Bob Crawford with Jimmy, Herbert and Roger

August 25th, 2009: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 85* and Clear.
The guys wanted to see how bait was caught so I picked them up at 3:30am and went and caught bait. After watching what I go through with bait I believe they may have changed their minds about trying this on their own. We picked up Roger and went in search of schools of Stripers. I looked for a hour before finding what I wanted to see. The guys were getting a little antsy, it was quite cool this morning and the picture I painted for them was me finding schools early and reeling in fish, not cruising looking for fish. The water Temp had dropped 3 degrees since Saturday and had repositioned the fish shallower than I had expected but once I found them I dialed right in on them and we worked 7 schools within the next 3 hours. We went through 200 baits this morning, caught 19 Stripers and a dozen Catfish. The lake reminding me of the beginning of July with all the fish we saw and the numbers of schools we found. On the way back to the marina I was still marking schools of Stripers. Hope this continues through September!

Bill Halladay with friends Brad and Brian

August 22nd, 2009: Cloudy and Warm, Water temperature 88* and clear.

Caught 220 baits this morning and picked the guys up at 5:45 and went in search of Stripers. Found a school and we put out 10 downlines. No sooner than the last bait hit the water Brian hooked up. Great way to start the day with Brian catching the biggest fish he had ever caught. Well for the next hour he put it on his dad and Bill catching most of the fish. We worked a school of fish that was relating to a ledge, we would loose the fish and find them a few hundred yards again down the ledge. I had a friend Greg that was out and we worked the school for a couple hours this morning until the magical 9 o'clock showed up, then the schools scattered and the fish turned off. We looked and fished for a couple more hours only to catch 1 more Striper. Boat traffic got up around 9:30 also which did not help the fishing. We had quite the light show this morning with all the thunder storms rolling through but before daybreak the rain stopped and no one got wet. Not a bad morning for a cold front blowing through on a weekend.

Andrew, Mark and Daniel

August 20th, 2009; Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 88* and Clear.

Caught bait early and picked the guys up at the state Park Cabin dock. Found a school early and worked it for about 20 minutes then lost them. Looked for other schools nearby but could not locate any schools. Set up on some pods of fish and had little success. Looked and looked and never could locate any more schools of fish and also fished numerous places where I would see a few fish and bait but could not put anything together today. Although the day was slow the guys caught 7 Stripers and had a great time.

Josh, Kurt and Kyle

August 19th, 2009: Cloudy morning turning into Sunny, Water Temperature 88* and Clear.

Got out early and caught 200 Herring, picked the guys up at 5:45 at High Point. This was the first day back on the water in two weeks so I resumed where I left off catching Herring and searching for schools of Stripers. It is getting daylight about a half hour later now so I took that time to show the guys how to deploy the lines. Found a small school nearby the marina and tried to set up on them but as usual the first set up is very slow and it took way too long to get the baits down so we lost the school. I assured the guys that every time we set up it will get easier and things will go faster. I looked some more and found a very large school, the guys started setting up and I called John to the school. This time it went a little better, we started popping Stripers and when John got there he saw the school about 150 yards from me and they started catching fish as well. After about 5 minutes John looked over at me and we both threw both hands up in the air, we both were frustrated because both of our sets of clients were still green and having difficulty getting the baits out properly because this was only their 2nd set up and John and I knew that if we could just get all our lines out we could slay the fish in this huge school. We worked the school for about 30 minutes and eventually lost it, so I got back on the motor and started looking again. I located another large school in the mouth of a creek and told the guys that this time they knew exactly what to do and we would spank the Stripers. They jumped up, got all the lines out to the exact depth that I called out and everything went off. At one time I looked on the deck and there were 5 Stripers on the floor still with hooks in their mouth's and they were reeling in others. Well I only had 10 lines out so by the time we removed the hooks from the fish , rebaited and got all the lines back out we had lost that school. By now it was about 9am, and I was getting worried that it was time for the schools to break up and quit feeding. I got back on the motor and looked for 3 more hours for fish, stopping often to fish some singles but in the next 3 hours only caught 1 Striper. For the last month the scenario has been pretty much the same, better catch them early and while they are schooled, after that it is just a boat ride. Kurt is pictured holding a Bass he caught on the old road bed out in front of the marina's, looks like he was mad but he wasn't, he just looked that way a lot today. The guys were having a bet to see who would catch the next keeper but it only applied to Stripers. That bet may go on for the next year, after they made the bet we never caught a keeper or could ever locate a Striper to fish! We kept 9 Stripers for a picture and released the rest, the guys did not want to take any fish back with them.

Tail of the Dragon

What a trip, 8 days of turns, hills, great scenery, weather and friendship. Rode the mountains of Va., West Va., Kentucky, Tenn., Georgia and NC for 8 days with 11 friends. Picture above was taken on the tail of the dragon, the #1 rated motorcycle road in the US. [The famous Tennessee Dragon has 318 curves in 11 miles] I am back on the water this week hunting Stripers and will resume my journal with our fishing adventures.

Annual Bike Trip

I am taking off from fishing for a couple weeks to go on my annual motorcycle trip. This year we are going to ride the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. We are going to also hit the "Tail of the Dragon" twice on our trip. I will be checking my emails and calls daily and Jeanne will be available for fishing charter bookings at 540-967-3313 or jim_hemby@hotmail.com For clients interested in fishing while I am gone Jeanne will be making reservations for John Chadduck. Both the Stripers and myself need a break!

Bruce, Colleen, Angela, Jack and Casey

August 5th, 2009. Sunny and warm, Water Temperature 85* and Clear.

Caught bait early this morning and picked the gang up at high Point at 5:30. Showed them how to deploy the baits, found a school of fish and put the baits out. The girls in the back started hooking up and enjoying catching stripers. We lost that school after 20 minutes so I found another and did the same drill again. We hit 6 schools of stripers this morning, catching fish out of all of them until about 9 o'clock, then the fish simply turned off. Everyone enjoyed the fishing while they were biting and these fish were all the girls could handle. I am showing pictures of the girls holding fish, they caught most of the fish today. Bruce took home 12 Stripers for the freezer.

David, Mike, Mike and Keith

August 4th, 2009: Sunny and HOT, Water Temperature 85* and Clear.

Since I had a hard time yesterday catching bait I was on the water very early looking for bait. Caught 220 and picked the guys up at High Point at 5:30am. I told them how important it is to deploy the baits exactly like I tell them to and showed them how to do it. I also explained that if they listen to me and do exactly what I say, we should catch 50 Stripers before they shut off which lately has been around 9 o'clock. I looked for about 5 minutes and found a huge school. As it always is on our first set up of the morning everyone is slow and making mistakes, the way I fish is different than what people are accustomed to. We tried to get 10 baits in the water but the fish would not let us, then David threw a 25" fish back in the water. I explained to them that this time of year when the stripers are schooled tightly that if you release that size fish back into the school it alerts the rest of the school and the school will disperse and shut down. I had no sooner said that and the depth finder went blank. These guys were quick learners so we pulled our baits up and went in search of another school. Took about 3 minutes to locate another school, set up on them and caught 7. Lost them, looked for 3 more minutes and found another school and this time the guys were ready, we worked on that school for 25 minutes before 2 guys in a small boat saw us catching fish and pulled up on us, so we gave them that school and went and found another. This school ended up being larger than I thought and everyone hooked up at once, with 27 to 30 inch fish. We had fish going every direction , rods everywhere on the boat, fish all over the floor, then I called the ball, we had our limit in the cooler and had to stop. Not bad timing, we had gone through 200 baits, caught at least 30 keepers and a few non keepers, kept 20 Stripers and released the rest to fight again another day. These guys SPANKED the Stripers this morning , all by 8:15, A GREAT DAY OF FISHING!

I am seeing schools of Stripers positioned and acting like July 1 fish. The lake is still about 1 month behind this year [ One fish was releasing eggs in the livewell]. The month of August should be a great month to fish, unlike past years, I believe the best summer fishing is ahead of us.

David and Ryan

August 3rd, 2009: Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 85* and Clear. Picked the guys up at 5:30, went and caught bait and looked for fish. Found a school, set down on them and caught a few. Got back on the big motor and looked for about 3 miles and found what I wanted to see, the guys jumped up and tried to get the baits in the water. I baited Ryan first, he deployed his line while I baited Dave, Dave went to put his out, Ryan's went off and for the next 30 minutes they were running around the boat like a couple of Chickens with their heads cut off. For 15 minutes they couldn't get but 4 or 5 lines in the water without getting hooked up. One time Dave came running to the back of the boat asking for bait, got tied up in two lines that were still hooked to fish laying on the deck, almost tripped going back to the front of the boat, before he could get his line in the water the rod next to him went off, got tangled in another line that he had just left dangling over the side, I cleared it and he got the fish in. They did excellent handling the action, and it was over as quick as it started. We caught 15 keeper Stripers this morning, came off the water at 9:30 and gave John the rest of our baits[He had started the day with about 200 baits and had used them all up]. David and Ryan took home 7 Stripers and released the others to fight again. Mark, we missed you today, they needed your help.