Welcome to the Dark Side - Silverwood Lake Striped Bass Hunt....):}+{:(....

[The Fishing Queen]

Welcome to the Dark Side - Silverwood Lake Striped Bass Hunt....):}+{:(....

6/20, I was invited to go fishing by a friend of mine. We had an arrangement to meet with two other fishing friends of his at Silverwood Lake around 6:30 am. As always, I got positive support from my spouse and he made plans for my kids daily summer activities, so that I could get away without any worries.

I drove to my mountain home around 2pm the day before fishing. I had nice relaxed afternoon - went Tenkara fly fishing at LG for two hours on my way up and caught 2 rainbow trout on a kebari fly, 16-18 crappies and bluegills on a brown nymph. I got to the house and tied some flies on the shady deck in my backyard; played Guzheng for a while and read for the rest of the night.....













************************************************** ********************

6/21, got a morning wakeup call from Scott at 5:30. I rushed to get ready and went into the garage. I chose two pink spinning rods that were spooled with 6 pound line, my bait fishing tackle bag and headed out the door. I got to the lake about 6:30, stopped at the store and bought a bag of anchovies and I was ready to go. Met with the rest of group - Tim, Dan and Jose around 6:45, set up the gear with bait and waited for the action.





No one had caught anything until 7:30. Tim caught a couple small stripers; Jose also had one dink as well. I waited for my turn and caught my very first striper around 8 o'clock. The striper was small - it was only about 11 inches long. The stripers were biting on the bait very carefully. Their bites were gentle but fast - they stole the anchovies soon after the bait hit the bottom of the lake. Sometimes, I didn't even have a chance to put down the rod; I’d just hold the rod, tighten the line and wait for the bites to start, then quickly set the hook as soon as I felt the nibbles.





Tim and Jose were in sweet spots and they were doing really well with good catches. Most of the stripers that they caught were small sized fish. Tim had caught 2 nice stripers - a 3 pound and a 4 pound fish. Jose was in second place and he had one striper about 3 pounds. I was the third, I had a few small ones between 10-16 inches.





Around 10:20, I felt a gentle bite and I immediately set the hook and felt the fish was on. The fish took off with the hook and my reel was screaming as I reeled the fish in. I knew my drag was a little loose for the weight of this fish. I was fighting with it and pulling it in, but I had it in my control. Each time it got closer, the beast kept running and taking more line from my reel. Jose came to help and he tried to tighten the drag, but he accidentally loosened it up by turning the knob the wrong way. We heard the line go :"zzzzzzzzz....." The beast ran away fast with more line. I started to panic and tightened my drag with my right hand and kept reeling. I could hear my heart beat with excitement. Finally, after 5 more mins of fight, the large striper was about 5 feet away from us. Jose had net in his hands to help net the fish. As he put the net into the water, the striper suddenly jumped, turned its body and took off again. This time we all heard the sound of the line snap and saw a splash in the water. The beast broke off the line and I lost the battle. I knew what the cause of the loss was. I set the drag too tight as I was hurrying to fix the loose drag. What a bummer! Jose and I estimated the fish at about 10 pounds. I was very close to winning the catch of the day.







The action slowed down around 12:30. Jose caught a total of 16 stripers, Tim had 13 fish. I had 9. Dan was the only one who got skunked - he was fishing between the two guys and he only had two bites all morning, but no fish. The three guys packed up and left the lake before 2pm.... I stayed and fished for a little longer, and caught 4 more fish till 3:10. The total of my catch: 13 stripers + 1 that got away. Kept 4 fish and released the ones that were lip hooked without any harms.







It was exciting for me to be back on the "dark side" - bait fishing, especially since it was my first time fishing for stripers. I was disappointed about losing the beast, but I had positive attitude toward the whole situation. I knew my friend really tried to help and he just made a simple mistake. I should know better to check the drag and make sure it wasn't too loose or tight. With all the excitement and a good battle with the fish, the error taught me a lesson, and that's what life is about - live, learn and improve! I was glad that my friend invited me and took me to his fishing hole and shared his favorite spot with me. I had fun plus a great experience of striper fishing. I'm sure this won't be my last time fishing for stripers. I got good appetite for hunting the beast and I'll return to the dark side more often to satisfy my desire for catching 'the one that got away".....