5/25 late report

[Chasinshad]

First post but I have been studying this site for awhile and can finally contribute, even though i believe luck definitely played a part in this one.
We left oak grove ramp about 7pm. Had dozen small ales 3-4” left over from the night before. I decided to just go find fish instead of bait for now. We marked some fish coming into Becky’s and I had a friend that was eager to catch anything that swims. Anchored up on a point for my friend to catch some channels on a few dead bait while I did some rigging. Quickly caught a nice channel on a dead ale. Then a 29” Striper on the bottom in 20fow, a dead ale rigged for down line fishing. That was my first striper on my new to me boat.
We switched to trolling some live ales and the action stopped.
Headed in about midnight.
Having trouble locating bait that’s not on a light at the moment. Should I try further up lake in the muddy creeks?
Also Just picked up a 8ft 1/2”. 1.5lb per ft betts super pro. I have a feeling it will be more productive than my 6ft 1/4” net.

[mwardncsu]

Thanks for posting - like they say - better to be lucky than good

[piper]

I know there will always be objections to the rule however Ive been told quite often , Gizzards above the bridge and ales below the bridge on the Roanoke side. I dont no squat about the dark side    Backs of creeks is a good place. Hard to mark things in shallow water. Sometimes you have to throw blindly and learn. It takes time and a sore back to learn SML but its well worth it.

Bigger the better on the net however you need to be able to open it fully otherwise its useless. Id say 8 is good in shallow but would not use it in deeper water myself. My favorite is a 10' with 5/8 mesh.