Monday, November 26, 2012

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!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

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.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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.

Monday, November 19, 2012

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.

Friday, November 16, 2012

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.

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

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.

Friday, November 09, 2012

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.....

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

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.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

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

Thursday, November 01, 2012

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.