Carl and Lee

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 55* and Stained.
Got out early to catch bait, picked the guys up and went fishing. We put out a spread of 12 planner boards , a bobber and a downline to pull an area consisting mostly of flats. With the warmer days we had been having I expected to find fish up on the bank but the first half of dozen hits we took were out in deeper water. We had good action for a couple hours then the fish turned off for about an hour. I hit some clay banks and some rip rap to see if the fish went to the banks buts started catching the fish on points instead. Fishing was steady until boats started driving by, when the lake would settle down the fish would hit again. Lee caught all the nice fish, Carl caught the kitty on the end of the pole [Just kidding, Carl caught his share of Stripers]

Ralph Purcell with Bobby and Denny

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temps 47 to 51 degrees and Clear.
Caught bait early , picked my clients up at 5:50 and headed out. I noticed numerous Striper fisherman preparing to take off and I did not want to fish around anyone else so I took my time running down the lake before I set up in a deserted area. I set out a spread of a dozen boards, a bobber and a couple of downlines and pulled numerous humps and flats. Right when we hit our first hump in 3 feet of water the boards started taking hits. Within 2 minutes everything we had out had been destroyed. I made a circle and as I approached the same area we started hooking up again, this time a little deeper over about 20 feet of water . I was working up a sweat trying to keep enough baits in the water and was behind the 8 ball for about 2 hours. As we fished we released some fish and I knew it would not be long before this school turned off. We started taking short hits so I moved on to nearby flats and the action resumed. The lake went flat with lack of wind and so did the action so I made a move to a deeper flat and tried some downlines but we only had a couple hits in the span of a half an hour so I moved uplake to another series of flats and ridges to finish out the morning. This morning we took about 50 hits, boated 23 and kept 16 for the dinner table. Ralph is pictured holding one of the fish he caught this morning.

Kevin and Steve

Sunny and Warm, no wind, no boats Water Temperature 45* mid and 50 Down.
Got out very early and caught baits, picked up the guys at High Point at 5:50 and hit the water. Made a short run and set out a spread of a dozen planner boards, a bobber and a downline and pulled 15 to 25 foot flats. We had no sooner got all the lines out when Kevin jumped up and grabbed the first rod to go off. Both he and Steve smiled and they never quit smiling for the next 2 hours. Just as Kevin boated his fish Steve grabbed a bent over rod.. The action was controllable because with only two clients on board I could not take them to a large group of fish, we had to work an area where we would hopefully only have one or two fish hooked up at a time. The plan was working great, we had good action early and as the sun got high in the sky the fish moved deeper. It had been about 10 minutes without a fish when we heard a board skipping across the water, we all looked up and the board literally skipped about 30 feet. Kevin flew across the boat and grabbed the rod and the fight was on. He kept saying he could not gain on the fish, I checked the drag twice and it was perfect, we knew we had a good fish on. While he was wrestling his in the downline got jammed and Steve hopped on it. We worked the area for just a little while longer and made a move. We set up over a deeper flat, I was uncomfortable with the bright sun and no wind, the lake was as smooth as glass. I knew we had to fish deeper so we converted to downlines. Again it did not take long and the rods were bowing over with the guys riding the rods. The smiles were back on their faces as if with disbelief of what was happening. I had told Kevin last night to bring plenty of people to handle the action but his brother backed out at the last minute. We came off the water, took some pictures and they were still smiling. These two guys have been fishing together since they were 6 years old, and I could tell they enjoyed time on the water together. I wanted to make today a special trip for them and we all left happy.

Mark Mautte

Sunny and warm, Water temperature 44 mid and 50 degrees downlake.
After 5 days of wind it was nice enough to fish again so I called some friends and we went out for a while. We left the marina about 5:50 and headed downlake. I was debating where to go, it being a warm weekend I knew boat traffic would be an issue and especially this time of year with all the Bass Tournaments on the lake. I decided to pull over into a cove and fish for about an hour to let all the Bassers fly down the lake before I moved to where I knew there were fish. We put out about 10 baits and caught some nice fish. At 7:15 you could hear the boats roaring down the lake, it sounded like a bunch of hornets being released one at a time. After a couple dozen boats went by we decided to try to make a move, by now we had caught 10 fish. We headed for a flat downlake but as we drove we noticed every point having a Bass boat on it. I mentioned to one of the guys that with this much noise on the water the board bite would shut down but we tried it anyway. We put out a spread of a dozen boards and proceeded to pull a flat with no other boats around. We got about 200 yards, took a couple hits then a Bass boat pulled up with his big motor right in front of us. All I could do was circle around him, but he had already spooked the fish. After a short while he started his motor up, made a circle around us and off he went. I looked at my crew and told them to get the baits in, we had to go. We set up 4 or 5 more times with similar results. The fishing was over before it got started today, simply too much boat traffic. It was still good to get out with friends and my grandson, we ended catching 15 Stripers, plenty for Brian's fish fry and Jim's dinner. Can't wait to get out during the week with less boat traffic, should be able to double our catches.

A crappie Day

DP and I went out this morning on the lake and got blown off early Striper Fishing so he took some minnows and caught these nice Crappie.

2009 March Clients

Here are some of last March's Happy Clients.
Want to be in a picture this year?
I still have openings!

Robert Bruce with Todd and Bob

Cloudy, Cold and Windy, Water Temperature 44* and Clear.
Since I had trouble catching bait yesterday I was out even earlier today to ensure that we had plenty to fish with. Picked the guys up at 6:15 and went fishing. I warned them before we left the dock that because of the full moon last night and the forecast of wind today the bite would be a decent early bite and last for only a couple hours at most, and that we needed to catch them while we could this morning. I went right to the "juice", explained to them what to expect and how to handle the fish once they hit, and we put the baits out. We actually got all the baits out before we got bit and the morning started out without everything going off at once like it has been recently. The fish gradually started biting better and better until all the guys had fish on at once. By now we were taking a hit about once every 5 minutes, sometimes numerous hits at once. We were having some difficulty getting fish in the boat, our hookup to landing ratio was about 3 to 1, some days it just happens. By about 8:15 the guys were ecstatic with the action but we all had our eyes on a front that was blowing through. The wind kept getting worse, it was becoming more difficult to hold the boat in the wind, and then Rob got punked. We tossed the fish back and I reminded them of what I had said earlier to them, when you release fish back into the school more often than not it will turn the school off, and for the next hour and a half we caught nothing. We took numerous short hit to the tails of the baits but it was over , we all knew it but didn't mind, we had had a great morning. We came off the water around noon, hadn't boated a fish in 3 hours, the wind was howling and I think the guys were low on Beer. Todd is pictured holding the big fish of the morning. As we were getting our pictures back at the marina I heard Rob saying " Today, gas to get back and forth to the lake $15, Chicken $10, Beer $20, Cigarettes $7, Striper Fishing...PRICELESS"
We all agreed, but I still charged them for the trip.

John and Sean Neumann with Jay and Don Goode

After a couple days of wind we were finally able to hit the water again. I picked the guys up at 6:15 and looked for bait. I had been out for 3 hours and had only caught a few, we looked and I threw for another hour and a half and only had a couple dozen baits. I decided to make a quick pull with boards and after 3 fish [2 non keepers] I decided to make a major move. The wind was howling and it was cold but I thought if I could hold the boat in an area I knew had fish we could probably do well. All I could get out was 7 lines but on our first pass everything hooked up. I believe we put 4 out of 7 inn the boat on that pass so I baited up and hit it again and again catching fish steadily until we ran out of bait. We had got on some nice fish, Don actually had a hog on but after a while it simply pulled out of the fishes mouth. Shawn and Don are pictured holding a couple of the fish they caught this morning. We caught over 20 fish and they kept 14 for the table.

Keith and Stephanie Berry 2

Cloudy and Breezy, Water Temperature 44* and Stained.
Picked the guys up again at 6:15 and since we had fished yesterday and caught 30 Stripers I asked them if they wanted to go after the numbers or big fish, Keith was greedy and said he wanted both so I made the decision to go after big fish first then if things got bad I would look for numbers of fish. The wind was blowing, fog was on the water and it was cold but I set up where I knew some nice fish were occasionally using right out in the wind. I knew if the fish did not bite my clients would get cold so I broke out my heater just in case. We popped a nice fish right off the bat then another every 5 to 10 minutes for about an hour. About 15 minutes had passed without a fish and I was concerned that these fish may have turned off and I started to plot my next move. I told Keith that if we did not get a couple nice fish real soon I was going to make a major move. Well my angels must have heard me say that because next thing we knew Steph hooked up , 5 seconds later Keith hooked up, while Steph was reeling hers in another rod went down right next to her, I netted her fish, netted Keith's and looked behind him and a rod was buried, he jumped on that and 3 more hooked up just as he grabbed the rod. Rods were bent over all around the boat, fish were on the deck, loose lines were dangling , and these guys were screaming! I don't know how we did it but we worked together and boated 8 out of nine Very nice Stripers that hooked up within 3 minutes of each other, before 8 o'clock! We released a couple of fish there and just like yesterday when we released fish, the freed fish alerted the rest of the school and it was over as quick as it started. We made a move and put out a spread of 11 planner boards, a bobber and 3 downlines and pulled a mile stretch catching 4 more Stripers and 4 nice Largemouth Bass. We ended up keeping 12 Stripers today, releasing 8 others and the Bass to fight again another day. Keith and Stephanie had quite the smile on their faces when we departed, I don't think they quite expected to catch 50 Stripers in the 2 days they were out with me.
PS...Stephanie redeemed herself today after loosing a hog yesterday, she caught the largest Striper of the trip which she is proudly holding in the picture. The last 2 days were a warm up for where they are fishing tomorrow, they are going out with Chris Eberwine on the James looking for some 50 pound Catfish.

Keith and Stephanie Berry

Cloudy and Cold, Water Temperature 43* and slightly stained.
I caught bait early this morning and picked up my clients at 6:15 at High Point Marina. They had spent the night at the motel and were well rested and raring to go. We made a short run and set out 12 planner boards and a bobber over deep water so I could get everything set without being hit then I pulled up over a 15 foot flat and right when I hit the edge of the flat the rods started bending. Keith hopped on the first rod and before he got to it Stephanie hooked up on another. We landed both of those fish and in the next 200 yards and 15 minutes we landed 8 keeper fish. I pulled out, made a turn and hit again and before I could get all the rods set the rods bowed over again. It was now 7:15, we had caught and released another half dozen fish only keeping the ones that may not survive the fight. I made one more pass a little deeper and repeated the previous pulls. By 8 o'clock we had a livewelll full of fish so I decided to leave that area and go find some fish elsewhere. I told them that if we fought the fish and got them off the hook quickly we could continue to fish for a little while longer, but not to expect the same action as before because when we release Stripers they will alert the rest of the school and the fish will turn off. We pulled over the area that is displayed on the Lowrance picture and 4 or 5 rods hooked up. We caught and released those fish, turned around and hit it again only to get a couple of short hits. It was useless to fish that area anymore so we went elsewhere knowing that we would catch fish, release them to spook the rest of the school and have to move again. I set up over a deep flat where I had seen some fish nearby the bottom and instructed my crew how to put downlines on them, also letting them know what to expect when the first rod would get hit. We put out 8 downlines then all of a sudden Keith hooked up, then another then all of them got whacked. We boated what we could and released them back into the water, these were much better fish than what we had been catching on boards. We hung out for another 20 minutes over the fish without a hit except for a fish Stephanie hooked into. I heard her screaming "Help, I can't get the rod out of the holder". I had been watching her for it seemed like eternity trying to get the rod out of the holder, all the while the rod kept bending more and more going under the boat. I don't have much to say about what happened next.
We went back to the marina for a short break, went back out and pulled boards for awhile longer catching a half dozen more fish. Today we caught 30 Stripers, kept 12 and released the rest to fight again another day. There was no wind or other boats out today, what a blessing fishing during the week and not having to put up with weekend boat traffic!

Rob And Eric Ciccone with Larry Dickey

February 19th, 2010: Sunny and Breezy, Water Temp 38* midlake and 48* at the dam.
Caught bait early and was ready to go before daylight when I got a call from Rob, seems Eric may have given him wrong directions this morning [yea right] and they ended up in Ladysmith , needless to say we were a little late getting started this morning. We set up pulling a dozen planner boards, a bobber and a couple downlines over flats. I had no sooner put the first bait out on a bobber before it got hit, I looked at the depth finder and it was full of arches. I got the spread out and we popped 3 fish real quick then the fish shut down, we worked the area for a half hour with only a couple short hit so I moved on to a ledge I knew held fish. We hit it twice and caught 4 punks so I decided to do something different. I had been noticing fish hugging the bottom over deeper flats, that plus the board bite diminishing encouraged me to put some baits right in the Stripers face to see if they would eat. We started to convert to downlines, I wanted to put 8 down but by the time we got three down they started going off. For about an hour we tried to get all the lines wet but it was a struggle. I finally figured out that once a fish hit the deck Larry and Rob should take the fish off the hook, Eric was good with putting the bait out and soon we were operating like a well oiled machine, the fish didn't stand a chance now. We spanked the school, kept 16 fish to take home, released some to fight again and were back at the marina before lunch time, a great day out on the lake and a lot of fun for everyone.
PS...Eric was too sick today to go to school today so his father brought him along, a couple of times I looked at Eric and he had the shivers. He hated to miss school but he got quite an education today, I think he may have learned a few new words from his daddy this morning when they realized they were lost.

A Heck of a Day

February 3rd, 2010: Cloudy and Cold, Water Temp 39* mid, 45*downlake.
Yesterday I had a trip canceled and I was bummed out because I thought fishing would be so good so I picked up my grandson[ out of school], called a few friends and set up the trip for today. Got up before 3 knowing this morning may be interesting, and it certainly was. Got stuck in my driveway for 25 minutes, we had about a inch of snow last night, that over top of some ice from earlier last week made it slick. I had to keep the truck in 4 wheel drive all the way to the marina, and by the time I got the boat in the water it was already 6. I hung a couple of lights, headed toward a dock light and ran right up on a sheet of Ice. Backed out of it, went and hit my lights, picked them up and headed for some deep bait. Caught a few and went fishing. All our issues behind us, from here on out it was nothing but bliss. Fishing with Brian, Michael and Walt is so great, we all know our jobs on the boat and we work well together. Brian and I simply enjoy being out and figuring the fish out. Michael is on a mission to catch fish, and Walt dreams fishing so those two do all the reeling while Brian and myself keep the show floating. We kept over a dozen baits in the water this morning, catching fish almost constantly, leaving fish to find fish, and it worked to perfection. We had well over 20 keepers, a dozen punks, caught and released 6 very nice fish [had to keep a 30 incher that would not make it], and kept some to take home for the freezer. Mike is pictured with a few of the nicer ones he caught and Walt is pictured with his largest. It was a wonderful, carefree day, after the mess of getting to the lake we only saw 1 other boat, could fish where we wanted and enjoyed leaving fish to locate others, and it payed off. Brian and I even reeled in a few when the action was rocking.

Nathan, again

Friday, January 29th, 2010: Cloudy and COLD, Water Temperature 48* and Clear.
Got a call from Nate today at 11am, he had been out with me on Wednesday and was dying to get out this afternoon before the snow storm hit and so was I so I went to the lake to catch bait and he met me at the dock about 2. After throwing for bait for two hours I was frozen so I sat in his warm car for a half an hour to warm up then we hit the water. Bait had been tough so we looked some more and threw some more with no success. About 3:30 I had enough and set out some boards and did a power pull over a few flats. On our first pull we had 3 hook ups and we constantly kept busy either fighting fish, putting lines out or taking fish off the hooks. By 5 we the action slow a little and we called it quits, got our lines in and headed back to the warmth of our vehicles. The gull are diving on a school of bait that is being driven to the surface by a school of Stripers. When we pulled our spread through this area all our baits got hammered. Nate is holding a few of the fish we caught, it was too late to take the time to string up all the fish.

Bill Hamilton with guests Roy, Dave and Ski

Thursday, January 28th, 2010: Sunny, cloudy, Sunny and WINDY, Water Temperature 46* and Clear.
Caught bait early this morning and met the guys at the dock at 6:30, put the boat in the water and went fishing. I set up downlake trying to keep my boat over 2o feet of water with planner boards. I was hoping to get my whole spread out but we started taking hits after I got the 5th line in. I played catch up for the next 30 minutes, the action was steady but the wind was getting up quick. By 7:20 I could not keep the baits in the water so we reeled them in and made a move. My intentions now were to work an area where I knew fish were but also try to stay out of the ever increasing wind as much as I could. I only got 3 lines in the water this time and we hooked up, over 45 feet of water! We got the fish in the boat and I put a dozen boards and a bobber out and continued to work an area of 20 foot flats dropping off to 45 foot flats. I also put out a downline, but it never took a hit today. About 8:15 clouds rolled in and and the sky's darkened, and so did the fishing. The whole time the sun was under the clouds we never got hit. About 10 the clouds began to break up and we started putting fish in the boat again. All our fish today came on boards over very deep water. By noon my batteries were struggling and by 1 we had to come off the water, the wind gusts were out of control. Although it was very windy and a little cool this morning we all had a good day, everyone caught fish and we kept some for dinners. Bill has some connection with a Lake Anna publication, it is a great bi-yearly book advertising local businesses with some informative articles regarding the lake and local attractions. He can be reached at hamilton@lakeannaconnections.com .

Nathan "The Birthday Boy"

January 27th, 2010: Partly Sunny and Cold, Water Temperature 46* and Clear.
I got out early and caught bait, met Nathan and was on the water at 6:30. Last year Nathan went out with me on a windy day on his 28th birthday and by 9am the wind was getting pretty bad, I suggested lets try to catch 28 Stripers and get off the water. Well the wind got too bad for us and we only ended up with 26 last year so he wanted to redeem himself this year. We were scheduled for Friday but some weather is suppose to blow in so we changed the trip to today. Again his friends backed out on him going on the trip so he came by himself. Yesterday I told him the action would probably too much for him to handle by himself and I suggested I
invite a friend of mine who enjoys videoing trips and Nate agreed to have him come along. We got out our spread and started taking hits immediately. I attempted to keep baits in the water and Brian filmed the action while Nathan handled the poles. For a while it worked out pretty well but there were times when numerous rods would go off that it got pretty harry. We enjoyed the first 3 hours of the morning then decided to make a move. By now the wind was getting up so we pulled a few flats where the wind was blocked by the bank somewhat and got right back into the action. We worked the area for about an hour and a half and Nathan said he had had enough so we called it a day. By now the wind was up pretty good, everyone was tired and it was a good time to call it a day. We all lost count of how many Stripers we caught and released today, I had left Nate in charge of counting but he messed that up in the first 30 minutes of the morning. We agreed when we came off the water around noon that we had to have had at least 30 hook-ups this morning. The main thing was that Nathan had a great time, he hand picked the fish he wanted to take home and cook [rumor has it that he is a great cook], he has some wonderful footage of his battles today and that his check clears. [Just kidding, he paid cash]

Anthony, Stephanie and DP

Sunday, January 24th, 2010: Cloudy, Cold. Rain and Drizzle, Water Temperature 45* and Clear.
Anthony and his daughter got out very early this morning, caught bait and picked DP up at High Point before daylight. He headed to an area where he located and caught some nice fish
yesterday morning and set out a spread of Planner boards. He had set the boards up prior to hitting the "Juice" and when he pulled up on it all nine rods hooked up. Naturally you could see them scrambling around the boat a mile away fighting the Stripers, and by the time they got all the fish in the boat there were 7 boats on the flat. With that kind of pressure Anthony pulled off the area and relocated where there were less boats hoping to be able to fish without boat traffic. The move payed off and although they did not hook up all rods at once they had constant action and before noon came off the water with some fish for the table. I had called Anthony on his phone this morning and was talking with him for about 10 minutes. During that conversation Stephanie screamed at least 6 times with excitement of fish hooking up and enjoying the battle the Stripers were giving her. Eventually Anthony had to hang up when they hooked up 4 fish at a time, DP and Stephanie needed help with the madness. DP talked Anthony in getting a father-daughter picture today, and a sweet one it is. Stephanie has been fishing with her Dad all here life and it is good to see her back out again. She is not only a great angler but also knows how to hit a golf ball also. Today they released about two thirds of the fish they caught unharmed to
fight again.

Travis, Michael and Tommy

Saturday, January 23rd, 2010: Sunny, Water Temperature 44* and Clear.
Got out on the water just before daylight and set out a spread of a dozen boards, a bobber and a downline. We attempted to work a shallow flat first and gradually work deeper as the fish pulled off the bank but as it sometimes happens, there were no fish shallow. We worked the area for an hour or so and decided to move on. We went across the lake and pulled some 15 foot humps next to 45 foot flats. We worked that area for 20 minutes and got punked so we got the baits in and took off for another area. We worked downlines for 45 minutes over fish but they did not want our offerings so we moved again with intentions of pulling boards over 10 to 3o foot flats and humps. As we pulled up on the first 15 foot flat 4 out of 6 boards on the shallow side got busted. We landed the fish and wanted to turn around and hit it again but another boat saw what we did and beat us to it so we continued our pull. We made our way up to a point and saw fish on the Lowrance and started taking hits over 24 foot of water , wanted to turn on them but we were busted by a fisherman nearby , he pulled right over to where he saw us catch the fish and proceeded to hook up. I had one more flat to hit so we worked over to it, 2 boards on the inside went off. Travis and Tommy reeled these fish in and we looked up and a troller in a bass boat was headed right for us. I told the guys to watch this, he is so stupid he is trolling umbrella rigs right up on a 6 foot flat. Before they got to us less than 40 yards away all there lines hung up, ruining that flat for our fishing so we moved on. [Hate the weekend traffic] We went and hit an area nearby and popped a couple of fish but it was now 12:10 and Brian had to get off the water by 12:30. He said lets go hit an area that looked good earlier in the day for 10 minutes so we got the lines in and took off. We pulled up to the spot , puts some lines out and within 5 minutes Travis took a hit but it got off. Five seconds later my grandson Michael hooked up and we knew this is what we came for. The hog took him to the back of the boat, got tied into 2 other rods, I cut them off and the fish took him right back to the front of the boat. Michael fought the fish like a champ and gave it everything he had. About 8 to 10 minutes had elapsed by the time we could see the fish and Mikes arms were on fire! He had wanted to pass the fish off to me but my deal with him has always been if he gets a fish on he has to fight it to the end. He continued to battle the Striper, he hurt so bad tears started dripping down his face. Brian was videoing the whole fight and got some great footage. I finally got the fish in the net and Michael had boated a 34 1/2 inch 18 pound Striper, his largest to date. We popped a couple of pictures and released the fish but it was wore out from the long battle with Michael. We put it in my bait tank and Tommy worked on reviving it for about 5 minutes on the way back to the ramp and when we got to the ramp Brian got in the water and gave it 10 more minutes of resuscitation but after all of our efforts the fish would not stay upright so we ended up keeping the fish. Brian is holding Michael's fish for him, Mike had no strength left to do it himself. Needless to say Brian was a little late getting back home to his wife Melissa, but he had a good excuse. Today we caught 20 fish and released 8 to fight again...... Anthony was out today and caught a nice stringer of fish with a friend of his but after seeing Mike's fish he wasn't too excited about getting a picture for the journal, he elected to pass on the picture but is going out tomorrow to try and show Mike up.

Lee, Joe, Thomas and Wil

January 18th, 2010: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 48* and Clear.
Caught bait early this morning , met my crew and was on the water 15 minutes before daylight anticipating a great day. Once it was light enough to see to put bait on the hooks I started a spread of 12 planner boards and a bobber. We pulled a shallow flat first expecting the fish to be up on it feeding with the warmer weather but the cold rain yesterday coupled with the barometer spike must have influenced the Stripers because instead of the fish being shallow and feeding it was hard to locate Stripers in any part of the water coulmn. We fished shallow and gradually worked to deeper flats and humps with limited success. After hitting numerous areas I made a major move and converted to working downlines hoping the deeper fish had not been affected as much as the shallow Stripers . With little success deep we continued to work other areas picking up a couple fish here and there. We took a lot of hits today but the fish were simply hitting the back of the bait, not wanting to eat it but just to kill it. We stuck with it fishing simular patterns where we would take strikes and by the end of the day we had caught 17 Stripers, mostly smaller fish and also a few punks. As luck would have it I emptied my bait tank and proceeded to pull one last ridge when Lee reached into his cooler and pulled out a banana to eat. All his friends exploded on him chastising him for bringing them on a boat, all of them knowing that especially in blue water the captains forbid bananas on board. Lee immediately tried to justify his actions and said that we had a good day and opened the livewell showing the guys how many we had caught with the bananas on board. Joe reached in the cooler , picked up the remaining banana and threw it as far as he could into the lake. We pulled up on the ridge with 13 baits in the water, no bait in the tank, and everything we had got hit. We boated a few and lost a few, even tried throwing artificial baits but the fish would not hit them. I do not believe in superstition but this is the second time on my boat we were having only fair success but after realizing and eliminating bananas on board the fishing changed drastically. Needless to say Lee won't be taking bananas fishing any more.

Steve, Adam, Troy and Chris

January 16th, 2010: Partly cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 46* and Clear.
Anthony and I got out extremely early to catch bait this morning knowing the lake was going to be a zoo. We at least wanted to be sure that we had plenty of bait in case we needed to make numerous moves due to all the boat traffic. I picked my crew up at their dock at 6 and we were setting out baits in the dark preparing to take advantage of the early morning bite and tranquil waters while it lasted. At the crack of dawn we had our first hit and for the next hour it never slowed. Again I wanted to have my full spread out before the action started but the fish would not let me catch up. Many times I only had 4 baits in the water due to all the action. After about 40 minutes Anthony called on the radio and said " Looks like we have been busted, look over there", I did and 8 boats were closing in on us putting up a blockade a battle ship could not go through. I told my guys watch this, I will pull over to the other bank where no other boats were and those boats will follow me leaving the original area we were working available for Anthony to work. I no sooner changed my direction and and the other boats followed suit. Didn't matter much though, they had already done their damage by spooking the school and Anthony could only muster a couple more fish from the area so he picked up and moved and I continued to go around the corner where we would be out of site of other fisherman. We banged some more fish till we got busted again so we decided to get our baits in and move to a part of the lake where we would have it to ourselves. The move paid off, we caught larger fish there and enjoyed the serenity of the beautiful calm morning. By then we were only taking about 6 or 7 hits an hour but catching quality fish. Around noon I called Anthony on the radio and he said his action had died and was thinking about going in for a few hours and then come back out for the evening feed. Our hits were down also and Chris was getting antsy. He kept looking at his watch and wondering when we were going to go in. By now we had caught 27 Stripers and fishing had slowed down. Chris also was going through a slight dilemma, he is recently engaged, he gave his wife a ring for her finger and she gave him one for his nose, and she was tugging on it pretty hard to get back home to be with some guests that were coming to his house this evening. After some regrets they all decided to pack it in and call it a day. I dropped them off at their dock, Troy and Chris took off to the party leaving Adam to clean all the fish. We all had a lot of fun today even though the boat traffic was heavy, and I believe Chris will make in home in time to save his marriage.

Gary, Pat and Doug

January 16th, 2010: Anthony took out Gary, Doug and Pat this morning and obviously had a great time. See above entry for details.