MERRY CHRISTMAS

Jim

Anthony

DP

Tony

Brian

 My guides and myself would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas

and a safe, healthy and Happy New Year.

GOD BLESS

Craig and Dan

Sunny and Windy, Water Temperature 49* and clear.

When I got to the marina this morning to launch my boat the guys were already there waiting to go. We went and caught bait then set out a spread of boards right at the crack of dawn. I told the guys we had limited time to catch these fish because once the other boaters came around us it would be over. We were able to make 3 passes on a spot I liked and boated 4 of the largest fish of the day. Once the first boat came in it was over, the fish quit hitting. Obviously there has been so much fishing pressure boat motors are spooking the fish. We moved on taking a hit once in a while when it had been quiet but there were a lot of fisherman out today. The wind got up pretty bad and when I could no longer control the boat we had to come off the water. I think the blue bird day, rising barometer and wind were three strikes against us today. The guys were very happy with their catch, they are fisherman who know how the elements can influence fishing. They booked the trip wanting to learn how to fish the lake for Stripers and today's challenges gave them plenty of opportunity to see how I react to adversity.  

A fun day on the water

Earl

Cloudy and cool, Water temperature 48* and Clear.

I had a trip scheduled for this morning but my client had to cancel the trip due to some very unfortunate circumstances. My boat was ready so I decided to go by myself and take my dog with me. I left the marina around 7 and went looking for bait. Once I found it I made 3 throws and put 60 baits in the tank. Since I was just playing this morning I did not put out but 8 boards and a bobber and I am glad that is all I put out due to the action I had. Within the first hour of the morning I must of ran a mile around my boat trying to keep up. I did not want to keep any fish so I was throwing them back as soon as I could, rebaiting and setting the lines back out. I had worked my way past a friends house while I fighting fish. He saw what was going on and called me to see if I needed help. I welcomed the extra hands so I got my lines in, picked him up, caught 60 more baits and went somewhere else to fish. We fished for a couple hours and boated these 7 nice Stripers. All worked out well, as I was typing this blog his wife called and invited up over for a Striper dinner. It was great fishing today without the pressure to perform for my clients and being able to try areas that I have not fished before recently.

Cory and John

Guide DP took Cory and John this morning for some action on Lake Anna for some Stripers. The water temperature has dropped a couple of degrees slowing the fishing a bit this morning but DP adapted and put the guys on some fish.

Bob Horan with guests Ninja Josh and Kyle

Sunny, Blue skies and Cool, Water Temperature 50 * and Clear.

Picked the guys up at High Point at 5:45, caught bait and set a spread of Planner boards, downlines and a bobber out working areas where bait was present. Within a few minutes each client had caught a very nice Striper and they were all smiles. The bite was kind of funny today, the first fish of the day Bob caught the largest fish of the day [10 pounds] and each fish thereafter got progressively smaller and smaller [down to 5 pounds]. The guys were pleasantly surprised this morning to catch this caliber of fish on the lake. We all had fun today and they had plenty of Striper to fill their freezers up for the winter.

Dave King with Deep Seal Plumbing

Cloudy and cold, Water Temperature 49* and Clear

Guide Anthony took Dave out for a day on the water this morning fishing for Stripers. Dave is holding the big fish of the morning, a nice 16 pounder. Dave is also holding a limit of Stripers on the pole. The 16 pounder makes the 6 to 8 pound fish look small. "Tis the season for big fish.

DP and Anthony (SI Robertson "hey Jack") Hicks

 DP's version of the day.......Water temp 49* Partly sunny early then light rain.
Anthony (Si) heard there may be a casting call coming to the area for the hit show "Duck Dynasty" so he put his best Si face on today and we went at it.  We launched the boat at 6 this am, by 6:20 we had all the bait we wanted and headed to our first spot and put them out.  We "explored" several areas today and were successful with each move that we made.  We would take a hit every 15 minutes or so with a hookup ratio of 1 to 4.  After the first 2 hookups today Anthony was well on his way for the role of Si.  When a fish would hook up all I heard was "hey Jack, fish on". We never witnessed an aggressive feed today but it was good just to be out there with such a great friend! As you can see from the pic, the only thing Anthony is missing is the "elf ears"  which I think my wife is taking care of getting those as I am writing this

Brian and Anthony

Guide Anthony took Brian out today and put him on some very nice Stripers. Fish are very healthy now as you can see by the pictures and will feed heavily for the rest of the year making for some very good fishing.

Vinnie from Ferguson Enterprises

Guide Anthony took Vinnie out this weekend for a morning Striper Trip. They easily caught their limit and got off the water before too many weekend warriors could ruin the fishing for the day. You can see how Vinnie is dressed, they actually had jet skiers in shorts buzzing them!

Marvin Jenkins and friends

McKinley, Sam, Sam III, Donnie, Marvin and Boots the tangle master

Guide Tony took this crew out on Friday for a day on the water fishing for Stripers on Lake Anna. They caught bait and fished planner boards pulling Gizzard shad . Looks like they had some fun today on the boat.

Alvin and Sam

Sunny and Pleasant,Water temperature 50* and clear

Guide Tony picked Alvin and Sam up this morning and struggled to get to his fish due to the extreme fog on the lake. After taking an hour to get where he was going he caught bait and set out a spread of boards. Tony says fishing was slow this morning but by the looks of this stringer of Stripers I think they did a great job of catching fish.

Bob Hammond and Guests

Savannah

Ryan

Zack, Bob, Savannah, Bethany, Bob and Ryan

Cloudy and Cold, Water temperature 50* and Clear

I met my clients at 5:30 this morning and caught bait before daylight. I set out a spread of a dozen planner boards and a bobber pulling flats this morning. Before we knew it Savannah had jumped on the rod next to her which was hooked up with the first fish of the day. She wrestled it into the boat and we were feeling good. We popped another Striper real quick but then things started going downhill for awhile. The fish were feeding short and we had some trouble getting Stripers in the boat. We would hook up and reel the fish in 20 to 30 feet then they would simply pull off. We were now feeling pretty down about the fishing but Anthony called on the radio and confirmed he was having the exact same issue 10 miles away on the lake. We hung in there and picked at the fish for a couple more hours then we took a potty break, caught some more bait and set up another spread. We pulled the spread for about a mile with no success then all of a sudden everything we had out started getting hit. We could have easily won the world funniest videos if someone could have captured us on video. Rods were bending all over the boat, everyone was trying to work their fish and everything was getting tangled but we managed to boat all the fish without loosing a single one. Bob took credit for that, he stood at the head of the boat giving everyone directions. We regained our composure and continued to fish the area catching a few here and there. What could have been a mediocre day turned out to be a great day of fishing. We simply were patient and hung in there and the fish did the rest. Ryan caught the big fish of the day and Savannah caught the first and last fish of the day. Bob has a few fish to clean tomorrow.

Chad and Trey

Guide Anthony took these couple of grunts that work in the warehouse at Ferguson's Ent. out this morning Striper fishing on the lake. They fished hard this morning and caught about 20 Stripers but had to get back to work before their bosses found out they were playing hookie. You can see why they are still in the warehouse after all these years, they were suppose to keep 12 Stripers which was their limit for the day but they couldn't count.

Dickie Turner and the Network Building And Consulting Team

Sunny and Cold, Water Temperature 50* and Clear.

Dickie had reserved today for a team building get together so we booked two boats so DP and Myself met the guys at the marina at 5:45 and went looking for bait. We caught deep bait then I set up pulling planner boards over 10 foot flats and DP set up working 10 foot flats with 25 feet of water nearby. The water was cold this morning and the fish were a bit lethargic but we still managed to catch some fish. Our baits were getting swirled on more than hooking up. As the water warmed up so did the fishing and we ended up this morning with a decent stringer of fish. I caught 46 baits this morning and when they ran out we called it a day. The guys were ready to get back to the house they were renting so that they could get back to working on their team spirits, after all most of them had not slept in the last 30 hours. If it wasn't so cold this morning I believe more of them would have been hitting the spirits while on the water.

Michael's first whitetail

Climbing down from the stand

A cat nap after a long day of hunting on Saturday

This is my 7 year old grandson Michael. He has been fishing and hunting with me since he was 2 years old. He has mastered fishing for Stripers with his largest catch on the lake being an 18 pound Striper. This is his first year actually carrying a weapon into the field. We bought him a youth model 50 cal. black powder gun which he has shot many times and is very comfortable with. We went hunting last Saturday but did not see a deer so this morning he said that he would like to harvest the first deer that he could get a good shot at. At 7 am this deer walked by our stand. Michael got set up properly with his gun resting on the rail of the stand, I took his safety off and pulled back the hammer. I told him that when the deer got into an opening where he could take a good shot to let me know and I would stop the deer. He nodded his head and I grunted at the deer which was standing broadside at 70 yards. BAM...the deer fell right over. Michael was not nervous when he shot, he was calmer than I was. I don't even think he blinked his eye, he watched the deer flinch and fall over sideways. Then the adrenalin kicked in, he was amazed what his round had done. His aim was true, the deer never knew what hit him. After 30 minutes of recapturing every second of his event in the stand we climbed out to go claim his bounty. We said a prayer over the deer paying homage to the deer and thanking God for giving us the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors together and giving us this wonderful meat to enjoy this winter.
Second picture is Mike climbing out of our stand. The third and most precious picture shows Mike after sitting in the stand for 9 hours on Saturday. Contrary to what some people think, hunting is not just killing. Our countless hours on the water and in the woods whether catching fish or waiting to get a glimpse of wildlife will mold Michael into a person who can respect the things in life that most people never experience...Mother Nature.
Michael and I enjoy every minute we have together, and this will be a memory that will be etched in our memories forever.

Anthony and Chris

Guide Anthony took Chris out for a beautiful morning of fishing on Lake Anna and caught their limit of nice Stripers. Chris is pictured holding the stringer of Stripers. Looks like Striper for thanksgiving dinner!

Zeke,Dwayne, Cat and Jim

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 55* and Clear

It being a warm Sunday I was not looking forward to fishing today with all the other boats on the lake and to bum me out even more one of my clients wanted to start late this morning. I picked up my crew after daylight at 6:30 and went for bait. Bait was a little of a hassle because I am use to throwing for it before light and it had moved once the sun got up. It took about 45 minutes to fill the tank up then I set out my spread of a dozen boards and bobber pulling flats. Before we knew it we started hooking up with fish and continued to for the next several hours. We were hooking up every 5 minutes or so until a boat pulled in on us then fishing slowed quickly. We continued to work similar areas taking hits on a regular bases until fish got spooked by boats. We went and made a pit stop then came back out, caught a bunch of pretty bait and set out another spread. Fishing was slower now due to the traffic on the lake but we managed to take hits every 15 minutes or so. After 20 more beers it was time for a pit stop again so we discarded all our baits and headed for the bathroom. I was reluctant to leave where we were fishing but when nature calls you got to go. We came back out and fished for a couple more hours not catching another fish. We ended up with a great stringer of very nice Stripers today. Jim and his gang took home 15 fish, some of which will be eaten tonight while they watch the games.

Gary, Fred and Bob

Sunny, Cold in the morning then beautiful as the day progressed, Water Temperature 50* and Clear.

I picked up my crew at 5:30 then headed out to catch bait. After making 6 or 8 casts we had the tank full of beautiful baits so we headed to an area where there were no boats and set out a spread of planner boards just as it was getting light this morning. The water temperature had dropped about 5 degrees since Tuesday due to the cold weather we have been having. The fish early this morning were very lethargic, our baits would get nervous, get chased to the top but only 1 out of every four would engage the bait. I assured the guys that once the water temperature warmed up a few degrees it would be a different story. The sun came out strong and warmed the water up quickly which in turn warmed the fishes appetites as well. Before we knew it the guys were wrestling the Stripers into the boat. My clients weren't expecting to catch 8 to 10 pound Stripers and had their hands full getting them to the boat today. They did a great job working the fish while not tangling any of the other lines. Fred had jumped on a couple fish that were on the bobber or furthest  planner board and just about ran out of gas as we were ready to net the fish. Fun was had by all today, and we had quite the stringer of Stripers to show for it. As you can see by the expressions on their faces this was an extremely heavy stringer. Today's average fish weighed 8 pounds and they kept 15 Stripers, do the math.....

DP and Nick

Cloudy and Cold, Water Temperature 55* and Clear

Guide DP took Nick on a trip this morning that Nick will not forget. DP pulled planner boards and spanked the Stripers, they caught over 20 and kept these 8 fish, the largest fish was 30 inches. The bite is on and the only thing to slow it down is the wind.

Mike, Cole, Dustin, Bob and Evan

The following is Guide DP's rendition of the day

Water temp 59* WINDY with sun and clouds.
Met the guys at High Point at 6am and went to catch bait. Caught 30 very "happy baits" and took off to set out our spread. By 9am  everyone had landed a fish or two except for Evan.  Evan had his focus on a new friend that he had met at Subway last night. We went to catch more bait and hit the mother load! I made 1 cast and could not get the net into the boat! I emptied over half of the bait just to get the net in. We kept about 40 "happy baits" and threw about 60 back in the lake. The guys could not get over that many baits in the net. So we went to set up at another location and started taking hits right away. By now the wind is blowing us all over the place, I think the wind must have blown the "subway friend" out of Evan's head cause he finally landed one.  Once the wind got too crazy we went to find cover. We ran over a school set up on them and had 4 rods go off, Cole (the birthday boy) landed one, Evan had one break off and the others just came off. By now the wind had killed my trolling motor batteries and we could not keep up with the school.  We had about 25 hookups today and landed a dozen. The guys took home 8 for some fine eating.  Cole is pictured with a nice 30" fish that he caught today.  Happy birthday Cole!!     

Brian and Anthony

Partly Sunny and Cool, Water Temperature 61* Main Lake

Our guide service had two guides entertaining clients yesterday. Brian worked with DP catching bait then once they both had their tanks full they took off in different directions to similar patterns in different parts of the lake. It was a beautiful cold morning on the lake with light breezes but the wind was suppose to get up around 9am and blow pretty hard so Brian went right to his 'Juice' and set out a large spread of boards rigged with his best baits in the tank. The move paid off for them, after an hour of pandemonium they had caught their limit of beautiful Stripers before the wind got up. The bite is on fire on the lake now and will be for the rest of the year. Contrary to what most anglers complain about when hurricanes blow through, Sandy benefited the lake by not only dumping much needed water and oxygenating the lake but by causing the lake to turnover which make the fish only want to do one thing.....EAT

A day on the water with Jeremy

Cloudy and Cold, Water Temperature 62* mid lake and 55* up lake

Jeremy has wanted to learn how to catch fish consistently on the lake and his plan is to go out with me a few times to see what I do. Today was our first day out and I warned him that it was not the perfect day for catching Stripers but it would be the perfect day to see how I react to adverse conditions [water rising a foot, water temp drop 6* in 6 days, stained water and post hurricane]. We set off looking for bait which naturally had moved over a mile and catching enough to get started. We set out a spread of planner boards right where we caught bait pulling shallow flats. I showed him how to set out a couple then he started doing it on his own. We only had a few out when the first Striper hooked up. After going about 40 more yards another Striper hooked up. Since Jeremy did not want to keep any fish we simply kept pulling the same bank trying to establish a pattern. It didn't take long to realize the Stripers would eat on the bank side only in water less than 9 feet deep. He had the board technique down so we went and caught some more bait and headed out to deeper pastures to hunt some schooling fish. We found what we were looking for so I instructed him how not only to put the downlines out but how to put them right in the fishes face. With conditions like they were today if the bait did not hit the Striper in the face they would not react to the bait. I popped some pics on my Lowrance while we were working some of the schools. The top picture is showing some Stripers holding at 20 feet but not many fish on the side scan. The second picture shows our bait coming into a school of Stripers on the left part of the screen just as we caught a fish. The bait was set at 22 feet. The third pic shows a large school of fish out to the left of the boat on my side scan starting right under the boat and for at least 80 feet out to the left. The forth pic shows where I moved to the left and positioned the boat over the school. Naturally we caught fish in all situations. Jeremy left the water today a little bit more knowledgeable and he passed lesson #1 with flying colors and teeth marks on his thumb to help him remember the day.

Jan, Wilmer and Josh

Sunny and Cool, Water Temperature 66* and Clear

The guys were at the marina before I arrived ready to go. We took off, caught a tank full of bait in 5 casts then went to an area to pull boards. I set out a spread of boards pulling very shallow water. Within the first 20 minutes we took 8 hits and hooked up with 6 but only managed to get 1 of the 6 into the boat. At this point I did not like the ratio so I decide to do something completely different. I made a move about 7:30 to 30 to 40 foot flats and pulled boards and downlines. We first hooked up with the boards then everything we had out got hooked up. Must have been pretty funny for someone to see 4 grown men running around the boat! The board fish would hook up and swim to the other side of the boat, the downline fish would swim under the boat, but it didn't matter much. With 15 rods hooked up the odds were in our favor to have fun. At one time I had a fish in the net that had swam around another line and while I was trying to free it Josh had a fish on a board freight training him around 5 other rods. By the time he got back to the back of the boat following the fish he had a line tied around his legs and had pinned me into the corner. I had to get out because Wilmer and Jan had fish I had to net for them. Quite an eventful moment. I pulled off of these fish to get a chance to breath and straighten thing out and popped these pictures of some other fish in the area. We had emptied the bait tank, were out of bait and full of fish.The sweet thing about the action this morning was that there were no boats around, we were in the fog and the fish nor other boaters did not know we were there. The guys took home 16 very nice Stripers that weighed in excess of 100 pounds.

Greg, Kevin, John, John, Vinnie and Anaconda Neal

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 67* and Clear.

I met the guys at High Point at 6am then went and caught bait. It being the weekend I knew there would be a lot of boat traffic so I decided to start off fishing deep with downlines instead of pulling boards and getting them cut off by bass boaters racing up the lake. That was probably the best decision I made today, 5 minutes after I set up you could hear the roar of motors a mile away running uplake to get to their fishing holes. We worked deeper flats catching a fish here or there but the fish were not real aggressive this morning. I found numerous schools but mostly small schools of 50 to 100 fish. We ran out of bait around 10 and had to go catch more. After catching bait we set up on some different structures and took plenty of hits but our landing ratio was not the best. Today we had 33 hookups, caught 13 Stripers and a couple of Kitties. The guys took home a dozen fish to cook out at Kevin's tonight. We have to thank Neal for most of the fish, he had a unique way of calling the fish to the boat. He would fill his bladder up with beer then have to empty it, and every time he pulled the snake out the rods would double over.

Mark, Juan, and Big Mark

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperatures 67* and Clear

I met the guys about 6 this morning, went and made about 6 casts with the throw net and filled up my bait tank. I set out a spread of Water Bugz before light pulling a very shallow flat. I started getting nervous baits right away but we did not take a hit for about 200 yards. We hooked up and landed the fish then about every 10 minutes or so we would hook up again. The fish were not feeding well but we had steady action. After about an hour we had 4 or 5 fish in the box but I thought we could do better so I moved to pull even a shallower flat. We worked it for about 10 minutes then Juan noticed a spray about 80 yards from us so I headed that direction and we popped a nice Striper on a Pencil Popper. I went right over the school of maybe a thousand fish and only had 1 hit. The fish simply were not hungry! We worked the area for the next couple hours going over fish only to hook up about once every 15 minutes. I had 10 boards, a bobber and 7 downlines out and the fish were simply lethargic. After using up 60 baits I decided to go catch some more bait and try a different area. That turned out to be a productive move, we caught fish on both boards and downlines but only about 4 fish an hour. I popped a couple pictures of my Lowrance when we would hook up with fish. The guys had a great time today, we only landed about half our fish that hit but we ended up catching 18 Stripers and 4 Catfish. The guys took home 16 Stripers.

Dave and Anthony

                        Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature 67* and Clear

I picked the guys up at 5:45 and went to catch bait. Five throws later we had a tank overflowing with beautiful baits. It was still 20 minutes before daylight so I decided to do something crazy. I decided to pull boards right up on the bank in water 5 foot or less and once my outer board got close to the bank it went off. Anthony hopped on it and wrestled it in. By the time I got the fish off the hook another rod went off then another. Within 5 minutes we had hooked up every rod on the left side of the boat then the other side started going off. We had numerous doubles and one triple hooked up at once. By 7:15 everything we had out had been hit and the guys incredibly landed every fish, 11 fish were in the box. Well that crazy move had paid off so I decided to head back downlake to do something different. I set up on the inside edge of a flat and pulled it for 400 yards only to catch a Catfish. For a second I was wondering if I should have not left the fish we caught earlier so quickly. I really was not worried, I had confidence in myself and my Lowrance. About 8:30 I started seeing some downline fish and by 9 we were regularly seeing schools and catching Stripers out of all of them. The top picture of my graph show us just entering into a school of catchable Stripers. The middle picture is us coming into the "Mother Load" of fish and the bottom picture of my Lowrance shows us going over 10 or 12 Stripers and 30 to 40 others out to the right side of my boat about 40 feet. Needless to say we caught a whole bunch of fish today.

Maury Cralle and the 26th Annual Lake Anna Family Vacation

Sunny, Windy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 76* and Clear.

Today we celebrated the Cralle annual vacation by fishing for Stripers. We were scheduled to go out tomorrow but the weather is supposed to crash tonight so we changed our plans and went today. I advised Maury yesterday on the phone that this being the only nice day of a holiday weekend the lake would be busy with bass boats and that once the boats got out fishing would slow down. I usually take 6 people out for a few hours then drop them off and pick up another boat load, take them out for a few hours then do it again. Maury knew the first flight would be the most productive so he sent the kids out to have some fun early. We set out a bunch of boards and started hooking up immediately. The 2 girls jumped on the rods and the battle began, and what a battle it was. After a couple of minutes they wrestled their fish to the boat and we boated both of them. While we were netting the fish another hooked up and Gus grabbed the rod and boated it as well. Fish were breaking all around us and we were in the hot spot. Well, we were in the spot but after 4 boaters ran over us the fish spooked and all we could do was dream of what we could have caught there if only a few boaters would have had the courtesy to not run over top of us. That's fishing on the weekend!   Well we fished for a couple more hours and boated a few more fish then caught bait and picked up the B team. We fished for a couple hours only to boat 1 more Striper. Maury was summoned to return to the house so we went back, took pictures and took the third group of people out but as I was leaving the dock the wind changed direction, picked up speed to about 25 mph, and the temperature started dropping. We fished for about an hour going over nice schools of fish without even getting a strike. It would have been nice to catch some more fish today but everyone seemed to be happy being together enjoying the day as well as the company. It is a blessing for me to see and be a part of a family tradition where a family gets together and bonds like the Cralle's do. Thankfully Gus [the guy on the left, who is available girls] returned from his second deployment with the Marines unharmed and well. 

SEMPER FI

An Fun Day on the water

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 77* and Clear.

I picked Dwayne and Terry at 5:15 then went and filled my bait tank up with beautiful baits. I then ran to a 30 foot flat with some humps and flats rising to 8 feet and put out a spread of boards. Before I knew it we started hooking up and by 7am the guys did not know what hit them. What a good way to wake up, at first light everything I had out had been hit. The guys were fighting doubles and other fish were on but they could not do anything with them. Everyone was running around the boat, fish all over the floor, but it was very organized and the guys did a great job. I rebaited all the rods while I was turning the boat around and at the same time the guys were taking fish off the hooks and feeding me rods to bait. We hit the area again but only had a few hits, the fish had moved on. We fished for a while then caught 50 more baits and fished the rest of the day.We got caught in a major downpour and was unable to take a picture of the fish but I did catch some pics on my Lowrance of what we were fishing today. The top two pictures are of a school of Stripers over a 12 foot flat. We had gotten most of our rods in by then because of the storm. The bottom picture is Stripers hugging the bottom on a ledge where we caught some fish. This afternoon the fish went very shallow before the storm. I sent the guys home with cooler overflowing with Stripers.