10/28 skunked again mid-lake (Q: what am I doing wrong???)
Oct 29, 2017 17:28:42 GMT -5
jb4sml likes this
Post by greywalls on Oct 29, 2017 17:28:42 GMT -5
Quick report - 10/28
Took advantage of the delay in the forecasted rain and headed out Saturday 2pm - 9pm. Put in at the Park and proceeded directly out and about, looking for fish on the locator.
Puttered around all of the S curve, but didn't see any fish.
Ran up to Becky's, but was really disappointed that I didn't find any schools (stripers were thick last weekend). The far back end at Bayside was FULL of baitfish, though. They were so thick off the docks that we could feel them as we cast through a few balls of them. But, stripers just weren't there.
Finally found good fish in Walton Creek, but couldn't get a take. As usual, we were fishing artificials -- big Rebel crankbaits and umbrella rigs. Couldn't believe that we didn't hook up or at least get a hit. Fish looked SO textbook-good on locator! The only action of the day was my horsing back to set the hook into a treetop 20' down with my umbrella rig. While the new lure retriever paid off last week, it couldn't help me yesterday (despite 30 mins of frustration). Deep down the braid was tangled through multiple limbs -- the retriever snagged a portion of the line wrapped around a limb (which I broke free and confirmed with a big ol branch brought up) -- but the line was so tangled in branches that the retriever couldn't get to the rig. The 30lb braid finally gave way. Another $25+ donated to the lake gods, matching the other $25+ donated on a point earlier this month (when I'd forgotten the retriever). Ouch.
So, that about sums up the trip. Weather held out and lake was great, but no fish to speak of.
*****
Following buying and outfitting back in late August my fishing 'toon, September and this month have marked my first return to SML striper fishing since the 90s (as a teen with my father and his friends), when we used to tear up on a consistent basis some monsters (at least, by today's standards), fishing only during March, April and May and using only big Rebel and Red Fin crankbaits -- the old school Cedar Keys forays were the best. Back then, we always caught fish, literally every single outing, and it wasn't uncommon whatsoever to CNR multiple 20lb fish every single weekend. I've read that the lake experienced some significant fish kills several years ago, and that the striper fishery is completely different now than it was when I cut my teeth on the lake -- and, too, that we don't currently have the numbers of "big" fish we previously saw in the 80's and 90's...
In any event, since the latter half of September through to date, I've been out fishing, hardcore, on four occasions. I'm exclusively relying on my Simrad to find fish, and I've spent hours and hours learning the locator and its technology, and am generally confident in the images I see while fishing. I appreciate the fact that if one can't find the fish, then one doesn't have much, if any, chance, outside of the occasional lucky anomaly, of catching SML stripers. However, we've been on some good fish, and still haven't had any success. It's as though everything I learned back in the day either no longer applies or, at least, doesn't apply in the Fall. So, to recap, electronics are solid and set up; gear is all quality Daiwa reels on St. Croix rods (and Ugly Stick Elites mixed in); 30lb braid with fluoro leaders; artificials are Rebel deep diving crankbaits in blue- and black-back colors and Alabama/umbrella rigs with 5 swimbaits using 1/8th oz 4/0 hooks and Missile Shockwave 4.25, Keitech Fat Swing Impacts or Storm WildEye Shad plastics. I've also cast white bucktails and big swimming super flukes. Nada.
Not looking for an instructional here, but I'm beginning to think (based on the reports here) that the only consistent way to catch stripers at SML now, or at least in the Fall and this Winter, requires using live bait -- i.e., gizzards and alewives, on planer boards or down-lined... Hoping to get a confirmation whether or not this is true.
Live bait is a whole different and new world to me. However, I'm willing to switch up gears and jump into something new if the general consensus is that I'm either more-or-less wasting my time this time of year using my current tactics or that I'm doing something wrong. My chief strategy is figuring out how to at least catch an occasional fish this Fall and throughout the Winter. Too, more importantly, I've been taking out my 6yr old son each time, and he's getting frustrated and wants "to go trout fishing instead" (while we do slay trout locally, I don't want him to give up on SML stripers before I can get him hooked for life the moment I let him fight a striper for a bit).
Would appreciate thoughts on strategies to consider.
Thanks,
Corey
Took advantage of the delay in the forecasted rain and headed out Saturday 2pm - 9pm. Put in at the Park and proceeded directly out and about, looking for fish on the locator.
Puttered around all of the S curve, but didn't see any fish.
Ran up to Becky's, but was really disappointed that I didn't find any schools (stripers were thick last weekend). The far back end at Bayside was FULL of baitfish, though. They were so thick off the docks that we could feel them as we cast through a few balls of them. But, stripers just weren't there.
Finally found good fish in Walton Creek, but couldn't get a take. As usual, we were fishing artificials -- big Rebel crankbaits and umbrella rigs. Couldn't believe that we didn't hook up or at least get a hit. Fish looked SO textbook-good on locator! The only action of the day was my horsing back to set the hook into a treetop 20' down with my umbrella rig. While the new lure retriever paid off last week, it couldn't help me yesterday (despite 30 mins of frustration). Deep down the braid was tangled through multiple limbs -- the retriever snagged a portion of the line wrapped around a limb (which I broke free and confirmed with a big ol branch brought up) -- but the line was so tangled in branches that the retriever couldn't get to the rig. The 30lb braid finally gave way. Another $25+ donated to the lake gods, matching the other $25+ donated on a point earlier this month (when I'd forgotten the retriever). Ouch.
So, that about sums up the trip. Weather held out and lake was great, but no fish to speak of.
*****
Following buying and outfitting back in late August my fishing 'toon, September and this month have marked my first return to SML striper fishing since the 90s (as a teen with my father and his friends), when we used to tear up on a consistent basis some monsters (at least, by today's standards), fishing only during March, April and May and using only big Rebel and Red Fin crankbaits -- the old school Cedar Keys forays were the best. Back then, we always caught fish, literally every single outing, and it wasn't uncommon whatsoever to CNR multiple 20lb fish every single weekend. I've read that the lake experienced some significant fish kills several years ago, and that the striper fishery is completely different now than it was when I cut my teeth on the lake -- and, too, that we don't currently have the numbers of "big" fish we previously saw in the 80's and 90's...
In any event, since the latter half of September through to date, I've been out fishing, hardcore, on four occasions. I'm exclusively relying on my Simrad to find fish, and I've spent hours and hours learning the locator and its technology, and am generally confident in the images I see while fishing. I appreciate the fact that if one can't find the fish, then one doesn't have much, if any, chance, outside of the occasional lucky anomaly, of catching SML stripers. However, we've been on some good fish, and still haven't had any success. It's as though everything I learned back in the day either no longer applies or, at least, doesn't apply in the Fall. So, to recap, electronics are solid and set up; gear is all quality Daiwa reels on St. Croix rods (and Ugly Stick Elites mixed in); 30lb braid with fluoro leaders; artificials are Rebel deep diving crankbaits in blue- and black-back colors and Alabama/umbrella rigs with 5 swimbaits using 1/8th oz 4/0 hooks and Missile Shockwave 4.25, Keitech Fat Swing Impacts or Storm WildEye Shad plastics. I've also cast white bucktails and big swimming super flukes. Nada.
Not looking for an instructional here, but I'm beginning to think (based on the reports here) that the only consistent way to catch stripers at SML now, or at least in the Fall and this Winter, requires using live bait -- i.e., gizzards and alewives, on planer boards or down-lined... Hoping to get a confirmation whether or not this is true.
Live bait is a whole different and new world to me. However, I'm willing to switch up gears and jump into something new if the general consensus is that I'm either more-or-less wasting my time this time of year using my current tactics or that I'm doing something wrong. My chief strategy is figuring out how to at least catch an occasional fish this Fall and throughout the Winter. Too, more importantly, I've been taking out my 6yr old son each time, and he's getting frustrated and wants "to go trout fishing instead" (while we do slay trout locally, I don't want him to give up on SML stripers before I can get him hooked for life the moment I let him fight a striper for a bit).
Would appreciate thoughts on strategies to consider.
Thanks,
Corey
