Best day ever striper fishing 9/22/11

[Geraldlim]

I went out today early to try out something different from what I have been doing. Started out the morning in my usual technique and within an hour had put a 8.5 (I think? Weighed it but which fish weighed what is getting fuzzy) and a 12.6 lb striper in the boat, plus a couple of schoolies which were released. Good start.

Then I started trying some new things, and surprisingly it started to produce. Not a crazy wide open bite but a slow steady pick. Almost all were quality fish.

To cut a long story short, ended the day with 15 fish, only 4 if which were schoolies. The other 11 were between 6 and 12 lbs 10 oz. It would have been only 10 fish, except after about 6 nice ones I started to using the lip gripper (cheap Mustad one, not the Bocagrip) to land the fish so as not to have to deal with the mess of a big fish in the net plus the hook catching the net etc. On a nice fish between 8-10 lbs I grabbed it with the lip gripper, then when I lifted it into the boat the gripper malfunctioned and the fish dropped back as the hook popped out. So I ended up keeping fish #11 which was 6 lbs. I quit at 1:30pm.

The fish came from 7 different spots. Probably could have limited out staying in a few spots but wanted to test out if it was the same at other similar areas.

First 2 fish
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/geraldlim/IMG_0557.jpg





Cooler filling up
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/geraldlim/IMG_0560.jpg





The days catch
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/geraldlim/Fishing/IMG_0567.jpg





Stomach contents - looks like a silverside
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/geraldlim/IMG_0563.jpg

[dixoncider]

Doooood...nice catch...you got them dialed in...must be the Porta-bote....thanks for the report..

[a321eric]

Nice job out there man. We should have more Striper Tourneys to destroy Striper :BFish: population. (even though they lay thousands of eggs) Haha....I love seeing the Stipers being slayed!!!! :Death2Above:

[karlow]

DAmmmmmm
Man someone is going to need a bigger ice chest, and a bigger BOAT!
You are kicking all kinds of strippy Asrh!
Trolling flys?
4-7 colors?
I need some flys!
They might work better than buck tails!
Way to go!

Its killing season boyz so saddle up let6s get um.

[GdHkSet1]

Gerald,

Congrats on your "best day", sounds like a fun bite happening now. Hopefully next years SKC will be in SEPT!! Very nice grade of fish, your going to have a nice fish fry party! See you out there next time...

[ddoskocil]

Nice job Gerald. Yeah, all your time and hard work are paying off nicely. Especially when you try something new and it pays off immediately! I'm so jealous. Gotta love the fall bite - I'm itchin' to go!

[yolo]

Killing it out there! Nicely done Gerald. Just an fyi but that does not look like a silverside remain imo.

[J.Nguyen]

nice catch..killl them stripers!

[diamondbear]

Gerald , Your going to need a bigger ice chest , You have got them dialed in and targeting the bigger fish . WAY TO GO , VERY GOOD . // db

[Geraldlim]

Went back today to try it out again. Not so many and not as big, but got 6 fish between 5 and 7.5 lbs. Also picked up 10 schoolies mostly higher in the water column.

Essentially I am doing what Diamondbear and others are doing: fishing deeper to get my fly below the thermocline, but doing it with my leadcore setup by going slower, and targeting deep structure.

Smaller fish can tolerate lower oxygen level than bigger fish. Case in point: out here in the desert, smaller koi will keep feeding through the summer while my bigger koi lose their appetite when the water gets too warm.
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/geraldlim/Fishing/IMG_0571.jpg

[Big Daddy]

Nice Job Doc

[skunked again]

Very nice Gerald. Great big fish story. I was out there bass fishing. It was very hard not to striper fish.

[Desertfishen2]

good job Gerald. I was with John ( skunked again ) and he had the lead core rods laid out on the deck but we kept to lmb. Had we known what you were doing we might have changed over. SORRY John.

[Geraldlim]

Trolling flys?
4-7 colors?

Yes and yes

Killing it out there! Nicely done Gerald. Just an fyi but that does not look like a silverside remain imo.
Never having seen a LIVE silverside up close you may well be right. I showed it to a lake staff and that's what he thought. I pulled out another of those out of one of the stripeys on Friday too, as well as several tiny one inch baitfish so they are feeding on them, whatever they are. They were about 3 inches long with a round body cross section about the thickness of a pencil. Any idea what they are? Are they mid water schooling fish or bottom dwelling loners?

[skunked again]

good job Gerald. I was with John ( skunked again ) and he had the lead core rods laid out on the deck but we kept to lmb. Had we known what you were doing we might have changed over. SORRY John.

Hey Cliff, I had a great time and learned tons. You can bet I'll be out there bass fishing again.

[diamondbear]

Gerald , those could very well be silversides . You hit it on the head with saying TARGETING DEEP WATER STRUCTURE . Today it started out fast then it died and then later on fishing a point deep it was on again . I used to catch holdover trout on this point and the stripers were holding fast to this point . If your not within 10 ft. of this structure then its not going to get bit . Later on when the wind blows the fish scatter away from the points . Good catch Gerald , looking foward to the next report, ha // db

[TroutOnly]

GERALD ,GET A RUBBER NET THEN NO MORE TANGLES OR STUCK HOOKS ,I FIRST STARTED USING THEM AT THE DVL AS TO NOT RUB THE SLIME COAT OFF THE TROUT AND FOUND OUT HOOKS DONT GET HUNG UP IN THEM REGARDLESS OF THE SIZE OF THE FISH,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,t/o,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NICE CATCHS ,,,,,,,I NEED TO GO BACK DOWN AFTER MY SAN ANT TRIPS NEXT WEEK,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[GdHkSet1]

GERALD ,GET A RUBBER NET THEN NO MORE TANGLES OR STUCK HOOKS ,I FIRST STARTED USING THEM AT THE DVL AS TO NOT RUB THE SLIME COAT OFF THE TROUT AND FOUND OUT HOOKS DONT GET HUNG UP IN THEM REGARDLESS OF THE SIZE OF THE FISH,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,t/o,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NICE CATCHS ,,,,,,,I NEED TO GO BACK DOWN AFTER MY SAN ANT TRIPS NEXT WEEK,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Gerald,
Don't attempt to net a 32 pound Stripey with that rubber net. I broke mine in half trying to land a blue cat!!! Way to kick some arse out there on the back to back trips, you better sharpen that fillet knife cause you are wearing that knife down !! ha see you out there...

[fishinone]

Now that is a nice catch.

It looks like it's time for you to buy a new freezer.:LOL:

Nice catch.

[TroutOnly]

Come on vince ,i used my big rubber net and put theree 12lbers in there and san antonio and had no problems , you cant use a trout size net, i dont know if geralds going to hookup with a thirty, i did several times at san ant this yr and got bent off broke off and just plain worked ,,,,,,,,,,,,,oh but they are going to die,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and the triple hook up on big fish is a u-rig trollers dream catch,,,,,,,,i did that last trip but one of the three shook off, but not this trip,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[yolo]

Never having seen a LIVE silverside up close you may well be right. I showed it to a lake staff and that's what he thought. I pulled out another of those out of one of the stripeys on Friday too, as well as several tiny one inch baitfish so they are feeding on them, whatever they are. They were about 3 inches long with a round body cross section about the thickness of a pencil. Any idea what they are? Are they mid water schooling fish or bottom dwelling loners?

Gerald, Here's a pic of stomach contents of a duct striper I caught. The silversides are the ones with the "silver side" :LOL: They are long and skinny. The rest were sculpin.
33155

Here is a non digested silverside so you know what it looks like.

33157

Here is a fly that looks darn good to me. :Secret:

33158

[yolo]

Another great silverside imitating fly.

33159

[seal]

Oh Yolo that candy looks good!

[GdHkSet1]

Come on vince ,i used my big rubber net and put theree 12lbers in there and san antonio and had no problems , you cant use a trout size net, i dont know if geralds going to hookup with a thirty, i did several times at san ant this yr and got bent off broke off and just plain worked ,,,,,,,,,,,,,oh but they are going to die,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and the triple hook up on big fish is a u-rig trollers dream catch,,,,,,,,i did that last trip but one of the three shook off, but not this trip,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
The rim and rubber net itself was intact, the handle is what bent in half! I got to gear up myself and get a decent net soon, I'm rolling the dice right now with the crappy net I have now. Dam, triple hook up that had to be awesome. Hope to see out there this weekend, I'l be at DV this sunday-later Bob....

[Indo-angler]

Man that was an amazing day! I love the portabote shots!

Thanks for the great report and pics.

[yolo]

Oh Yolo that candy looks good!

I agree 100%.

[Geraldlim]

Gerald, Here's a pic of stomach contents of a duct striper I caught. The silversides are the ones with the "silver side" :LOL: They are long and skinny. The rest were sculpin.
33155

Here is a non digested silverside so you know what it looks like.

33157

Here is a fly that looks darn good to me. :Secret:

33158

Here are more stomach contents from yesrterday:
the body is round in cross section rather than flat, and long and skinny, same as the other one I posted. Don't think the picture showed it well. You think this might be a silverside?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y208/geraldlim/Fishing/IMG_0572.jpg

[yolo]

Gerald,

That one does look like a silverside to me.

[TroutOnly]

I'll do you one better ,break out a p-stick silverside spoon ,they slayed the big holdover down there when they were happening,stripers would be taking the same things,,,,,,,,,,

[IN2DEEP]

I'll do you one better ,break out a p-stick silverside spoon ,they slayed the big holdover down there when they were happening,stripers would be taking the same things,,,,,,,,,,
Aren't those p-sticks considered collectors items now? I'm not sure how many different models he had.
How about a Needlefish or Ex-cel spoon?
...Those slayed their share of holdovers

[TroutOnly]

theres alot of them out there scott,his silverside model looks just like a silverside, im breaking mine out to run down there at the dvl of the downrigger,his thread fin shad model kills also, trolled or casted,,,,,,,,,,,,S/O,,,,