Friday, October 30, 2009

Elden and Bill



October 30th, 2009: Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 62* and clear.
Met the guys at the dock at 6:15 and ran uplake to catch bait. The guys were standing at the store this morning when I drove up, later I found out that they had set their alarm an hour early, so they were anxious to go. Looked for bait for an hour till I found it bunched up near a channel and caught what we needed and went fishing. By 7:30 this morning 15 Striper fishing boats had already passed us so I decided to go to the other side of the lake hoping to avoid boat traffic. The move paid off, in the first 15 minutes we boated 3 Stripers. We worked a large bay that the Stripers were holding in for a couple hours but we must have hit the end of the feed, our baits were constantly getting boiled by the Stripers but the fish were not aggressive enough to eat the bait. I decided to get the baits in and make a move to another area where I knew the fish were holding. We hooked up before I got most of the baits out and for the next few hours every time we hit the area we would get action. We actually got some action we were not bargaining for, a Osprey hit one of our baits and got hooked up. I reeled the bird in and unhooked it unharmed hoping it would leave us alone to fish the area. Elden wanted to be back at the dock by 2, and as luck would have it on our final pass we had 3 baits on the left side of the boat get hit. We all enjoyed the day and the guys took home 6 of the Stripers for some good eating.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Jimmy and Gary Bridges



October 27th, 2009: Cloudy and Cool, Water Temperature 63* and Clear.
Picked the guys up early at High Point and went to catch bait. 3 hours later we finally had enough to get started so we went fishing. Set up with boards on shallow flats and pulled them for the rest of the day. We had missed the morning feed if there was one but worked hard to catch these 4 Stripers. I stayed out later than normal hoping the fish would feed in the evening but they never did. Jimmy is pictured with the largest Striper he has ever caught. Although fishing was slow Gary and his son had a good day fishing and enjoying the fall foliage.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Sam, his Dad and Pop


October 23rd, 2009: Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature 63*and Clear.
Picked the guys up at 6 and went and caught bait. Set out a spread of boards and downlines and worked a shallow flat this morning hoping to catch fish up feeding. We pulled about 400 yards before we had our first hit. Within a few minutes baits were getting clobbered, the guys were running around the boat, most of the lines were getting tangled and the only one to boat a fish was Sam. I straightened and retied the lines, turned and made another pass with similar results. By now we had lost 5 or 6 fish and only had a Sam's fish in the box. I reviewed with the guys again how to work the fish once we hooked up and hit the point again. Pop hooked up with a freight train, it took him around the boat while Steve worked his fish in and around 3 other rods. I netted Steve's fish but in the excitement Pop somehow lost a nice one. Turned around and hit the same point again and Sam hooked up and boated his fish. We worked the area until we ran out of bait, went and caught some more and set up on some similar structure. By now the sun was out and the fishing slowed down. We worked our way back to the point where we had previously caught the fish and took a couple more hits before calling it quits for the day. Today we had a minimum of 30 strikes, most of which hooked up and the guys took home a few for a fish fry at the lake tonight.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Pre Rut Buck





This is a Buck that I have observing for about 2 weeks now. I have 100 acres of land in Louisa and maintain 14 food plots through out the property, using trail cams to take pictures of the animals that use the plots. These particular pictures are fron 2 cameras, one under a set of Persimmon trees and the other a long trail in the woods planted in Whitetail Imperial Clover, under a stand of mature White Oaks. The deer over the last few weeks have decimated the clover to the point that it is only about 2 inches tall now and have kept it mowed to that height for the last 2 months. There are 2 Oak trees dropping acorns into the plot and the deer are eating them as quick as they fall. There are very few Oak trees producing on my property this fall, I think these 2 are due to all the lime and fertilizer that I have spread in the area. I have over a thousand pictures of other deer from the 3 trail cams on the property and about 50 more of this particular deer but I thought these were the most interesting, chronicling the movements of this Buck.
I was worried this Buck was going to leave the property soon with the rut not far away and I knew if we were to harvest the deer it would have to be soon. The weather was changing drastically, there was a major cold front moving in today, the weather was cold and getting colder, and it was going to rain for the next 3 days. I called up 3 other hunter friends and invited them over for an afternoon hunt, hoping someone would get a chance to bag the Buck. I got into a stand on a trail that led to one of my plots and at 5:45 a doe and her 2 fawns came by and started feeding in the plot. Soon after I heard some grunting and a 6 point passed by following the does. A little after 6 the does got nervous and started looking up the trail, at which point I saw a larger Buck coming in. The does and smaller Buck took off as the larger Buck approached. I waited for the Buck to give me a good shot, I watched him for 5 minutes before he turned quartering away from me at 40 yards and I let an arrow fly. I heard it score , he ran up the hill 50 yards and I heard a very loud crash.
We recovered the deer about an hour later, the shot was true and it was obvious the deer did not suffer. Pre rut deer are relatively easy to pattern, especially with trail cams, and with a little luck on our side our plan came together. Enjoy the photo's of this deer.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Bill Setrin with friends Al and Jerry

October 14th, 2009: Cloudy and Cold, Water Temperature dropped to 67* and Clear.
Picked the guys up at their dock at 6 and went and caught bait. Checked a few areas before locating catch able bait, threw a couple dozen times and went fishing. Set up where I knew some nice Stripers were cruising with a spread of 10 planner boards, a bobber and a couple of downlines. We pulled some very shallow flats early looking for feeding fish but none would cooperate. I kept noticing some action on the surface about 1500 yards away so I turned the boat and headed for it. When we got in the general vicinity our baits got nervous , boards started backing up and we started taking hits. On our first pass most of the baits on the boards either got boiled or got hit. We boated a few and turned around to hit the area again but the fish had moved on. I had to guess which way they went, we must have zigged when they zagged because I could not located them for another hour. Once I did I was prepared for them , I had gone and caught 45 more fresh baits, retied all my lines and reviewed with the guys what to do and how to handle numerous hook-ups. We found the school and talk about confusion, rods were bending all around the boat, people running around the boat, Bill shouting out to Al and Jerry which rods were hooked up, everyone working together to handle the action. Once I looked up and Al was holding 2 rods with fish on them at the same time wondering what to do. Bill is on Oxygen and when he would hook up Jerry would grab the tank and follow Bill around the boat while he fought his fish. A couple of times after Jerry landed his fish he wanted a hit off of that Oxygen tank, but he would get side tracked with another strike. We would loose the school for a couple minutes and find them again repeating the same scenario over and over again. We had 27 fish hook up today, lost a couple that screamed the drag, lost a few others that we simply could not get to in time due to not enough hands in the boat. All the fish today were very nice Stripers, we did not have to deal with catching punks today and by the end of the day the guys could not believe what had happened to them. Al said he had never caught so many big Stripers before and Jerry is still wondering about the bait I was using!
A cold front is moving in tonight, I am going to go home and try to bag a Buck this evening.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Mel Chaiet with friends John, Vince and Fran


October 1st, 2009: Partly Sunny and Cool, Water Temperature 74* and Clear.
Picked the guys up at 6 at the marina and went to find bait. Bait was tough again this morning and by 8:30 we finally had 25 pieces so we went fishing. Set up a spread of 10 Water Bugz planner boards, a bobber and 4 downlines and worked a flat where I new some nice fish were using. We made pass after pass on the flat getting strikes every time. On the first pass we had 4 different fish boil the baits but would not take them. We worked the area till noon, then we were forced to leave. There is this pesky Osprey that loves to harass us by diving on our baits, picking up one, flying under all the other lines then when he ascends he ties up all the lines and lifts the rods out of the holders, almost throwing them in the lake. This is the third time in 2 weeks that this has happened. Well today he messed up all the rods and we had to loose our baits and retie and untangle the lines leaving us with no bait to fish with. After straightening the lines out we went to look for more bait. I found some deep but could not catch it due to the water being so clear so I went to where I caught it this morning and found some shallow in 4 feet of water and made a cast catching about 30. Yea! I asked the guys if they wanted to go back and work the area we fished this morning or try a new area, they opted for new. I set out the spread and pulled a couple mile stretch taking a few hits and boating a couple more fish. Today we had 17 fish on but could only boat 9, for whatever reason? I would expect October fishing to really turn on next week and resume the great fishing that we have enjoyed all year.