A Day with the HAMILTONS

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

Photo's by MARTY

Brandon, Stephanie, Johnny and Judy Johnson

May 11, 2007: Sunny and Hot, Water Temp 74* and Clear.

Got on the water at 4 am this morning to catch bait and picked clients up at 6:15 and headed for a mid lake flat. Set out my spread of 10 Water Bugz Planner boards and a bobber with a big Gizzard on it. Right when we hit the flat we got bit , caught a Catfish on the only Herring I put out. I replaced it with a big Gizz and ran Gizzards the rest of the day. Once we started catching fish another guide and a bass boater busted us and tried to crowd us out of the area but we hung there for a couple of hours until the sun got up too high and the fish pulled off the flats. The nicer Stripers definitely wanted the bigger Gizzards because we were catching 10 pounders and the other guide who was using Herring only caught punks. We went and caught more bait and set up on some fish in the 20' range with downlines. Three lines went down at once then a troller came over and ran his motor around us for 30 minutes so we moved to another spot. It was a good move because I no sooner started putting the lines out and we started getting jammed. We nailed them on this last spot pretty good to finish out the day. Today we had over 35 strikes, caught 3 10 pounders and clients kept 16 Stripers for 100 pounds . Brandon is shown holding two of the ten pound fish he "redeemed" himself with.

Mike and Chriss Haines and Bill Coles

May 10, 2007: Cloudy and warm, Water temp 72* and Clear

Picked clients up at the dock at 4:45 am because they wanted to learn how to catch bait and threw for bait until daylight. Went to a main lake 15' flat and set out 10 planner boards and a bobber rigged with big Gizzards. As soon as we hit the flat we had 4 or 5 lines get boiled then we hooked up. I knew then it may be a long day since we only hooked up on one fish out of 5 boils. Within the next hour we had a bite every 5 minutes. By 9 o'clock we had to go back to the marina to get ice for the fish then we went to catch more bait. I set up on a deeper 20' flat with little respounce from the fish then moved to another deeper flat and got hits on downlines. At one point we had 4 lines go down at once. Today we had over 35 hits, over 20 fish hooked up but we only got 8 Stripers in the boat. I guess that old saying still stands true, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink! I had 3 great guys onboard today who learned alot and who will catch plenty of Stripers on thier own now.

Tom and Linda Lett, Jay and Dottie Pyne

May 8, 2007: Sunny and pleasant, Water temp 65* and Clear.

Ran uplake at 4am to catch bait and picked clients up at High Point at 6am. It was frosty this morning so I made just a short run to a 10' to 20' flat and set out planner boards. I only got 3 out before the action started and it took me a couple of hours to catch up and get my spread out. We made several passes on the area before taking a pitt stop. Went and caught more bait and found a area that was holding Stripers near the bottom in 20' of water . I set out 10 boards and a downline and we started getting hits again. After the action slowed a little on boards I went to downlines and finished out the day. We had 37 hits today with my clients keeping 13 Stripers. I believe the ladies will have bruised bellys after reeling in the fish tomorrow.

Paul Henon and George Barboza

May 5, 2007: Cloudy and Cool, Water temp 67* and Clear.

Started the day off at 6am with 50 Gizzards and some nice Herring. Set up pulling a bank with planner boards, running depths from 5 to 25 feet. The first 5 or 6 bites came on the bank on Gizzards with no hits on the outer boards. We then pulled a midlake ridge in 20 foot of water running boards and downlines . The fish were stacked up on top of the ridge and we would get strikes on every pass. We caught the smaller fish on Herring and the larger Stripers on big Gizz. George caught a 14.5 pounder off a Water Bugz board in 6 feet of water. Clients caught 14 Stripers and 3 Cats, keeping 12 Stripers and 2 of the larger Catfish.

Ted, Mark and Matt Presley

May 4, 2007: Cloudy and cool, Water temp 69* and clear.

Got out on the water at 4am to catch bait, picked clients up at 6 and headed for a 10 to 20' flat midlake. Set out 10 planner boards and a couple of downlines and once we hit the flat the action began. For the next 4 hours we averaged about 10 hits a hour until I had to go catch more bait. Threw for a hour then set up on a deeper flat marking plenty of fish but they were slow to bite. Clients kept 12 Stripers today.

Dan and Heather Targerson , Todd and Sharon Redman

May 2, 2007: Sunny and hot, Water temp 73* and clear.

Caught bait early , picked clients up and drove uplake to fish. Set out my spread over 15 to 20 foot flats running boards and downlines. The moon was bright again last and the fish were sluggish again this morning to bite. Although we were over fish most of the day, the fish were lethargic and the big fish did not want to feed. I will be glad when we get out of the moon phase and the 'Hogs' start feeding again. We had 26 hits today, the girls boating all their fish they had on and the guys, well they must of felt sorry for the fish and released 8 or 10 between them.

Other than 3 jerks on jet skis running over our lines it was a beautiful Spring day.

Jim Woodbridge and Chuck Davis

May 1, 2007: Sunny and warm, Water temp 72* and clear.
Got on the water a 5am and collected bait. Picked clients up at High Point and ran uplake . Set out a spread of 10 boards, a bobber and 2 downlines and pulled a 15' flat. It was a full moon last night and when there are no clouds at night on a full moon the fish gorge themselves in the twilight . I marked schools of fish but as usual on this moon they were not very aggressive, just rolling the baits on the surface and hitting the baits in the tails. We had 8 or 10 hits that way before we had a hook up. It was fun to see the fish boil on the baits but I knew it would be a few hours before the fish would cooperate. We continued to work the 15 to 20 foot depths until the fish got serious, and they did. We had over 40 hits today with Chuck nailing a 16.9 pounder and clients keeping 11 Stripers to take home. The large fish was 34" long.

Senior, Jeff and Ali [Goose]

April 27, 2007: Rain , Water temp 64*

Got on the water early and caught bait and picked clients up at 5:45 .I was leery about the day due to it was going to pour down rain and a major cold front was due to blow through this afternoon. One good thing about rain, usually other boats don't bother you too much. Set out my spread of

12 lines on a nearby point before good light. As we hit the point we started to get hits and put a fish in the boat. I circled back around and set up to hit the same point but trouble approached. Another guide in a center console drove up within 100 yards of us and proceeded to fish right up on the same point we were fishing! So much for Sportsmanship or courtesy these days. I had no other alternative but to turn and leave the point . I wanted to say something to him but did not want to embarrass him in front of his client. I should have picked up my lines and gone to one of 50 other spots that are holding Stripers but I did not want to sacrifice 12 fresh baits so we continued to work nearby areas. The bite was fairly weak in the rain with the fish hitting the baits short. We put 5 or 6 fish in the boat and relocated to a deeper flat and pulled downlines and boards. After getting a dozen more hits we went and caught more bait and fished up in the river getting hits on secondary points and humps. We had over 30 strikes today, clients keeping 11 Stripers, a Cat and a Bass. Overall it wasn't such a bad day, Senior can look forward to enjoying his 'special ' hors d'oeuvre.

Kenneth Adams with son Ken and Victor

April 24, 2007: Cloudy and warm, Water temp 65* and covered in pollen.

Met clients at 5:30 and went a short distance and set up on a 10' flat pulling boards. The fish were finicky at first but once it got good and light out the Stripers started jamming the baits well. We made 3 or 4 passes on the flat before the action slowed and then I pulled off into 25' of water and found the fish again. To my surprise the Stripers stayed in the upper water column and bit well on boards. We had a fish blow up on the bobber and after a long battle Ken got the fish to the boat which weighed 14.5 pounds. We continued to fish the deeper sections with boards and by 11am we had caught 17 Stripers. Clients kept 15 very nice Stripers that went well over 100 pounds.

Scott Webster, J D Edwards, Michael Sauter and son Mike

April 23, 2007: Sunny and 83*, Water Temp 64* and Clear.

Well, the weather is warming up and so is the fishing. Picked my clients up at their dock at 5am and went and caught bait. Set up on a 10' flat and put out a spread of 10 Water Bugzs , a bobber and a downline. I knew with the warming trend the fish should move up on the flat to feed but was leery of all the boat traffic this weekend and a jerk in a Center Console Quest that was probably the most inconsiderate boater I have encountered this year. Having got that off my chest, We started getting hits as soon as we hit the flat . I was running both Herring and Big Gizzards and the Herring were the first to go off. Strikes were steady as long as boaters stayed off the flat. The fish stayed up within 15 feet of water for 4 hours then pulled off. I then went out to the tips of points in 25 feet of water and put downlines in their faces to get a few more hits. The wind blew us off the water and when the day was over we had 32 hits and clients ended up keeping 12 Stripers. One of the guys felt sorry for 7 of the fish and released them before he decided to keep any. [I won't mention your name Mike]

Jeff Kilduff, Greg Kilduff, Greg Patti andDavid Pommerening

April 21, 2007: Sunny and warm, Water Temp warming to 60* .

I got on the lake early this morning to catch bait before the weekend warriors could beat me to the bait. Every week it seems like there are more and more Striper fisherman on the lake. Spoke to client yesterday and we were suppose to meet at 6am but they decided to take a tour of Orange county and were 45 minutes late. I had all but given up on them after calling his cell phone 3 times so I started putting out baits in front of the marina when 4 guys drove up and waved . I saluted them and picked them up and ran uplake . We set up on a shallow flat and pulled a few points. We had 6 hits within an hour boating a few Stripers but the Saturday boat traffic was getting pretty bad and after a Bass boater cut off one of my lines with his prop I knew it was time to move. We saw plenty of fish up there but there was too much noise for the fish to eat. We went back to midlake and decided to fish off the bottom since the traffic was so bad. We made a good move and started nailing nice Stripers. I pulled up to one spot and clients had 3 fish on at once [picture of Jeff , David and Greg holding fish]. I lost count of how many fish we caught [clients released fish] but we had about 20 hits and enjoyed a beautiful Spring day.

Paul Henon, George Hussy and George Barboza

April 20, 2007: Sunny and Cool, Water Temp 54* and Clear.

Met clients at 6am and pulled the same flat we worked yesterday but with no success. Had a few hits but again the fish did not want to eat. Stripers should be feeding in the upper water column but are just not feeding today. We were seeing hundreds of fish on the depth finder but they were in the channels and would not bite. After working several areas with

boards I decided to put some lines on the bottom. We started get hits but the action was slow. We worked hard all day for 15 hits and boated 5 Stripers, George catching a nice 16.5 pound Striper.

David and Tommy

April 19, 2007: Cloudy and cool, Water Temp 52* and clear.

Picked clients up at 5am because they wanted to learn how to catch bait. Caught bait easily and set up on a long 12'flat on a primary point and pulled 10 boards , a bobber and a downline. In less that 10 minutes we had a board back up slowly only about 3' and it looked like a Catfish was working the bait. After a minute I told client to reel it in and he got it all the way back to the boat before it knew it was hooked. I write this because a Striper usually will jamb the bait and pull drag immediatly but the fish were lethargic and only wanted to mouth the bait. We worked the flat and continued to have these passive hits, some hooking up and others not. After awhile I pulled out and worked other areas trying to find some aggressive fish but the fish seemed to turn off after 11am. We had 24 hits today, Tommy catching most of his and Dave , well he must have felt sorry for the fish a little. Clients kept 7 Stripers and had a Great learning experience.

Joe and Tom Diaz

April 11, 2007: Cloudy and Cold, Water Temp 55* and Clear.
Picked clients up at the dock at 6 and headed uplake to fish. I caught bait yesterday after I dropped my clients off . We set up a spread of 10 boards ,a free line and a down line and pulled a 10 foot flat that had bait pipping on it. We started getting hits as soon as we came up onto the flat. We made a couple of passes on the flat but after an hour the fish simply turned off . I went and hit another flat with no hits so I decided to put the baits in there faces again so I rigged up downlines and we started getting hits again. I pulled deep 20'flats and by 10:30 we had our limit. Clients were ready to leave so we were off the water by 11.

Derek and Nathan Manley

April 10, 2007: Sunny and cold, Water temp 55* and Clear.
Picked clients up at the dock and went to collect bait. After throwing for 3 hours I finally had enough to get started. All the bait had pulled out to the deeped channels. I went midlake and set out a spread of boards and bobbers and pulled them over 15 foot flats and only boated 1 in an hour so I decided to go after them deep, where the bait was. I put downlines in there faces and started catching fish. The bite was slow again today but we stayed with it and when all was said and done clients kept 9 nice Stripers.

Rich Lensis and Jerry Dunphy

April 9, 2007: Partly Cloudy and Cold, Water Temp 53* and falling.
Caught bait yesterday so we started fishing at daylight. Since the water temp has dropped 10 degrees in a few days I set up on a deep flat outside a creek where bait was present. I told my clients last night I thought the bite would be slow today due to all the bait pulling out of the creeks and the extreme drop in water temp. I set up a spread of 12 lines and pulled 1000 yards with only 3 hits. I did not see and bait or fish shallow and the bait was balled up tight and hanging out at 20 feet. After checking numerous flats I decided the fish were not going to come up and feed so I put downlines out and put baits right in their faces. They still were very lethargic and would just nudge the baits. My clients were troupers and hung in there on a very cold day and we ended up putting 7 Stripers in the boat.

Bill Tewes, Kenny and Dylan Smith

April 6, 2007: Sunny and cold, water temp 56* and clear. After a major cold front blew through yesterday dropping the daytime temperatures 30 * I decided to get on the water at 4 this morning to hunt down some bait. I thought the front would push the bait out off the flats and out to the first breaks and thats where I concentrated my efforts. I threw about 30 times and caught about 65 baits. Picked my clients up at their dock and put out my spread of 10 boards, a bobber and a down line . I started my first pull also on the first breaks off the edges of the flats and just as soon as I got them out the action began. Bill and Dylon alternated reeling in fish for the next 2 hours until we broke a nice one off at the boat . It alerted the rest of the school so we had to relocate to another flat. As soon as we hit it the drill was on again. A shart breeze got up and slowed fishing a little but by noon we had 47 strikes and boated 21 Stripers, clients keeping 16 fish with a total weight of 100 pounds.

Andy and Matt Kiyfes

April 4, 2007: Cloudy and warm, Water Temp 63* and clear.
Picked clients up at 6 and went in search of bait. Threw about 60 times and caught 36 baits . The forcast for today is 25 mph winds and thunderstorms so I want to get baits out soon before the wind starts to howl. Set up a spread on a flat and soon as I got 11 lines out we started getting hits. Andy hooked a hog and handed it off to Matt and Matt fought it all the way to the boat beefore it just pulled off. Meanwhile Andy fought his to the boat and we landed it. Within the next 10 minutes we had 8 hits and either tangled other lines up, broke the fish off or they just pulled off. Fifteen minutes into the pull, 10 fish on, 1 in the boat, doesn't look good. I retied my lines and continued to fish getting strikes about every 5 minutes until I looked into the bait tank and all the baits were gone. We pulled the remaining 7 baits in and went and caught more bait and set up on another flat. Our ratios got a little better on this pull, clients boating 1 out of every 4 strikes. Started to run out of bait again but a good friend brought us over 20 fresh ones so we picked up and hit yet another flat. Well, my clients finally caught on and we put more fish in the boat. Lost count of strikes after 40 but clients kept 12 nice Stripers and Matt probably will be sore tomorrow.

Jim Burroughs with father Chuck

April 3rd, 2007: Sunny and hot , Water temp 63* and clear.
Tried to catch bait early with little success so I picked up clients and threw for 2 hours to catch enough bait to get started. Set up on a 20 foot flat with 10 planner boards and a bobber . Just as I finished putting out my last board one went off and we reeled it in. We no sooner netted it when the bobber went off. I knew we had a big fish because the rod just bent over and when Jim started reeling it in it appeared he was reeling in a log. I told him he had a Monster Striper hooked up and to keep constant pressure on it and he handled it like a pro. After a 5 minute fight the fish was up along side of the boat and we got our first look at it . I netted the fish and we weighed the Striper and it was 21 pounds but it was very happy to see us and milked up the deck pretty bad. I decided to take it to the marina and get a citaiton for it before it lost to much weight. My clients were ruined after that fish and wanted to only fish for big fish the rest of the day so thats what we did. Shown are a couple of the fish that we caught today.

Eddie Lowe, Steve Baker and David Lacey

March 30, 2007: Sunny and Cold in the morning, Water Temp 58* and clear.
Picked clients up and caught bait. Set up my spread to work some main lake points running 10 boards, a bobber and a down line. Got a few hits on boards in 8 feet of water and had to move out to 20' flats to get bit. We put 5 fish in the boat then went and caught more bait . I set up over some main lake flats and points and pulled my spread for 2 hours in the midday sun with no success. I finally found some fish in 25 foot of water and started nailing them. We had 9 hits in 15 minutes! Today we had 27 hits, Clients kept 12 Stripers and 2 of them were over 12 pounds. Eddie decided to let the big fish of the day live to fight again.

Andy, Jeff and Senior

March 29, 2007: Sunny and cold, water temp 57*.
With a major cold front blowing through last night I knew fishing would be tough today. We started out pulling the same areas that I caught fish on the previous days but all we could do is get short strikes. I pulled up onto one point and had 6 hits in 10 yards, only one of the fish hooking up. We tried several other areas today with the same luck. Clients ended up catching 4 Stripers, 2 Cats, a Bass and a White Perch.

Kevin Eller, David Doss, Wayne Gayner and Charlie Able

March 28, 2007: Sunny and warm, Water temp 58* and Clear.
Caught bait early , picked clients up and set up my spread on a flat. I no sooner engaged the last reel when one went off. We had steady action for two hours then an East wind picked up and the fishing slowed down. I changed locations and fished shallower and started getting hits again . We had a great morning of fishing with 34 Strikes, keeping 13 very nice Stripers. Charlie felt sorry for a couple hogs and let them go to fight another day. Wayne, our prayers are with you.

Callie and Marty Robinson

March 27, 2007: Sunny and Hot, Water temp 58* and Stained.
Got a little later start this morning, clients were running late a I had a flat on my trailer. Started at 7:30 and set up on a flat, putting out 10 boards and a bobber. Took 5 minutes to get hit but once we did it was madness for 2 hours until we ran out of bait. Went and caught bait and set up on another flat and enjoyed the rest of this 82* day. Today we had 32 hits and kept 12 very nice Stripers. We left a couple of "teenagers" in the lake for my clients to catch on another day. Happy Birthday Callie!

Tony Shephard

March 26, 2007:

Partly Cloudy and cool, Water temp 56* and Stained.

Caught bait before light and headed for a 10 foot flat to start . Set out boards and free lines and made a pull for 400 yards without a hit so we got the baits in and relocated to a 15 ' flat and set up. We started hooking up just as I got the last line out and for the next hour and a half I couldn't keep up with the action. After 20 to 25 Fast strikes we pulled our baits up and left the feeding fish. My client today is a experienced Striper fisherman new to the lake and he decided he wanted to learn the lake so all we did the rest of the day was cruise and I explained the seasonal patterns of the lake for Stripers and Baitfish. We caught 12 fish in a couple of hours and kept 8.

Kyle, Johnny and John

March 24, 2007: Cloudy and warm, Water temp 55* and stained.
Got on the water at 4 this morning to collect bait and picked my clients up at 6:30am. Went a short distance and put out my spread of 10 planner boards and a bobber running the baits on points in about 10 foot of water. The first point we hit we put a 10 pounder in the boat for a good start of the day. As the sun rose so did the sounds of outboard motors and the breezes of an East wind. I had warned my clients weeks before that Saturdays are not the ideal time to fish Lake Anna in the spring. A very warm weekend day coupled with Bass tournaments were two strikes against us, but the East wind could really put a curse on the day. We continued to fish the area and got a couple more hits but the fish were only hitting the baits in the tail. I decided to move to a main lake flat where the water was clearer. We got 5 hits on the first pass before a troller almost ran over us. Along with a dozen other boats running over the flat the fish turned off. We moved to another flat and got numerous bites but after 30 minutes of fishing the combination of Jet Skies running through our spread and bass boaters running over us we had to move to a bay where we could just simply put out lines without being disturbed. Anyway, we had 17 Strikes today, catching only 5 Stripers and a Catfish.

Paul Henon, George Hussey and George Barboza

March 23, 2007: Sunny and warm, Water temp rising to 52* and stained. Caught bait early and started fishing points midlake. We caught a few punks and before we knew it boats were everywhere. Boat motors turned the fish off where we were fishing so I went to the other side of the lake and set up in a quite bay. We made one pass and put a fish in the boat so we circled around and worked this bay for the rest of the day. The fish never got going well because everytime we caught a fish other boats or guides would see us and spook the fish. We gave it our best shot and ended up catching 12 Stripers, clients keeping 7, largest 11.4 pounds.

Richard Reberge

March 21, 2007:

Cloudy and Cold, Water Temp 49* and Stained.

Got out early and caught Herring and met Richard at the dock at 6:30. Set up over 22' of water with 10 Boards and a Bobber pulling deeper flats and points since the cold front hit so hard last night. Before I got all the boards out we started getting hit. In the first hour we had over a dozen strikes then it slowed down some when the east wind starting blowing. We tried some shallow areas and put some baits up on the bank but the fish were hurt from the cold front and only hit over deeper water. We fish several different areas today but it seemed everywhere we fished we would get hit but never numerous strikes in any one area. We had 25 hits today and caught 14 Stripers, keeping 8 fish to take home . Once the lake warms just a little fishing is going to break loose.

Doug and Matt Rothell

March 15, 2007: Party cloudy and windy, Water temp 54* and clear.
Got on the water a 4am this morning to catch Herring and picked clients up at the dock at o dark 30. With today being pre-frontal of this big storm and knowing the temps were going to crash I set up in an area nearby where I caught fish yesterday but was deeper by 6 to 8 feet. Set out boards and pulled up to the first primary point and had two hits, turned back and went over the same point with no hits. I made 4 passes on the point and caught fish only pulling into the wind, not with the wind. Hit some other flats nearby but the fish only wanted to feed today on points. After 10 am the fish turned off just like the previous two days. After fishing hard in the wind we ended up getting 16 hits, clients keeping 9 Stripers, a Cat and a Crappie.

Doug Reynolds and Mike Mccay

March 14, 2007: Sunny and warm, Water Temp 52* and Clear
Caught bait early and picked clients up before 7 . Went to where I fished yesterday and had so many strikes and set out my spread of 10 boards and a Bobber. Went a couple hundred yards without a strike and knew the fish had moved or were turned off. We hit a point and had 4 hits but only put one in the boat and the fish were only hitting the bait in the tail. We moved over to a bank where the wind had been blowing onto for 2 days and I put the baits right up on the bank and started catching fish. Only the boards that were nearest the bank would get hit. We had 23 Strikes before the fish turned off, due to all the boat traffic. Must have been 20 boats go by. Anyway, the wind picked up at noon and the fish would not feed anymore. We ended up the morning with 11 Stripers and 3 Catfish.

Jeff Carter. Bruce Carter, Anthony Abele, and Stan Bateman

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 :

Sunny and warm,Water Temp. 50 and Clear

Picked clients up a 7am at HighPoint and ran to a 10'flat and put out 10 Planner Boards and a Bobber. We put out both Gizzards and Herring and before I could get all of them out the fish started nailing the baits. Our first fish was a nice Striper but it got caught up in another line and broke off right at the boat. Before I could bait up other boards started going off and in the first hour we had 11 hits. We had a couple of small fronts blow through today and the fish would feed prior to the fronts for a few minutes then shut down. We continued to work 10 foot flats all day and ended up getting 26 hits. One client today had trouble with touching the line every time he picked up the rod when a fish was on and lost at least 5 nice Stripers himself [Bruce, I won't mention your name]. Anyway, they all had fun and caught 16 Stripers and a Catfish. This was one of the first days the wind did not howl all day and allowed us to fish where we wanted to.