11/4/18 & 11/5/18 - Got It and Forgot It
Nov 4, 2018 20:46:01 GMT -5
jb4sml, tiltntrim, and 6 more like this
Post by mwardncsu on Nov 4, 2018 20:46:01 GMT -5
Weather: Temps starting in the 40's and rising to the 60's. Winds on Sat were light & variable quickly turning to 10-15 with gust to 20+ from the NW; Sunday was still to start with winds 5-10 from the E
Water: 57 - 63, visibility from a couple of feet to lightly stained
Techniques: 6-8" gizzard shad with a few up to 10"; Pulled on free-lined & light-lighted planers, free & light-lined floats & light-line out the back - running 6 boards & 2 lines out the back most of the time
Feels like it had been an eternity - finally - my first trip of the Fall. Had tried to get out a couple of times before but the Hurricanes changed those plans. Had not fished since the Striper Club tourney in May - and that was on Craig's boat - before that the previous time I'd fished on my boat was January in the Fire Dept tourney and I didn't even catch a fish....
Fri night I put the bait tank back on the boat and retied all my leaders/hooks/lines as I had no idea when they were last used - guess it was Jan for most of them. Was a nice night just to sit on the boat and tie some knots. Gator and Cohesion stopped by about 6:30a and we headed down jumped aboard and hit the Easy button for bait to start the day - picked up some bait that was chilling in a near-by tank that Gator helped catch the Thur the week before. We headed to a near-by creek and out out the spread and started pulling.
I was curious to see if I remembered how to even hook up a bait and a planer board, but things were going pretty well. Had a couple of short-strikes / pull-downs but eventually Cohesion hooked up on a nice fish - it went 35" & 18 lbs. Not a bad way to kick off some Fall Fishing!
We pulled more than 1/2 way into the creek and hit some secondary points but the further we went into the creek the less action we had. Doubled back and pulled out - on our way out we picked up another - my 1st fish on the Sea Hunt of 2018! 33" and 14 lbs
We moved to another creek to pull a section in the back 1/2 without any signs of life, so we moved on up the lake a ways and pulled another stretch - another scratch so we moved on up some more. Saw our old friend Yam and his son doing what Yam does - catching bait - Cohesion tossed the net a few times and we put a dozen or so baits in the tank and went for a long pull. Had a couple of signs of life but we finally managed to pick up one more there - the smallest of the day right at 30" and 12 or so pounds.
Mid-afternoon we headed back down lake and hit the bait spot again and Cohesion netted some nice plump 8" shad along with a couple that went 10". We made a pull on the main channel with a few swirls but nothing that wanted to commit so moved on back down closer to home and slid into the back of one of my favorite creeks to find a new dock being build that totally messes up the pull - how dare those property owners - but we pulled it from the back out - missing one - then as we almost got out to the channel we got Gator on his first fish of the day -
Pulled more of the main channel and on back into my creek - where we picked up the last of the day - that went just over 30" and we wrapped it up as the sun was starting to set - 12 hours on the water with 5 fish to the boat, 2 that we lost (one broken leader and one pulled hook), and several hooks-ups that did not connect. A fun day on the water and I was more than pleased that everything came together after not fishing for so long.
Sunday AM I decided to forgo the whole "Fall Back" thing and I got up and out on the water a little bit after sunrise, fishing the left-over 8" baits. It was chilly and foggy to start, but fairly quickly the fog burned / blew off. I headed to the creek where we put Gator on a fish and had missed another and started my pull from the channel in - but no action to be found at all.
Moved on to the creek where we started the day on Saturday, but again, after a LONG pull, not a sniff on the baits
Made a move up the lake and fished a stretch where we did not on Saturday, but I had heard there were a lot of fish holding - another long pull and not a single nervous bait - but I marked piles and piles and piles of small gizzards for 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile at least.
I wrapped it up about 11:15 without a sniff at a bait today..... maybe I should have turned right instead of left out of the creek this morning - who knows.... blue-bird skies.... I knew the evening would be better based on the forecast of clouds rolling in mid-afternoon, but I had to go sit in two Association meetings this afternoon But, it was a beautiful morning for a boat ride, and you can't ask for more beautiful scenery than SML in the Fall.... so I remembered how to catch fish on Sat, forgot it on Sun and I'm ready to go hit it again ASAP!
Water: 57 - 63, visibility from a couple of feet to lightly stained
Techniques: 6-8" gizzard shad with a few up to 10"; Pulled on free-lined & light-lighted planers, free & light-lined floats & light-line out the back - running 6 boards & 2 lines out the back most of the time
Feels like it had been an eternity - finally - my first trip of the Fall. Had tried to get out a couple of times before but the Hurricanes changed those plans. Had not fished since the Striper Club tourney in May - and that was on Craig's boat - before that the previous time I'd fished on my boat was January in the Fire Dept tourney and I didn't even catch a fish....
Fri night I put the bait tank back on the boat and retied all my leaders/hooks/lines as I had no idea when they were last used - guess it was Jan for most of them. Was a nice night just to sit on the boat and tie some knots. Gator and Cohesion stopped by about 6:30a and we headed down jumped aboard and hit the Easy button for bait to start the day - picked up some bait that was chilling in a near-by tank that Gator helped catch the Thur the week before. We headed to a near-by creek and out out the spread and started pulling.
I was curious to see if I remembered how to even hook up a bait and a planer board, but things were going pretty well. Had a couple of short-strikes / pull-downs but eventually Cohesion hooked up on a nice fish - it went 35" & 18 lbs. Not a bad way to kick off some Fall Fishing!
We pulled more than 1/2 way into the creek and hit some secondary points but the further we went into the creek the less action we had. Doubled back and pulled out - on our way out we picked up another - my 1st fish on the Sea Hunt of 2018! 33" and 14 lbs
We moved to another creek to pull a section in the back 1/2 without any signs of life, so we moved on up the lake a ways and pulled another stretch - another scratch so we moved on up some more. Saw our old friend Yam and his son doing what Yam does - catching bait - Cohesion tossed the net a few times and we put a dozen or so baits in the tank and went for a long pull. Had a couple of signs of life but we finally managed to pick up one more there - the smallest of the day right at 30" and 12 or so pounds.
Mid-afternoon we headed back down lake and hit the bait spot again and Cohesion netted some nice plump 8" shad along with a couple that went 10". We made a pull on the main channel with a few swirls but nothing that wanted to commit so moved on back down closer to home and slid into the back of one of my favorite creeks to find a new dock being build that totally messes up the pull - how dare those property owners - but we pulled it from the back out - missing one - then as we almost got out to the channel we got Gator on his first fish of the day -
Pulled more of the main channel and on back into my creek - where we picked up the last of the day - that went just over 30" and we wrapped it up as the sun was starting to set - 12 hours on the water with 5 fish to the boat, 2 that we lost (one broken leader and one pulled hook), and several hooks-ups that did not connect. A fun day on the water and I was more than pleased that everything came together after not fishing for so long.
Sunday AM I decided to forgo the whole "Fall Back" thing and I got up and out on the water a little bit after sunrise, fishing the left-over 8" baits. It was chilly and foggy to start, but fairly quickly the fog burned / blew off. I headed to the creek where we put Gator on a fish and had missed another and started my pull from the channel in - but no action to be found at all.
Moved on to the creek where we started the day on Saturday, but again, after a LONG pull, not a sniff on the baits
Made a move up the lake and fished a stretch where we did not on Saturday, but I had heard there were a lot of fish holding - another long pull and not a single nervous bait - but I marked piles and piles and piles of small gizzards for 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile at least.
I wrapped it up about 11:15 without a sniff at a bait today..... maybe I should have turned right instead of left out of the creek this morning - who knows.... blue-bird skies.... I knew the evening would be better based on the forecast of clouds rolling in mid-afternoon, but I had to go sit in two Association meetings this afternoon But, it was a beautiful morning for a boat ride, and you can't ask for more beautiful scenery than SML in the Fall.... so I remembered how to catch fish on Sat, forgot it on Sun and I'm ready to go hit it again ASAP!