Bootsie, Paul and Skip

May 17, 2006 : Sunny and cool, Water clear and 68*
Got on the water at 3:30 am to catch Herring this morning anticipating a downline bite today. We ran 20 to 30' flats and had probably 25 hits but most of the strikes were short. We caught 2 very nice bass on channel bends in 35 foot of water. They were post spawn fish and in good health. Clients kept 7 stripers and a couple of cats.

Bootsie, Paul and Skip

May 17, 2006 : Sunny and cool, Water clear and 68*
Got on the water at 3:30 am to catch Herring this morning anticipating a downline bite today. We ran 20 to 30' flats and had probably 25 hits but most of the strikes were short. We caught 2 very nice bass on channel bends in 35 foot of water. They were post spawn fish and in good health. Clients kept 7 stripers and a couple of cats.

The Heater Bachelor Party

May 13, 2006 : Sunny and cool, Water temp 67*, Clear
Had party of 8 for bachelor party today so I took 4 people out on my boat and John took out the other 4. Had a late start due to a little too much partying the night before but we got out and caught bait and wet some lines. John and I both ran flats in the mouths of uplake creeks using planner boards. Stripers were hitting short and prefered the Gizzards. We had numerous hits but at least on my boat we had plenty of hookups but could not put them in the boat. Fishing was slow but we managed to catch a few fish . Between both boats we caught 12 stripers[alot of shorts] and plenty of cats. Both boats caught Stripers over 10 pounds. Grooms wife called all day worried about the Groom geting 'Racoon Eyes' .

Newton Morris and crew

May 12, 2006 : Sunny and cool, water temp 65*

Ran Gizzards and Herring on planner boards today starting off on shallow flats in 8' of water moving to deeper flats later in the day with limited sucess. Went to channel bends and ran downlines catching a few more stripers and cats along with a nice bass in 40 ' of water.

Chad, Tom, Bob

Dave Jones, John, Earl Custer, Ted Weimert
May 6, 2006 : Sunny and 75*, Water Temp 64* and Clear
Had a group of 10 friends to go out today so we took 3 boats out , mine, Johns and Allen's. The morning was extremely foggy and all the boats had problems getting to their destinations so I pulled up on a shallow flat and proceeded to run planner boards with both Gizzard Shad and Herring . Immediatly we started getting hit on the larger gizzards over 15' of water. We probably could have caught a lot more fish but due to the fog other boats kept running over us and spooking the fish. After the fog cleared I went uplake and caught more Gizz and set up on channel points . We caught a few more fish and caught a 11 pounder on a herring on a board. Being a Saturday boat traffic ran us off and had to seek another location away from the traffic. We fished the edges of a 14' flat and continued to catch fish. We ended up with 26 hits, clients kept 10 Stripers and 3 Cats.
John fished uplake points and caught his fish primarly on Herring and in the afternoon moved midlake to finish out the day. They kept 6 Stripers and 5 Cats. Allens crew caught a few Stripers and a Walleye.

Ted, Matt, Mark and Wendell Presley

Friday, May 5, 2006 , Sunny, Air Temp 80*, Water 64*, clear
Caught Herring under lights before daylight, picked up clients and caught gizzards and went fishing. Ran mouth of creek with 10' flats nearby , had a couple of hits . Moved to 8' flat and ran planner boards and started putting fish in the boat , mostly on Gizz. After the sun got bright we moved to 20 ' flats and continued to catch fish. Had 30 hits, clients kept 15 stripers for 78 lbs, 3 catfish.

Clint Heflin, Buck Covington, Jeff W.

May 4, 2006 : Sunny and 78*, Water Temp 63* and clear.
Started off the day running boards and downlines with both gizzards and Herring in depths from 5' to 20'. Has limited success and moved to main lake points where we started to nail the Stripers. We caught fish on both baits but the nicer fish were hitting larger gizzards on planner boards although we did catch a nice Walleye on a Herring. Later in the day we moved to 20' flats and caught fish on downlines. Ended up the day with 32 hits, clients keeping 10 Stripers, a couple of cats and a 5 lb walleye.

Senior, Alex and Sam

April 21, 2006 : Cloudy and cool, Water temp 59* and clear
Caught bait early and ran points uplake with limited success. Move Midlake and ran boards on flats in 8 to 18' catching fish on both Gizz and Herring. Had 18 hits, clients kept 8 Stripers, largest 27 ".

Tyler, Dick and Scott

April 19, 2006 : Sunny , Water temp 60* and clear
Ran Gizzard Shad on planner boards and Downlines on 15' to 22' flats , Had 18 hits, clients kept 7 Stripers for 40 pounds, largest fish 9 lb.

Jessie, Don and Don

April 18, 2006 : Sunny and Windy, Cold Front, Water Temp 57* and clear
Ran mouth of uplake creek early and hit the flats and points nearby catching a few Stripers then later moved to the river and caught fish on points on Planner Boards with Herring. Had 21 hits, kept 8 fish for 40 pounds and 2 catfish.

Craig Ganoe, Trevor Shifflett

April 11, 2005 : Sunny and chilly, Water Temp 48* and slightly stained
Ran both Gizzard Shad and Herring on Boards on 8' flats early in the day, moving to 15' flats after the sun got bright. Caught fish equally as well on both baits and by the end of the day clients had 20 hits, kept 12 Stripers and a big cat.

Mike Vann

Sunny and pleasant, Water temp 74*
Caught bait fairly easy and laid out a spread of 8 planner boards and a bobber on the same flat we fished yesterday. Being Monday I was hoping there would not be as much boat traffic and the fish would cooperate a little better than yesterday and they did. We hit 3 flats that duplicated the same pattern and the Stripers wanted the big Gizz and hit them steadily all day. We had 19 hits, caught a couple of huge cats, clients kept 12 Stripers for 74 pounds, 4 of which went over 30 inches. Another testament to fish during the week .

Tom Mcfillan, Jim and Jamie Hummer

Sunday, Sunny and warm, Water temp Mid 70's
Had client out last week in a major storm and did poorly and woke up this morning not looking forward too much to fishing on a busy warm Sunday with all the boat traffic. Took awhile to catch bait and everywhere we went there was boats. It is extremely hard to run my spread of 10 lines on days when every boat wants to run over top of you. Well we only had a few lines cut off by boaters and had to fish in less desireable areas of the lake. WE caught some very large cats and only 6 Stripers. I will be glad when it gets colder and runs these boaters off the lake.

Paul Henon, George Hussy and George Barboza

Sunny , NE wind, water temp 75*
After getting beat up yesterday I was looking forward to an easier day of fishing. Caught about 30 nice shad and proceeded to run some shallow flats before the sun got too bright. Caught a few in 3 to 5' of water before moving out to deeper flats. Had a decent day considering the barometer rising so rapidly. Clients kept 10 Stripers for 50 pounds. Also caught some nice cats.

Tom McFillan

Todays Forcast: Cloudy and rain, winds 30 to 40 mph with gusts to 50 mph
Woke up this morning and went outside to get the boat ready and got blown away by the wind. Tried to reach my client before he left to cancel the trip but couldn't. Met at the marina and since we were there we decided to give it a try. Took 2 hours to catch bait, probably because of the barometer crashing. Had to fish in the only place on the lake where I could hold the boat, on a bluff bank. Needless to say, we had a poor day with catching on 3 Stripers and 6 Cats. Took no picture.

Paul Mader, George Mader and Butch Hardman

Partly cloudy, light winds , Water temps Mid 70's
Took about 45 minutes to collect 30 Gizzard shad before we could go fishing. My client lived on the lake so I decided to lay out my spread right in front of his house. On our first pass we hooked up with 3 nice Stripers. They were so excited they called their wives up and told them to look outside. They held up their catch and it was a good begining of a nice day. We started off fishing a point 5 to 10' deep in front of their house and later hit flats in the 15' range. Ended up catching some nice cats and clients kept 10 Stripers for 52 pounds.

Jim Chen, Dave and Jonathan Wabeke

Sunny and warm, winds calm, Water temp 77*
Started off the day serching for Gizzard Shad to use for bait. Took about 45 minutes to collect 25 baits and I laid out 8 planner boards and a bobber and proceeded to fish right where we caught bait. Before I got all the boards out we got jambed and I put Jonathan on the rod. We landed that Striper , finished putting out the rest of the lines and had constant action the rest of the day. I think we got Dave's son hooked on fishing. We had 23 strikes, caught a few cats and my clients kept 13 Stripers for 54 lbs.

Jeff Collins, Senior Sajhafi, and Cole Marsh

Sept.21,2005 Sunny and warm, water temp 82*
Picked up clients at 6:30 and went in search of bait. Looked main lake for a school of gizzard shad because thats where I caught them yesterday but all the bait was still broke up from the night before. Went to the back of a creek and found them in 12'of water, made 6 casts and we were loaded. Set out 8 planner boards, a bobber and a free line. Within 5 minutes we started getting hit. Had 9 strikes by 8:30 and put some nice stripers in the boat. Went and caught more bait and tried a different location. Found some monsters {for this time of year} and had our way with them until some idiot ran thru my spread and spooked the fish. Ended up with 21 hits, lost or broke off 4 Big fish, kept 12 fish for 71 pounds, largest striper 12.2 lbs.

Jim

Date :9/20/05 Sunny and hot, Water temp 82*
I have been off the water for the last 2 months with a few exceptions due to the water being too hot for the fish to be active enough to entertain my clients. When the water temp is above 85* the dissolved oxygen in the lake is extremely poor consequently the blood oxygen in the striper is so bad that it makes the striper sick [like us being nauseated]. I have clients tomorrow so I am looking for fish today for them to catch tomorrow. Once the fish feel better and want to eat they want to spent as little energy as they can and eat as large a meal as they can so I looked for some big gizzard shad to run on planner boards. Ran boards over 10 to 15 foot flats and caught a few 6 pounders. Decided to find another pattern and went to the back of a creek that was loaded with bait, put out boards and spanked them. I came off the water at 1 o'clock , had 16 hits, caught 10 stripers, 4 fish over 30 inches, my first 4 keepers are in the picture. I'm excited about tomorrow and I guess I will call my clients who have been patient [ wanting to fish for the last month] and start booking trips for the rest of the year.

The Bush's

Date; Sept 14, 2005 Cloudy, rainy and windy, water temp 85*
Due to hurricane conditions fishing was tough today and the fish were scattered everywhere. About the only fish caught today were caught by these two guys in a secret honey hole.
All kidding aside, our prayers go out to all the people affected by the hurricane and there loved ones. Godspeed to the president and all the people helping with this tragedy.