Tyler, Earl, Steve and Greg

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 85* and Clear.
This morning we set up at the mouth of a cove expecting Stripers to work on the bait we were seeing in the area. For the first 30 minutes all we could get were short hits but eventually we boated about 6 or 7 Stripers from the area. We looked for a couple hours never finding what I wanted to see stopping occasionally on pods of Stripers but mostly what would bite were the punks. I finally found a good school around 10, put baits out and started boating Stripers but we got punked. John called on the phone and said they had just caught 4 keepers so we got our baits in and headed his way. I stopped along the way and caught 150 more baits so that we would have fresh baits when we found fish. I was hoping the fish would feed this morning but I did not loose my confidence because I knew the major feed today was from 11am to 3 pm. We ended up looking where John was fishing but I did not see but a couple fish and I felt that we could do much better. I continued to look for fish and saw a couple nicer Stripers streaking on my Lowrance so we set out a spread on them. By now it was 11, the time was right , I saw feeding fish on my Lowrance, I had a tank full of Happy Baits, everyone knew exactly what to do and it happened. We had a couple hook ups within 5 minutes of setting up then everything came together. We started getting multiple hookups and for the next 80 minutes we constantly reeled in fish. I lost count of how many fish we caught but within that amount of time we used up every bait we had, and were still catching fish. When our last bait was put out everyone looked at each other and smiled. Earl said he sure wished he had a Cigar to celebrate, I pulled out the humidor and he and Greg fired a couple up. Fish fry at Earls tonight!
This was a great way to end the month of June, my clients caught in excess of 1,ooo Stripers in June. Looks like July fishing should be awesome.

Robert, Keith, Ray and Andrew

Sunny and Pleasant, Water temperature 87* and Clear.
I got out early enough to catch 200 baits and picked the guys up at High Point at 5am. I instructed them on how to deploy the lines and how not to set the hook [we use circle hooks] then took them to some fish. After about 5 minutes we hit a half way developed school but the same guy who spooked the school 2 days ago ran his big motor right through the school again this morning. After it settled down I moved a short distance and we started taking hits. I say hits because the Stripers were hooking up but some of the anglers kept setting the hook thereby releasing the fish. Eventually one by one they started to understand and after loosing 12 to 15 Stripers they understood the concept a little better. Now we were filling the cooler with fish. We worked the area for about an hour putting 15 Stripers in the box. I had to leave the area because we had used up over 150 baits and I felt we needed to replenish our stash. I caught over 100 more and we went looking for Stripers but it took 5 more hours to catch 3 more keepers. Again today it was a good early morning bite and then the fish simply shut down.

Rick, Rodney, Michael and Jack

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 83* and Clear.
Caught bait and picked the guys up at their dock at 5. Rick said as we were leaving the dock to wake him up around 7:30, he had not fished in 35 years. Jack and I both replied to him in unison "It will be over by 7:30". I think we got Rick's curiosity up because he stayed alert and ready to participate if such an event were to take place. We went to an area where I had been seeing schools early in the morning , set out our baits, caught a Striper then another "fisherman" decided he would run his big motor nearby us spooking the school before it ever developed well. He obviously thought the Stripers were under our boat but I didn't want any part of that so I told the guys to get the baits in so we could relocate where there were no boats in sight. I found the place which actually had a school of Stripers working about a 3 acre area so we tried to get our baits out but the Stripers would take our offerings as soon as we put them out. After catching a dozen fish we finally got all of our lines out and proceeded to catch fish after fish. By 7:15 we had 19 keepers in the boat and 2 empty tanks of bait. Although Rick said he was happy with the day after catching his first Striper it didn't slow him down any when every rod in the boat was bowed over. It took us about 15 minutes to locate and catch more bait then for the next 3 hours we looked and fished and finally got on a small pod of fish and limited out. Today it was an early morning bite then the fish turned off.
We caught about 40 fish today and kept 20 Stripers for Rodney to clean. There will be good table fare at Jacks for the next month or so.

Chad, Doug, Jay, Mark and Rob

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 85* and Clear.
I caught bait early and picked the guys up at High Point Marina and went looking for schools of Stripers. I set up in an area that I knew held fish but my screen on my Lowrance wasn't showing much. I demonstrated how to deploy the baits and we set out our first spread. One of the group was having a few issues, I think he was not use to getting up so early and his brain was not functioning properly. I get the same way around 7 pm after being awake for 18 hours. Anyway it didn't take but about 10 minutes before I found the mother load of Stripers and the circus began. Rob and Mark were content on reeling in Stripers while the guys in the front of the boat were trying to figure out what happens when you set the hook and touch the line when a Striper gets on your hook and bows the rod in half. Then there was the clown of the group that woke up once everyone started running around the boat. We worked the school until we used up 150 baits before I decided we had to reload our bait tanks. [ We used 150 baits by 6:30am]. Unfortunately it took me an hour to find a school of Herring to throw on. I made a toss and had to get Doug to help me pull the net up. I had to have had 400 to 500 baits in the net. Needless to say we threw most of them back so I make another throw, caught about 150 and went looking for fish again. We never found a large school again but we set up on numerous pods of fish and caught Stripers around all of them. Rob with the big smile on his face caught the largest fish of the day and Chad is holding the largest fish he has ever caught. [You may notice Chad, he has played a gigolo in numerous gigs]. We all had a great time today although the weekend boat traffic Killed the fishing around mid morning. Today we caught 35 Stripers and 7 Catfish.

Robert, Jack, Jerry and George

Sunny, Windy and Pleasant, Water temperature 84* and Clear.
Got out early this morning, caught bait and picked the guys up at Jacks dock at 5am. [I think they spent the night on the dock, when I got there they were all sitting in the dark]. We ran to an area where we caught some fish yesterday then I showed them how to deploy the lines. We worked the area for a few minutes catching a couple Stripers then went searching for schools. We looked quite a while for large schools but all we could find today were pods of fish. It didn't matter much because about everywhere we set up we caught fish. I say "we" but one of us had a Monkey on his back today and only caught some punks and a few catfish.[I won't tell anyone it was you George]. The guys caught 25 Stripers and a half dozen Kitties this morning.

David and Andy

Partly cloudy and warm, Water temperature 83* and Clear.
I picked the guys up at 5 at High Point and we hit the water looking for bait and fish. David had been out with me before and he had already told Andy what to expect and what was in store for him today. As I was explaining how the depth finder worked and what they were seeing on it I noticed a big smile on Andy's face. We caught some bait and once I started looking for fish and after telling them I may not put them on a big school because there were only 2 of them Andy's smile got even bigger. He knew what was about to happen and within 3 minutes I rolled up on a school of fish that not only covered my sonar but it lit up my side scan 160 feet around us. Andy got up giggling, grabbed a rod and put the bait down like he had done it a hundred times before. I baited Dave and before he got his bait in the water Andy's rod bowed over into the water. While Andy was fighting his fish Dave got his bait into the water and his rod hooked up. For about 45 minutes we tried to get baits out but the Stripers would not allow more than a couple baits to be in the water without clobbering them. Needless to say we caught all the fish they could handle and by then a smile was plastered on both Dave's and Andy's faces. Dave had been fishing the lake with little success so I took some time to explain how the depth finders work, how to set them up and what they were seeing on the screen. I also showed them how to identify Stripers from Catfish, Herring from Shad and what to look for before putting baits into the water. I also showed them a few trolling techniques they can use when fishing out of their boat. Andy said after dropping them off at the marina that next time he will be bring some help. The guys kept 12 Stripers today to take home for the table.

Alec and Tony

Cloudy and Warm, Water temperature 84* and Clear.
I felt sorry for Alec because his Daddy had been dragging him around the lake for the last week trying to catch some Stripers so I picked these guys up and put them on some Stripers. It only took about an hour to catch this nice stringer of fish. Tony is a good fisherman and Alec is a friend of my grandson. It took longer to catch bait than it did to catch the fish today.

John Zook and Al "Murphy's Law"

Partly Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 83* and Clear.
Picked the guys up at High Point at 5 and went looking for bait. Took a little longer than I hoped to catch bait this morning. We set up on numerous areas today but never on schools of Stripers. Fish were broke up everywhere we looked but when we found pods the fish fed well. After we caught our limit we started throwing bait from our tanks back and before we could get all of our lines in we caught 3 of the largest Stripers of the day that we had to return to the lake, one of which Al is holding in the picture above. [Hence Murphy's Law] The Lowrance looked better as we were letting baits go than it did all day long.

Dean, Rick, Randy and Dewey

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 85* and Clear.
We got off to a late start this morning and paid for it severely. By the time we got to an area that I caught fish yesterday the school had already started dispersing. We set up on them anyway taking a couple hits but I must have zigged when the school zagged thereby loosing the school. Yesterday by 7:30 we had our limits of fish but today at the same time we only had one keeper in the boat. I desperately looked for schools as well as another guide John only to find small pods of fish. Around 8 we set up on a few pods of Stripers and put 4 fish in the boat fairly quickly until the kitties started mauling our baits. Rick hooked into the largest fish there of the day that we actually got into the boat. We left there and continued looking for schools but never found any. I decided to catch some fresh bait and simply set up in an area and keep hooks in the water. While I was catching bait John came nearby and saw a dozen fish on the Lowrance so he called us over to them. Between his boat and our boat we caught the whole dozen and many more. Rick had the largest fish on of the day while I was retying a line so I asked Dean to go net the fish. The Striper manhandled Rick and just as Dean was ready to net the fish it went into the trolling motor. I guess that's how fish get big. While Rick was still in a state of despair one of his other rods bent over so he told Dewey to reel the fish in. Dewey hopped on the rod and reeled it in while Dean was kidding Rich about loosing the big fish. By now we were just about out of bait when Deans rod bent over in the back of the boat and the line was screaming across the water then pop, his line got tangled into two other lines and the fish broke off. Then Dean was the one who was in a state of despair. Rick ended up getting the last laugh. By the end of the trip we had all worked hard and ended up with a nice stringer of Stripers. We had used up every bait we had in both tanks.

Randy Krout and Mark McClellan

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 83* and Clear.
Caught bait and picked the guys up at their dock at 5:15. Went about 500 yards from their dock, saw a school and tried to set up on them. All I can say is this time of year when the fish want to bite 2 anglers can not handle the action. Randy and Mark had both been out with me before and knew exactly how and what to do but once we starting putting baits in the water it looked like we had gotten into a hornets nest with all of us scrambling around the boat. The action is great but probably a little too much for a couple guys. They handled it very well so we kept busy till we couldn't keep enough baits in the water resulting in the school of Stripers moving on leaving us to lick our wounds. We re-grouped and moved on to locate some more fish. I saw what I wanted to see on my Lowrance so we put the baits out on fewer fish and had a much more controlled bite. We enjoyed the few hours we were out this morning, Mark will be cleaning fish the rest of the morning. The guys kept 12 Stripers today.

David Wabeke and Garrett Miller

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 82* and Clear.
Caught bait, picked the guys up at 5:15, went and caught a little more bait and went looking for fish. I had decided before I left the house this morning where I was going to set up first. I pulled up to the area, showed the guys how to deploy downlines, and before we got many baits out we started taking hits. For the next half hour we simply could not catch up. We all worked great together but the action was too much for just 2 anglers to handle. At one point we all were stepping over fish on the deck because we did not have enough time to put them in the cooler. Garrett caught this nice Bass right in with the Stripers. David is holding one of the first Stripers of the morning. After about an hour of frantic action we pulled out to take a minute to enjoy the beautiful morning and to catch a couple more fish. We limited out by 7:30 this morning with the guys keeping 12 Stripers, a Bass and a Catfish. David is volunteering with the Virginia Game and Inland Fisheries to help provide training to a homeless shelter in Fredericksburg. They are teaching the less fortunate some training on How/Where/ What to catch fish to supplement their diet in a healthy way. David is taking each species we caught to the class tonight to explain not only about catching the fish but he is going to demonstrate how to properly fillet the fish and prepare it for a meal.

Trevor,, Donna, Trad and BJ Thumbs

Sunny, Windy and Chilly this morning, Water temperature dropping to 84* and clear.
Got to the lake this morning to catch bait and the wind was whipping straight down the lake. I caught bait and picked up my crew at 5:15 and set up not far from the marina on some small pods of fish. Donna hooked up quickly into what was to be the largest fish of the day. Nothing ever developed there so I started looking for larger schools. We looked off and on all day long only finding what I wanted to fish right out in the windiest parts of the lake. I would set up on them just to have the wind blow us right off within seconds. We basically looked all day for places to fish where the wind was not too strong but in those places there were no fish. We ended up having a poor day today, keeping only 8 keeper fish. Sure was an interesting day weather wise, best thing we had going was the low humidity.

Amy, Hannah and John

Sunny and Hot, Water temperature 86* and Clear.
I got out early , caught bait and picked my crew up at the marina. Since they had a little fisherwoman {Hannah} I wanted to put them on fish for steady action so she would not get bored but I did not want to put them on larger schools where they could not handle the action. I found some fish and set up on them and for 30 minutes all we could do is work 4 or 5 rods up in the front of the boat. We had fish on constantly and Hannah was reeling in most of them. After about an hour I decided to pull them off of the fish to get a break so we took a little ride, located more Stripers and worked them over and over. One time we had 7 rods bent over with everyone reeling in Stripers and they boated all 7. We fished till we ran out of bait this morning catching about 70 fish. Hannah hung in there all the way wanting to not only reel the fish in but also touch each fish and throw the spent bait back in the water. You can't see her legs from the fish blocking her but she is part Mermaid.

Tony, Jim and Hines

Sunny and Hot, Water Temperature 84* and Clear.
Met the guys at the marina and went to catch bait. After catching 150 baits we hunted for Stripers finding mostly pods of fish versus the larger schools that I was looking for. It really didn't matter though because everywhere we stopped the fish cooperated and we ended up having our limit of Stripers by 10am. It was getting Hot and we were ready to get into air conditioning. We kept 16 nice Stripers and released the rest to fight again another day. A great way to spend a morning on the lake.

Jim and Brian Garner

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 82* and Clear.
I picked Jim and Brian up at their dock this morning, went and caught bait then looked for Stripers. Although they had been out with me numerous times I wanted to start off slowly on pods of fish versus larger schools which 2 anglers may not be able to handle very well. We set up nearby some breaking fish first but after catching 8 fish in 5 minutes we decided to make a move. Our second set up worked out great, we would hook up about once every 3 or 4 minutes giving them a chance to enjoy the catch and time to rebait. It was also nice fishing during the week again without so much boat traffic to deal with. We went through 150 baits on 5 or 6 set ups , caught more bait and hit them again and again. Seemed everywhere we fished we caught nice fish. Jim kept a dozen Stripers to keep and we released all the other fish in good shape to fight again another day. Jim is pictured holding the nicest fish of the day.

Jim, Don, Chris, Joel, Jeff and Geof

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature dropped to 82* and Clear.
Had a tough time catching bait this morning but caught 200 and picked my clients up at their dock. One of the first questions asked this morning was "will this cold front affect fishing today?" My answer was "I am not looking for excuses today to not catch fish". Well for about 3 hours this morning I looked for schools, set up on pods and schools of fish only to get punked and take short hits. Their question of the cold front kept haunting me but I was determined to make a good fishing day out of today. We had already set up on a dozen different sets of Stripers but the cooler was not filling up very quickly. I went and caught about 150 more baits and continued searching for fish. I had a couple of friends out fishing also and they were seeing the same thing I was on their Lowrances which made me work even harder to put something together. About 10 o'clock I finally saw what I wanted to see on my Depth Finder and we set up on it, or tried to set up on it. We could only get a line or 2 out before a Striper would hook up. I was anxious to get my complete spread out to show a school of bait but that would not happen till 20 minutes later. I was baiting and net fish as quick as I could while all the guys were reeling in and taking fish off their lines. Eventually I lost the school never to find it again. By now I had burnt a tank of gas up looking for fish so I went and refueled and looked some more. I found yet another school and everything we put out got hit till we used up all of our bait. We had all worked together making a so-so day a great day. Everyone was Happy especially me when I returned them to their dock and took pictures. We caught about 60 Stripers, 6 or 8 Cats and a Bass today.

Amir, Jim, Kat, Jalil and Majid

Sunny and Hot, Water Temperature 87* and Clear.
Started the day off catching bait and picking my crew up at 5:30 at High Point. I gave them a briefing on how to deploy the lines properly then went looking for fish. It didn't take long to find what I wanted so we put the baits out and the rods started bending. Three of this crew are regulars and one of the new guys was so excited he kept messing up. My regulars were laughing at him quite often remembering they had been there and done that. We all had a good time on the boat today catching plenty of fish and having plenty of laughs. Today we worked about 8 schools of Stripers catching fish everywhere we went till about 10:30 when the bite turned off and all we could do is get short hits after that. Everyone had plenty of fish and memories to take back home today.