Thursday, November 19, 2015

Simrad Screen Shots

 These are a couple of schools of Threadfin shad. The left screen is traditional sonar and the right screen is downscan. With downscan you can actually distinguish each individual piece of bait.
 
 This is a school of Stripers we worked a couple of days ago. They were scattered for about 2 acres and we could not get bit. I put downlines and pulled boards over them with 0 results. We worked them for 45 minutes then I had to leave them and try something else.

 This is a couple of Stripers around some bait. Whenever we saw this we would hook up. The feeding fish on this day were scattered keying on bait. It pays to be versatile when Striper fishing. Always pay attention  to what puts fish in the boat. Earlier in the morning we were all over Stripers without taking hits. When I saw this we would have multiple hookups. This kind of screen is what we worked the rest of the morning and put 50 Stripers in the boat.

Here again the screen looks almost void of fish but we were hooked up at the time I popped this pic. Notice the large vertical white dash on the right side of side scan with a shadow behind it. That was a nice one that we did not catch.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

A 50 fish morning.

Brian
Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature 62* and Clear
Today I took Brian, Walt and Scott out fishing. Walt has just purchased a new boat and wanted to learn how to Striper fish on the lake. He wanted to go with me not only to see what I do but to make sure he gets the right tools of the trade. Today 's priority was learning not catching. After catching bait I showed him how to locate fish so we set up on some. The screen looked beautiful so we set up downlines and boards and worked the fish for 45 minutes without a strike. We made a short move and I saw some more fish so we set up on them. That's when the action started. We popped fish after fish and boated about 20. After working them we went uplake and pulled some shallow water with boards. With an hour left in the morning I took them downlake to show them how to locate some deep fish. We set up on them and went through 50 baits catching 30 more Stripers. Brian is holding the stringer of fish. A dozen times today he would set a bait out , turn around and within 6 or 8 seconds it would hook up. Shortly after I realized this I had him bless all of the other rods and that is why we caught so many fish today. That's my story and I am sticking to it. We had many double hook ups and a few triples as well. I think they are hooked on Striper fishing Lake Anna. Just made some new friends today.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Opening Day



 Michael 

Michael and Anthony

Yesterday was opening day for gun season in Va. and I was able to take my hunting buddy [grandson] out for a morning hunt. We only had a few hours to hunt because he wanted to go to Anthony's birthday party at noon. At 7:45 a spike and this deer came 30 yards downwind from us and stopped. Michael had his gun up and focused on this deer although it was behind a brush pile. 45 seconds later the deer turned around and headed back the way it came in and Michael blasted him. This deer is headed to Deer Springs Taxidermy for another great mount. I thank God for the precious time Michael and I get to share in the great outdoors. Hunting and Fishing...American traditions we need to preserve. Take a kid hunting or fishing, the memories will last a lifetime.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Chuck and Ron

Tony took these two happy fisherman out for a great morning of Striper fishing.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Ross and Seth

Tony took his clients Ross and Seth out today in the rain and put them on some Stripers.

Monday, November 09, 2015

Classic Furniture of Charlottesville [and friends]

Cloudy and cold, then rain, Water temperature dropping to 63* and Clear
After a 80* day last week we finally had some cold weather move in. This morning it was 31* which dropped the water temperature a bit. We took off with high hopes this morning of slaying the Stripers but after 2 hours of fishing 14 lines and only a couple of fish to show for our efforts things were looking mighty grim. I also had another friend out and he was doing just as bad as we were. We were taking short hits and catching only Hybrids. The Barometer had turned the fish off. I fished the same place I did yesterday but the bite was not happening. Right when it started to rain I decided to move back closer to the marina and try something completely different. The move paid off and saved the day. You are looking at some tough men holding up these fish. They were not prepared for freezing temps or the rain which we fished in for more than 3 hours. Tennis shoes and jeans don't repel the rain or the cold very well. They never complained about the weather and hung right in there with me. The only thing that saved them I believe were the little hotty that Robert brought along for the charter. [not pictured here] The charter today was a gift to Robert to celebrate his birthday, one which he will not forget.       HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBERT!

Sunday, November 08, 2015

Fun with the kids

Joe, Hope, Michael and Mark
Partly cloudy and cool, Water Temperature 66* and clear
Today was one of the days I look forward to...Dads with their kids and beautiful weather. When we departed from the dock this morning I told Michael he needed to send me pictures tomorrow of his bruises that he is going to have on his stomach after reeling in so many Stripers. Well he is going to be bruised after today. We started off not being able to keep up with the action. I could not keep up with the kids baiting hooks! They warmed up real fast reeling in Stripers this morning. Fishing was good until boats started coming by us spooking the fish. We had a good two hours of action then we had to leave for a pit stop. We went back out and hit the area where we fished earlier but the fish were not cooperating so I made a move. We got into a completely different pattern and had a ball. We went through 130 baits today. Joe took some video of the kids catching fish, can't wait to see some.

Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Sunday, November 1

Roger, Kenwan, Craig and Terry

I have been off the water for a week taking care of my wife who had surgery last week so Guide DP took these fisherman out on Sunday morning and showed them a good time. They are holding up 8 of the 20 Stripers they caught that morning. If all goes well I will be back out on the water next week. It is hard to stay around the house knowing the Stripers are biting and the Bucks are Rutting but I won't leave till my wife gets better. Those fish and bucks aren't going anywhere.