Post by smythley on Jul 1, 2013 18:54:40 GMT -5
Went out Sunday morning and took a buddy. I had a tank full of bait from down at Leesville that I grabbed the night before. A ton of ales, but also some perfect 6-8 in gizzards as well as a few great big 10-11 in gizzards that escaped my culling...
I still need to figure out the bait thing up at SM, but its tough for me to ride an hour up there at 9-10pm. I should probably just leave the house about 3 am and try and find bait before the sun comes up. The only time I tried that though, it bit me in the butt, and I ended up trying for bait till mid-morning.
I've probably fished the lake a grand total of 10 times in my life, and
all but one of them in the past month, and the one thing I have learned
is that whatever worked yesterday doesn't always work today. A couple
days I've had luck finding small schools and dropping a downline to them, and it was on. But, the next day they want nothing but
ales on a float rig. And the next day I couldn't catch a striper if I had an electro-shock boat...I guess that's ok though. I'm a biologist and did all my master's research on whitetail deer. About the time you think you've learned something about animal behavior, it changes with no apparent reason why, at least that we can see or detect.
The past few times I've gone, I have tried to start with a variety of
techniques, to see what they may or may not want that day. I usually
have great success figuring out all the things they don't want...
Anyway, back to the report...we rode north of the state park aways, and started looked for fish. I think my Lowrance must be defective, because I can never seem to find these gorgeous graphs of schools like you guys post. It surely can't be user error or my inability to actually find fish... Anyway, I found a couple small schools, but I couldn't do anything with them. I was dropping both ales and small gizzards, on 2/0 and 4/0 oct. circle hooks with a 2 oz egg sinker roughly 3 ft above, and couldn't get a bite. Tried dropping to the depth of the fish, then just above, and they just ignored me. Oh well, I've gotten used to that from the fish up there.
So I went to the "throw everything but the kitchen sink approach" at them and put out floats, downlines and even a planer board in relatively shallow (<25 ft of water) with a medium size gizzard on it. Not 10 minutes in, one detonates on the gizzard on the board. Not a soft quiet boil, but a blow up, like a largemouth bass on a Jitterbug in a farmpond. My buddy grabbed the rod, set the hook, and quickly boated a nice 32" fish. We snapped a photo, quickly measured, and sent it back.
I thought that was kinda strange, since it was so shallow, but I baited up another board and put it out there. Countless times the baits on the boards would get nervous, and come up to the surface, and we actually had 5-6 strikes that jerked the board way down, but never got a hook up. We ended up catching a couple low 20"ish fish on a downline, as well as some giant white perch. They were all pretty shallow as well.
I met up with Tyler and mward, who were nice enough to come deliver a rod I was buying from Tyler. It was nice to meet a couple members on the board, and get a chance to check out mwards rig. Makes me realize I need more rod holders and a folding leaning post...
I decided to do one last pull though an area where we had some action, and put on one of the big gizzards, just to see what would happen. We passed though the area and nothing, so I told my buddy I thought we were done. About that time the big bait went nuts, and there was a nice boil behind it, but no strike. The fish just followed the bait for about 200 yards, every once in awhile boiling up but never striking. I had given up when the board ripped off and the reel went to screaming. I told my buddy to grab the rod, and when he set the hook, the fish just left, peeling drag. We got it to the boat, and I could see it was a nice fish, and not one I wanted to keep, so I lipped her, and brought her in the boat. Again, a quick measurement, photo, and sent her back. It was the biggest striper I've gotten my hands on. Measured 38.5" but I didn't have a scale out, and didn't want to waste time trying to find it. She took off fine and looked good swimming off, but it still bothered me a little. That being said, she was in awful shallow water when we caught her. The boat was in less than 30, and the board was near the bank, in less than 15. And I'm assuming she followed the bait for over 100 yards in shallow water, although it could have been multiple fish. I am really hoping she made it.
I guess I need to take the same approach as I do when trying to manage deer. I know if I put an arrow through a good young buck, he's not gonna make it to get any bigger. However, if I pass him, maybe the neighbor will too, and he'll make it another year. If I assume the fish won't make it, and put her in the cooler, I'm pretty certain she won't make it, but if she goes back, at least shes got a chance.
Sorry for the long rambling post, but I wanted to share my morning out there. I appreciate you guys willingness to help a new guy out, and look forward to many more days on the water. Will post pics in a few.
I still need to figure out the bait thing up at SM, but its tough for me to ride an hour up there at 9-10pm. I should probably just leave the house about 3 am and try and find bait before the sun comes up. The only time I tried that though, it bit me in the butt, and I ended up trying for bait till mid-morning.
I've probably fished the lake a grand total of 10 times in my life, and
all but one of them in the past month, and the one thing I have learned
is that whatever worked yesterday doesn't always work today. A couple
days I've had luck finding small schools and dropping a downline to them, and it was on. But, the next day they want nothing but
ales on a float rig. And the next day I couldn't catch a striper if I had an electro-shock boat...I guess that's ok though. I'm a biologist and did all my master's research on whitetail deer. About the time you think you've learned something about animal behavior, it changes with no apparent reason why, at least that we can see or detect.
The past few times I've gone, I have tried to start with a variety of
techniques, to see what they may or may not want that day. I usually
have great success figuring out all the things they don't want...
Anyway, back to the report...we rode north of the state park aways, and started looked for fish. I think my Lowrance must be defective, because I can never seem to find these gorgeous graphs of schools like you guys post. It surely can't be user error or my inability to actually find fish... Anyway, I found a couple small schools, but I couldn't do anything with them. I was dropping both ales and small gizzards, on 2/0 and 4/0 oct. circle hooks with a 2 oz egg sinker roughly 3 ft above, and couldn't get a bite. Tried dropping to the depth of the fish, then just above, and they just ignored me. Oh well, I've gotten used to that from the fish up there.
So I went to the "throw everything but the kitchen sink approach" at them and put out floats, downlines and even a planer board in relatively shallow (<25 ft of water) with a medium size gizzard on it. Not 10 minutes in, one detonates on the gizzard on the board. Not a soft quiet boil, but a blow up, like a largemouth bass on a Jitterbug in a farmpond. My buddy grabbed the rod, set the hook, and quickly boated a nice 32" fish. We snapped a photo, quickly measured, and sent it back.
I thought that was kinda strange, since it was so shallow, but I baited up another board and put it out there. Countless times the baits on the boards would get nervous, and come up to the surface, and we actually had 5-6 strikes that jerked the board way down, but never got a hook up. We ended up catching a couple low 20"ish fish on a downline, as well as some giant white perch. They were all pretty shallow as well.
I met up with Tyler and mward, who were nice enough to come deliver a rod I was buying from Tyler. It was nice to meet a couple members on the board, and get a chance to check out mwards rig. Makes me realize I need more rod holders and a folding leaning post...
I decided to do one last pull though an area where we had some action, and put on one of the big gizzards, just to see what would happen. We passed though the area and nothing, so I told my buddy I thought we were done. About that time the big bait went nuts, and there was a nice boil behind it, but no strike. The fish just followed the bait for about 200 yards, every once in awhile boiling up but never striking. I had given up when the board ripped off and the reel went to screaming. I told my buddy to grab the rod, and when he set the hook, the fish just left, peeling drag. We got it to the boat, and I could see it was a nice fish, and not one I wanted to keep, so I lipped her, and brought her in the boat. Again, a quick measurement, photo, and sent her back. It was the biggest striper I've gotten my hands on. Measured 38.5" but I didn't have a scale out, and didn't want to waste time trying to find it. She took off fine and looked good swimming off, but it still bothered me a little. That being said, she was in awful shallow water when we caught her. The boat was in less than 30, and the board was near the bank, in less than 15. And I'm assuming she followed the bait for over 100 yards in shallow water, although it could have been multiple fish. I am really hoping she made it.
I guess I need to take the same approach as I do when trying to manage deer. I know if I put an arrow through a good young buck, he's not gonna make it to get any bigger. However, if I pass him, maybe the neighbor will too, and he'll make it another year. If I assume the fish won't make it, and put her in the cooler, I'm pretty certain she won't make it, but if she goes back, at least shes got a chance.
Sorry for the long rambling post, but I wanted to share my morning out there. I appreciate you guys willingness to help a new guy out, and look forward to many more days on the water. Will post pics in a few.