kept working 30-35' contour, marking pods of fish on and off - though never picking up more than one when pulling through. Only the down-lines were getting any attention, so we changed two of the 4 light-line rods over to down-lines, fishing 6 down-lines and 2 light-lines the rest of the evening.....
Matt was back up for the next download that buried over..... with a good fight to bring the best fish of the night to the boat - 35" & 15 lbs
We were not quite done for the night...... Ethan landed another nice one at around 9 or 10 lbs - and then Matt rounded it out for even catch total at 3 each with a small dink that maybe went 20"
We decided it was time to call it an evening and head to grab a late Mexican dinner at Cancun restaurant.... the boy's had worked up quite an appetite!
Great times on quick evening trip with the boys.... good to get everyone back out there together again.
