May Bliss

May 1st, 2009: Cloudy and Windy, Water Temp 67* and Clear.

I had taken off most of the week to catch up on chores around the farm, putting in food plots, getting the garden in, mulching all the flower beds, and a few Honey Do's. I was on the water Monday and noticed a change in the lake and just had to get back on the water before the weekend warriors hit the lake. The wind was blowing a steady 15 to 20 mph with some higher gusts and I thought I might be able to sneak out on the water undetected and hit a couple areas to maybe pop a couple nice fish. Went to the lake in the late morning, caught about 20 nice baits and hit my first area. The wind was blowing way to too hard to pull my spread of planner boards so I simply put out 6 baits to check things out. I no sooner got the 6th line out when one of my rods bowed over, then another and another. Got those fish in the boat, snapped a quick picture of 2 of them and released them. I had seen what I wanted to find so I pulled the rest of my lines in and made a move. I set up right in the wind, put the trolling motor down , rigged the first bait and put it out. It started getting nervous right away, I looked at my depth finder and saw a couple very nice fish on it. I hurried to get my second bait out while controlling the boat. Just as I got it out the 1st bait started fleeing from a fish then WHAM, the second pole hooked up, drag screaming, rod tip in the water. The timing could not have been worse, there was a Bass Boat and a Wake board boat passing less than 30 yards away from me. I hid the bent rod from the Basser but the guys in the other boat saw what what happening and pulled over to watch. This fish hit from the rear of the boat, screamed drag straight out, then decided to go to the front of the boat, around the trolling motor, back around to the other side of the boat, then straight back under the boat to the side it started out on. I had to lean way over the boat with the rod tip way in the water so the fish would not break off on the boat. I finally wrestled the fish back on my side, got the net and netted him. After some applause from the other boat I removed the hook and snapped a quick picture and released the fish. The fish seemed happy to see me, he squirted all over the boat, indicating the Stripers are ready to start spawning. After releasing the Striper I had found out what I wanted to know so I emptied the bait tank and went back to the dock. I only fished less than an hour today.

It appears that the lake is about 2 to 3 weeks behind the last couple of years, probably due to the inconsistent weather [cold and numerous fronts] in April. The fish I caught today were pre-spawn and I normally would have caught them in early April. This was a great way to bring in the month of May, and an enjoyable short break from farm chores.

May will certainly be a great month to fish, I look forward to my clients catching some Huge Stripers. This year has already been incredible, the first 3 months of the year we doubled our catches of Stripers. The bait kills of this last winter have really helped the lake and this summer promises to be one of the best seasons that I have ever experienced on the lake.