Carl, Gary and Lee

April 27th, 2009: Sunny ,Warm and Windy, Water Temp 68* and Clear.

Got out early , caught bait, picked the guys up at 5:45, caught a little more bait and went fishing. We had our spread of boards out before 6 and pulled some points up in the river. After a while we relocated to a main lake flat, ranging in depths from 15 to 30 feet deep, pulling boards and downlines. We were getting bit about every 15 minutes or so until about 11am, then the fish really turned on and the action was about all we could handle for a while, then the wind started howling and I could not control the boat well enough to fish the way I wanted to. The guys caught a bunch of Stripers and some nice Catfish also. They kept 14 Stripers to take home for dinners.

The warm weather has turned the fish on and made them more predictable.

Brad, Bob and Tim

April 25th, 2009: Sunny and Hot, Water Temp rising to 65* and Clear.

Picked the crew up at their dock at 5:45 and went to catch bait. Bait was easy this morning , it was still early so I set up pulling boards nearby their house on one of my favorite spring areas. I was very concerned about the day, not just because it was the weekend but it was going to be in the mid 90's today and boat traffic would certainly slow the bite down. I got the spread out just in time to hit my first point. The guys were pumped, it was their first time out with me all of a sudden WHAM, a huge Striper blew up on the largest bait I had out. Sounded like a cinder block falling out of the sky. After Brad finished peeing himself he grabbed the rod . The board was skimming across the surface going behind the boat then the fish turned and swam forward, reversed again and swam behind the boat and broke off on the boat. Bob said "did you hear that hog hit the boat"? I guess that is how they get big. That was a great start of a good day. Anyway, we fished the area for a couple hours, getting 8 hits there and boating some nice fish. The traffic was up by now so I changed tactics and converted to fishing downlines, and we did that the rest of the day. The fish turned on around 1:30 and the guys really nailed them. Today we had 22 strikes with the guys keeping plenty of fish for a cookout this afternoon at the lake house with their friends. [Tim, notice I did not say how many fish you lost today?]

Doug, Dillon and Mike Myers

April 24th, 2009: Sunny and Warm, Water temp 63* and Clear.

Picked the guys up at 6 and caught bait. Couldn't fish where I wanted to because I had been busted there earlier on in the week and had a call that it looked like a parking lot there so I found an area with no boats and started fishing. Didn't take long before we started getting action and we worked the area for about 2 hours. Made another move to a new area and popped one then set up on a ledge and popped another. Took the guys back to the marina for lunch and because Mike had to leave. Went and caught more bait and set up in yet a different area . We fished it for an hour and a half, getting strikes about once every 10 minutes. Doug was getting antsy, he said if he did not get home soon he may have to come to my house to sleep tonight so we got the baits in and called it a day. Dillon hated to leave but he wanted to go to a Turkey shoot tonight so he gave up also. Today we had 25 hits and the guys took a few fish home for the grill. [Sissy, Doug was truly worried about getting home but Dillon was having too much fun]

Burt and Rick

April 22nd, 2009: Got out on the water at first light and caught bait, set up on a main lake flat pulling boards and downlines. Weather was calm, sunny and 50*. Worked the area for 20 minutes and 2 rods went off at once. Rick put on in the boat but after a short fight Burt's fish got off. I worked the area for 2 more hours, had 7 more hook-ups without boating a fish. By 9 the wind had gotten up and we moved to another spot. Set up there, got a couple hits, got too windy and had to head for cover. Worked a non windy area for a few minutes then the fronts started blowing through, had to go catch more bait and relocated in the only area we thought that we could halfway control the boat. Just started to put baits out and the wind started howling, rain started pouring, boat was going sideways, having a ball [Not]. We fought the wind, rain and numerous storms before calling it quits. The guys took home a couple fish for the table. Today we could only fish where I wanted to for 2 hours, the weather made it unfishable the rest of the day.

Jim, Jimmy Tim and Arturo

April 21st, 2009: Sunny, Cloudy, Windy, Cool and Warm. Water Temp 58* and Clear. Started off the day on the wrong foot, had a flat in the driveway, changed it and was on the water by 6am. The guys were ready so we went and caught bait and went fishing. Set up on a main lake flat 10 to 20 feet deep pulling boards and downlines. Worked it for 30 minutes until we got our first strike. We got 3 more hits real quick and the action died. We worked the area for another hour and moved. Set up in a similar area and put a fish in the boat right away then nothing. Worked over to another area and had 3 hits at once, turned back and the same thing happened , nothing. Went downlake to check on a couple other areas but the wind was too strong to fish them so we went back to a new area. We started putting fish in the boat , we were getting bit about every 15 minutes or so. The fish were lethargic today, we had 20 strikes and the guys boated 14 Stripers. The guys hung in there and ended up with a great stringer of Stripers.

Brian and Melissa

April 19th, 2009: Sunny and Beautiful.

It was such a nice day my wife, grandson and a couple friends went out on the water for a couple hours. I caught 15 baits and set up on a mainlake flat pulling just 4 lines. The first 15 minutes we had 6 hits and within an hour our bait was gone. Brian is holding Malissa's first Striper of the morning. Aren't they cute?

Jimmy Rux

April 15th, 2009: Cloudy, Cold and Rain. Water temp dropping to 54* .

Picked up Jimmy at 6am and went to catch bait. Threw for a couple hours and went fishing. Found some fish on ledges between 16 and 2o feet deep and put some baits in their faces. Fish were fairly lethargic, the baits would get nervous but the fish were reluctant to hit them. After 20 minutes of fishing we hooked up and Jimmy got a feeling for what he was in for today. We boated the fish and turned around to hit the same area. Jimmy was ready for some action and he got it.
The front rod went off first, as he was fighting it another got hit, then another and another. We got 2 or 3 of those in, took pictures and released the fish. After 15 minutes without another hit I moved on knowing that when you release fish that size they alert the school and the action is over. Hit another spot and boated a few, released them and they turned off. Left to go catch more bait, threw for another 2 hours, went to another area and set up on a ledge . Same scenario as before, this time 4 rods hooked up within a 3 minute period. We boated these fish as well, one got tangled in another line, as I was untying it a fish hit the line I was holding and ripped it out of my hand, Jimmy boated it as well. Made yet another move to another ledge, boated a 8 pounder, made a turn back around and hooked up with the fish of the day. After a couple of minutes battling the fish we boated it, a nice one at 15 3/4 pounds. We released it and called it a day. We took pictures of all the fish before they were released, not enough room on the journal to show them all.

Greg Whitlock

April 14th, 2009: Cloudy, cold , rain and wind. Water Temp 55* and clear. Had another cancellation today so I called up Greg from Louisa Boat and Motors and we went out for a while checking out different areas to fish. Bait collection sucked but we managed. Set up on a long flat uplake pulling boards. After an hour of nothing, we got the baits in and went to catch more bait. Ran downlake and checked out a few areas with no luck. Decided to try something a little different and started catching fish. Caught fish till we ran out of bait, went and tried to catch more but with the weather the way it was and it getting late we just called it quits. Greg released all the big fish today and kept the 2 smallest ones to take home to his mother-in-law who enjoys eating fish. On the way home Greg noticed I had a blown out bearing on my trailer, he said lets take it to his shop and he replaced it. He saved me a days trip, I am sure I would have ended up along side of the road out of commission later on in the week if he had not seen and fixed the bearing. [ this is not the only time he has saved me, one morning as I was pulling out my driveway my hub fell apart, I called Greg, by 7:30 am he had got the hub, came to my house and replaced it, I was back on the water and fishing by 8] It just doesn't get any better than the Whitlock family, and I am blessed to have them as friends.

Thanks Greg

Tim, Mark, Larry and Mark

April 11th, 2009: Cloudy, Rain, Wind, Water Temp 54* and Clear.

Got on the water this morning and John called me, He and Tim had a light out and had some nice herring on it so I went to them and caught bait. Picked the guys up at their dock at 6:15, caught a little more bait and went fishing. I was under the gun this morning, I knew a major front was suppose to blow through about 9am and I wanted to put some fish in the boat before the fish shut down. Set up on a deep flat pulling boards and downlines. It was still calm out and fairly warm. I started off working an area Anthony caught fish on yesterday but after 15 minutes and no hits I moved on. Found a ledge loaded with cows and the action started. We had a couple of hook-ups before the guys understood what to do but once they did we started putting Hogs in the boat. I circled around 4 times over the ledge and every time we hooked up, sometimes with doubles. We lost a couple fish on the ledge and things slowed for a bit so I moved on. By 9:20 it was getting black out and the next thing I knew the wind started gusting, the rain came down, the air temp dropped 15 degrees, and the fish turned off. I had warned the guys last night that this would happen to us today, but they still wanted to go, and were glad they did. The guys kept a few fish and released the others to fight again another day. We were off the water by 10:30, the guys were cold but had big smiles on their faces. Larry is holding a 13.12 Striper caught before the front and Tim is holding a nice Striper caught just as the front started to blow through.

Steves and Walts

April 10th, 2009: Sunny and Pleasant, Water temp 55* and Clear.

Caught bait yesterday for today, picked the guys up at 6:15 at the marina and set up on a main lake flat about 20 feet deep pulling boards and downlines. Within the first 45 minutes we had 6 hits, the Stripers would jam the boards, pulling them back 10 feet, then nothing. Apparently the fish feed hard last night in the full moon and were just trying to kill the baits this morning. We continued to hit different flats but by 10 we were still fish less. I went and caught some fresh bait , set up on another flat, popped 1, continued to work other flats. Finally pulled up on an area and 3 lines went off, the guys got one of them in. Worked the area for a while longer, picking up a couple more fish. Made another move, the wind blew us off where we were fishing, hit another flat and popped a couple more. Today was SLOW for us, fish did not want to eat until midday. The wind is suppose to howl tomorrow, we have 3 sets of clients scheduled to fish tomorrow, I will let them know it may be tough out there again.

Anthony and Vinnie

April 10th, 2009: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temp 55*.

Anthony took his friend Vinnie out today to locate some fish for his clients tomorrow. They caught bait early and went fishing. This morning was fairly nice but it got quite windy this afternoon. They hit 4 areas, caught fish in 2 areas, boated 12 Stripers, released 4, kept 8. Today Anthony never put out more than 3 lines at a time.

Robert, Mark and Anthony

April 8th, 2009: Partly Cloudy, Cold and Windy.

A heck of a cold front blew threw yesterday and all day today, made fishing very tough. I had to throw for bait for over 3 hours just to get enough bait to go fishing. By then the wind was a steady 15 with gusts above 25. I ran the lake looking for places to get out of the wind, could not find any so I put out a few downlines and started fighting the wind. I could not run boards like I wanted to , I would have not had any control over them. We hit 2 places without a bite, I found some fish on the graph , put the trolling motor down, floored it, put 1 bait out and before I could put in the rod holder it went off. I finally got out 3 baits, they all hooked up at once. We got a couple of them in while Bob fought a hog, after a while his fish broke off. We hit a few more areas and got into fish good 1 more time but it ended up being a long, hard day. The guys were happy catching what they did today considering the conditions, I guess that is what matters most.

Anthony Hicks, Steve and Greg

April 5th, 2009: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 55* and Clear. Anthony got up early this morning and went out to catch bait before picking up the guys at daylight. I called him about 7 and he said he could not find a place to fish, there were so many Striper and Bass boats fishing that every point where ever he looked had a boat on it. He ran down lake and set up on a flat below the 208 bridge, pulled a mile but got run over down there so he looked for a quieter place. After trying another area he realized it was futile to try to fish the way he was, changed up and before he got all his rods changed over they started getting bit . Looked over at his boat and it looked like he had opened one of his seats and got into a hornets nest, everyone was running around the boat, Bebe laughing so hard we heard him a half a mile down the lake. When Anthony caught up he hollered at us and we came over and had some fun ourselves. They caught a bunch of fish, Anthony doing a great job for such adverse conditions.

Micheal, Larry and Mark

April 5th, 2009: Sunny and warm, Water temp 54* and Clear.

My grandson Micheal has been wanting to go Striper Fishing for the last 3 months but the weather has been too cold until today so I called a couple friends, grabbed Mike and went to the water. Caught bait and was in awe of how many boats were out on the water today. At one point up in the river there was 6 boats in a row, 100 yards apart, all pulling boards and bobbers, heading the same direction. It looked like they were all tied to the same rope. And the funny part was the boat traffic was worse, constant waves, and they thought they could catch fish there. Needless to say we went as far away from fisherman and boat traffic and set up. Wasn't long till Michael hooked up to a Striper, fought it for 3 minutes all by himself, I netted the fish, 9 1/2 pounds. I have him on video, I will put it up on my web site soon. We worked the area for about 30 minutes , catching fish, then buzzards homed in on us so we picked up and moved. Hit another area, caught some more, moved , did it again, then Anthony called us over to some fish he was on. Pulled up nearby him, only got 5 rods out before Michael hooked up again, while he fought his fish 4 other rods hooked up. Too much action in such a short time, all the while boats were buzzing by and homing in on us so we moved on. By now it was a zoo on the water, the wind was howling, I had to fish the next 6 days in a row so we emptied the bait tank and called it a day. We kept a few fish to take home for the guys to eat.

Some Past April Catches

Allen Worsky and Ben Edwards

April 2nd, 2009: Cloudy and cool, Water temp 52* and Clear.

Today I had a late cancellation from a client, my boat was already ready to go so I called a couple of friends to go out for awhile. We caught bait and started fishing a little after 9am pulling boards and freelines. Allen started the day off with a nice Striper and Ben jumped right in himself and boated another. The guys were releasing fish today so we threw them back, baited up and kept pulling and catching Stripers. We were pretty busy trying to keep up with the action then Allen hooked up with a toad, fought it for quite a while and we finally boated it. His bum bicep did not help much with reeling in fish today. We took a picture of the fish and released it good and healthy. We had lost a board a few minutes prior to that fish so we got the baits in and went to pick up the board but a Bass Boater got to it first, picked it up and took off. I guess he thought he found a pot of gold or something. We went and caught some more bait and set up in a different area of the lake that I have not fished this year. After I put out about 15 rods the action started and never stopped. After a couple hours of running around the boat we had run out of bait again, catching at least 25 more Stripers. We lost count of how many fish we did catch today, no way of telling because the action was so fast. All the Stripers were released happy and alive except for the ones on the stringer, they were in too bad a shape to return back to the lake, the guys took they home. [Sometimes when all the lines go off at once you can not deal with the fish fast enough when you boat them] I would have liked to have gotten a couple more pictures of the larger fish but we just did not take the time out to take them.