3/19/17 - Closing out Winter 2017
Mar 20, 2017 19:54:29 GMT -5
widgeon3, Jason54, and 1 more like this
Post by mwardncsu on Mar 20, 2017 19:54:29 GMT -5
Weather: temps in the low 50's, mostly sunny, winds 10-15 from NW
Water: 48-50, visibility of a few feet
Techniques: Big baits on freeline planer boards on the bank (3), dollar-bill gizzard on a freeline on the deep side, dollar-bill gizzard on a light-line out back
Time Fished: 5:30p-8p
Slept in on Sunday morning to recover from the tournament festivities on Saturday, then took the wife to brunch, came back and unloaded the truck and repacked things for the April tourney - then it was time to get some water therapy.
Headed out around 2:30 or 3pm or so to catch some bait to load into the dock tank as well as to use to fish the evening bit. Hit up a creek and marked some good pods of bait in 7-15' of water and worked that area for an hour or so until I had about 40 baits 10" - 14". Took those on down and offloaded 25 of them into the dock tank and then headed on up the lake to fish.
Saw one striper boat out on my way - everyone must have had their fill on Saturday or fished the morning and got fed up with the wind - so I had my choice of spots to fish. I setup pulling a bank and as I reached the tail end of the stretch I had a board bury - had a nice fight and landed a decent 32" fish - that apparently swallowed a bowling ball and went 16 lbs.
And this was a male - know how I know?
Reversed down that stretch and picked up another 16-17 lber - this one a more typical sized 35.5"-ish length.
Made another pull and missed a hook-up on a dollar-bill - fish snatched the bait and avoided the hook.... decided to move back down the lake and pull a stretch a bank that has a nice little section with a flat for about 100' sitting alongside some deep water that I've been wanting to pull recently but just haven't for whatever reason. There was a fair bit of deep bait in the area and I was marking fish.
As I approached the little flat I had a few nervous baits and had one bait get swirled on. My light-line out the back seemed to get hung up briefly, but pulled clean - as I was feeding the line back out I felt the line get tight and then the rod loaded up - fish on. All the while I was fishing this fish to the boat one of my big, bank-side baits was getting swirled on and chased. I got the fish to the boat and on the Bogas just as the bank-side board buried. I laid down that fish, grabbed the rod as line peeled of - while it was peeling drag I grabbed the Bogas and hooked it on a rod holder with the fish in the water and fought the other fish to the boat. had another board get nailed and the bait stolen while all that was going on but I could get to that rod.... These guys were almost twins - both 16-17 lbs and around 35" as well.....
I circled back on that spot and missed two more fish - and pulled it until the last bit of sunlight set on Winter 2017. A nice end to a good winter of fishing - no monsters but 4 fish between 16 & 17 lbs that pulled some good drag - I'll take it any day!
Water: 48-50, visibility of a few feet
Techniques: Big baits on freeline planer boards on the bank (3), dollar-bill gizzard on a freeline on the deep side, dollar-bill gizzard on a light-line out back
Time Fished: 5:30p-8p
Slept in on Sunday morning to recover from the tournament festivities on Saturday, then took the wife to brunch, came back and unloaded the truck and repacked things for the April tourney - then it was time to get some water therapy.
Headed out around 2:30 or 3pm or so to catch some bait to load into the dock tank as well as to use to fish the evening bit. Hit up a creek and marked some good pods of bait in 7-15' of water and worked that area for an hour or so until I had about 40 baits 10" - 14". Took those on down and offloaded 25 of them into the dock tank and then headed on up the lake to fish.
Saw one striper boat out on my way - everyone must have had their fill on Saturday or fished the morning and got fed up with the wind - so I had my choice of spots to fish. I setup pulling a bank and as I reached the tail end of the stretch I had a board bury - had a nice fight and landed a decent 32" fish - that apparently swallowed a bowling ball and went 16 lbs.
And this was a male - know how I know?
Reversed down that stretch and picked up another 16-17 lber - this one a more typical sized 35.5"-ish length.
Made another pull and missed a hook-up on a dollar-bill - fish snatched the bait and avoided the hook.... decided to move back down the lake and pull a stretch a bank that has a nice little section with a flat for about 100' sitting alongside some deep water that I've been wanting to pull recently but just haven't for whatever reason. There was a fair bit of deep bait in the area and I was marking fish.
As I approached the little flat I had a few nervous baits and had one bait get swirled on. My light-line out the back seemed to get hung up briefly, but pulled clean - as I was feeding the line back out I felt the line get tight and then the rod loaded up - fish on. All the while I was fishing this fish to the boat one of my big, bank-side baits was getting swirled on and chased. I got the fish to the boat and on the Bogas just as the bank-side board buried. I laid down that fish, grabbed the rod as line peeled of - while it was peeling drag I grabbed the Bogas and hooked it on a rod holder with the fish in the water and fought the other fish to the boat. had another board get nailed and the bait stolen while all that was going on but I could get to that rod.... These guys were almost twins - both 16-17 lbs and around 35" as well.....
I circled back on that spot and missed two more fish - and pulled it until the last bit of sunlight set on Winter 2017. A nice end to a good winter of fishing - no monsters but 4 fish between 16 & 17 lbs that pulled some good drag - I'll take it any day!
