Post by R22 on May 10, 2015 21:04:51 GMT -5
Worked for a few hours on Saturday morning and again in the late afternoon trying to collect some gizzards for Sunday and in hopes of saving some for the Freedom Alliance trip later this week. I found large pods of bait but it was full of small ales. Nothing of much size but I was pulling up tons with each throw. I found very few gizzards and threw back most of what I caught. After struggling to catch many gizzards at all, I decided to keep a handful of peanuts. On Saturday night the ales came to the light by the tons. After culling everything but 5 inches plus, I had a a decent three dozen to fish on Sunday morning.
As I headed south on Sunday morning, I was surprised to find just a few boats around the dam area. I barely got the first ale in the water before the board took off. It was a small LM of about 15 inches. About 30 seconds after the second ale hit the water the board took off while the line was still feeding out and while I was working on the second board. That turned out to be a fairly small flathead about 3-4 pounds. After those two hits everyone went dead until about 7:15. I was finding fish, nothing in great numbers but it was decent. While changing out a few ales I decided to try a few of the gizzards. Over the next hour I caught two, both just over 20 inches, and had bait stolen several times. While I had two gizzards and four ales out on boards, all action came on the small gizzards. There was no striper action on the ales at all. Is there a preference to gizzards over ales during or soon after they go through their spawning cycle?
I tried several different setups from freelines on boards to adding some weight. It may simply be coincidence but whether is was a catch or a bait thief, the lines with small amounts of weight 1/4 to 1/2 ounce weight seemed to get all of the attention. It may have simply been the gizzards but I would love to hear back from the more experienced fisherman on the forum how weight, if any, plays a role in your setup this time of year.
I did see fish busting 3 times between 6:45 and until about 7:30 but with boards out I was never close enough to throw anything at them.
I also saw a group of four guys in a large skiff land what appeared to be a very large striper. From a hundred or so yards away, there was lots of cheering and lots of pictures. I saw the catch in the net and it overwhelmed the net. I could only get a glimpse of a portion of that fish but I never saw them return it to the water so I will assume it was greater than 40 inches, I missed the release or they simply didn't know the rules. It was a stud.
As I headed south on Sunday morning, I was surprised to find just a few boats around the dam area. I barely got the first ale in the water before the board took off. It was a small LM of about 15 inches. About 30 seconds after the second ale hit the water the board took off while the line was still feeding out and while I was working on the second board. That turned out to be a fairly small flathead about 3-4 pounds. After those two hits everyone went dead until about 7:15. I was finding fish, nothing in great numbers but it was decent. While changing out a few ales I decided to try a few of the gizzards. Over the next hour I caught two, both just over 20 inches, and had bait stolen several times. While I had two gizzards and four ales out on boards, all action came on the small gizzards. There was no striper action on the ales at all. Is there a preference to gizzards over ales during or soon after they go through their spawning cycle?
I tried several different setups from freelines on boards to adding some weight. It may simply be coincidence but whether is was a catch or a bait thief, the lines with small amounts of weight 1/4 to 1/2 ounce weight seemed to get all of the attention. It may have simply been the gizzards but I would love to hear back from the more experienced fisherman on the forum how weight, if any, plays a role in your setup this time of year.
I did see fish busting 3 times between 6:45 and until about 7:30 but with boards out I was never close enough to throw anything at them.
I also saw a group of four guys in a large skiff land what appeared to be a very large striper. From a hundred or so yards away, there was lots of cheering and lots of pictures. I saw the catch in the net and it overwhelmed the net. I could only get a glimpse of a portion of that fish but I never saw them return it to the water so I will assume it was greater than 40 inches, I missed the release or they simply didn't know the rules. It was a stud.