Post by mwardncsu on Apr 12, 2015 21:46:51 GMT -5
Weather: Blue-bird skies, cool - temps in 40's to start, rising finally to the 60's by mid-afternoon. Winds (which were supposed to be nonexistent) were 5-10 with gusts to 15 from about 10am on.
Water: 59-61, visibility of 1 to 5 feet
Techniques: Freeline planers with gizzards from 7" to 14" & a few 8"-9" alewife/bluebacks. 3-4 boards on bank side, 1-2 on deep side. An occasional lighten or float with a money-maker gizzard or big ale was tossed out
Time Fished: 6:30a-9:15a; 11:30a-2:45p
Medical Services Rendered: hook extraction, teatnus shot
A group from the Ole North State Line Siders club from NC was up at SML for an annual tournament which wraps up a tournament series they do each year. With our new slot now being 30"- 40", they decided to do this year's SML tourney as Catch-Photo-Release. They do their tourneys as "Opens" so non-members can participate and one of the members reached out to Tyler, so we decided to support their CPR tourney and fish it with them.
We were at the Captains Meeting about 5:15am (think I got to the dock at 5:20 actually), and it was lines-in at 6:30a. I had a number of good gizzards that I had been nursing, but Tyler had caught a number of good ones the evening before so we left from the meeting area and went to load the tank with baits for the day and then headed off to the creek where we were going to start. Focus was on quality over numbers today, so baits were on the larger side. No small alewives... if an Ale wasn't 8" it wasn't in the tank. Actually if a bait wasn't 7"-8" minimum, it wasn't in the tank.
When we got to our target creek we had about 10 minutes before lines-in, so we floated there discussing if we should give a point that we generally never pull a try - or just head to the bank that we typically start at.
Well, we decided to mix it up and try pulling the point quickly when we started to see then head to our trusty bank. Turned out to be a good call. The clock hit 6:30a, baits went in the water and the trolling motor was pointed towards the bank. Baits got nervous immediately - and 1/2 way across the point a board shot off and Tyler was on the rod. He landed a fat 33" fish, that at least kept the skunk away for the day and was a decent start to our 2-fish limit. We got that fish measured, photoed and released and kept on our pull
A few minutes later, a swirl, a blowup and another fish on. This one looked smaller coming to the boat - was definitely skinnier but turned out to be longer at 34". A solid start 10 or 15 minutes into the tourney - 67" - but we really felt we needed 70" to feel good about the day, and were thus on the search for a 36"+ fish.
We kept making our pull on our trusty banks - that totally failed us today. We hit the initial point on the way out, with nervous baits but none that would eat - as well as another that we typically don't pull - not action there either.
We moved to another creek where I'd had some luck. We pulled and as we turned the point we had a mongo ale on a board get crushed but the hook turned - and then Tyler landed a 2 lb largemouth that hit a decent sized gizzard.
No other action on that bank and there was a boat working the back end of the creek, and then another boat came plowing out of the very back - so we picked up and moved to yet another creek.
Part way into the pull we had a taker - though not one that would help us - this one at 32"
Tyler went to rebait the hook and was putting one of our largest gizzards on - one that was incredibly feisty - and one of the size that a stinger is a must. Well, the gizzard flipped, and Tyler got stung
After I picked up the mongo gizzard that caused the injury and put it back in the bait tank, we discussed for a moment if I was going to get out the braid and watch a YouTube video really quick and try to extract it - but since it was in the bend of the finger and straight in about 3/8"to 1/2", I didn't want to take a chance with his finger, tendons, nerves - so our plans got changed and I pointed the boat back to the dock and we headed off to the Doc In A Box.... We arrived at 9:40.... well they don't open till 10am on Sunday. Fortunately we were the 2nd there and he was seen fairly quickly - and we were back on the water about 11:30 to try and salvage our search for a big fish.
We headed to another cove/creek and found one fish that wanted to play - but we were still moving in the wrong direction - this on 29" - no pic..... We did find a nest of fish and our baits went crazy, but these fish just did not want to have lunch. We did finally get one to hit one of the mongos - he pulled the board and I let him have it for longer than I thought I should then set the hook - but the hooks did not connect. As I retrieved the board/bait we saw the fish follow and it was a BIG fish..... I let the bait lay and the fish came up and nosed the bait several times - we sat there watching it for a minute, hoping with all anticipation that that big fish would inhale that bait. But it was not to be. We worked that creek/cove a couple of times and the fish were there but they just would not eat. About 1pm we moved - the recreational boat traffic was picking up so it limited our choices of where to fish - but we moved to another spot and had a hit from what was likely a bass. Moved again to a creek that had fish on Saturday night (but would not eat for Tyler then) - but nothing showed ,so we headed back to the creek where we had the big fish not eat for one last pull. Action again but these fish were just not going to cooperate.
We packed it up and headed to the 3pm check-in, still feeling like we needed a 35"+ fish - but thinking that if the tough bite that we found was experienced by others we may have a chance.
Turns out we only needed 15 minutes 1st thing the AM and those two fish to take 1st place & big fish in the tourney..... could have gone back to bed and avoided the whole Doc in a Box trip..... but you never know and there were some good fishermen in that group so we knew we needed to fish it hard to the end. It was fun to have a little competition on the like and also to support the CPR format
Since we ended the day on a positive note, we decided to give the gizzard that caused the hassles a stay of execution and release him back to the wild....
Water: 59-61, visibility of 1 to 5 feet
Techniques: Freeline planers with gizzards from 7" to 14" & a few 8"-9" alewife/bluebacks. 3-4 boards on bank side, 1-2 on deep side. An occasional lighten or float with a money-maker gizzard or big ale was tossed out
Time Fished: 6:30a-9:15a; 11:30a-2:45p
Medical Services Rendered: hook extraction, teatnus shot
A group from the Ole North State Line Siders club from NC was up at SML for an annual tournament which wraps up a tournament series they do each year. With our new slot now being 30"- 40", they decided to do this year's SML tourney as Catch-Photo-Release. They do their tourneys as "Opens" so non-members can participate and one of the members reached out to Tyler, so we decided to support their CPR tourney and fish it with them.
We were at the Captains Meeting about 5:15am (think I got to the dock at 5:20 actually), and it was lines-in at 6:30a. I had a number of good gizzards that I had been nursing, but Tyler had caught a number of good ones the evening before so we left from the meeting area and went to load the tank with baits for the day and then headed off to the creek where we were going to start. Focus was on quality over numbers today, so baits were on the larger side. No small alewives... if an Ale wasn't 8" it wasn't in the tank. Actually if a bait wasn't 7"-8" minimum, it wasn't in the tank.
When we got to our target creek we had about 10 minutes before lines-in, so we floated there discussing if we should give a point that we generally never pull a try - or just head to the bank that we typically start at.
Well, we decided to mix it up and try pulling the point quickly when we started to see then head to our trusty bank. Turned out to be a good call. The clock hit 6:30a, baits went in the water and the trolling motor was pointed towards the bank. Baits got nervous immediately - and 1/2 way across the point a board shot off and Tyler was on the rod. He landed a fat 33" fish, that at least kept the skunk away for the day and was a decent start to our 2-fish limit. We got that fish measured, photoed and released and kept on our pull
A few minutes later, a swirl, a blowup and another fish on. This one looked smaller coming to the boat - was definitely skinnier but turned out to be longer at 34". A solid start 10 or 15 minutes into the tourney - 67" - but we really felt we needed 70" to feel good about the day, and were thus on the search for a 36"+ fish.
We kept making our pull on our trusty banks - that totally failed us today. We hit the initial point on the way out, with nervous baits but none that would eat - as well as another that we typically don't pull - not action there either.
We moved to another creek where I'd had some luck. We pulled and as we turned the point we had a mongo ale on a board get crushed but the hook turned - and then Tyler landed a 2 lb largemouth that hit a decent sized gizzard.
No other action on that bank and there was a boat working the back end of the creek, and then another boat came plowing out of the very back - so we picked up and moved to yet another creek.Part way into the pull we had a taker - though not one that would help us - this one at 32"
Tyler went to rebait the hook and was putting one of our largest gizzards on - one that was incredibly feisty - and one of the size that a stinger is a must. Well, the gizzard flipped, and Tyler got stung
After I picked up the mongo gizzard that caused the injury and put it back in the bait tank, we discussed for a moment if I was going to get out the braid and watch a YouTube video really quick and try to extract it - but since it was in the bend of the finger and straight in about 3/8"to 1/2", I didn't want to take a chance with his finger, tendons, nerves - so our plans got changed and I pointed the boat back to the dock and we headed off to the Doc In A Box.... We arrived at 9:40.... well they don't open till 10am on Sunday. Fortunately we were the 2nd there and he was seen fairly quickly - and we were back on the water about 11:30 to try and salvage our search for a big fish.
We headed to another cove/creek and found one fish that wanted to play - but we were still moving in the wrong direction - this on 29" - no pic..... We did find a nest of fish and our baits went crazy, but these fish just did not want to have lunch. We did finally get one to hit one of the mongos - he pulled the board and I let him have it for longer than I thought I should then set the hook - but the hooks did not connect. As I retrieved the board/bait we saw the fish follow and it was a BIG fish..... I let the bait lay and the fish came up and nosed the bait several times - we sat there watching it for a minute, hoping with all anticipation that that big fish would inhale that bait. But it was not to be. We worked that creek/cove a couple of times and the fish were there but they just would not eat. About 1pm we moved - the recreational boat traffic was picking up so it limited our choices of where to fish - but we moved to another spot and had a hit from what was likely a bass. Moved again to a creek that had fish on Saturday night (but would not eat for Tyler then) - but nothing showed ,so we headed back to the creek where we had the big fish not eat for one last pull. Action again but these fish were just not going to cooperate.
We packed it up and headed to the 3pm check-in, still feeling like we needed a 35"+ fish - but thinking that if the tough bite that we found was experienced by others we may have a chance.
Turns out we only needed 15 minutes 1st thing the AM and those two fish to take 1st place & big fish in the tourney..... could have gone back to bed and avoided the whole Doc in a Box trip..... but you never know and there were some good fishermen in that group so we knew we needed to fish it hard to the end. It was fun to have a little competition on the like and also to support the CPR format
Since we ended the day on a positive note, we decided to give the gizzard that caused the hassles a stay of execution and release him back to the wild....
