Saturday, March 28, 2015

Email form a Client


Fishing March 26

Jim,
If you wish to post this – you may….

Photo:  Ross, Hyo, and Jack  (Three Reverends)

I took Jim’s advice, rounded up two friends and went fishing.   Having fished with Jim twice in the past 18 months;  I have found his instructing helpful in the art of catching stipers!  I probably asked him more questions than a four year old boy could ever imagine.   (The first 27 years of my life where in Minnesota, and I do have experience in putting fish on the table year ‘round!)   So on Thursday I introduced my friends to catching bait;  hung lanterns at 5 a.m. and by sunrise, we  had netted about 75 blueback herring.   Having said our morning prayers, we set 9 lines from our fishing machine, and began the slow lake tour!  Our first hit was within five minutes.  The rain started at 8 a.m., and wind pushed us around with gust up to 20 mph.  Caught a few punks.  The fish seemed to be scattered all day, and yes, we fished from both sides of the boat!  As we headed into shallower water, we took some serious hits.  The 28 inch stiper discovered my hook in 6 feet of water on a down-line!   The 20 inch greenback found lunch three feet from the bank served up on a planer board!   As the afternoon sun emerged and the temps surged, we laughed, told stories, and just enjoyed good friendship!   Water temps measured 52 -54 degrees.  I have my calendar marked “fishing” for a few days in April for rest and renewal!   If you’re thinking about a fishing trip, give Jim a call.  He has some great guides who will introduce you to a whole new world.   - Ross Halbersma  

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

A couple of nice one's.


 Carson and Rick Hogue

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water temperatures 52* and Stained
I got out on the water this morning very early to catch bait and after 2 1/2 hours all I had to show for my efforts were 8 Herring. I met the guys at High Point at 7 then headed up to catch bait. I made 6 or 8 throws, filled the tank up and set out a spread of boards. Fish were not feeding well and all we fished was a half a day but the quality is better than quantity some days. The two fish they are holding hooked up at the same time. Carson boated his fish first then I started teasing Rick to get his up to the boat, he had already wrapped up two other lines and I was afraid it would break off. After the fish took him around the boat it rolled and we saw why he was having a problem getting the fish in. The fish weighed 17.5 and was 34 1/2 inch long. Not bad for Lake Anna, although 'tis  the season for big Stripers.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Chilly Morning

 Bobby [Hobo], Eric, Mike and Cheese and Rice

 Simrad shot of pulling downlines across a deep flat this morning laden with Stripers.

Another nice Simrad shot of us coming up on some pretty structure.

The weather still can't make up its mind. It was 31 this morning when we took off from the marina and 74 when we came off the water. Oh well, better than Ice! Guys are holding up 4 of the Stripers we caught around the middle screen shot. It was around 9am and the only way the guys could warm up was to reel in Stripers. Glad I could oblige them. Caught 15 Stripers today.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Challenging Day


JJ, Hamadi, Mike, Rudolph, John, Vallerie 
Sunny and Windy, Water temperatures 45 to 47*
Quite the challenge today. Started off with our dogs not letting us sleep last night. They were very restless and at 3am we realized why. My wife and I heard a rumble like a dump truck was driving up the driveway then ca-bang, it sounded like someone drove into the house. We knew right away it was a earthquake. Since we had the big quake and the aftershocks I have noticed the it really messes up the fishing and catching of bait for that matter. Bait was difficult but we started with 61 baits. I knew the wind was going to howl today so I hit a couple areas where I though we would get bit. The pattern I was working is very difficult to fish but we hung in there and enjoyed the morning. By 10:30 the wind was up and white capping everywhere on the lake. I went and caught more bait and tried to set up on a flat I knew fish were holding on. I would put a board or two out then a gust would come and we would get hung up. Half the time I was going backwards and the rest of the time we were going sideways. I struggled for 4 hours just trying to keep a few baits in the water. By 2:45 my batteries were smoked and we had to call it quits. We managed to take hits in the wind but it was extremely difficult  to control the boat. We caught 17 Stripers today, not bad for fishing in 30 mph winds.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Some fun Screen shots

 This shot is of a sunken bridge support that was knocked down prior to flooding the lake. You can see it clearly on the left of the side scan and on the right of the echo page you can see the remains of the two pilings. The small fish are Crappie.

 Here are some inactive Stripers. When I see these fish marking so clearly without any movement [Streaking] the fish are not biting. Remember them and come back later.

 A nice school of bait with inactive fish nearby.
The bait would be broke up if the fish were feeding.

Same deal, non catch-able fish.

All these pics look good, but don't expect to get bit. When bait are in tight balls 
and no motion from the fish it is hard to catch them.
Enjoy the pics and get out there and get you some!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Finally got back out, Oh what a day!

 DP holding a nice limit of Stripers

When you see this and have fresh live bait out
the results are below.....
 
 Total Chaos.....Every rod went down and we had to throw the fish into the boat and grab another and another. Rods and fish scattered from one end of the boat to the other. This is just a pic of the front of the boat! Since it was early in the day we released all of these Stripers and they all happily swam away. We left this school and went looking for other patterns.

 This is a school of Crappie on the left and some predator fish on the right .
 
 One of many Bass we caught today. A couple 
were Citation size. Would have been a massive stringer.

 This is a great shot from my Simrad, probably one of my most favorite shots that I have taken on the unit. I have the screen up top in Green on Side Scan. We had located pods of nice Stripers very deep in the afternoon in little depressions in 50 to 60 feet of water. After seeing numerous pods like this we put downlines out 2 to 6 feet off the bottom and hit some of the pods. The bottom 2/3rds of the screen is my echo page which on the left side I have on bottom lock showing the bottom water column up to 8 feet off the bottom. The right side of the screen is regular sonar set to a 50 foot scale. On the right you can clearly see all my downlines being pulled just off the bottom. Then towards the extreme right we come upon a pod of Stripers. Immediately all the lines get hit and you can clearly see us fighting the fish as we reel them up toward the surface. Notice all baits hook up! Chirp sonar is INCREDIBLE! With chirp I can monitor all my lines and bait off of one transducer in the rear of the boat. The separation and clarity is off the charts! I can actually view my baits swimming in fifty feet of water. The baits swim up and down as you can see on the bottom lock. When they get around fish they swim frantically until they meet their maker. We boated the eight fish DP is holding in the top picture off of this set, took a picture and called it a day. I popped the screen shot when all 8 rods were bent over. We were lucky to boat all the fish without loosing any or tying any lines up.
WOW, I am still high after a trip like that.

DP with the smallest Bass of the day.

Friday, March 06, 2015

Global Warming


March 6th, half the lake is frozen, coldest February I can remember. All boats clean, 50 rods and reels oiled and new line, trucks serviced, canceling charters. This is getting old. Only good thing is the house is 74 degrees. Feel sorry for the Stripers, once the lake thaws they won't stand a chance. I will be out every day hunting them down. Maybe next week.................!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Come on Spring

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Cold


I could not stand it any longer hanging around the house so yesterday afternoon around 1:30 I hooked the boat up and headed for the lake. I put out at a private ramp downlake and rode around just seeing what I could see. I started off heading to the dam and 3rd dike area where I found the warmest water naturally, 48*. I went up to the 2nd dike and the water temp dropped to 44*. The pockets on the north side were the same. I went on up to Dukes [42*] then up to the mouth of Sturgeon where it was 39* with the backs of all the pockets frozen. No need to go up any further, too cold for me. All the upper lake is still froze. Hopefully some warmer weather will bless us soon so we can get back in action.
I popped a couple of screen shots yesterday, they are as sad as the weather is. I couldn't find anything worth stopping on in the few hours I was out. It was so disappointing I got off the water around 4. The upper shot was taken down by the dam. Although I did not fish these I am assuming the school of fish on the left are punk Stripers hanging around a ball of small baits. The vertical stack of fish on the right may have been white perch. In the bottom picture I was checking humps out downlake and found Bass hugging the hump in 20 to 30 feet of water. You can see them on the right hump. You can click on the picture to enlarge it if you want. Again, pretty boring but I had to get out. Looks like the rest of the week will be a replay of the last 8 weeks. Unstable.