Robert Hornung and Brian Sharp

April 30th, 2008: Sunny and pleasant, Water Temp 66* and Clear.

Picked clients up at 5:30 am and spent the next 2 hours catching bait. Set up on a main lake flat that I found fish on yesterday and pulled my spread over it. On our first 3 passes we caught fish but they turned off at 9. Appeared to be a early morning bite and we missed most of it catching bait. We moved and set up on a school of fish in 30 feet of water and put downlines on them but only got bumped twice so I relocated to another main lake flat and put out my spread again. Fish were everywhere on the depth finder but just did not want to eat. They are spawning heavily now and are not real interested in eating mid day. We ended up only getting 13 strikes today . The water temp has dropped 8 * in less than a week, it is going to warm right back up and I am sure so will the fishing.

Blaine Lampton, Paul Maples, Doug Empson and Don 'fingers' Empson

April 29th, 2008: Rain, Sunny, Cloudy, Cold and Windy. Water Temp 67* and Clear.

Picked clients up at High Point at 5:30 and went and caught bait up lake. Threw for about an hour and a half then set up on a ridge mid lake pulling boards , bobber and down lines. Saw a lot of fish 20 to 30 feet deep but they would not hit the downlines. Some blew up on the boards. I knew it would be a long day after pulling 200 yards, seeing all those fish and only getting 3 or 4 hits. We continued to pull the ridge back and forth till the fish left putting a half a dozen fish in the boat. We went and caught more bait and set up on a up lake flat in 10 feet of water and worked it and some channel points with limited success so we moved again and tried working a large school in 28 feet of water but they would not bite. I left them and looked for broken up bait for awhile and found what I wanted on a 20 foot flat and set out the boards again. The weather hassled us all day with wind and rain but we finally got into a few fish. Doug caught the big fish of the day, a 12 3/4 p0under there with a couple other nice fish. Fingers decided to let a nice one go later on in the day and we also had a Monster Striper blow one of our baits out of the water on that spot. We had 25 strikes today with clients keeping 11 Stripers, releasing a Bass, Catfish and an Osprey that hit our bait with his talon.

Brian Mohr , Parents Joe and Sherri, John , Randy and Phil

April 25th, 2008 : Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 72* and Clear.

This is the second part of my day, had other clients earlier and dropped them off at 2:30 and picked up this motley crew. Brian is a good friend, client and sportsman. He took Joe and Phil out this morning for a successful Turkey hunt and wanted to end the day on the lake turning on his family and friends to a beautiful evening Striper fishing on the lake. We went and caught a few more baits and set up where we caught fish this morning. By now the lake was buzzing with boat traffic , people arriving early for the weekend and Bass boaters practicing for tomorrows tournaments. We pulled the area for 2 hours, getting 8 to 10 hits but only boating 2 or 3 there so we decided to move. We wanted to hit a spawning flat uplake so we went there at 6 pm and put out a dozen baits, pulled the short flat, the fish did not cooperate there so I decided to get the baits up and hit another spawning flat just downlake. We set up on it with an hour of daylight left in the day and started getting hits. We knew we had made the right move and had the possibility of loading the boat. The fish were here and we started putting Stripers in the boat. I made a turn to hit the flat again and worked even shallower. The fish were really turning on now but we kept getting run over by boats and jet skis which would put the fish down. It didn't matter too much, the evening was beautiful, the company and fishing great, clients catching 8 or 10 Stripers to take home for dinner. Brian is a regular client and brings his friend John along usually on the fishing trips. Today is the first day John made it through the trip without Brian or myself reminding him not to set the hook, touch the line and follow the fish. I am not sure if it was because he was sober or the fact that he did not ever grab a rod this evening! Just kidding you John, I know it was too early to drink and you were driving home.

With the lake warming like it has I expect fishing to just get better and better as long as the weather will cooperate. Today we had well over 50 ferocious strikes with many of the fish winning the battle.

Sammy Mountjoy, Bobby and Matt Barnes, Ronnie Keefer

April 25th, 2008 : Sunny and warm, Water Temp 72* and Clear.
Picked clients up today at 5am to get an early start. I caught bait yesterday so we could be fishing at first light and take advantage of the early bite. Set up with a spread of 10 Planner boards , a bobber and a couple of downlines and pulled main lake flats in 10 to 25 feet of water. It didn't take long for the action to begin and once it did it was non stop for 3 hours till we ran out of bait. We decided to go catch more bait and left the area , buzzards had found us and were circling in for the kill and we thought once we leave, they would . Caught 50 more baits and came back and set up on the same area. By now the boat traffic was heavy but the fisherman were gone so we could work where we wanted to unmolested. The fish still cooperated and by 1:30 we called it quits and went back to the marina to get some pictures. Matt caught a beautiful citation Bass weighing well over 8 pounds that had already spawned. He got a citation for the Bass and released the fish to be caught again. This morning we had 40 strikes, clients keeping 13 Stripers to take home with a lot of memories. The water Temp has risen 10 degrees in a week and this lake has turned on!

Claude Lawson and Steve Zebarth

April 22nd, 2008 : Cloudy and cool, Water Temp 64*.

Got out on the water at 5:15 and caught bait and set up on some points and flats in the mouths of creeks pulling boards. Put one in the boat on the first pull , fished them for another hour with no hits and relocated main lake. Had 3 fish hook up while I was trying to set up and only got one of them in the boat. Pulled a main lake flat and put a couple more in the boat and then all of a sudden the fish turned off. We tried a couple of other spots with no success. We struggled today for 5 Stripers with only a dozen hits. We need some stable weather!

Mark and Tim McClung

Friday, April 18th, 2008 : Sunny and warm, Water temps 62* and Clear.

Picked clients up at 5:30 am and ran uplake. We set up on main lake points around the mouth of a river pulling 10 planner boards, a bobber and a couple of downlines. After a bright full moon last night I was a little concerned that the fish had feed pretty hard last night. We hit the first point with no action so I pulled over to a point that I knew Stripers were spawning on. On the first pull we had 4 fish blow up on our baits and Mark hooked up on the largest one of the day. We turned and hit the point 4 more times only to have the fish roll the baits, not wanting to feed. There was a lot of chatter on the radio this morning, other fisherman experiencing the same situations. I move to other points, only to get short strikes. I decided to go catch more fresh bait so we could be ready when the fish decided to turn on. We set up on a deeper area off a main feeding flat and saw fish deep over 25 feet of water. We put boards and downlines out but on got hits on the boards. We attempted to pull the flat but every time we approached the flat boats would run over it, keeping the fish deep. We hung out there the rest of of the day , getting more and more strikes as the day progressed. We ended up with 7 Stripers after getting 19 strikes. We hooked up with a half a dozen more but just could not get them in the boat. The fish were definitely affected by the full moon last night!

Carroll Masters, Paul Gibson, Pete Yingling, Glen Rapp, Lynn Scott

April 17th, 2008 : Sunny , Water Temp 60* and Clear.

Got a late start this morning and took 3 hours to catch bait. I am sure we missed the first bite of the morning but we set up on a shallow feeding flat hoping to catch the tail end of the feed. We did get a couple of strikes just as I finished putting the lines out but it was clear the fish were not interested in eating. After working shallow and deeper waters we hit a couple different areas and just could not put much together today. We ended up with only four Stripers but after talking to 5 other fisherman today it seemed the fish were just turned off. I dropped my clients off at the Marina at 3:30 and went back out and caught bait for tomorrows clients so we could get an early start.

Jake Sutera and Mark Robertson

April 16th, 2008 : Sunny and Pleasant , Water temp. 59* and Clear.

Picked clients up at the dock at 6am and went to catch bait. Set up on a flat and pulled boards over 20 feet of water. Caught a couple on our first pass but then fishing slowed down. Hit some deeper water nearby with downlines and some shallower flats with boards with little success. Went and caught more bait and found a very nice school of Stripers over 35 feet of water and pulled downlines through them and only caught 2. Went looking for other schools, found some even deeper but they were not hungry either. We struggled through the day with 8 Stripers and a Catfish. Weather is getting better and fishing is going to break loose real soon, fish are spawning!

Brian Mohr, John Raniey, Terry, Mark Mautte, John Brueggemann

April 13th, 2008 : Cloudy and cool, Water Temp 58* and Clear.

Got out early this morning and caught bait, picked clients up at their dock at 6:30 am. Took a short ride and put out my spread working a 300 yard flat. We no sooner got all 13 lines out and fish started boiling all over the area and our baits started getting clobbered. We had 5 strikes before we ever got the first fish in the boat , the fish hooking up, pulling drag, and just getting off. There was surface action all around us, we threw lures at the fish but with no success. We pulled our baits through the fish and the fish just seemed lethargic this morning feeding. We worked the area for a couple hours and the board bite subsided. We converted to more downlines and moved deeper and resumed catching fish. I believe alot of the action this morning on the surface were male Stripers rolling the females spawning. We were off the water by 11am this morning, getting 45 vicious strikes and clients taking home 11 Stripers for the dinner table. The crew partied pretty hard last night, there were a couple guys on board trying to find their sea legs this morning and a couple more guys stayed back at the house this morning, hugging toilets.

Eddie Lowe, Steve Carter and David Debski

April 10th, 2008 : Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 57* and Clear.

Picked clients up at 6am and went and caught bait. Set up on a midlake flat pulling 10 boards, a bobber and a couple downlines. After pulling about 150 yards I told the guys this doesn't look good , we should have been bit at least 4 or 5 times already. We went another 100 yards and caught a catfish and that confirmed my fears, it would be a slow day. Went 50 more yards and 2 boards hooked up and one downline hooked up and we boated all 3. Pulled a little further with no luck and turned back to hit the area where we caught the fish. Had a strike but it did not hook up . Worked the flat for a couple of hours on catching a couple more. I had 2 other friends fishing today , one catching 3 Stripers and a Walleye and the other catching only 2 Crappie all day. We changed patterns and worked different depths the rest of the day with only a couple more strikes. Today we had about 15 hits and boated 7 Stripers.

Ron Emery

April 8th, 2008 : Cloudy and cold, Water Temp 54* and Clear. Got out early this morning to catch bait and picked client up about 7:45. Set up on a flat just below 208 bridge and put out a spread of planner boards and a couple downlines. Once we hit the flat a board went off and Ron reeled in the largest Bass he has ever caught, a 22" citation Bass. We had a couple of more hits on the flat and I decided to move. We found a bunch of fish deep in 32 feet of water, put downlines on them and nothing, baits did not even get nervous. I continued to see fish so I put out 6 planner boards along with the 6 downlines we had out and pulled about 2 miles of water for a half dozen strikes. I had enough of this and decided to do something completely different, I went even deeper and found some fish near the bottom in 45 feet of water and put baits in their faces and finally got some action. Ron caught 8 Stripers today and his Bass, He was happy but it made for a long day for me. I was expecting the fish to rock today and they didn't. Ron is pictured with his first Striper of the morning and he released them all to fight another day.

Paul Henon and George Hussey

April 4th, 2008 : Cloudy and Windy, Water Temp 53 * and Clear.

Picked clients up around 6 am and went and caught bait. Set up on some main lake points with 10 Planner boards, a bobber and a couple down lines. I had just engaged my last reel in deploying my baits when the board closest to the bank went off in about 3 feet of water. George grabbed the rod a reeled it in, a 23 inch 7 pound Citaition Bass. Not a bad way to start the day! Before he got the fish in another rod went off and Paul hauled in a nice Striper. While taking it off the hook another line went off and then another. We got these fish in and I had just got all the baits out again when we came up on the next point. The outer-most board went off and George grabbed it. Now he is a seasoned veteran when it comes to fishing and after a minute of fighting the fish he mumbled " I think this is a real nice fish". He was right, we got it on board and measured it, it was a 34" fat cow! We popped a picture and George said " I want to release the fish" so we put it back into the lake to be caught another day. While we were doing this Paul reeled in another fish. We had a couple of downlines out and they were getting plenty of action but I was running out of bait and could not put more out quick enough. A downline went off and Paul grabbed it , the drag screeemed of the reel and pulled off about 50 yards before Paul could turn the fish. While he was wrestling his fish in another hog grabbed a bait and George fought it. We got Paul's fish in and it was a 35 " Striper [at the end of the day we weighed it, 19 1/4 pounds.] George was still fighting his hog and 'POP' , the fish rolled and gilled the line and broke off. We had to go catch more bait but the fish never turned on quite as good as the bite was this morning. By the end of the trip we caught 11 Stripers, 2 - 9 pounders, 2 - 10 pounders , and 2 -19 pounders. Ended up being a great day, sure missed their good fishing buddy who couldn't make it today, Geo. F. Barbosa.

hmb+bb, cr+hd

John Harris and son

April 3rd, 2008 ; Cloudy and rain, Water temp 53*.

Suppose to pick clients up at 6 but they were running late so I went and caught bait. While I was catching bait I saw Stripers busting baits on the surface and wished my clients were there. I finally picked my clients up at 8am and we set up on a flat pulling boards and a downline. We were late getting started and got in on the tail end of the morning bite but managed to put a few nice Stripers in the boat. The wind got up and changed directions and started to blow out of the east and shut the fish off. We fished the rest of the day with little more success. All day I kept wondering " What could we have caught if we could have got an early start"? Well , the guys had a good father - son outing and ended well.