Kyle, Curtis, Mason, Elden and Mitch

Sunny and Hot, Water Temperature 85* and Clear.
Caught a bunch of bait early , picked the guys up at High Point at 5:30 and looked for fish. Set up over a school of fish and within 10 minutes went through 30 baits. Hit school after school today taking hits everywhere we went. Fish were scattered through out the lake today, I guess they got pretty stirred up over the weekend. We ended up getting over 300 strikes today keeping the guys and myself pretty busy. Curtis is pictured holding a Bass he caught on a downline over 35 feet of water.

Alec, DP, Anthony, Chrystal, Tony and Michael

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 80* and Clear.
My grandson is with me this weekend so I decided to take him out for a couple hours fishing and tubing this morning. He wanted to invite some of his friends so we made some calls and off we went. We caught bait then picked up the rest of the guys at High Point. I looked for schools for about 20 minutes till I saw what I wanted to see on my Lowrance then we set out our spread. All the adults had been fishing with me many times before so deploying the bait when I found schools ended up being simple and painless. We would get the bait in the water, the kids would reel the fish in, we would take the fish off and do it again and again. We found about 6 or 8 schools this morning to fish and caught fish everywhere we went. By 9 o'clock we had gone through 200 baits, caught over 60 Stripers and the kids were ready to get in the water. We pulled them around for a couple hours and got the boat out of the water before all the weekend warriors hit the lake. Hopefully everyone will take a moment this Memorial Day weekend to remember those who gave their lives for our country so that we could be able to enjoy the things we like to do and to pray for a safe return of all the men and women who fight for our freedom.
SEMPER FI

Jason, Doug, Caden, Bobby and Brian

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 81* and clear.
Caught bait and picked up the guys at High Point at 5:30. We set up on a few fish but only popped 1 so we looked elsewhere. As always I was looking for major schools but they have not developed very well the last couple days. I decided to spend a little more time fishing and less time looking today because I was worried about the traffic on the lake being a holiday weekend. We set up on at least a dozen different locations catching fish everywhere we went. Although we never found a huge school fishing was still good. We went through 200 baits by 10am so I caught about 150 more and used all but 10 of those, quite a few hits for a day. I did not attempt to count how many fish we caught total today but I did keep track of Bobby's catches, he caught 23 Stripers , aLargemouth Bass and a few Kitties. The guys took home enough fish to feed everyone coming to Doug's place this weekend and and also enough fish for Jason to catch a buzz off of Beer while he cleans them this afternoon.

Art, Ken and Mattson

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 77* and Clear.
Caught bait, picked the guys up and went searching for schools of Stripers. I found some pods of fish so I set up on one just so the guys would learn how to put the baits out and how to reel the fish in without getting tangled with the other lines. Looked for a while longer setting up on different pods till I found the Mother Load. There was no doubt what was going to happen next, the guys saw the Lowrance covered in fish and they were ready to do business. I baited a rod for each angler and just as soon as they engaged the reel a Striper would clobber the bait. It took us about 15 minutes to finally get 10 baits out all the while rods were taking hits. We worked that school in that area for about 40 minutes until we started catching Cats then we got our baits in and I found the school about 500 yards up the channel. We hit them again and again till the school dispersed. We looked for schools after that but did not find any large schools so we ended up the morning working pods of fish. We had 200 hits today catching over 50 Stripers with the guys taking home 16 Stripers for table fare. All other Stripers were released to fight again another day.

Tony, Nick, Chris, Josh and Pete

Sunny and warm, Water temperature 74* and Clear.
Started the day off with 260 baits in the tank. Picked the crew up at High Point and went fishing. We did the usual mock set up over a couple fish then once they understood how things worked we got serious. I knew we were going to have fun this morning because we had two boys on board that wanted to learn how to fish. My main focus was to get the boys hands on as many rods bending over as possible, and after today I am sure they will have bruises on their tummies from reeling in Stripers. We hit school after school this morning catching fish everywhere we went but never got into a mega-school, probably a good thing with the kids on board. I did not attempt to keep track of how many fish we caught today but we went through all but 30 baits this morning. By the time the boat traffic got up everyone had had enough action for one day so we called it a day. We kept a few fish for dinner and released all of the other fish alive to fight again with the exception on one punk that got hurt that may not make it.

Paul Dell and friends

Anthony took Paul and his friends out for a morning of fishing for Stripers on downlines and caught a bunch of fish. Looks like the guys have dinner for a couple days.

Paul, Tom and George

Sunny and Pleasant, Water temperature 73* and Clear.
After catching bait and picking up my clients this morning we cruised the lake looking for schools. It didn't take long to notice the large tight schools of yesterday were dispersed more. I would see 30 to 50 fish here and there but never saw the solid acres of Stripers. I decided to set up on the pods of fish and hit numerous schools to see how they bit. I seemed this morning early the smaller fish would bite and the later in the day it got the larger fish would hit. Although today was slower than yesterday we still caught well over 60 Stripers [I asked the guys to count the fish they caught but once Paul hit 10 and took his shoes off I knew their count would be useless]. The guys kept 16 to take home for the table and released the rest. Today we went through close to 300 baits.

Bev and Mike

Cloudy and warm, Water Temperature 73* and clear.
Caught bait early as usual and picked my clients up at High Point at 5:30. Since there was only two anglers I took a couple minutes to brief them on how to put the lines out and how not to set the hook when fish hooked up. They seemed to understand what I was referring to so off we went. With only 2 people fishing it is extremely difficult to keep up with the action so I told them I would not be taking them directly to schools but we would start off on singles then if they did well we would graduate to larger schools. After putting out the rods correctly and catching a few fish they were ready. I put them right in the middle of our first school of the morning with 10 lines out and every rod starting bending over. Bev was working the front of the boat and Mike took control of the back of the boat. By the looks of my Lowrance you can see what they were dealing with, nothing but constant action. By 8am they had boated 65 Stripers, the most fish caught by 2 anglers out of my boat by 8am. Quite a testament to their ability and understanding of not only how to deploy the lines but also of fighting the fish in order not to tie up other lines. By 8:30 we had gone through 250 baits, caught 76 Stripers and a few Cats, keeping a dozen to take home and releasing all the others to fight again. [I use circle hooks, no gut hooking]. Mike and Bev came from Ohio and showed interest in coming back later in June to fish again but I have a feeling they may have some help next time around.

Slobo, Jake, Gary, Dudly and Neal

Cloudy, Rain and Wind, Water temperature 73* and clear.
I knew today was going to be interesting when I saw the weather forecast yesterday. I warned the guys that they may want to go another day but they decided a little rain would not hurt anyone. Little did they know that it would rain 3 inches during their trip! All the lightning was pretty interesting also. Well we got out early and caught some nice bait so I set out a spread of planner boards pulling flats. After a while with little success I decided it was time to do something else. I went and caught more bait and started looking for fish. We would set up on fish and if it was raining the Stripers would not bite. The minute it quit raining rods would start bowing over. We hit school after school, praying for the rain to let up so the fish would bite. Around mid day the sky almost turned blue for a few minutes and every rod we had out hooked up. I looked up one time and every angler had a fish in their hand taking it off the hook with all the other rods still in the water hooked up with fish also. Then the rain came and washed away the fish. A few breaks in the rain let us spank the Stripers again and again. Today we caught about 60 fish with the guys taking home 17 fish for the frying pan. I burnt a tank of gas today locating fish but it payed off in the long run.

Jerry, Jordan, Jacob and Vernon Yingling

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 72* and Clear.
I got out very early this morning to catch bait then picked my clients up at 5:30 at High Point Marina. We took about a 10 minute ride then I put my spread out. I started with 10 boards, a bobber and a couple downlines to see how my crew would do. Jordan jumped on the first rod and wrestled her first Striper in [bottom picture] then shortly thereafter Jacob reeled in his first Striper [middle picture]. We took hits there until the boat traffic spooked the fish so I moved out deeper and put an additional 5 downlines out. We caught fish until we needed a potty break so we got our lines in and moved. While they were up at the store I saw some bait and threw on them catching about 200 Herring in one throw. With the boat traffic like it was I decided to work strictly downlines so I hit the main lake looking for schools. For the next 4 hours we found school after school catching 8 to 10 fish from a school then locating another to repeat the process. I believe we worked 7 or 8 different schools before calling it quits for the day. My crew was ready to go in, Stripers on the lake today wore them out. They kept a couple fish to take home and released all the others to fight again. We are starting a summer pattern of fishing now with the downline bite and if today was any indication of how the fishing will be this summer you can expect to catch 50 to 100 fish a morning on live bait.

Dillon and Doug Myers

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 72* and Clear.
After fishing Monday pulling boards in the morning and downlines in the afternoon catching 25 Stripers but only 5 fish being keepers I decided to switch things up today. I caught about 100 Herring and only 15 Gizzards then put out a spread of 10 boards, a bobber and 6 downlines. We had worked over a flat that should have been holding fish without taking a hit. Soon after dropping off the edge of the flat a downline got clobered and Dillon hopped on the rod. After a couple minute fight he landed the first and largest fish of the morning, his largest Striper to date after fishing with me about a dozen times. It didn't take but a couple minutes to change everything over and we started taking hit after hit. We worked the small school for about an hour then left them to look elsewhere. We hit a couple more similar areas catching fish the same way. We kept 12 Stripers and released the rest to fight again another day. Doug took his son Dillon out of school today to get his mind on something else other than girls, I think it worked for a few hours but based on the time he was on his phone this morning I believe he will forget the fish tomorrow when he is back in school. In a year or so Doug will need to find a new fishing partner for a few years.

What a difference a day makes!

Cloudy then Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 69* and Clear.
Met the guys at High Point at 5 then went and caught bait. Filled 2 tanks up with beautiful baits and went fishing. We set out a spread of 8 planner boards, a bobber and 6 downlines covering the water column looking to see what the fish wanted to eat. After going over fish and not getting hit I looked up and the wind was blowing right out of the East. I looked at the guys and told them this was not good, it may be a long day. Two hours later and only a couple of fish we decided to make a move. We moved to another good area , same results. Went and caught bait, set up again, and again, same results. By 3 my trolling motor batteries had all they could handle of the wind and started to die so we called it a day. One day on the lake you can catch fish everywhere you go, the next you may have to struggle. Now I know how it feels to go from a Hero to a Zero overnight. Well it wasn't that bad, we caught 8 Stripers and kept 6 to take home. You may notice some of the guys in the pictures, that's Jeff in the top picture holding a nice fish and Ricky in the lower picture, both are pros at the fishing counter at Greentop Sporting Goods. [You may even notice Stan the bass man in the lower picture and also Mark] They are experts at what they do and have the knowledge to help you with all your fishing needs, especially with Depth Finders and gear for fishing local bodies of water. They carry everything I use on the lake and understand how to use them.

Greg and Michael

Cloudy and Cool, Water Temperature 69* and Clear.
My grandson Michael wanted to go fishing this weekend so I called Greg and we headed to the lake for a morning of relaxation. It was nice not to be pressured into catching bait by daylight, we didn't even get to the lake till daylight. We caught some bait and looked for some fish. I was more interested in finding fish for tomorrows clients than catching fish. We would look awhile, fish some and then do it again. Greg wanted 1 meal and so did we so we only kept a couple fish and released the others. Once the wind turned and started blowing out of the East we knew the bite was over and headed back in. I located some nice fish today that I will work on tomorrow.