It's a different December this year

[Stumpknocker]

First time back at the lake in a while...just busy doing other stuff and being sick...my buddy Bob and I went around trying to find a spot that looked on the meter like the spot outside of Necktie that was so good last fall/winter on the sardine bite (which is now out of the water)...ended up not far from there, in about 90 feet with good marks on the meter...anchored and soaked sardines for about two hours for nothing...maybe one little nibble at the end...then we saw birds and boils a little ways away, and it was reel in the lines, pull the anchor and head over there asap...the boils weren't consistent, so rather than throwing lures, we started trolling u-rigs through the area and both got hooked up before we could get the lines out past 50 feet or so...Bob had a single, I had a double, and the skunk was gone...we trolled around that area in the ski arm until noon, and Bob was on fire, compared to me...the double was it for me, and he caught 6 total, on the u-rig he borrowed from me! Here's one of them
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g402/yobobscott/lines.jpg (http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/yobobscott/media/lines.jpg.html)
They were all 2-3 pound schoolies...nice fighters and great eating.
http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/g402/yobobscott/bunch.jpg (http://s1100.photobucket.com/user/yobobscott/media/bunch.jpg.html)
Last year at this time it was wide open on the sardine bite, and I couldn't get them on lures past November, but not this year...good thing they still want to chase the u-rig...

[trail blazer]

Great job on the troll fish WTG

TRAIL BLAZER

[Bassfan]

Always good when you find a way to put some fish in the boat.
Its funny how late in the season trolling is still getting them. I would guess this year's bumper crop of shad changed the pattern.
I have put in a little time each time I go lately to try some sardines and haven't even gotten a bite yet.
Don't they know they're supposed to like sardines??

[Stumpknocker]

Great job on the troll fish WTG

TRAIL BLAZER

Thanks Trailblazer...I'm trying to keep up with you guys at Pyramid!

[Stumpknocker]

Always good when you find a way to put some fish in the boat.
Its funny how late in the season trolling is still getting them. I would guess this year's bumper crop of shad changed the pattern.
I have put in a little time each time I go lately to try some sardines and haven't even gotten a bite yet.
Don't they know they're supposed to like sardines??

Thanks Bassfan...I agree that this year's shad crop might be the difference...these stripers sure aren't skinny, and most of the u-rig bites were when we dragged them through areas with recent boils where they were clearly feeding on shad, as opposed to last year where sardine-eating stripers were concentrated in areas that seemed to have no shad nearby.

[fishinone]

Nice job working out the bite, StumpKnocker.

I tried bait n wait a couple weeks ago. It was awful. We wound up getting ours on the troll too.

[Stumpknocker]

Nice job working out the bite, StumpKnocker.

I tried bait n wait a couple weeks ago. It was awful. We wound up getting ours on the troll too.

Thanks Fishinone...whatever works, right? Actually, I'd rather catch them trolling than using messy sardine chunks, but I'm surprised the rigs work this late in the year...

[Fishbones]

Congrats stumpknocker, don't feel so bad on the bait we have trout swimming around and they're still chasing shad lol

[Stumpknocker]

Congrats stumpknocker, don't feel so bad on the bait we have trout swimming around and they're still chasing shad lol

Thanks Fishbones...I'm good with them not hitting bait...in fact, I wish they'd start hitting topwater again!

[Kevman]

Nice catch! Thank you for the report!

[Stumpknocker]

Nice catch! Thank you for the report!

Thanks Kevman...hope it helps!

[Fishbones]

Thanks Fishbones...I'm good with them not hitting bait...in fact, I wish they'd start hitting topwater again!

Don't we all.. Lol

[fishinone]

Thanks Fishbones...I'm good with them not hitting bait...in fact, I wish they'd start hitting topwater again!


Don't we all.. Lol

We need to breed striper that boil all year.

Another idea is to control the conditions so that they boil all year.