Post by mwardncsu on Sept 18, 2017 9:32:42 GMT -5
Weather: Low 80's dropping to upper 70's; mostly cloudy, no real wind to speak of
Water: 72-74, visibility of several feet
Techniques: Dollar-bill gizzards pulled free-line on planer boards (6) - 5/0 Octopus hooks and running 6-12' begind the board, pulling around 1.0-1.3 mph
Time Fished: 5:30 - 7:30p
Boy, its been too long since I was pulling baits on the water...... took the summer off from striper fishing - had planned to do some damage to the white perch but only got out one time all summer for those. Water temps finally dropped below 75 so it was time to get out and scratch the itch.... We had the Striper Club In-Water Boat Show & Tell on Saturday AM, so I went out on Friday night and hit some lights looking for some larger gizzards - found a few here and there in the dollar-bill size then finally found a light where they were pretty well stacked up in about 10' of water and put 24 or 30 in the tank - along with netting a nice flathead....
Did net this very long and skinny alewife.... odd looking bait....
Hung out at the Club event on Saturday AM when a couple of guys that have fished the tournies offered me some left-over shad - they had a few larger than the ones I had so I happily accepted
Headed back to the house after lunch and around 4 we took my son and his buddies out to do some tubing - and I found the tank was running but not pumping air and my shad were turning belly up left and right :rmad: - I guess a scale got in the venturi or pump or something as when I pulled the pump out and put it back in it sorted itself out - but I had to toss 6 or more of the baits - and of course most of the larger one - fortunately the rest came around.
After pulling the boys a little while until the tube collapsed from dry-rot, I dropped them off and headed out to fish - I stopped in one cove to see if I could find some larger baits - nope, but found plenty of silver dollars.....
I headed on and decided to pull one spot before getting to my primary target location - I was trying to get my third board out when the 2nd board that was still pulling out got slammed - the drag on that reel was wayyyy too loose and it took of, and but the time I got the rod in hand and tightened the drag the fish pulled - probably tightened the drag too much in the process for a fish that likely did not have a good hook-set. Oh well - got to knock the rust of somehow...... least I found fish
Pulled up and down that stretch with one other chase but no commits so I moved on - started pulling on some 72 water that warmed back towards 74 as I went. Pulled a long time without any action at all..... got to the end of my pull, stopped the trolling motor and was reeling in the boards on one side of the boat when I head a blow-up on the other side and a board took off. The fish was hooked up and tried to head towards some timber on the bank but I got it away and after a quick but fun fight I had a 17 lb, 36.25" striper in the boat - oh yeah - that's what I came for!
I made one more quick circle there and then started to head back as I wanted to hit another spot down the lake - on my way I saw a fish blowing up next to a dock so I stopped and put out boards and pulled a stretch in front of that dock - sure enough there was fish, but must have been small as it smacked and slammed that little dollar-bill gizzard without ever hooking up.
Dusk caught up with me before I could get back to the other spot I wanted to try so I called it a night - happy to have had a successful outing after a 4 month hiatus and ready for Fall Fishing to gear up in earnest!
Water: 72-74, visibility of several feet
Techniques: Dollar-bill gizzards pulled free-line on planer boards (6) - 5/0 Octopus hooks and running 6-12' begind the board, pulling around 1.0-1.3 mph
Time Fished: 5:30 - 7:30p
Boy, its been too long since I was pulling baits on the water...... took the summer off from striper fishing - had planned to do some damage to the white perch but only got out one time all summer for those. Water temps finally dropped below 75 so it was time to get out and scratch the itch.... We had the Striper Club In-Water Boat Show & Tell on Saturday AM, so I went out on Friday night and hit some lights looking for some larger gizzards - found a few here and there in the dollar-bill size then finally found a light where they were pretty well stacked up in about 10' of water and put 24 or 30 in the tank - along with netting a nice flathead....
Did net this very long and skinny alewife.... odd looking bait....
Hung out at the Club event on Saturday AM when a couple of guys that have fished the tournies offered me some left-over shad - they had a few larger than the ones I had so I happily accepted
Headed back to the house after lunch and around 4 we took my son and his buddies out to do some tubing - and I found the tank was running but not pumping air and my shad were turning belly up left and right :rmad: - I guess a scale got in the venturi or pump or something as when I pulled the pump out and put it back in it sorted itself out - but I had to toss 6 or more of the baits - and of course most of the larger one - fortunately the rest came around.
After pulling the boys a little while until the tube collapsed from dry-rot, I dropped them off and headed out to fish - I stopped in one cove to see if I could find some larger baits - nope, but found plenty of silver dollars.....
I headed on and decided to pull one spot before getting to my primary target location - I was trying to get my third board out when the 2nd board that was still pulling out got slammed - the drag on that reel was wayyyy too loose and it took of, and but the time I got the rod in hand and tightened the drag the fish pulled - probably tightened the drag too much in the process for a fish that likely did not have a good hook-set. Oh well - got to knock the rust of somehow...... least I found fish
Pulled up and down that stretch with one other chase but no commits so I moved on - started pulling on some 72 water that warmed back towards 74 as I went. Pulled a long time without any action at all..... got to the end of my pull, stopped the trolling motor and was reeling in the boards on one side of the boat when I head a blow-up on the other side and a board took off. The fish was hooked up and tried to head towards some timber on the bank but I got it away and after a quick but fun fight I had a 17 lb, 36.25" striper in the boat - oh yeah - that's what I came for!
I made one more quick circle there and then started to head back as I wanted to hit another spot down the lake - on my way I saw a fish blowing up next to a dock so I stopped and put out boards and pulled a stretch in front of that dock - sure enough there was fish, but must have been small as it smacked and slammed that little dollar-bill gizzard without ever hooking up.
Dusk caught up with me before I could get back to the other spot I wanted to try so I called it a night - happy to have had a successful outing after a 4 month hiatus and ready for Fall Fishing to gear up in earnest!
