Mike Vann

Sunny and pleasant, Water temp 74*
Caught bait fairly easy and laid out a spread of 8 planner boards and a bobber on the same flat we fished yesterday. Being Monday I was hoping there would not be as much boat traffic and the fish would cooperate a little better than yesterday and they did. We hit 3 flats that duplicated the same pattern and the Stripers wanted the big Gizz and hit them steadily all day. We had 19 hits, caught a couple of huge cats, clients kept 12 Stripers for 74 pounds, 4 of which went over 30 inches. Another testament to fish during the week .

Tom Mcfillan, Jim and Jamie Hummer

Sunday, Sunny and warm, Water temp Mid 70's
Had client out last week in a major storm and did poorly and woke up this morning not looking forward too much to fishing on a busy warm Sunday with all the boat traffic. Took awhile to catch bait and everywhere we went there was boats. It is extremely hard to run my spread of 10 lines on days when every boat wants to run over top of you. Well we only had a few lines cut off by boaters and had to fish in less desireable areas of the lake. WE caught some very large cats and only 6 Stripers. I will be glad when it gets colder and runs these boaters off the lake.

Paul Henon, George Hussy and George Barboza

Sunny , NE wind, water temp 75*
After getting beat up yesterday I was looking forward to an easier day of fishing. Caught about 30 nice shad and proceeded to run some shallow flats before the sun got too bright. Caught a few in 3 to 5' of water before moving out to deeper flats. Had a decent day considering the barometer rising so rapidly. Clients kept 10 Stripers for 50 pounds. Also caught some nice cats.

Tom McFillan

Todays Forcast: Cloudy and rain, winds 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 50 mph
Woke up this morning and went outside to get the boat ready and got blown away by the wind. Tried to reach my client before he left to cancel the trip but couldn't. Met at the marina and since we were there we decided to give it a try. Took 2 hours to catch bait, probably because of the barometer crashing. Had to fish in the only place on the lake where I could hold the boat, on a bluff bank. Needless to say, we had a poor day with catching on 3 Stripers and 6 Cats. Took no picture.

Paul Mader, George Mader and Butch Hardman

Partly cloudy, light winds , Water temps Mid 70's
Took about 45 minutes to collect 30 Gizzard shad before we could go fishing. My client lived on the lake so I decided to lay out my spread right in front of his house. On our first pass we hooked up with 3 nice Stripers. They were so excited they called their wives up and told them to look outside. They held up their catch and it was a good begining of a nice day. We started off fishing a point 5 to 10' deep in front of their house and later hit flats in the 15' range. Ended up catching some nice cats and clients kept 10 Stripers for 52 pounds.

Jim Chen, Dave and Jonathan Wabeke

Sunny and warm, winds calm, Water temp 77*
Started off the day serching for Gizzard Shad to use for bait. Took about 45 minutes to collect 25 baits and I laid out 8 planner boards and a bobber and proceeded to fish right where we caught bait. Before I got all the boards out we got jambed and I put Jonathan on the rod. We landed that Striper , finished putting out the rest of the lines and had constant action the rest of the day. I think we got Dave's son hooked on fishing. We had 23 strikes, caught a few cats and my clients kept 13 Stripers for 54 lbs.

Jeff Collins, Senior Sajhafi, and Cole Marsh

Sept.21,2005 Sunny and warm, water temp 82*
Picked up clients at 6:30 and went in search of bait. Looked main lake for a school of gizzard shad because thats where I caught them yesterday but all the bait was still broke up from the night before. Went to the back of a creek and found them in 12'of water, made 6 casts and we were loaded. Set out 8 planner boards, a bobber and a free line. Within 5 minutes we started getting hit. Had 9 strikes by 8:30 and put some nice stripers in the boat. Went and caught more bait and tried a different location. Found some monsters {for this time of year} and had our way with them until some idiot ran thru my spread and spooked the fish. Ended up with 21 hits, lost or broke off 4 Big fish, kept 12 fish for 71 pounds, largest striper 12.2 lbs.

Jim

Date :9/20/05 Sunny and hot, Water temp 82*
I have been off the water for the last 2 months with a few exceptions due to the water being too hot for the fish to be active enough to entertain my clients. When the water temp is above 85* the dissolved oxygen in the lake is extremely poor consequently the blood oxygen in the striper is so bad that it makes the striper sick [like us being nauseated]. I have clients tomorrow so I am looking for fish today for them to catch tomorrow. Once the fish feel better and want to eat they want to spent as little energy as they can and eat as large a meal as they can so I looked for some big gizzard shad to run on planner boards. Ran boards over 10 to 15 foot flats and caught a few 6 pounders. Decided to find another pattern and went to the back of a creek that was loaded with bait, put out boards and spanked them. I came off the water at 1 o'clock , had 16 hits, caught 10 stripers, 4 fish over 30 inches, my first 4 keepers are in the picture. I'm excited about tomorrow and I guess I will call my clients who have been patient [ wanting to fish for the last month] and start booking trips for the rest of the year.

The Bush's

Date; Sept 14, 2005 Cloudy, rainy and windy, water temp 85*
Due to hurricane conditions fishing was tough today and the fish were scattered everywhere. About the only fish caught today were caught by these two guys in a secret honey hole.
All kidding aside, our prayers go out to all the people affected by the hurricane and there loved ones. Godspeed to the president and all the people helping with this tragedy.

The Jennings

Date 7/19 05 Sunny and hot, Water temp 90*
Caught herring easily this morning and found breaking fish early. Thru pencil poppers at them and put downlines on them and had a ball for 30 minutes. After the action was over fishing got tough again. Fished hard the rest of the day, had probably 40 strikes, clients kept 8 Stripers For 58 pounds, largest fish were a 10 and a 12 pounder.

Danny Marshal, Byron and John

Date 7/18/05 Sunny and Hot, Air mid 90,s, Water 89*
The weather has been hot and the water temp is to hot for fish to be comfortable in. Very little oxygen in there blood makes the fish feel sick and they can't escape the heat because the thermocline is at 26'. Saw fish breaking in the morning and had fun with them then struggled to catch fish on downlines the rest of the day. Had 40 to 50 hits but fish were striking short and lost most. Clients kept 8 stripers for 36pounds.

Todd and Bonnie Lewis

Date 7/14/05 Sunny and hot, Water temp 88*
Fishing with regular clients today. Caught herring and found a school breaking early in the morning. Clients thru Pencil poppers at them and caught a few punks. I put downlines on the school and caught 8 but most were small. Left that school in search of bigger fish. Found another school and by 7.15 am we had our limit. Found 4 or 5 other schools and wore them out, releasing all of them. Clients caught 40 stripers, Kept 12 for 53 pounds.

Buck Collins and Bob Ianuzzi

Date 7 13/05 Sunny and Hot, Water temp 86*
Today's fishing was tough. Caught herring easily and ran downlines on 25' to 45' flats with sporadic action. Fishing got better in the afternoon and ended up with 12 stripers for 53 lbs.

Steve Miller and Paul Piatt

Date 7/12/05 Beautiful day , Water temp 85*
Caught herring and fished downlines on 30' flats. Fishing was good and clients kept 12 Stripers for 67 pounds.

Chad, Denette, Nadine and Hillery

Date 7/07/05 Sunny and Pleasant, Water temp 85*
Caught herring easily and fished flats in 35' of water. Fishing was good and we had over 50 hits, clients kept 16 Stripers for 84 pounds.

David Makagon, Mark, Ryan, David, Mark Jr. Huber

Date 7 /06/05 Sunny, air temp 90*, Water temp 84*
Caught herring easily and ran downlines on 30' flats early in the morning with limited success. Had numerous hits but put only a few keeper fish in the boat. Worked our way downlake to the 40' to 50' flats and scored on some big schools of stripers. Lost count of hits but we went thru 125 baits catching stripers and cats. Clients kept 16 stripers for 84 pounds, largest fish 9.5 pounds.

Bill Hamilton

Date 7/05/05 Sunny and pleasant , Water temp 85*
Did not fish the last 4 days due to boat traffic on July 4 th weekend. Tried a couple of areas around the splits , moved downlake and found a school by the powerplant, every line went off , lost count of fish cought but was in by 11 am, kept 8 stripers for 48 pounds, 2 over 12 pounds.

Al Rogenski

Date 6/04/05 Partly cloudy
Fished downlines on 25' flats With good success. Clients had 50 hits , kept 18 Stripers for 81 pounds.

Scott, Dana, George and George Jr.

Date 7/01/05 Pretty morning, Sunny , Water temp 84*
Another great day of fishing. We had constant action, had to catch herring twice, fished flats 30' deep. Must of had 80 to 90 good hits, Clients kept 18 stripers for 96 pounds.

Rich,Sean, Chauncy, Ryan and Andrew

Date 6/30/05 Sunny, Air 90*, Water temp 85

Father and four sons fished today, was concerned with there level of experence at first but boy did they show me. Caught herring and fished downlines on 30' flats. Again the larger stripers did not want to feed well but we had plenty of hits[60 to 70]. Guys did great and caught stripers and cats, kept 12 for 52 pounds, a pleasure to fish with. I am sure there will be some great fisherman in this group in the future.

Ricky Foard

Date 6/28/05 Beautiful day,water temp 84

Perfect morning, Bait was easy, fish cooperated everywhere we went, clients fished well, had 60 hits by 11 am, kept 16 stripers for 70 pounds, a great morning of striper fishing.

Steve, Mike, Jeff and Ben

Date 6/27/05 Partly sunny and pleasant, Water temp 84*

Knew I was in for an interesting day when within the first 10 minutes ot trying to catch bait my clients son made 15 laps around the boat with his father yelling at him 30 times to sit down. Anyway ,I caught bait and we went fishing. Ran herring on downlines on 30' flats early with good success. Took clients awhile to get the hang of things but once they did they jammed em. Fish turned off uplake so we moved down to 45' flats and found a mega school. Had over 70 hits, clients kept 20 stripers for 92 pounds and got off the water early.

Tommy Billet

Date 6/26/05 Sunny and hot, water temp 85
Fished 30' flats with little success. Sunday traffic spooked the fish, went downlake away from traffic , found fish and had well over 100 hits, clients kept 13 stripers for 57 pounds.

Amanda Crowley

Date 6/25/05 Sunny and hot, water temp 84*

Again we ran herring on 30' midlake flats with fewer hits than previous days. Saturday traffic got rocking early and slowed the bite, had 40 hits , clients kept 12 fish for 62 pounds.

Bruce Benedict and family

Date 6/24/05 Sunny, air 90*, Water temp 84*

Started off worried about the day. Have had these clients out 5 times with mixed results. Blew my moter on two occasions, lost a net on another trip and had two fair trips after slaying the fish on previous days. Needless to say, I was concerned about the trip. Caught 120 herring and ran downlines on 28'flats. Within the first 2 hours we had so many hits we went thru all the baits. Should have caught 70 stripers in 2 hours but clients were to excited and lost most of the fish. Caught 100 more herring and put them back on the fish and had constant action. Finally got the monkey off there backs and ended up with 20 keepers for 102 pounds. No worries about this group anymore.

Alan Worsky

Date 6/23/05 Sunny and pleasant, air temp 88*, water 83

Had only one client today and I knew it would be easy to limit out so I tried new areas today. Caught bait easily and graphed areas downlake . Fished flats 40' to 45' deep where bait was present. Found numerous schools and went thru 120 baits, caught over 40 stripers, a dozen cats, kept 8 for 48 pounds, largest fish 14 pounds.

Deno Barcia

Date 6/21/05 Partly cloudy, 90*, Water temp 82

Caught herring easily and ran downlines on 30' flats all day. Fishing was slower than usuall but clients had a ball. Had 40 hits, kept 13 stripers for 68 pounds.

The Watsons

Date 6/19/05 Fathers Day, Sunny, cool in the 70's

Booked this trip with intentions of fishing till 11 am so we could spend the rest of the day with our families. Running up lake to catch herring I ran over a school of stripers that must have been 5 acres. Excited about catching heerring and getting back to the school, it took me about 20 minutes to catch 150 herring. I relocated the school of fish, put downlines on them and spanked them. Total madness for 4 hours, lost count but went thru all our baits, easily caught over 50 stripers and 15 cats. Clients kept 24 stripers for 124 pounds, all before Sunday boat traffic.

Doug Meyers

Date 6/17/05 Cloudy, cold front, air temps mid 70's, water temp 82*

Caught herring and looked for big schools on the flats with no luck. Saw fish stacked on ledges 20' to 26' deep, put downlines on them and hooked up all day. Caught 40 stripers, 5 cats, 1 bass and walleye. Clients kept 21 stripers for 101 pounds. So much for cold fronts !

Moore

Date 6/16/05 Partly cloudy with a cold front moving in.

Caught herring but it took longer than it usually does. Popped five 7 pounders real quick , then had to look for fish. Could not find any schools at all, all the fish were scattered. The cold front made fishing tough, caught 12 stripers, kept 7 for 45 pounds and 1 bass.

Sunny Williams

Date 6/15/05 Sunny, water temp 82*

Caught herring and ran flats in 30 ' depths with a good early morning bite but the action slowed by 9 am. Fished till 3 pm, caught 30, kept 20 fish for 97 lbs. This is the first day in a month that I could not find acres of fish and had to actually work for them and stay on the water a full day.

Earl and Millie Mielke

Date 6/13/05 Cloudy and hot, just like the depthfinder and the fishing.

Caught herring easily this morning and ran downlines on massive schools of stripers. Had at least 100 hits, clients caught 45 by 10 am, released all but 12 for 73 pounds. Earl wanted to stay but Millie had to go due to ' Too much testosterone on the boat '.

Jim, Ken and Betsy

Date 6/11/05

Fished with friends this morning for 3 hours, ran downlines in 30' of water, got tired of catching stripers at 9 am, caught 60 and kept 16 for 101 pounds. I love this lake.

Ganoe

Date 6/10/05 Cloudy, water temp 80*

Same conditions as yesterday with fishing action fast and furious. Clients caught well over 50 fish by 10 am, kept 16 for 77 lbs. Everywhere we went the graph looked like spaghetti with fish arches covering the screen. Striper fishing doesn't get much better than this !

Lohr

Date 6/9/05 Blue skies, water temp 80*

Caught herring easily this morning and saw a school of breaking fish on a 20' flat and cast spooks to them. Caught some on top and also on herring but all were punks so we left immediatly to find larger stripers. Found a school in 34', caught 10 nice ones, left them and found yet another school, caught 15 more, found another school and caught 25 more, all by 10 am.Clients kept 20 stripers for 103 pounds. Fish are getting bigger!

Williams

Date 6/7/05 Cloudy, Hot in the 90s*, water temp 78*

Caught 30 herring before daylight, picked clients up at 6, ran 500 yards from the marina and saw a school of fish that filled the screen on the Lowrance. Put downlines them and within 10 minutes after using up the bait we had 10 nice Stripers in the boat. Went and caught 100 more herring, located another school of fish, and by 8 am we limited out with 20 keepers for 98 lbs. We weighed them in and went out for another hour and caught and released 29 more keepers and were back at the dock by 10 am. Incredable!

Garner

6/6/05 Sunny, air temp 80*, water temp mid 70's

Ran herring on midlake flats today in 30' of water. Located numerous schools of stripers. Fished downlines for 3 hours and stopped at 50 fish. Clients kept 16 fish for 80 pounds. Largest fish 10 lbs.

Sunny, water temp 68

Again we ran downlines on flats in the 30' range. The fish cooperated all day. We caught at least 40, clients kept 12 for 51lbs.

Looks like we are in the summer pattern now of downlining and catching numbers of stripers up to 75 per day. The lake is behind about 3 weeks (water temps still in the 60's, fish still spawning). The larger fish will come on strong in the upcoming weeks.

See you on the water!

Cold and rain

Fished gizzards and herring on 30' flats today. Had over 40 hits, clients kept 19 for 79lbs. Constant action.

Rain all day, water temp 71 at the third dike for morning bite, 68 midlake

Fished boards early on downlake flats in 15', moved midlake to flats in 30' and fished downlines. Lost count of hits and fish but we went thru 125 baits probably caught 40 fish, clients did not keep.

5/22 and 5/23: Cold front conditions

Fishing was slow both days, had 12 hits and 6 keepers each day.

Sunny, Water temp 69

Caught gizz and herring and ran downlines on 30' flats, had 23 hits, kept 13 fish for 63lbs.

Cloudy, water temp 68

Ran gizzards on downlines, had 18 hits, kept 9 for 56lbs.

Sunny and warmer, water temp 69

Ran gizzards on boards until 9am then went to downlines, kept 13 for 57lbs.

Sunny, Cool , water temp 66

Caught gizz and ran boards early with little success, found fish scattered deeper around 24', Switched over to 6 downlines and 6 planner boards, caught fish equally as well on both , clients kept 12 for 48lbs, 1 walleye for 3lbs. Glad to see the downline bite get started.

Sunny, cold, water temp dropped to 67*

Cold morning, clients froze in the morning, affecting fish also. Ran gizz on boards, fish finally started cooperating midday over deeper flats, kept 11 for 40lbs. Cold Front hurt today's fishing.

Sunny, water temp 77, air temp 60-86, blue skies,10-20SW winds

Ran gizzards on planner boards, had 19 hits, boated 8 for 60 pounds, 3 fish around 10 pounds. Fish seem to be hitting better in the 15-20 feet range. Saturday traffic turned the fish off around 11am.

Cloudy, water temp 72

Ran 6 to 12 inch gizzard shad on planner boards all day. Started off on shallow flats less than 10' deep, caught 5 but shut down at 9 am. Gradually pulled out to deeper flats around 22' deep and started nailing the stripers. The larger fish wanted the shad over 10", hooked at least 6 over 10lbs, got bitten every 15 minutes, kept 14 fish for 93lbs. Clients had a hard time keeping the big fish on, fought them for a couple minutes each and just pulled off. Anyway it was a great day.