2/23/08
Jim, Steve and I headed out for a day of Striper fishing. The winds were out of the w @ 12mph..air temp was in the 20's, water temp was 49f, barometer was at 1022 and rising.
We set out 12 lines using Herring and trout then the Captain pretty much gave me control. He said today you tell me where and what you want to do......... Well let me tell you, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time now so I jumped at the opportunity. I had one rod and one only....the number 13# rod on the boat...lucky 13 ? The drift was set to where I could sneak my uno catfish rod out there. Within minutes a blue hit me, only a few lbs but a good sign. I re rigged and made another pass,,,suddenly my rod just started slamming like crazy..I made a mad dash and it was on. The guys were on it also, rods were coming in, flying over top of me...clearing the way. For around 10 minutes this fish fought and took line, I only had a #20 leader on so I had to play him good, finally he came in........ beautiful Hartwell Blue weighing #18.
Shortly after we had some major hits on the Striper rigs but they were knocking the herring slap off the hooks. If your Striper fishing I will warn ya now they are hitting short a lot so keep that in mind.
Steve had to head in so it was just Jim and I on the boat. Again he let me go where I wanted and we had no shortage on strikes. I think we counted 7 large fish lost, some we even saw up top and were 10# plus Stripers.
The day was coming to a end and asked Jim to make a right and make one pass along a spot I wanted to check. I'm glad we did ; ) I ended up pulling a 9lb Striper out.
In the end on my one cat rod alone I brought 4 cats in. On the striper rods I brought in two, the largest one was tipping 9lbs. Jim also brought in two beautiful Stripers one at 8lbs. The total was 4 cats and 4 Stripers. Everything were caught on large Herring, no hits on the trout.
I think yesterday was one of the best days of my life. I had patiently waited to do things my way and I'm so grateful Jim let me. It gave me the chance to show off my knowledge. I think I even might have a Striper man Catfishing now ; )~
I will have pic's up soon, the site is down atm : (
-Jim-