4/4/15 - Not Sure We'll Top This Soon.....
Apr 4, 2015 20:42:45 GMT -5
CorneliaGale, widgeon3, and 1 more like this
Post by mwardncsu on Apr 4, 2015 20:42:45 GMT -5
Weather: Temps in the mid-50's, dropping till about lunch, the finally getting over 60. Mostly sunny. Winds from the NW at 15-20 gusting to 25+
Water: 53-56, visibility from 1 to 5 feet
Techniques: Money-maker to Mongo gizzards on free-lined boards (3-4 on bank-side - 0-2 on deep side) with the bait approx 10-15' behind the boards, small gizzard or alewife on free line float (1), small gizzard on free line (1). All fish came off the bank-side boards today....
Time Fished: 6:45a - 11:30a, and then 1:00p-1:45p
Keith recently sold his boat and won't have his new ride until late April, and he was Jonesing to get on the spring-time bite, so I offered for him to come along with us. Our plans were bouncing around between a two-boat tag-team with our buddy Nathan, his son and a good friend of his, or some combination - after a lot of back and forth we decided to all jump on my ride together. I had enough gizzards for the next day, but I went out around 10:30 to get some fresh alewifes in case we needed to chase the smaller fish bite to get quantity with everyone aboard. Got a couple of dozen medium ales quickly and decided to see if I could get some more larger to mongo gizzards. Put about 10 more big gizzards in the tank by 11:30 - and then found a text that Nathan and crew were going to wave off due to the forecast for 20 mph winds all day....
On the water about 6am to go pick up Tyler and then Keith. The wind was blowing relentlessly and I wondered how long before we'd say forget it and head to find some breakfast..
We had lines in the water by 6:45a I think, with a nice sunrise in the background....
The day got off to a really good start - with Tyler hooking up with, and landing a 37" / 19 lb striper - Tyler's 1st Citation of 2015 (and the 1st one for the Spring Season on the ol' Sea Hunt).
Keith quickly followed with a nice 34" / 14 lb beauty
We circled the area and they felt pity on the "captain" - and let me catch one....
This fish absolutely slammed the board and sent it screaming back - and thought it was going to be a comparable fish until I went to work on the rod.....
We pulled a couple of banks in that creek and picked up one more on our way out... that one qualified as a "Yamtation"
at 36" / 18 lbs.
We decided to make a move to a creek which was good to us in the mornings last year at this same time / water temp. Found it barren this time - very little bait in that creek, unlike last year when it was loaded with bait and fish. So we moved to another creek - this one less protected by the wind...
Fought the boat control as well pulled down the bank - got towards the end of our pull when finally a bait came up and got rolled and then crushed.... I got the rod this time and landed a 37.5" / skinny 17 lb striper - my 1st citation of 2015
That fish took out a 2nd planer as it came to the boat, so after we released the fish we spend a few minutes untangling and working to get boards back out. All the while the 3rd bank-side board was floating around out there - off the bank. Keith noticed swirl around the board and yet another fish attacked the bait and Keith went to work!
Unbelievably, Keith had just hooked into the biggest fish of the day - 38.25", 21 lbs! Keith's 2nd citation for 2015, but incredibly this was our THIRD CITATION OF THE DAY. Getting one is a great event - 2 in a day would wonderful.... 3 - just the stuff of dreams.
Keith wanted to get some video for his little boy - to see Daddy catching a nice fish..... so....
We figured we couldn't ask for any more at that point, but went to hit a creek which we've not fished much this time of year.... turns out there may be a reason why... we did mark some deep fish but nothing wanted to play with big gizzards along the banks..... we figure we could have put out some downlines or light lines with ales and picked up some smaller fish, but with a streak of three citations going, ain't nobody got time for that.
Keith needed to get on back to dye Easter Eggs with his little one, so we took him back to his dock and Tyler and I went to grab a bit of lunch... citation catching can work up an appetite in a big way
StriperJohn - we took these just for you 
After lunch we had time to hit one more creek .... off we went, and sure enough - FISH ON! This one on the smaller side for the day - 14 lbs / 33".
After that we made a few passes on the bank as we kept having a fish come and swipe at a bait but it never would fully commit - so we called it a day a little before 2pm......
7 fish - what we didn't have in quantity we made up for in quality! 22", 33", 36", 37", 37.5" & 38.25" with most of the fish in the high-teens to 21 lbs in weigh & three citations..... one heck of a great day..... you gotta love Spring! Perhaps the "Wind is your friend"....
lol
