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