Wow some nice Stripers!

Earl

Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature 60 to 65* and Clear

It was such a beautiful day today we decided to go out for a couple hours and fish for Stripers before the weather got bad tonight and tomorrow. Bait was finally easy to catch which only took about 5 casts before we had a full tank. We checked out 3 different patterns and areas to see which had the better fish. Well we found the right one. We took over 30 hits and boated more than half the fish. These were the first eight we caught and kept, certainly not the largest fish of the day. We played the lake turnover today and it payed off with the best catch of the fall so far. We were also able to enjoy catching the fish today because we did not get busted, no one saw where we were fishing or encroached on us. I expect catches with live bait to only get better. Looks like it is going to be a great November.

Scotty, Brent and AJ

AJ

Sunny then Cloudy, Water Temperature 63* and Clear

We met at High Point at 6am then went to catch bait. This morning we filled the tank up with big Gizzards before daylight, first time in a few weeks that we had enough bait to start fishing at daylight. We popped 3 Stripers right away but the cold front did its thing and made us work for Stripers the rest of the day. AJ is pictured with a nice Striper that he caught on a planner board this morning. This cold front will probably turn the lake over and after a week the lake should really turn on.

Jeff, Jason, Lee and Steven

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 68* and Clear

We started the morning off looking for bait. As I was cruising by the park I heard something strange so I slowed the boat down. The sound was a Coyote howling up in the field. We listened to him for a couple minutes then moved on.  

Yesterday was another difficult day for bait collection, I threw for about 3 hours to get enough Big Gizzards to go fishing. We went to an area of the lake where there were no boats and set out a spread of boards pulling flats and humps nearby a mouth of a creek. After an hour of waving boaters away from my spread so they would not run over my lines and boaters running through the areas I wanted to work I decided to reel everything in, throw the baits away and go elsewhere. This time I changed tactics and looked for deeper fish and worked them with downlines. The move paid off, we found Stripers and every time we went over them we would have numerous hook ups. We got busted there from the guy who we had to wave off of our spread earlier. He had followed us from one arm of the lake to the other arm, saw us reel in a fish, turned around and trolled his motor right over the point where we were catching Stripers between us and the bank. Sometimes I wonder if these inconsiderate fisherman intentionally want to spook the fish we are working or are they just clueless? Needless to say we did not catch another fish on that point the rest of the afternoon. Although he ruined the fishing he did not ruin our day, we had fun on a beautiful day on Lake Anna.

Pastor Mike Edwards and Floyd Furr

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 67* and Clear

Met the guys at 6 then went out to catch bait. Today bait collection was better than previous days, we had a nice tank full of bait by 7:30. We set out a spread over an area that we had caught fish a couple of days ago but did not take a hit. We saw some birds working around the splits so we went to them to check them out but as we were getting ready to wet some baits another boater came over and ran his big motor right over where the fish were putting them down and turning them off. They idled around over the shallow flat for a few minutes to insure the fish would not eat then left. We had enough of that, we looked elsewhere where there wasn't a boat in sight to fish. We found an area with some fish and worked it till we ran out of bait. It was a very nice day today on the water and we met some new friends to make the day even more enjoyable. The leaves are turning on the lake and next week should be gorgeous out on the Lake.

A successful day in the rain

 Tom, Dan and Steven

Nice Fish

Tony took these hardy anglers out today for a wet day of fishing. Although the water temperature has dropped 5 degrees since it started raining Tony put a pattern together that proved to be successful.

Mike, Michael, Stephen, Jameson and Gary

 Jameson's first Striper

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 77 and Clear 

My crew wanted to go out early this morning to see what catching bait was all about so we picked them up at 5am and hit the water. With the warming water temperatures bait has repositioned which made bait collection quite challenging. Our first set up was over 20 to 30 foot flats pulling a mixture of boards and downlines. We popped one fish after about 15 minutes on a board and continued to pull the area. Once I got out into a main thoroughfare I noticed a lot of Stripers on my Lowrance and alerted the crew to get ready. We started hooking up and worked the area till the boat traffic ran us and the school off the ridge we were working. We went and caught more bait then set up over an area where there was actually little boat traffic and plenty of fish on the Lowrance. We started hooking up again but got busted by a troller in a pontoon boat. I knew we were in trouble and warned everyone that this guy will circle us like a Buzzard spooking this school because he has done it many times in the past. He was true to form and circled in closer and closer till I couldn't steer my spread without tangling up a whole side of boards. By now the skiers and Jet skiers were using our boat as a bouy to ski around so we moved on. We knew the fishing was over but we hung in there for a couple more hours just to pop a couple more fish. Four year old Jameson is pictured holding his first Striper that he had ever caught. Even though boat traffic got bad today the Conner boys had a great day on the water and took home plenty of memories.