2-24-18 - First Trip of 2018
Feb 26, 2018 10:57:01 GMT -5
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mwardncsu, tiltntrim, and 3 more like this
Post by R22 on Feb 26, 2018 10:57:01 GMT -5
Weather - Temperatures unseasonable warm - Sprinkling rain at daylight - Overcast skies most of the morning
Hours Fished - 4.5
Technique - 6 light lined and free lined planers. One float out the back.
I was able to get to the lake early enough on Friday to make a bait run. After hearing how easy bait had been in the last week and I was excited to get back on the water with visions of two or three Friday evening runs to help overload the home tank but things didn't work out as well as I had hoped. After rounding up everything I needed, I was greeted with two weak/dead batteries. One thing about striper fishing, you always have extra batteries for a jump. After a short delay, I was on my way.
My first bait stop produced nothing - not a single throw. At my second stop, the bait was plentiful but all sizes seemed to be blended together. With almost every throw, I had to sort through 50 silver dollars to get one or two 8-10 inch baits. I ended up with nothing in the home tank, 30 throws that resulted 18 good baits in the 8-12 inch range mixed in with a dozen or so silver dollars. Enough to fish on Saturday morning.
I started in the mouth of a nearby creek. As the sun began to rise, you could hear the roar of boat motors humming down lake. Within minutes, it looked like a NASCAR race - a bass tournament. I assumed I would be competing for shoreline but ended up not being case.
The morning started slow. I had no action for the first hour or so, then things began to pick up quickly. I had a board get slammed and while dealing with that fish, I had another go down. I thought I was going to get both fish to the boat but after releasing the first fish, 30 inches, and just as I got to the second rod and began to reel, the line went slack.
I got those lines rebaited and circled back and had two lines go off again, one on each side of the boat. I lost the first fish but landed the second. Poor picture but it was a 28 inch fish.
The morning remained very active until I ran out of my bigger baits. I landed three more fish, all in the 28-30 inch range that gave me a total of five fish boated for the morning. I had lots of chases, pull downs, stolen baits and had at least four fish that I lost during the fight. All action came on 8-12 inch baits. Most came on light lines, in deep water with 25-30 feet of line trailing the planer.
I hope someone can help me determine what mutilated this one bait. This was probably a 10-11 inch bait. It was hit very aggressively, I set the hook or at least I thought I did. I played the fish for at least a minute. It felt like a really nice fish. Nice enough that I began to wonder if I would be able to handle the fish and net it by myself. And just a quickly as it started the fish let go. Here is a picture of what I got back. The bait was dead.
I ran out of good bait so I decided to end my day catching some more to begin loading the home tank. Bigger baits were much easier mid-day without a ton a smaller baits mixed in.
All in all, it was a fun morning. A great start for my fishing diary in 2018.
Hours Fished - 4.5
Technique - 6 light lined and free lined planers. One float out the back.
I was able to get to the lake early enough on Friday to make a bait run. After hearing how easy bait had been in the last week and I was excited to get back on the water with visions of two or three Friday evening runs to help overload the home tank but things didn't work out as well as I had hoped. After rounding up everything I needed, I was greeted with two weak/dead batteries. One thing about striper fishing, you always have extra batteries for a jump. After a short delay, I was on my way.
My first bait stop produced nothing - not a single throw. At my second stop, the bait was plentiful but all sizes seemed to be blended together. With almost every throw, I had to sort through 50 silver dollars to get one or two 8-10 inch baits. I ended up with nothing in the home tank, 30 throws that resulted 18 good baits in the 8-12 inch range mixed in with a dozen or so silver dollars. Enough to fish on Saturday morning.
I started in the mouth of a nearby creek. As the sun began to rise, you could hear the roar of boat motors humming down lake. Within minutes, it looked like a NASCAR race - a bass tournament. I assumed I would be competing for shoreline but ended up not being case.
The morning started slow. I had no action for the first hour or so, then things began to pick up quickly. I had a board get slammed and while dealing with that fish, I had another go down. I thought I was going to get both fish to the boat but after releasing the first fish, 30 inches, and just as I got to the second rod and began to reel, the line went slack.
I got those lines rebaited and circled back and had two lines go off again, one on each side of the boat. I lost the first fish but landed the second. Poor picture but it was a 28 inch fish.
The morning remained very active until I ran out of my bigger baits. I landed three more fish, all in the 28-30 inch range that gave me a total of five fish boated for the morning. I had lots of chases, pull downs, stolen baits and had at least four fish that I lost during the fight. All action came on 8-12 inch baits. Most came on light lines, in deep water with 25-30 feet of line trailing the planer.
I hope someone can help me determine what mutilated this one bait. This was probably a 10-11 inch bait. It was hit very aggressively, I set the hook or at least I thought I did. I played the fish for at least a minute. It felt like a really nice fish. Nice enough that I began to wonder if I would be able to handle the fish and net it by myself. And just a quickly as it started the fish let go. Here is a picture of what I got back. The bait was dead.
I ran out of good bait so I decided to end my day catching some more to begin loading the home tank. Bigger baits were much easier mid-day without a ton a smaller baits mixed in.
All in all, it was a fun morning. A great start for my fishing diary in 2018.
