Memorial Day 2024 Morning Trip

[chrisw]

Summary: early trip with live bait drifting and trolling. No stripers caught, just two white perch and a channel catfish. Water temp was 78-79 and weather was mostly cloudy with some light rain.

I’ve been out a few times lately, but yesterday was my first chance in a long time that I wasn’t rushed. I got up early to make sure I could catch some bait and I was on the water before 5:30. Bait was relatively easy at a nearby dock light. There were some largemouth bass and a flathead who were also taking advantage of the bait.

Based on some advice from a friend, I planned to target mid lake creek mouths. I started out in Becky/Betty’s creek and trolled/drifted 4 lines for about an hour and a half, passing at least 6 points in the creek mouth. All I had to show for that was one white perch, and I wasn’t seeing much of anything on sonar that looked like a striper, so I decided to move on.

I explored a few smaller creek mouths and didn’t see much of interest, so I moved down past the S-curve to what I guess people call Strawberry Banks. I spent the rest of my time in that area and picked up another white perch and a channel catfish. I ended up on a main lake hump just below the S-curve when I called it for the day. There were a few other boats striper fishing around me, but I never saw them catch anything either. Maybe I missed it. The perch and catfish all came near, but not under, boat docks. Boat traffic wasn’t terrible, the rain helped keep people away I think.

I would love to hear any advice on how to improve my chances. This time of year should I just ignore the sonar and fish shallow? Should I have waited longer, or tried more places? I mostly focused on shallow water and prominent points, should I have spent more time drifting through deeper creek mouths?

I hope you get a chance to get out.

[johnr]

You were looking in the right regions. Maybe not the right spots though.

This time of year, use the sonar. I’ll ride around until I find fish, even if that means 2 hours of just riding. From now through early fall, the fish are grouped up - so you could be fishing a couple hundred yards away from massive schools but never get a bite all day. Find them first, then fish the area. Right now, they’re still migratory, but once they settle into the summer areas they’ll stay in a pretty small general area until the food is gone. Then movements will be just daily responses to bait, water temp and traffic.

Also, try to catch better bait. Fish in early June have the feedbag on. Big baits, gizzards and alewives will get more attention.

[chrisw]

Thanks John.

I didn’t realize they would be schooling up already. I thought this would happen a little later. I’m always torn about looking or fishing. Most trips, I only have time for one and not the other. Yesterday I had time for both, but after some looking with no luck, I thought maybe they were shallow and not easily visible on electronics. Also, my sidescan ability is pretty limited, being a low budget model. Traditional sonar is OK, but obviously only works if they are straight down.

I’m not sure how to go about catching bigger bait. Either it’s under the light or I don’t catch it. I’ve tried during the day and had very limited success. I don’t think I’ve ever caught bait over about 5” long, and 3” is more typical.

[johnr]

Catching bigger bait is all about the location and the net. The time it takes to find a catch the right bait is usually well worth it. Some lights are better than others for big bait, and some only hold good bait at certain times of year. Same with bait in coves and creeks.

If you don’t have time to search, you can concentrate your efforts on high percentage areas and usually come away with something. The best way to find these areas is either time on the water, or mapping. Sometimes both…

The next few weeks is arguably the BEST time to striper fish on SML.

[chrisw]

I talked with my friend who lives on the lake this morning. He was on vacation last week. He said the alewives on his dock light are bigger than the mix of threadfins and ales that I caught. He also said I should have been using planer boards up on the bank rather than downlines, even if they were only 8-10 feet down.

But then he said that would only be true for about another week, when the alewife spawn winds down and then downlines might be a better bet.

Bottom line: I guess I should have been there yesterday