9/16-18 first striper

[bushwacker]

First outing in the boat now that the lower unit is fixed and I have the boat set-up for striper. With all the help of this forum I am now broke but I took the advice and got good electronics, a 24V ipilot riptide, and a SBT2. all which I am tickled to death with. I also ran in to a guy that moved from the lake and set me up with 7 ugly stick and abu 6000 combos for a good price. I took off Monday and Tuesday to fish with my Dad. Bait at my dock was easy to catch but was all ales in the 5"-7" range. Please forgive me I am very new to this and that's what we fished with. Sounds like I need shad. Fishing was slow on Monday. Started out in bull run with no luck and moved to Gills. We started at stripers landing and worked our way up. Three floats out the back, two light TOS planer floats, one float down the middle and 2 downlines. Marked some fish and got a couple pull downs. Circled back and at 10:50am I got my Dad his first unguided SML striper and only the 2nd for the boat 25". We fished the area until 1pm and went in for lunch. Headed back out for a couple hours in the evening checking Bull run and X-mas tree island. Not marking much but we did catch a small cat. Tuesday we checked out the dam, craddock creek not marking anything, then put lines down in the black water. We fished B30a-B34 with no luck and not marking much at all. we left at 10am and fished back through standiford creek getting one pull down but did mark a lot of bait and a fair number of fish.I could see what looked like fish streaking up to our lines and the bait get nervous but wouldn't take. Is this because we had Ales and not shad? Also I am getting better at reading the electronics but still need some help knowing what I am looking at I will post some pics. WT both days started out 70 and moved to 72-73. Called it a day at noon and helped a broke down fellow fishermen towing his boat from B13 to the Penhook dock. All in all it was a great couple days wish it would have been cooler and caught more fish but it was still a great learning experience and a great time with my Dad. 

[Pete D.]

Way to go buddy!!! You setup look perfect for what you want to do with it.

Don't feel ashamed of the bait that you used. All of the mongo sluts on here get a rush out of the big baits, cause they seem to be harder to catch than the actual game fish that we are targeting. Get good at patterning fish and reeling up numbers. Once you do that and grow tired of fish in the 16-24" range THEN you can target the big girls with monster gizzard shad!!!

[ncsportfisher]

Great Report! I am with you on the bait, i drive 2 hours to fish and i have to drive 2 hours back afterwards... i fish with what Bait i can find in a timely manner. But I will warn you, when you catch those big baits they are as addicting to catch as stripers!! Good luck

[Cool hand Fluke]

Awesome report, looks like your doing just fine! And I love Mongo gizzards as much as the next, but if I get a net full of Ales, bluebacks, or dollar bills then I'm fishing lol, heck that good fish I got my Dad came off a 6 inch Gizzard, although it helps you don't always need big bait for big fish! Regardless the main thing is just get out and fish and have fun, and absorb any information or tips you get, and the rest will fall into place!

[Yam]

Enjoy your new toys! Overwhelming excitement must have been on your boat the whole time. Xmas eve is now yours prior to every outing! Makes me smile just thinking about how happy you must be!

[jmr04]

Very true about the bait. When the fish are hitting try are hitting. Had a few trips where I ran out of bigger baits. Had some peanuts, threw em out and the bite was just as good. The one thing is they don't put on as good of a show when they get chased but they will catch when the bite is on.

[Shadslinger]

That's awesome man. It's nice to see all your research and plans come together ain't it. Like the others have said. Don't get side tracked on the big bait. There ain't many days where a nice sized alewife won't produce at least a few bites. Maybe not trophy fish but fish nonetheless. One thing I will add is when you are ready to target bigger bait, try and get the appropriate sized net to do so if you haven't already. Will up your odds of succeeding a whole lot and make it a lot easier on you. If you see me on the bw. Don't be a stranger.

[bushwacker]

On the bait I was thinking maybe they didn't eat alewives this time of year. Sounds like that is not true and good to hear sence they seem plentiful at the dock. I have a 6' 3/8mesh 1lb, an 8' 3/8" 1lb and an 8' 1/2" 1.2lb. The 1/2" is what I was throwing

[coheasion]

Hey there - awesome report!! You were fishing some good spots!

[Deleted]

  

     Awesome!!!!

my question is for you dad..... how do you get such a good son?.... mine would say, I took you fishing, give me "another" 50 so I can fill the boat back up with gas.

[2 oars & a trash can]

I think all you need now is hours on the lake. Seems like one learns things by repetition and trial and error and every trip you skip things you don't need to do, and do what needs to be done quicker and more effectively.
Looks like fun.

[bushwacker]

He introduced me to fishing and hunting so I owe him a couple stripers. Plus he bought the dock where I park my boat and catch my bait. Lol it's a lot of work getting it all together for a day of fishing but worth every min. I have always been an avid hunter and I am blessed to work where I have the ability to take off the month of November. I just see that my hunting may be taking a little bit of a back seat this year.