Instead of working or Christmas shopping

[Stumpknocker]

Jim, Dennis and I went fishing in their new (to them) Smokercraft. It's a nice roomy boat that rides well, with a big livewell that we filled today. At the risk of being boring, we had to go back and join the Necktie fleet as long as that is still working...used sardines & anchovies...sardines seemed a little more popular...both flylined and weighted on the bottom. We had several doubles and some triples going today.
Jim and Dennis with a double
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g402/yobobscott/double.jpg (http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/yobobscott/media/double.jpg.html)
Jim won big fish honors again with a 6 pounder he caught on the bottom...nice fight on 4 lb. line
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g402/yobobscott/Jim6.jpg (http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/yobobscott/media/Jim6.jpg.html)
By noon or so we had three limits...just the one big fish, but lots of 1-2 pounders...
The livewell with not much room left...
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g402/yobobscott/well30.jpg (http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/yobobscott/media/well30.jpg.html)
When cleaning these fish, all I see in their stomachs is pieces of sardine/anchovy...gotta wonder why they're hanging in that spot...don't see any shad in their stomachs or on the meter...there's a good bit of current there...maybe they like that? Whatever, gotta love it while it's good.

[fishinone]

Nice catch! In glad to hear that they are still biting.

Where your sardines and anchovies in good shape?

[Stumpknocker]

Thanks fishinone...yep, they're still biting, just like they have for the last few months! The anchovies were frozen, but otherwise in good shape...the "fresh" sardines were really soft, but good enough to stay on the hook if you were careful, and the stripers loved 'em...

[fishinone]

They've been biting on night crawlers and blood worms too. On Thanksgiving Day they ignored sardines most of the day while the night crawler was wide open.

I imagine that they will bite lug worms and even liver.

[Stumpknocker]

It's funny how their tastes can change. We tried a little bit of squid and it worked too, though sardine was best...I'm ready to try hot dogs...I was tempted to put on a buttermilk donut hole I had and see if that worked...it sure worked on me! I wonder if they're just starving right now? I'm not seeing any shad...what options do they have?

[fishinone]

No don't waste the donut holes! LOL

The fish aren't skinny and I've seen lots of bait on the finder.

[Stumpknocker]

I ended up not using the donut hole for bait for the same reason I hesitate using shrimp for bait in the ocean...would I rather eat the fish I'd catch or the bait I already have? :Big Grin: Good to know you're seeing shad...maybe I'm confusing their marks on my meter with small striper school marks...