12/27-29 - Carrying on the Tradition
Dec 30, 2018 12:53:06 GMT -5
jb4sml, Live Bait JunkEE, and 5 more like this
Post by mwardncsu on Dec 30, 2018 12:53:06 GMT -5
Weather: Overcast & nice on Thur PM, rain most of the day on Sat, light to no wind, picking up in the late day; Mostly sunny skies on Sat AM
Water: 42-46, visibility ranged from 5' to mud depending where we fished
Techniques: Pulling 6-8" gizzards on free-lined planers - some with a "little something extra", weighted lines and a few downlines - pulled a few alewives as well
Mitchell and I have been fishing the week after Christmas for 4 or more years now - last couple of years we've fished out of his rig which is perfect for the winter weather that often is thrown at us - last year it was 17 degrees one morning
It sure was nice in the rain on Friday as well 
Mitchell got up Thur mid-day and started catching bait. I got to the lake and jumped on around 3pm and we hit a few creeks - we had a couple of missed hookups but did not get any fish to the boat - but it was just a warm-up day so that's alright.
We started about 8am on Friday - decided to not get out too early with all the rain as there is a ton of debris on the lake right now. It rained pretty good all morning - sometimes a full out down-pour. We didn't see another boat until late afternoon.
We made a run up to try and find some clean water - we found that - and found 42 degree water.... decided to fish it since we were there just to see.
Mud flowing into the channel from a creek....
Pulled a very long stretch without a sniff - marking no bait, no fish, nothing. Did have a board with an alewife bend over and Mitchell brought a nice smallmouth to the boat - at least the skunk was off
We were both thinking it was time to make a move when one of the planer boards buried.... fish on! Mitchell handed the rod over to me and it felt good. Made a few runs and was pulling some good drag on the Penn / Ugly Stik Tiger MH rod setup - saw the fish roll and could tell it was a good one - then as it got close to the boat and it came back up there were two fish - Had forgotten but the rig had an 8" gizzard, but then an artificial teaser spoon up above the bait and it also had a fish one. We were and to get both to the boat and in the net. Good fish - one was clearly a VA Citation fish - and the other was looking close. Got measurements on them and I had a new Smith Mountain personal best of just over 40" - and the 2nd fish went about 35" (2" short of a citation). The big one was 26 lbs - we didn't get a weight on the smaller of the two, but it was a fat 35" and was high teens for sure - so over 40 lbs of fish on one rod/reel at a time - awesome!
The big girl had deep hooked the teaser spoon and it was a bear to get out - though we finally did. Got them both in the water - the smaller one swam off pretty quick - worked the big girl for about 30 min by hand, and then put it in the livewell for another 30, and then pulled on bogas behind the boat for an hour but she never did revive - we had tried to release it a few times along the way and it just floated up so we retrieved it and kept trying to work it - but unfortunately she didn't make it - bittersweet for my new personal best. However, at least it was over 40" so I was able to harvest it (currently we have a slot-limit of no-fish, 30"-40" in place) and the family will enjoy it later this weekend.
We pulled on for quite a while longer until making a move around 3pm to pull a creek close to his hotel - water was pretty dirty but the fish were hungry - had a hit right off the bat putting out baits and we ended up landing 2 in the creek that were 33 & 34" with a few other misses to end the day
Recharged with some Mexican food that night and then was back up and at it on Saturday AM at 7. Started in the creek and had a hit almost right after getting baits out, but it didn't hook up - had another miss and then it went dead.
We stayed in the creek till about 10 and then moved out into the channel where one of the guys staying at the hotel had caught some on urigs - we marked some deep fish and eventually picked up one that was about 29"
I had to quit mid-day, so about noon we ran to a creek to reload the bait-tank for Mitchell to use the rest of the afternoon - a handful of throws and we had several dozen more 8-10" gizzards.
You guys keep Mitchell's family in your thoughts & prayers - he had to pack up in the middle of the night Sat and head home as his daughter was bitten on her face badly by a dog - had to have emergency surgery overnight - certainly not the way he wanted to end his trip up.
Was awesome to finally get that goal of a 40" striper on SML - Enjoyed my time on the water again with Mitchell and look forward to it again in 2019!
Water: 42-46, visibility ranged from 5' to mud depending where we fished
Techniques: Pulling 6-8" gizzards on free-lined planers - some with a "little something extra", weighted lines and a few downlines - pulled a few alewives as well
Mitchell and I have been fishing the week after Christmas for 4 or more years now - last couple of years we've fished out of his rig which is perfect for the winter weather that often is thrown at us - last year it was 17 degrees one morning
It sure was nice in the rain on Friday as well 
Mitchell got up Thur mid-day and started catching bait. I got to the lake and jumped on around 3pm and we hit a few creeks - we had a couple of missed hookups but did not get any fish to the boat - but it was just a warm-up day so that's alright.
We started about 8am on Friday - decided to not get out too early with all the rain as there is a ton of debris on the lake right now. It rained pretty good all morning - sometimes a full out down-pour. We didn't see another boat until late afternoon.
We made a run up to try and find some clean water - we found that - and found 42 degree water.... decided to fish it since we were there just to see.
Mud flowing into the channel from a creek....
Pulled a very long stretch without a sniff - marking no bait, no fish, nothing. Did have a board with an alewife bend over and Mitchell brought a nice smallmouth to the boat - at least the skunk was off
We were both thinking it was time to make a move when one of the planer boards buried.... fish on! Mitchell handed the rod over to me and it felt good. Made a few runs and was pulling some good drag on the Penn / Ugly Stik Tiger MH rod setup - saw the fish roll and could tell it was a good one - then as it got close to the boat and it came back up there were two fish
- Had forgotten but the rig had an 8" gizzard, but then an artificial teaser spoon up above the bait and it also had a fish one. We were and to get both to the boat and in the net. Good fish - one was clearly a VA Citation fish - and the other was looking close. Got measurements on them and I had a new Smith Mountain personal best of just over 40" - and the 2nd fish went about 35" (2" short of a citation). The big one was 26 lbs - we didn't get a weight on the smaller of the two, but it was a fat 35" and was high teens for sure - so over 40 lbs of fish on one rod/reel at a time - awesome!The big girl had deep hooked the teaser spoon and it was a bear to get out - though we finally did. Got them both in the water - the smaller one swam off pretty quick - worked the big girl for about 30 min by hand, and then put it in the livewell for another 30, and then pulled on bogas behind the boat for an hour but she never did revive - we had tried to release it a few times along the way and it just floated up so we retrieved it and kept trying to work it - but unfortunately she didn't make it - bittersweet for my new personal best. However, at least it was over 40" so I was able to harvest it (currently we have a slot-limit of no-fish, 30"-40" in place) and the family will enjoy it later this weekend.
We pulled on for quite a while longer until making a move around 3pm to pull a creek close to his hotel - water was pretty dirty but the fish were hungry - had a hit right off the bat putting out baits and we ended up landing 2 in the creek that were 33 & 34" with a few other misses to end the day
Recharged with some Mexican food that night and then was back up and at it on Saturday AM at 7. Started in the creek and had a hit almost right after getting baits out, but it didn't hook up - had another miss and then it went dead.
We stayed in the creek till about 10 and then moved out into the channel where one of the guys staying at the hotel had caught some on urigs - we marked some deep fish and eventually picked up one that was about 29"
I had to quit mid-day, so about noon we ran to a creek to reload the bait-tank for Mitchell to use the rest of the afternoon - a handful of throws and we had several dozen more 8-10" gizzards.
You guys keep Mitchell's family in your thoughts & prayers - he had to pack up in the middle of the night Sat and head home as his daughter was bitten on her face badly by a dog - had to have emergency surgery overnight - certainly not the way he wanted to end his trip up.
Was awesome to finally get that goal of a 40" striper on SML - Enjoyed my time on the water again with Mitchell and look forward to it again in 2019!
