Post by strite on Jan 1, 2013 14:00:30 GMT -5
Hey guys, keep up the good reporting! Me and 2 buddies did our yearly SML striper trip the past couple days. Been doing this for about 20 years now (since we got our driving license) and made the 2.5 hr trip down from Harrisonburg. I have posted past year reports on the old website.
Here's the report from the Dark Side:
12/28: Did some casting early up on the banks around B35, landed 1 small striper, then moved out to jigging. Caught 3 more slotter by 9a.m. the biggest being a 35" 16.4 lb fish I caught. I've tried to attach a pic. Hope it works. Nothing the rest of the day. Marked singles which would come up and look at our jigs, but no takers.
12/29: Went back to the same area in the morning, nothing all day until the last hour of daylight we got into a school between B32 and B34. No other schools marked until we got on them in the evening. Landed 7 fish in that last hour of day light.
12/30: Slept in, went out late morning and only marked singles most of the day. Again, late evening, last hour of dayight and suddenly a HUGE school appeared aroudn B30A. We stayed on these fish until dark, which was amazing! I think I read another report from the Roanoke side that said they stayed on the fish for an extended period of time, which just doesn't happen very often. Anyway, during that hour we landed 13 fish, the largest being a 37.25" 18.5 lb fish. Awesome fight on 10 lb line. Again, tried to post a pic of it that my buddy Mike caught. Most other fish were between 24-29". Jigged all the fish up.
12/31: Stayed up to watch the skins game the night before so didn't go out early, but should have. My two buddies went out around 9a.m and got on the fish again in the same area as the day before. They landed 1 and had a couple others on in an hour of fishing but had to come back then. They did talk to another fisherman out there that had gotten into pretty good around 8a.m. he said in the same B32 area.
All in all, a decent trip, but spotty as usual. I wish there would have been some birds like I hear have been up on the Roanoke side. We had absolutely no bird activity up Blackwater which definitely can make it a little tougher locating the schools. Most of our fish were caught jigging green sassy shad, white flukes and swim shad. Good luck this year to all!
Here's the report from the Dark Side:
12/28: Did some casting early up on the banks around B35, landed 1 small striper, then moved out to jigging. Caught 3 more slotter by 9a.m. the biggest being a 35" 16.4 lb fish I caught. I've tried to attach a pic. Hope it works. Nothing the rest of the day. Marked singles which would come up and look at our jigs, but no takers.
12/29: Went back to the same area in the morning, nothing all day until the last hour of daylight we got into a school between B32 and B34. No other schools marked until we got on them in the evening. Landed 7 fish in that last hour of day light.
12/30: Slept in, went out late morning and only marked singles most of the day. Again, late evening, last hour of dayight and suddenly a HUGE school appeared aroudn B30A. We stayed on these fish until dark, which was amazing! I think I read another report from the Roanoke side that said they stayed on the fish for an extended period of time, which just doesn't happen very often. Anyway, during that hour we landed 13 fish, the largest being a 37.25" 18.5 lb fish. Awesome fight on 10 lb line. Again, tried to post a pic of it that my buddy Mike caught. Most other fish were between 24-29". Jigged all the fish up.
12/31: Stayed up to watch the skins game the night before so didn't go out early, but should have. My two buddies went out around 9a.m and got on the fish again in the same area as the day before. They landed 1 and had a couple others on in an hour of fishing but had to come back then. They did talk to another fisherman out there that had gotten into pretty good around 8a.m. he said in the same B32 area.
All in all, a decent trip, but spotty as usual. I wish there would have been some birds like I hear have been up on the Roanoke side. We had absolutely no bird activity up Blackwater which definitely can make it a little tougher locating the schools. Most of our fish were caught jigging green sassy shad, white flukes and swim shad. Good luck this year to all!
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