Bassfan
10-15-2013, 01:36 PM
Showed up early enough with my old golf buddy Robert to be about 6 boats back in line. Had time to catch up with DMS, Fishinone, and met Dave. After launching tried casting in the Marina area where I saw some fish on the finder but nothing would hit.
Gave that up and headed out to look for some surface activity but not much of anything. Stopped in a couple of coves to cast and first cast got a nice schoolie. It was this year’s model but some of them have been growing faster than others and are at that just right size for a good meal so into the cooler he went. Kept casting and picked up 2 more.
It was starting to look like Robert was just practicing his casting. Suddenly he gets hit and all I hear is drag screaming off his reel and he had a nice fish on.
He fought it well right up to the boat where it finaly looked like it was ready to surrender. I had the net ready and as it laid on its side it gave one last twitch and the hook popped out of his mouth.
For a few seconds that seemed like longer we both stared at the fish that was about 2 feet further out than the net would reach and the fish stared back like he didn’t get what just happened. The spell broke and Mrs. Stripey just started swimming back where she came from . I was bummed but Robert said it was OK because he wanted to let it go anyway!
I don’t think I could just release a 4-5 lb. striper but Robert isn’t as obsessed with fishing like some of us(me). It would be nice to just enjoy a day on the lake but I want to catch stripers.
We saw a bobcat walking the shoreline in one of the coves, a deer in another and an eagle tearing into something for his lunch. That made Robert’s day. I wanted more fish!!
After trying that spot a little longer we moved to another spot and started casting again. Not much happening until on 1 cast, I said, “I just got bumped, and again, and again”, and as the lure got about 10 feet from the boat in clear water I saw a huge striper following it and suddenly he grabbed the lure and dove down so fast that the drag that was set for smaller fish never knew what hit it. Before I could react he broke the 8lb. test line and off he went, lure in mouth.
That was the last big fish we saw all day and I’m still upset he got away.
A little after 8 we went to trolling in a lot of different areas and had a decent amount of action with the schoolies. When I saw DMS around 10 we had landed 7 on the troll.
We saw so many groups of stripers that I was sure we would get hit as we trolled by but most of them ignored the rigs.
We kept trolling until after 3 and ended up with 16 trolling plus the 3 from casting. A good day.
Gave that up and headed out to look for some surface activity but not much of anything. Stopped in a couple of coves to cast and first cast got a nice schoolie. It was this year’s model but some of them have been growing faster than others and are at that just right size for a good meal so into the cooler he went. Kept casting and picked up 2 more.
It was starting to look like Robert was just practicing his casting. Suddenly he gets hit and all I hear is drag screaming off his reel and he had a nice fish on.
He fought it well right up to the boat where it finaly looked like it was ready to surrender. I had the net ready and as it laid on its side it gave one last twitch and the hook popped out of his mouth.
For a few seconds that seemed like longer we both stared at the fish that was about 2 feet further out than the net would reach and the fish stared back like he didn’t get what just happened. The spell broke and Mrs. Stripey just started swimming back where she came from . I was bummed but Robert said it was OK because he wanted to let it go anyway!
I don’t think I could just release a 4-5 lb. striper but Robert isn’t as obsessed with fishing like some of us(me). It would be nice to just enjoy a day on the lake but I want to catch stripers.
We saw a bobcat walking the shoreline in one of the coves, a deer in another and an eagle tearing into something for his lunch. That made Robert’s day. I wanted more fish!!
After trying that spot a little longer we moved to another spot and started casting again. Not much happening until on 1 cast, I said, “I just got bumped, and again, and again”, and as the lure got about 10 feet from the boat in clear water I saw a huge striper following it and suddenly he grabbed the lure and dove down so fast that the drag that was set for smaller fish never knew what hit it. Before I could react he broke the 8lb. test line and off he went, lure in mouth.
That was the last big fish we saw all day and I’m still upset he got away.
A little after 8 we went to trolling in a lot of different areas and had a decent amount of action with the schoolies. When I saw DMS around 10 we had landed 7 on the troll.
We saw so many groups of stripers that I was sure we would get hit as we trolled by but most of them ignored the rigs.
We kept trolling until after 3 and ended up with 16 trolling plus the 3 from casting. A good day.