Fishing report 7/2 - 7/9
Jul 12, 2022 19:15:38 GMT -5
via mobile
BentRod, jb4sml, and 4 more like this
Post by stripersonly on Jul 12, 2022 19:15:38 GMT -5
Hey guys - since a bunch of you were super helpful in my other post of catching shad I figured I’d give the fishing report for our week at the lake.
I’ve got a new (used) Sportsman Island Bay 20 that we got to take out really for the first time this year. New boat, new xtreme bait tank, and frankly I’m new to striper fishing so this has been a lot of experimentation and learning for me.
We were at the lake 7/2 - 7/9. We’re lucky to have a family member down in Hatcher creek where we store the boat in the water when we visit.
I spent a lot of my week learning how to catch bait, hence my other post with a million questions about bait and lights. But I was able to catch both alewives off the dock after a 100 throws and gizzards pretty easily in the shallows.
On to the fishing report..
I spent my first few mornings leaving the dock at 6am and headed up the Roanoke. I’d stop and scan here and there along the main channel upstream of the S-Curve, but didn’t find much until I went off the main channel and found secondary points.
First morning I was in the cove off of breezy point, R25, marking tons of bait and some small groups of stripers. Dropped in some alewives, deep, I think maybe too deep, like 40ft and never got bit. Tried a few different depths there but no luck.
I cruised up to Betty’s/ Becky’s, scanned and didn’t see much activity at the mouths but a ways back in Betty’s I marked fish, dropped lines in shallower, 25ft, and immediately got hit by two, lost a nice one and caught the second which was a little 3-4 pounder. Trolled a bit more and that was it.
The next couple of days I struggled catching alewives on our dock and only had gizzards, Which fished in a bunch of coves between the S-Curve and the bridge the next few days with zero hits, no luck at all.
Last Saturday morning I was out again, half asleep from drinking too much and staying up catching alewives off the dock all dang night. But I headed up the Black Water to Gills and Crazyhorse. Marked a lotta bait in both creeks and after fishing the morning we ended up catching 4, nice 8-10 pound fish, 28-30inches. I was so pumped! They were the biggest fish I’ve caught on the lake.
So from what I can see, Alewives trolled super slow, 10-30ft was the ticket. And the bait/fish appear to still be on secondary points at this time. Maybe moving to the main channels over the coming weeks.
Thanks to the group for all the tips. I was also lucky to have my wife on the boat the last morning and she’s now hooked on striper too.
Good luck out there!
I’ve got a new (used) Sportsman Island Bay 20 that we got to take out really for the first time this year. New boat, new xtreme bait tank, and frankly I’m new to striper fishing so this has been a lot of experimentation and learning for me.
We were at the lake 7/2 - 7/9. We’re lucky to have a family member down in Hatcher creek where we store the boat in the water when we visit.
I spent a lot of my week learning how to catch bait, hence my other post with a million questions about bait and lights. But I was able to catch both alewives off the dock after a 100 throws and gizzards pretty easily in the shallows.
On to the fishing report..
I spent my first few mornings leaving the dock at 6am and headed up the Roanoke. I’d stop and scan here and there along the main channel upstream of the S-Curve, but didn’t find much until I went off the main channel and found secondary points.
First morning I was in the cove off of breezy point, R25, marking tons of bait and some small groups of stripers. Dropped in some alewives, deep, I think maybe too deep, like 40ft and never got bit. Tried a few different depths there but no luck.
I cruised up to Betty’s/ Becky’s, scanned and didn’t see much activity at the mouths but a ways back in Betty’s I marked fish, dropped lines in shallower, 25ft, and immediately got hit by two, lost a nice one and caught the second which was a little 3-4 pounder. Trolled a bit more and that was it.
The next couple of days I struggled catching alewives on our dock and only had gizzards, Which fished in a bunch of coves between the S-Curve and the bridge the next few days with zero hits, no luck at all.
Last Saturday morning I was out again, half asleep from drinking too much and staying up catching alewives off the dock all dang night. But I headed up the Black Water to Gills and Crazyhorse. Marked a lotta bait in both creeks and after fishing the morning we ended up catching 4, nice 8-10 pound fish, 28-30inches. I was so pumped! They were the biggest fish I’ve caught on the lake.
So from what I can see, Alewives trolled super slow, 10-30ft was the ticket. And the bait/fish appear to still be on secondary points at this time. Maybe moving to the main channels over the coming weeks.
Thanks to the group for all the tips. I was also lucky to have my wife on the boat the last morning and she’s now hooked on striper too.
Good luck out there!
