Post by mwardncsu on May 20, 2013 9:21:24 GMT -5
Weather: Upper 50's rising into the high 70's; fairly calm winds, mostly sunny
Water: 69-72, very clear
Techniques: Pulling gizzards & alewives on boards (freeline & light-lines), alewives on downlines, giz or alewive on float; Did a little anchoring up with alewives on the bottom for a brief while
For the 3rd year in a row, the Smith Mountain Striper Club was given the opportunity to take out a group of recovering servicemen & women for a day of striper fishing, and I had the honor of coordinating the event from the Club side. I came up to the lake on Wed evening and decided to catch some bait just in case we had bad weather move in overnight on Thur night. I hit a bunch of lights and loaded up the tank, cast the Thunderstick a bit when I heard some busting on the banks near some of the lights (though I did not hook up), and was in bed about 3am.
Can you say "Mixed bag" - striper, citation crappie, mix of gizzards & some choice alewives
Nice 10"+ alewife (later confirmed as an alewife when I cut it open after it croaked in the tank
I babied the tank along on Thursday with a couple of water changes and a filter change, but was fighting foam all day long.
We took some of the group out for a bit of an evening cruise on Thur evening and afterwards I caught a little more bait - wanted to put some more ales in the tank to use on the bottom on Friday if needed. Got back to my dock right at midnight and the tank was going belly up - everything was dying before my eyes
Tossed half the bait out, did a 90% water change and then got to bed about 1 with a 3:30a wake-up call to catch some fresh bait. Fortunately it was easy going at about 4am so I loaded up quick and was at the docks a little early.
What's the saying - "Idle hands are the devil's tool" - well, I had a new Bomber Long-A lure waiting to be tied on, and it has these little tubing things over the barbs when it comes out of the package. Could not pull them off with pliers so I pulled out the filet knife and was slicing them lengthwise to get them off. 8 of 9 came off fine. On 9 of 9 the knife slipped and the point caught me across the top knuckle of my left index finger
Nice cut - not too deep, but deep enough. Probably should have gone to the Doc in a Box, but how do you cancel on these guys, telling them you have a boo-boo on your finger when one of the guys going with you had his leg blown off in Afghanistan? Nope - not going to happen - wash it up, bandage it up and we headed out.
Leeb and MyToysFishing getting ready to take a crew
On the way to the "fishing grounds"
We headed down to Craddock Creek since that was where the #s of fish were, and they were definitely there.
We sat on these fish all morning - fish by the thousands it seemed. But these fish had something else on their mind other than eating
We had one downline hit mid-morning when did not hook-up (lack of instruction by the "Captain" to one of the guys before hand) and then one float line that was hooked up and came unbuttoned.
Pretty sure this captured the moment the fish came loose - notice the lack of any bend on the rod....
We struggled all morning - pulling baits through, trying different sizes, etc - even anchored up and put ales on the bottom - which was producing for some, but we could just stand to sit there - we all had a little too much ADD I guess......
Finally we connected with our 1st around 11 or noon.
Certainly not what I'd hoped to put these guys on, but at least the skunk was off....
Now, let me teach everyone a valuable lesson on how to provide great reports when catching dinks:
Step 1: Hook up with a dink
Step 2: Successfully get the dink to the boat
Step 3: Pose for your picture with said dink
Step 4: Make the dink look like a "real" fish ;D
Well, that was all we managed for the day - we did make a move about 1 down to the flats just below Boardwalk to see if some fish had moved down there - saw a few marks, had one hit but did not connect.
Our "mate" for the day - Digger (one of the serviceman's dog that was with us) was checking out the gizzards in a big way
We wrapped up the day with a group dinner at the Mexican Place at Indian Point and enjoyed the company, along with kicking around fish-tales from the day
All the participants left with some good memories of a fun day on the water, and a cool shirt we had made up for them.
Again, it was a great honor to be able to give back in such a small way to these men & women that have given so much for us - I hope to continue to have the opportunity to do so in years to come. Let's all remember what they have done for us this coming Monday on Memorial Day, along with every day of the year.
Water: 69-72, very clear
Techniques: Pulling gizzards & alewives on boards (freeline & light-lines), alewives on downlines, giz or alewive on float; Did a little anchoring up with alewives on the bottom for a brief while
For the 3rd year in a row, the Smith Mountain Striper Club was given the opportunity to take out a group of recovering servicemen & women for a day of striper fishing, and I had the honor of coordinating the event from the Club side. I came up to the lake on Wed evening and decided to catch some bait just in case we had bad weather move in overnight on Thur night. I hit a bunch of lights and loaded up the tank, cast the Thunderstick a bit when I heard some busting on the banks near some of the lights (though I did not hook up), and was in bed about 3am.
Can you say "Mixed bag" - striper, citation crappie, mix of gizzards & some choice alewives
Nice 10"+ alewife (later confirmed as an alewife when I cut it open after it croaked in the tank
I babied the tank along on Thursday with a couple of water changes and a filter change, but was fighting foam all day long.
We took some of the group out for a bit of an evening cruise on Thur evening and afterwards I caught a little more bait - wanted to put some more ales in the tank to use on the bottom on Friday if needed. Got back to my dock right at midnight and the tank was going belly up - everything was dying before my eyes
Tossed half the bait out, did a 90% water change and then got to bed about 1 with a 3:30a wake-up call to catch some fresh bait. Fortunately it was easy going at about 4am so I loaded up quick and was at the docks a little early.What's the saying - "Idle hands are the devil's tool" - well, I had a new Bomber Long-A lure waiting to be tied on, and it has these little tubing things over the barbs when it comes out of the package. Could not pull them off with pliers so I pulled out the filet knife and was slicing them lengthwise to get them off. 8 of 9 came off fine. On 9 of 9 the knife slipped and the point caught me across the top knuckle of my left index finger
Nice cut - not too deep, but deep enough. Probably should have gone to the Doc in a Box, but how do you cancel on these guys, telling them you have a boo-boo on your finger when one of the guys going with you had his leg blown off in Afghanistan? Nope - not going to happen - wash it up, bandage it up and we headed out.Leeb and MyToysFishing getting ready to take a crew
On the way to the "fishing grounds"
We headed down to Craddock Creek since that was where the #s of fish were, and they were definitely there.
We sat on these fish all morning - fish by the thousands it seemed. But these fish had something else on their mind other than eating
We had one downline hit mid-morning when did not hook-up (lack of instruction by the "Captain" to one of the guys before hand) and then one float line that was hooked up and came unbuttoned.Pretty sure this captured the moment the fish came loose - notice the lack of any bend on the rod....
We struggled all morning - pulling baits through, trying different sizes, etc - even anchored up and put ales on the bottom - which was producing for some, but we could just stand to sit there - we all had a little too much ADD I guess......
Finally we connected with our 1st around 11 or noon.
Certainly not what I'd hoped to put these guys on, but at least the skunk was off....
Now, let me teach everyone a valuable lesson on how to provide great reports when catching dinks:
Step 1: Hook up with a dink
Step 2: Successfully get the dink to the boat
Step 3: Pose for your picture with said dink
Step 4: Make the dink look like a "real" fish ;D
Well, that was all we managed for the day - we did make a move about 1 down to the flats just below Boardwalk to see if some fish had moved down there - saw a few marks, had one hit but did not connect.
Our "mate" for the day - Digger (one of the serviceman's dog that was with us) was checking out the gizzards in a big way
We wrapped up the day with a group dinner at the Mexican Place at Indian Point and enjoyed the company, along with kicking around fish-tales from the day
All the participants left with some good memories of a fun day on the water, and a cool shirt we had made up for them.
Again, it was a great honor to be able to give back in such a small way to these men & women that have given so much for us - I hope to continue to have the opportunity to do so in years to come. Let's all remember what they have done for us this coming Monday on Memorial Day, along with every day of the year.
