Success at last - and then the streak bites back - 11/22
Nov 24, 2014 9:17:32 GMT -5
mwardncsu and CorneliaGale like this
Post by greenmonster on Nov 24, 2014 9:17:32 GMT -5
We got out to the lake at 1:00 figuring that we weren't missing much besides hypothermia by getting out later. Immediately, however, that bright sunlight just didn't feel fishy. Had the option to fish Saturday or Sunday, and while my preference would have been to fish a cloudy day over a sunny one, this worked better for the family.
We put in at Hardy and as we passed Bay Roc the gulls were circling and going nuts. We passed by slowly, but there didn't see to be anything underneath them except piles and piles of bait. We went downstream a little further, fished for awhile, but just weren't feeling it. We fished around Bay Roc under the gulls, and while there was no sign of striper, the bait was so thick that we snagged three different peanuts on our flies. You know they are thick when that happens!
After giving up there, we drove up past Mormans, tried a few other spots, nothing doing. Headed over to the train trestle and liked what we saw on the depthfinder, so we fished the creek mouth. Nothing doing there, but things just "felt" better. Sure enough, after about half an hour, I heard a few larger splashes, looked behind me, and saw breaking fish across river. Shot over there and had Striper slurping bait off the top. They weren't being aggressive, it was that kind of slow slurping, wallowing, "I'm top of the food chain and I know it" kind of activity. Of course, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with our flies, but we found consolation in the fact that a guy in another boat was throwing a spoon with similar results. Mward, you guys came right by us at this point and turned around and went back downriver!
Finally, we headed back to a spot we felt better about upriver and, while there wasn't any activity, again, it just had that "feel". Just about the time we were ready to give up, a striper nailed my fly (Game Changer) right off the bank. Good solid hookset, and for a moment he seemed completely confused. With nowhere else to go, he beelined towards the boat and more specifically, the trolling motor which happened to be running. In seconds, I found myself trying to keep pressure on an inbound fish while scrambling for my co-pilot remote to turn off the motor. I managed to turn it off right as the fish shot under the boat. dropped my fly rod down and fought the fish from the wrong side of the boat. Then, I made a strategic error. I asked my buddy to turn on the go-pro. Just as he figured out where the "on" button was, my fish mysteriously came unbuttoned.
My streak continues . . . . .
We put in at Hardy and as we passed Bay Roc the gulls were circling and going nuts. We passed by slowly, but there didn't see to be anything underneath them except piles and piles of bait. We went downstream a little further, fished for awhile, but just weren't feeling it. We fished around Bay Roc under the gulls, and while there was no sign of striper, the bait was so thick that we snagged three different peanuts on our flies. You know they are thick when that happens!
After giving up there, we drove up past Mormans, tried a few other spots, nothing doing. Headed over to the train trestle and liked what we saw on the depthfinder, so we fished the creek mouth. Nothing doing there, but things just "felt" better. Sure enough, after about half an hour, I heard a few larger splashes, looked behind me, and saw breaking fish across river. Shot over there and had Striper slurping bait off the top. They weren't being aggressive, it was that kind of slow slurping, wallowing, "I'm top of the food chain and I know it" kind of activity. Of course, they wanted absolutely nothing to do with our flies, but we found consolation in the fact that a guy in another boat was throwing a spoon with similar results. Mward, you guys came right by us at this point and turned around and went back downriver!
Finally, we headed back to a spot we felt better about upriver and, while there wasn't any activity, again, it just had that "feel". Just about the time we were ready to give up, a striper nailed my fly (Game Changer) right off the bank. Good solid hookset, and for a moment he seemed completely confused. With nowhere else to go, he beelined towards the boat and more specifically, the trolling motor which happened to be running. In seconds, I found myself trying to keep pressure on an inbound fish while scrambling for my co-pilot remote to turn off the motor. I managed to turn it off right as the fish shot under the boat. dropped my fly rod down and fought the fish from the wrong side of the boat. Then, I made a strategic error. I asked my buddy to turn on the go-pro. Just as he figured out where the "on" button was, my fish mysteriously came unbuttoned.
My streak continues . . . . .