Post by R22 on Oct 27, 2020 10:43:52 GMT -5
The person I usually fish with was bringing a friend from WV in hopes of having striper for dinner. That's always fun but it puts some pressure on you to produce.
I caught bait on Friday to fish on Saturday and Sunday. I had fished the previous Saturday, 10/17, and was only able to find small bait in the 5-6 inch range. I hoped this week would be different but it was not to be. I am sure these bigger baits are somewhere but I was not able to locate them during the past two weekends. Many of the creeks showed little to no bait, so after 4 hours of a bait hunt, I took what I could get and loaded the tank with more of the same 5-6 inch baits. I had hoped to add a few ales early the next morning, but after throwing on three normally reliable lights with nothing to show for it with the sun beginning to rise, I headed out to try and get that early bite.
We fished from first light until 2:30 pm. By mid-morning, it was a day of shorts and t-shirts. Fishing traffic was heavy.
The Big Bass tournament had lots of boats and the striper boats were wall to wall. Aside from one early chase, we had no action at all and ended the day with a skunk. We fished from mid-lake to the trestles. Before heading in, we caught more of the same 5-6 inch bait for Sunday. Because of the nice weather, the recreational traffic was heavy in the afternoon.
In spite of the steady rain on Sunday morning, we hit it again, hoping the frontal change would bring on a better bite. I needed to put a fish in the boat. The amount of traffic, fishing or otherwise was very minimal on Sunday. Unfortunately, the morning result was rough, with no runs or chases to speak of. By mid-afternoon, the weather began to change, and although our bait seemed fine, we were seeing some bait of similar size and decided to freshen the tank. I don't know if it was the weather or the fresh bait, but at our next stop, we saw activity right away but missed twice. A short while after, a board dove for the first time in two days. A nice 29+ incher that weighed 8 lbs. A little further into the pull, we hooked up again. We never saw this fish as it came unbuttoned about 30 seconds into the fight. It was a nice fish, but likely a catfish.
During the next 30 minutes, we saw a big increase in fish activity we had not seen during the last day and one-half.
Our guest had to head by to WV. We ended the day with one fish for his dinner. He was both excited and grateful. I don't know if it was the turn in the weather or the fresh bait, but I felt like we left them biting.
We fished with free and light lines. When we found fish, we stopped a few times and tried some downlines with no results. The fish we caught and all other activity came on free lines.
If anyone has any helpful tips to catch fish during these challenging days, I would love to hear what you do differently. I am also interested in hearing anyone's take on barometric pressure and how it impacts the striper bite. The pressure on Saturday and early Sunday was slowly rising during the daylight hours, whereas, it began to level off and slowly decline just before our good bite began on Sunday afternoon. For those of you that feel the barometric pressure is impactful, what is the most challenging, rising or falling? Is high or low OK as long as it is steady?
How do you fish differently during these periods?
I caught bait on Friday to fish on Saturday and Sunday. I had fished the previous Saturday, 10/17, and was only able to find small bait in the 5-6 inch range. I hoped this week would be different but it was not to be. I am sure these bigger baits are somewhere but I was not able to locate them during the past two weekends. Many of the creeks showed little to no bait, so after 4 hours of a bait hunt, I took what I could get and loaded the tank with more of the same 5-6 inch baits. I had hoped to add a few ales early the next morning, but after throwing on three normally reliable lights with nothing to show for it with the sun beginning to rise, I headed out to try and get that early bite.
We fished from first light until 2:30 pm. By mid-morning, it was a day of shorts and t-shirts. Fishing traffic was heavy.
The Big Bass tournament had lots of boats and the striper boats were wall to wall. Aside from one early chase, we had no action at all and ended the day with a skunk. We fished from mid-lake to the trestles. Before heading in, we caught more of the same 5-6 inch bait for Sunday. Because of the nice weather, the recreational traffic was heavy in the afternoon.
In spite of the steady rain on Sunday morning, we hit it again, hoping the frontal change would bring on a better bite. I needed to put a fish in the boat. The amount of traffic, fishing or otherwise was very minimal on Sunday. Unfortunately, the morning result was rough, with no runs or chases to speak of. By mid-afternoon, the weather began to change, and although our bait seemed fine, we were seeing some bait of similar size and decided to freshen the tank. I don't know if it was the weather or the fresh bait, but at our next stop, we saw activity right away but missed twice. A short while after, a board dove for the first time in two days. A nice 29+ incher that weighed 8 lbs. A little further into the pull, we hooked up again. We never saw this fish as it came unbuttoned about 30 seconds into the fight. It was a nice fish, but likely a catfish.
During the next 30 minutes, we saw a big increase in fish activity we had not seen during the last day and one-half.
Our guest had to head by to WV. We ended the day with one fish for his dinner. He was both excited and grateful. I don't know if it was the turn in the weather or the fresh bait, but I felt like we left them biting.
We fished with free and light lines. When we found fish, we stopped a few times and tried some downlines with no results. The fish we caught and all other activity came on free lines.
If anyone has any helpful tips to catch fish during these challenging days, I would love to hear what you do differently. I am also interested in hearing anyone's take on barometric pressure and how it impacts the striper bite. The pressure on Saturday and early Sunday was slowly rising during the daylight hours, whereas, it began to level off and slowly decline just before our good bite began on Sunday afternoon. For those of you that feel the barometric pressure is impactful, what is the most challenging, rising or falling? Is high or low OK as long as it is steady?
How do you fish differently during these periods?
