2/21/17 - Pulling into the Sunset
Feb 21, 2017 21:35:53 GMT -5
Jason54, gofish2, and 2 more like this
Post by mwardncsu on Feb 21, 2017 21:35:53 GMT -5
Weather: upper 50's, partly cloudy, light wins from the S/SE
Water: 50-52, visibility of 3 feet
Techniques: freelined gizzards on planers (4) - 8" - 14"
Time Fished: 5:30p - 6:30p
Plan for today was a bait-catching mission - I went down the lake and threw some in a creek where I had caught some nice bait this weekend but found it fairly barren other than dollar-bills. Stopped and picked up Tyler's old Creek Bank tank to have two tanks aboard and then headed up lake to where Tyler and Brock had found piles of bait yesterday..... I knew if I went to the trouble of getting the tank and hooking it up that it would be barren up there - and sure enough - only managed to scrape up a few baits - not sure if I was too late in the afternoon or if the change in winds from NW the day before to S-SE today and a bit cooler temps and some overcast skies in the morning - but the bait wasn't there.
I had tossed the net for several hours but decided I'd salvage the day by hitting a creek in the last hour of light.....
I started having action as soon as I had the baits out along the bank - rolls - I did not get hooked up on the 1st pass so I spun around when the chase seemed over and reset. The next pass I had a 10 or 11" bait on the outside board get gobbled up. Put up a good fight and turned out to be the biggest of the night at 34" and 16 lbs I think with the tail pinched.
Reset and made another pass..... on the way I had the small dollar-bill on the inside board get rolled on and then hit and stolen.... The next pass resulted in another fish - this one hitting my largest bait - a 14" gizzard - and he got it wedged in its throat - didn't put up much of a fight - and it was a bear trying to get that shad free - wasn't sure it was going to come out or the striper make it through the process - it was 29" - just under the slot so I could have harvested it if it did not make it, but I didn't want to do so.... fortunately I finally got the bait free after tearing it into pieces with my pliers - and the fish gave me an appreciative head-shake as I released it back to the cool waters.
I had a mess of lines at that point as the other three boards had gotten all tangled while I tried to free the bait so I lost some time getting everything untangled and reset - but my next - and final - pass resulted in one more fish - this one between 27" & 28"
Not a bad way to end the day.....
Water: 50-52, visibility of 3 feet
Techniques: freelined gizzards on planers (4) - 8" - 14"
Time Fished: 5:30p - 6:30p
Plan for today was a bait-catching mission - I went down the lake and threw some in a creek where I had caught some nice bait this weekend but found it fairly barren other than dollar-bills. Stopped and picked up Tyler's old Creek Bank tank to have two tanks aboard and then headed up lake to where Tyler and Brock had found piles of bait yesterday..... I knew if I went to the trouble of getting the tank and hooking it up that it would be barren up there - and sure enough - only managed to scrape up a few baits - not sure if I was too late in the afternoon or if the change in winds from NW the day before to S-SE today and a bit cooler temps and some overcast skies in the morning - but the bait wasn't there.
I had tossed the net for several hours but decided I'd salvage the day by hitting a creek in the last hour of light.....
I started having action as soon as I had the baits out along the bank - rolls - I did not get hooked up on the 1st pass so I spun around when the chase seemed over and reset. The next pass I had a 10 or 11" bait on the outside board get gobbled up. Put up a good fight and turned out to be the biggest of the night at 34" and 16 lbs I think with the tail pinched.
Reset and made another pass..... on the way I had the small dollar-bill on the inside board get rolled on and then hit and stolen.... The next pass resulted in another fish - this one hitting my largest bait - a 14" gizzard - and he got it wedged in its throat - didn't put up much of a fight - and it was a bear trying to get that shad free - wasn't sure it was going to come out or the striper make it through the process - it was 29" - just under the slot so I could have harvested it if it did not make it, but I didn't want to do so.... fortunately I finally got the bait free after tearing it into pieces with my pliers - and the fish gave me an appreciative head-shake as I released it back to the cool waters.
I had a mess of lines at that point as the other three boards had gotten all tangled while I tried to free the bait so I lost some time getting everything untangled and reset - but my next - and final - pass resulted in one more fish - this one between 27" & 28"
Not a bad way to end the day.....
