Post by R22 on Apr 5, 2016 8:34:12 GMT -5
Saturday - April 2nd
Water Temperature - 59 degrees
Weather - Gusting winds from 25-30 MPH
Technique - 4 Planers
I had been out of town all week. Yard work and my grandson's soccer game kept me from getting to the lake until about 2:30 Saturday afternoon. A coworker of mine and his son took an afternoon trip with me. We had his son out with us during the most recent tournament and we skunked. We blamed it on him, of course. Taking a young person out is pretty rewarding. A skunk during their first trip may be a good thing. If they are not as excited on their next trip following a skunk, they probably weren't cut out for fishing anyway.
We left the house at 3:00 and headed out in search of bait. Bait was fairly easy, we found a dozen or so moneymakers and a handful mongos in about 45 minutes. I had a plan but the winds were unbelievable so we headed anywhere we could find a little bit of shelter from the wind. We had four planer lines in before 5 pm in an area that provided us a little less wind. Turned out well for us as we fished about 2.5 hours and caught four fish - a 26, 29 and two 31 inch fish. One of the 31 inch fish weighed 11 pounds while the other weighed 14. I assume this may be the difference between male and female this time of year. All fish came off the two inside boards running well off the bank.
Both were excited but he was more excited than his son
Sunday - April 3rd
Water Temperature - 57 degrees
Weather - Bluebird skies with gusting winds until mid-day.
Technique - 4 Planers
Overnight, the winds were tough enough to freely move some reasonably heavy chairs around on the deck. The gusts were significant. The winds were suppose to lay a little in the late morning so we waited until about 9:30 before heading out. Again, we wanted to catch a few baits. It was a good thing we only wanted a few as Sunday morning was completely different than Saturday evening. Bait was much deeper and was one or two for every 3-4 throws. As the morning wore on, we found bait a little more shallow and we were able to pick up a few decent moneymakers. The decent baits were mixed with the peanuts. Throwing the net was a real chore today as we only picked up a few keepers for every thousand or so peanuts.
Today, we had another one of my friend's sons onboard. It was his first trip and we skunked. Yes, we are blaming him and he will wear the nickname of "Stinky" until he earns something different. We fished from 10:30am-6:00pm. We fished points, creeks, channels, up lake and mid-lake. We were on fish most of the day but had very little action. We tried freelines and lightlines. We varied the distance between the bait and the boards. Only twice during the day did we get a decent pull back.
The Saturday afternoon trip made me feel like a real fisherman while Sunday was a humbling experience and made me recognize that there is a difference between those of us that catch fish when everyone is catching fish and those of you that catch fish when the conditions are challenging. Since our skunk on Sunday, I have tried to determine what I learned from my experience that day and I seem to only come up with convenient excuses. Should I be in the creeks or on the channel. Do I waste my time trolling the channel? Should I focus on prominent points? Should I be up lake, mid-lake or in between? I remember when Yam said that Travis told him he was thinking too much. I think I resemble that remark. I have definitely been thinking about it. My mind feels like that little circle on my computer that just keeps spinning and then times out.
Any and all feedback and criticism is welcomed.
Looking forward to this weekend and the final Striper Mafia Tournament where hopefully I will learn a little more.
Water Temperature - 59 degrees
Weather - Gusting winds from 25-30 MPH
Technique - 4 Planers
I had been out of town all week. Yard work and my grandson's soccer game kept me from getting to the lake until about 2:30 Saturday afternoon. A coworker of mine and his son took an afternoon trip with me. We had his son out with us during the most recent tournament and we skunked. We blamed it on him, of course. Taking a young person out is pretty rewarding. A skunk during their first trip may be a good thing. If they are not as excited on their next trip following a skunk, they probably weren't cut out for fishing anyway.
We left the house at 3:00 and headed out in search of bait. Bait was fairly easy, we found a dozen or so moneymakers and a handful mongos in about 45 minutes. I had a plan but the winds were unbelievable so we headed anywhere we could find a little bit of shelter from the wind. We had four planer lines in before 5 pm in an area that provided us a little less wind. Turned out well for us as we fished about 2.5 hours and caught four fish - a 26, 29 and two 31 inch fish. One of the 31 inch fish weighed 11 pounds while the other weighed 14. I assume this may be the difference between male and female this time of year. All fish came off the two inside boards running well off the bank.
Both were excited but he was more excited than his son
Sunday - April 3rd
Water Temperature - 57 degrees
Weather - Bluebird skies with gusting winds until mid-day.
Technique - 4 Planers
Overnight, the winds were tough enough to freely move some reasonably heavy chairs around on the deck. The gusts were significant. The winds were suppose to lay a little in the late morning so we waited until about 9:30 before heading out. Again, we wanted to catch a few baits. It was a good thing we only wanted a few as Sunday morning was completely different than Saturday evening. Bait was much deeper and was one or two for every 3-4 throws. As the morning wore on, we found bait a little more shallow and we were able to pick up a few decent moneymakers. The decent baits were mixed with the peanuts. Throwing the net was a real chore today as we only picked up a few keepers for every thousand or so peanuts.
Today, we had another one of my friend's sons onboard. It was his first trip and we skunked. Yes, we are blaming him and he will wear the nickname of "Stinky" until he earns something different. We fished from 10:30am-6:00pm. We fished points, creeks, channels, up lake and mid-lake. We were on fish most of the day but had very little action. We tried freelines and lightlines. We varied the distance between the bait and the boards. Only twice during the day did we get a decent pull back.
The Saturday afternoon trip made me feel like a real fisherman while Sunday was a humbling experience and made me recognize that there is a difference between those of us that catch fish when everyone is catching fish and those of you that catch fish when the conditions are challenging. Since our skunk on Sunday, I have tried to determine what I learned from my experience that day and I seem to only come up with convenient excuses. Should I be in the creeks or on the channel. Do I waste my time trolling the channel? Should I focus on prominent points? Should I be up lake, mid-lake or in between? I remember when Yam said that Travis told him he was thinking too much. I think I resemble that remark. I have definitely been thinking about it. My mind feels like that little circle on my computer that just keeps spinning and then times out.
Any and all feedback and criticism is welcomed.
Looking forward to this weekend and the final Striper Mafia Tournament where hopefully I will learn a little more.
