Gil, Oren and Nor

October 31st, 2008: Sunny, Cold morning turning into Beautiful afternoon, Water Temperature 55* and Slightly Stained.
Picked clients up at their dock and went to catch bait. Caught 50 and started fishing right where we caught the bait. Set out a spread of boards and bobber and pulled shallow flats. Took about 20 minutes before we got hit and Oren jumped on the rod and put the Striper in the boat to break the ice for the morning. Pulled another 300 yards before all our bait became nervous again. I told the guys to get ready and soon thereafter a planner board went flying across the water with a nice Striper on the end of the line. Nor did well to get the fish in the boat. We only got one hit there but I knew there were other fish there so I turned and pulled it again. Although the fish were not aggressive today for the next 4 passes on the point we got hit. Around noon we relocated to the mouth of a creek and found another area that was holding a few feeding fish. We had 3 hits within a 30 yard area and caught a few fish but Boats kept running through the fish and spooked them. The guys had a great time today and kept enough fish for a BBQ on the lake this evening.

Richard, Bridget, Ronald Bergey and Haze Daw

October 27th, 2008: Cold and Rain, Water Temp 60* and Clear.
The weather station said this morning it was going to be 60* and Sunny, at daylight it was cloudy and by 10 it was raining and rained the rest of the day, and the temperature never got out of the 40's. Needless to say we were not ready for today's weather and my clients did get chilled somewhat. Went and caught bait this morning and set up pulling boards shallow since I did not see any bait or fish on the depthfinder. First fish hit next to the bank and Haze wrestled it in to start the morning off. Pulled a couple hundred yards more with a couple of hook-ups but we could not get them in the boat. Kept working the boards today and never saw any deep fish till later in the day when we found some breaking fish. They sounded and the depth finder lit up from 15 to 30 feet deep with fish. Haze even caught a Striper on a Sea Shad ! Although the day was cold and wet the crew hung in there and by quiting time we had a great stringer of fish. Bridget is pictured holding a 12 1/2 pound Striper, the largest of the day. We had 4 fish today over 30".

Ron Greenwell

October 22nd, 2008: Sunny and breezy, Water Temp 65* and Clear.

Picked Ron up at the dock at 6:30 and went and caught bait. Set up on a roadbed and pulled it with boards without a hit then moved to a 8 foot midlake flat and hooked up. While Ron was reeling the fish in several more Gizzards got swirled but the Stripers just would not bite the bait. Hooked up on the bobber, it was a pig, Ron actually thought it was hung on a log, he handed the rod to me to break it free, I yanked it and was sorry I did so fast, when I got it back to the boat the hook had huge scales on it! Made another pass on the flat and only got a swirl so I moved over to the nearest bank and put the boards on the bank, did not get bit. The bobber hooked up again and Ron got that fish in over 22 feet of water. Caught more bait and pulled another area that had previously been producing nice fish for my clients, only got 1 bite in 5 foot of water and Ron put the fish in the boat. Today we only had 5 hits, the cold frond killed us again.

The Bob Hammond Crew

October 18th, 2008. Cloudy and cool, Water temp dropped to 68* and Clear. Was suppose to pick the guys up at the marina at 6:30 this morning but when I got to the marina at 6 they were there and chomping at the bit to go. I put the boat in the water and we took off to catch bait. Went to where I had been catching bait but it was really broken up due to the second day of this cold front. Finally by 8 I had caught 50 baits and we went looking for fish. This front was hitting hard and it was windy so I set up in an area where I knew there were nice fish but somewhat protected from the wind. Second day of major fronts can be brutal for Striper fishing and I was fishing for a dozen strikes today. We put out 8 downlines first and started pulling a 25 foot flat , primarily to see how the wind would affect the boat and to see how bad boat traffic would be. We worked 2oo yards without a bite so I put out 3 boards and a bobber and put the boards on a bank. After 5 minutes we got 2 hits but the fish did not hook up. Thirty seconds later both the same rods got hit and the boards went flying across the water. We had a mini fire drill for about a minute working the fish but got both of them in the boat. We worked up the lake a few hundred more yards with more boards without success so we turned around to go hit the area where we caught the Stripers earlier. By now I had out my full spread of 8 boards, a bobber and 8 downlines. We pulled the area full of anticipation but did not even get a strike. What a bummer! I knew then today would be tough. We continued to work in the general area catching a Bass on a downline and a few other Stripers on freelines. Had two other friends out fishing today that did not catch a fish and got bait from one of them and set up in the wind pulling an area where my clients caught some nice 30" fish this week. Put another Striper in the boat on a board and then the bobber got hit. Zac picked it up and fought the fish for 3 minutes before the fish simply pulled off. He had only gained on the fish half the distance to the boat! We sure wanted him to boat that fish but it just didn't work out. That was the last hit of the day. Today we had 11 strikes, Zac is pictured with his first Striper.

Paul Henon and Crew

October 17th, 2008: Cloudy and Rain, Water Temp 70* and Clear.

Picked the guys up at 6:30 at High Point and went and caught bait. I was concerned about the cold front blowing in last night and today's temperatures being 25* colder than yesterday. Bait was tough but once I had 48 I went to find fish. Only took about 5 minutes for me to find a school over 30 foot of water so we set up downlines on them and got 5 hits before loosing the school. Searched some more and found fish a little shallower and worked them till we ran out of bait. Went and caught more bait , found some single fish and fished downlines on them. Today we had 2 hits on boards and 19 on downlines. We saw only one school of Stripers busting today but 2 other boats were working them so we left them alone. After this weather comes through and the water temps drop 5 degrees Striper fishing will be out of control.

Jeff Fincham with friends Doug, Dwayne, Wayne and Scott

October 16th, 2008: Sunny and warm, Water Temp 72* and Clear.

Picked the crew up at their dock at 6:30. I knew it would be an interesting day today because not only were they new clients but when I got to their dock not only were they there but also 4 Large, heavy coolers filled with beverages for the day. We loaded everything up and went to catch bait. Caught 32 and needed a few more so I ran uplake and saw a friend throwing but he had only 3 baits. I saw some baits on the depth finder and made 3 more casts putting 18 more baits in my tank and giving Ricky about 25 to get started. I went looking for fish but could not find any on the depth finder so after looking for 15 minutes I decided to set up a spread of boards and downlines and see what the fish wanted. Our first hit was on a board over 26 feet of water and Wayne jumped on the rod. After fighting the fish for 2 or 3 minutes he started moaning , groaning, panting [this is not a sex novel, but his friends commented it sounded kind of like a porn flick], and landed the fish after a 5 minute battle. We all had fun with Wayne , but seriously he was hurting reeling that fish in. Before we hooked up again Jeff said he showed Wayne my web site last night and Wayne commented on a saying I have on my home page referring to your arms burning, ....., that that could never happen on Lake Anna. Well, the rest of the day Wayne complained how hard that 31" Striper fought. The next 6 hits came on boards and then we had 2 hits on downlines, all over 20' or more. I went and caught more bait, made 1 cast for 75 Gizzards, and relocated to another area fishing solely downlines. We would get hits about every 15 minutes for the rest of the day. Once all the coolers were empty we decided to call it a day. We had a lot of fun today and could have had a nice stringer if Jeff didn't loose so many! All kidding aside, we all had fun today, had a great crew, had 26 strikes today and the guys took home some fish for the grill and the freezer. Three of the fish today were over 30" long.

John Crawford with friends Phil and Mike

October 10th, 2008: Sunny and warm, Water Temp 69* and clear.

Picked the guys up at their campers at Christopher Run and threw for bait around there, only catching 16 pieces. Went midlake and looked for bait with no success but fish were breaking everywhere. We could not get on the schools of breaking fish, they would only be up for a matter of seconds before sounding so we went to catch more bait. I looked a couple of other places then found some, made a cast and caught 34 more, then went fishing. Set up on a 15' flat running 15 baits on boards and downlines with no luck, pulled a 25 foot flat nearby with no luck, then moved up onto a 5 foot flat running boards, still no luck. Pulled off to deeper water and caught a Striper on a downline, then got hit a couple more times. I got all the freelines in and just ran downlines the rest of the day. Most of the times we saw fish there were only 8 or 10 fish in a pod and we would catch only 1 fish from a pod. Towards the later part of the day the fish schooled a little better, had 3 lines go off at once, then just before we came in we hit Spaghetti and most of the lines went down. One of the guys on board did not bring much luck with him today [I won't mention his name], every time he would pick up a rod with a Striper on it Mike would loose the fish. The guys wanted to put him in the penalty box but he caught a nice bass so they let him fish the rest of the day. Today we had 18 fish on, put 6 Stripers, a Largemouth and 5 Catfish in the boat.

Jeff, Mark, Mike, Shawn and Jim

October 7th, 2008: Sunny, chilly morning, Water Temp 71* and Clear.

Picked the guys up at 6:15 and went to catch bait. Another cold front blew through and made bait collection difficult, tried areas that I had been catching it on previous trips with little success. Ran to the other side of the lake and tripped over a school ,threw the net and caught over 30 and went fishing. Pulled from Hunters up hitting the points and flats without getting a bite. Relocated to another area and put out 8 downlines and 7 boards and pulled various depths till we caught a fish. We made 8 circles on the spot and got hit every time till we ran out of bait. Looked for 45 minutes for more bait, could not catch or even find any, called it a day. I suggested to the guys when they booked the trip that fishing was not very good and they may want to pick another date, so instead of going out Monday they choose Tuesday! Duh! These guys had been with me before and needed a day away from work and knew how fishing would be, went out and had a good time. They all were happy with the results. If anyone needs a Ford, check them out at Universal Ford, maybe they will book another trip with me soon if you buy a vehicle from them.

Paul Barboza , Dave Ault, Bob Burleson,Ron Rheude, Rene Fonseca

Oct. 2nd, 2008: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temp 72* and Clear. Picked the guys up at the Marina and went and caught 40 baits. Put out a spread of 8 boards, a Bobber, and 6 downlines and pulled some 20 foot flats. With the front coming through last night and the air temp being 47* this morning I was a little concerned how it would effect fishing today. We worked for 1/2 mile before getting our first fish but after putting it in the boat we had all the boards on the bank side go off. Talk about running around the boat, people were going everywhere, the fish were going everywhere, and the good thing was we got all the fish in the boat. Went a little further and nailed a few more fish then the fish turned off. We worked the area and similar areas only picking up a few more and some big Catfish. Went to catch more bait and from the time I caught bait this morning till noon, all the bait had left the creeks where I had been catching them and pulled out to the main lake over the channels. I knew the front finally got to the bait and the Stripers!