Post by lund1 on Oct 11, 2017 7:49:37 GMT -5
I had a group of old high school buddies ( emphasis on old) up for a weekend of fishing and paint cans. While these guys are experienced bass fisherman the whole striper experience is quite different. Of course I felt the pressure to put them on fish. Water temps were ranging 72.5 - 74.5 all weekend. Our spread was the usual, planers with flat and weighted lines, 1 down rod, float off the back, flat line off the back.
10/5 - arrived at the lake Thur evening and immediately went out in search of bait. Hit 3 spots and threw the net a lot....nothing to show for it but peanuts. Proceeded to tell stories and drink cocktails until 3AM. Ouch.
10/6 - on the water by 7 in search of bait. Finally found the shad and loaded up. Bait continued to be really easy for the rest of the weekend. 1-3 throws and done. Fished upper and mid lake, marked fish everywhere we went....caught 1 dink. Pretty sad. It was HOT out...bluebird skies.
10/7 - on at first light...fished hard for 5 hours. Not a swirl, pull down....nuthin'. Fished 4-8pm and lost a big fish. She broke the leader on a run. Of course it was the pole I had experimented with 15b fluero....despite the previous weekend admonishment from Lund2 that it was a stupid idea. It was. We got skunked again.
10/8 - with my pride and reputation on the line we were on the water at first light headed to a spot we had marked decent fish Sat. AM. The weather had finally changed and there was heavy cloud cover with light showers...perfect. Within 10 minutes of putting out our spread all hell broke loose...there were busting schools chasing bait all over the place...and these were big fish. Over the next 45 minutes we caught an 18lb,, 16lb, 16lb, 10lb, 8lb.....the 18 and 10 both came on spinning rigs throwing spoons into busting schools. It was without question the best outing I've had on SML. I really need to fix the laminate ruler I have for measuring length...it's half torn off and poorly placed on the gunnel....I wasn't even trying to measure...just weighing on the Boga, reviving and releasing. All fish swam off healthy. Everything died off for the rest of the morning. Fished that evening till 7pm. On the last pull across one of my favorite spots we caught a 17lber....it was the icing on the cake. By now my old friends were calling me Gadabout Gaddis....( anyone under 50 years old probably has no idea who that is...)
I don't think they're anywhere near a Fall pattern yet...we just got lucky and found them feasting after a 3 day lockjaw. Good times......
10/5 - arrived at the lake Thur evening and immediately went out in search of bait. Hit 3 spots and threw the net a lot....nothing to show for it but peanuts. Proceeded to tell stories and drink cocktails until 3AM. Ouch.
10/6 - on the water by 7 in search of bait. Finally found the shad and loaded up. Bait continued to be really easy for the rest of the weekend. 1-3 throws and done. Fished upper and mid lake, marked fish everywhere we went....caught 1 dink. Pretty sad. It was HOT out...bluebird skies.
10/7 - on at first light...fished hard for 5 hours. Not a swirl, pull down....nuthin'. Fished 4-8pm and lost a big fish. She broke the leader on a run. Of course it was the pole I had experimented with 15b fluero....despite the previous weekend admonishment from Lund2 that it was a stupid idea. It was. We got skunked again.
10/8 - with my pride and reputation on the line we were on the water at first light headed to a spot we had marked decent fish Sat. AM. The weather had finally changed and there was heavy cloud cover with light showers...perfect. Within 10 minutes of putting out our spread all hell broke loose...there were busting schools chasing bait all over the place...and these were big fish. Over the next 45 minutes we caught an 18lb,, 16lb, 16lb, 10lb, 8lb.....the 18 and 10 both came on spinning rigs throwing spoons into busting schools. It was without question the best outing I've had on SML. I really need to fix the laminate ruler I have for measuring length...it's half torn off and poorly placed on the gunnel....I wasn't even trying to measure...just weighing on the Boga, reviving and releasing. All fish swam off healthy. Everything died off for the rest of the morning. Fished that evening till 7pm. On the last pull across one of my favorite spots we caught a 17lber....it was the icing on the cake. By now my old friends were calling me Gadabout Gaddis....( anyone under 50 years old probably has no idea who that is...)
I don't think they're anywhere near a Fall pattern yet...we just got lucky and found them feasting after a 3 day lockjaw. Good times......
