Got out a couple days this weekend on the river. The plan was to try for stripers early and then go looking for smallies after the striper bited died down.
Friday was good. On the water at 6:30. Fish were blasting herring all around us. The trick was to get to them quickly and quietly enough to get in casting distance. Caught a bunch of shorts and one keeper 32 inches. I was throwing a sebile swimmer that they really seemed to like. Tasted great on the grill on Friday night! Caught a half dozen smallies after the striper bite died in a couple hours but nothing big, all 12-15 inch fish.
Sunday I had high expectations with the cloud cover and the rain. Ont he water at 5:30, I thought it would keep the stripers active most of the morning. I was wrong. The front coming through really had them inactive. Only saw one bunch of herring get blasted and i was getting lots of follows but they were hesitant to commit. At times I had 8 to a dozen stripers just following the bait to the boat. It was frustrating but entertaining to see. After a while we switched over to smallies and really struggled. Only boated one 13" fish and a 27 inch pike. I had a big pike roll at my bait right at the boat but no hook up. Probably a high 30 to 40 inch fish. Interesting as I have never seen many pike on that section of the river.
Tournament this Sunday on the river!![[smile]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/001.gif "Smile [smile]")
Friday was good. On the water at 6:30. Fish were blasting herring all around us. The trick was to get to them quickly and quietly enough to get in casting distance. Caught a bunch of shorts and one keeper 32 inches. I was throwing a sebile swimmer that they really seemed to like. Tasted great on the grill on Friday night! Caught a half dozen smallies after the striper bite died in a couple hours but nothing big, all 12-15 inch fish.
Sunday I had high expectations with the cloud cover and the rain. Ont he water at 5:30, I thought it would keep the stripers active most of the morning. I was wrong. The front coming through really had them inactive. Only saw one bunch of herring get blasted and i was getting lots of follows but they were hesitant to commit. At times I had 8 to a dozen stripers just following the bait to the boat. It was frustrating but entertaining to see. After a while we switched over to smallies and really struggled. Only boated one 13" fish and a 27 inch pike. I had a big pike roll at my bait right at the boat but no hook up. Probably a high 30 to 40 inch fish. Interesting as I have never seen many pike on that section of the river.
Tournament this Sunday on the river!
