James Rux #2

Cloudy and Cold, East wind, Water Temperature fell to 65* .
We got on the water early this morning to catch bait so we could be fishing at daylight. I ran downlake and set up before a main lake point at the mouth of a creek and worked into the creek about half way. Our baits were getting harassed before I even got half our baits out, fish were running the baits to the surface but not committing to taking the bait. On the main point we hooked up to one and boated it but continues to get messed with. I pulled half the creek and boated only 4 fish, we had to go. Since I had Jim out yesterday and he had caught so many fish today I was looking for a big fish. I was concerned that the fish were not feeding due to the way they were messing with the bait along with the east wind. I knew this creek had some gorillas in it but they would not feed. I relocated to another area and put out my spread again, but the fish were still lethargic and we were not taking many hits. There was no rhyme or reason where the fish would bite therefore I could not establish a definite pattern today. I kept seeing nice fish on my Lowrance and knew I was on decent fish but for an hour we went fishless. I noticed a bait getting real nervous and knew a Striper was simply messing with the bait, it worked the bait for 75 yards before it finally hooked up. Jim grabbed the rod and the next thing I knew both the drag and Jim were screaming. While he was wrestling the big fish in a board went off with another fish. We boated the big fish and Jim reeled the other fish in also. I took a picture of him holding his fish and released it back into the lake. We had accomplished what we had set out to do this morning, to catch a nice Striper. Although the conditions were tough today with the cold front passing and the east winds we ended up catching 13 very nice Stripers and releasing them back to the lake to fight again. Our day ended when some fool in a gray Bass boat with a walk-through windshield ran over our lines. He had 3/4 of a mile to go around us but insisted in running through my spread. Go Figure!

James Rux

Cloudy, Cool, Water Temperature 66* and Clear.
Got up this morning and got the boat ready, pulled out of my driveway at 3:30 and there is a abandoned truck blocking my driveway! I have my wife call the police and I try to find the keys but with no luck. I told the cop that I may be able to back up my driveway and go out over my field and come down a hill to get out, Wrong! I got stuck and had to get my tractor to pull everything out. We went ahead and called a tow truck and had the truck towed away. I got to the lake at 5:15, hung a light and caught bait. I just had 1 person today so I was not pressured in any way, I knew I could get bait sometime and I knew we would catch fish. I set out my usual spread and simply pulled a 2 mile route, caught fish till we ran out of bait. We went and caught more bait, did another pull in a completely different area and caught fish until we ran out of bait so we called it a day. It had turned windy and cold, the temperature had dropped most of the day. We caught 20 nice Stripers today, we kept the smaller better eating fish and released the big ones to fight again another day. I have the same client tomorrow, I probably will go hog hunting.

Steve Gross with guests Bob and Wayne

Sunny, Cold then turning nice, Water Temperature 67*
I hit the water early this morning for a couple reasons. First, I knew a cold front had blown through and that the bait would be tough and second it being a weekend I wanted to give myself time to catch bait, usually there are dozens of fisherman competing for bait. I hung lights on two bridges and eventually caught bait. As I was waiting for the guys I wiped frost of my boat, a little different than a couple days ago when it was 70* at 5am. We loaded up and took off to the fishing grounds. This morning you could only see about 3 planner boards away, so as it was quite the challenge to get 6 boards out on a side along with the bobber and 3 downlines. I had concerns about boat traffic also, I knew there were a couple Bass tournaments and that we would probably get run over in the fog. Fishing was slow for awhile but picked up at a controllable pace. A couple times the fog almost cleared enough to see the bobber but we would loose site of it often. As the sun peeked through the fishing got better and at one time everyone had a fish on. After about 3 hours the fish turned off so I hit another area with no success. The guys were thinking of going in but I changed their minds and told them I had one more trick up my sleeve. We got all the baits in and I relocated to another place, put some fresh baits out and proceeded to hook up with big fish. We quite when I ran out of bait, they were ready anyway to call it quits. We took some pictures and called it a day, and a great day it was. We had figured out a pattern to catch Stripers even after a major cold front on a blue bird day! We caught 20 Stripers today and released the largest to fight again. The guys kept 16 to take home.

Jeff, Goose, "The Angry Coach" and Senior

Cloudy then Blue bird skis, Cool, Water Temperature dropped to 67*.
Hit the water early to catch bait this morning and picked the guys up at 6. Set out my spread of 15 lines and pulled deeper water this morning than I had been working due to the cold front that blew through last night. I expected fishing to be slow today but hoped I could put the guys on some decent fish. The first couple hours of the day we only got hits about once every 20 minutes or so but the fish were very nice Stripers. We worked a large area and caught fish on downlines and boards. The action slowed so I tried to go catch some fresh bait but did not have much success. By now the wind was howling and I set up in the mouth of a creek but after pulling a mile I got the baits in and tried another pattern. I think we could have done well there but by now we were getting at least 20 mph gusts which made it hard to keep the baits at the right depths. I knew the front had taken its toll when we caught a half a dozen Catfish in a row, the Stripers had shut down and the Kitty's were eating. [Stripers won't let the Cats eat when they are feeding this time of year] If the Cats and wind wasn't enough when we were reeling our baits in at the end of the day 2 "Special Police" pulled beside to check out our boat and our catch. They were very nice and polite, we showed them all my safety gear and they asked us to take the fish out of the cooler, lay them on the deck so they check them. We obliged them and put the fish back in the cooler. We got a little rush though, before they left one of the police turned his back, looked in his booklet, then turned to me and said " I just checked the rules and you are not allowed to have but 4 fish in aggregate"! He must have been new to the force but he said he had been with them for 4 years. Needless to say I set him straight, he now knows that an angler can keep 4 per person per day, and that we were well under our limit. The officers were simply doing their job, and they moved on and continued checking other fisherman. Over all today was a good day, we had about 25 hook-ups, caught a bunch of Kitties, kept 12 Stripers and returned the rest to fight again.

Dean, Brian, Bongo [Blaine] and Rick

Sunny, Warm, WINDY, turning cloudy in the afternoon, Water Temperature 70*.
Got to the lake early and was concerned when I went over the first bridge and saw a couple boats throwing for bait. Put the boat in and went to hang a light on a bridge, there were 4 lights on one bridge and 3 on another. Guess I will need to start getting out on the water 4 hours before daylight to insure I have bait for my clients. Picked the guys up at 6:30 and looked for a quite place out of the wind where there were no other boats. I set out a spread of 15 lines baited with some beautiful baits and worked the area for a couple hours. I was hoping the fish would go on a hard feed this morning with the storm approaching but my wishes were not answered. We had action but controlled action. I like it when 3 or 4 rods go off at once but we would only take single hits in the morning. I hit different areas as long as the wind would allow but it was difficult to hold in the gusts. One thing that did make my job easier was the new Minn Kota Terrova IPILOT that I just installed on my boat. Advanced auto pilot and cruise control are sweet. This afternoon we relocated to another flat and worked it for a couple hours. We probably took close to 20 hits on this flat, but some fish were punks. By the end of the trip we had a great day, we took about 35 hits, boated over 20 Stripers and kept 15 for the guys to take home. A major front is approaching, winds today were 20 mph sustained with bad gusts, it is suppose to rain tonight and air temps are to plummet tomorrow. I believe I will have a challenge tomorrow with post frontal conditions, could be interesting.
PS...Don, we missed you today, our prayers are with your Mom.

Al, Rick, Dwayne, Steve and Rick

Sunny, Warm and Breezy, Water Temperature 70*.
I got out on the water early to catch bait and picked the guys up at 6:30. There were quite a few striper fisherman out this morning so I simply found a bay where no one was and set out my spread. We pulled over some shallow humps and deeper flats with little success. I hit some other areas still having difficulty getting Stripers to commit to a solid bite, the fish would swirl the baits but would not strike at them. A few times today the fish would briefly turn on but more often than not we had trouble putting the fish in the boat. Numerous times someone would take out a whole side of boards to get 1 fish in the boat [I won't mention your name Al]. These guys are all racing buddies and got along well together on the boat, they had plenty of hook-ups [about 30], plenty of fun and plenty of beer. They kept these fish for dinner and released a bunch more to fight again another day.

Jason, Doug, Jessica, Bill and Will

Partly Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature warmed to 67* and Clear, No Boat Traffic.
I got out on the water about 3 this morning and caught bait for the day. I picked the crew up at 6:30 and set up over some deep flats. After not doing well we made a move to some shallower flats and all Hell broke loose. Doug hopped on the first fish and before he got it in Bill hooked up. We boated those 2 fish, Will lost 2 or 3 in a row, Jessie boated a fish, Will caught one, and Jason caught one. That kind of action deserved another pass so I turned around and hit it again. Doug and Bill each boated a fish then Jessica hooked into what was to be quite the battle. I noticed the bobber was missing so I told Jessica to reel real fast and once she felt the fish pick up the rod, she did exactly what I said and the fight began. The fish had run halfway to the boat and was nearby my row of boards so I had her try to horse the fish away from the other boards which she was able to do. Then for the next 6 minutes she reeled and reeled and reeled till she could not hardly gain on the fish. I finally suggested to her to hold her rod up, walk toward the front of the boat then come to the back while gaining line on the fish. Her arms were burning and her belly was bruised from the rod butt. When the fish got close to the boat we noticed that in the fight the fish had rolled and had also become foul hooked which made the fight much harder. We snapped some pictures, turned again and hit the flat one more time boating a few more, then I decided to leave the area before we did any more damage to that school. Jessica's jacket looked like she had been slimmed by ghosts out of the Ghost Busters Movie. We hit a couple more areas, had some action but we really did not care much by now, everyone had already had plenty of fish to reel in today. We had a lot of fun today, Doug and Jason are regular clients and knew what to do when a fish got on, Will was a rookie on my boat and we had fun ragging on him loosing so many fish today. He finally caught on and made up for his losses. Jason had about 140 pounds of Striper to work on this afternoon, good thing he bought a new electric fillet knife. It was very nice to fish and not be harassed by boat traffic today, this last weekend was very busy and made weekend fishing tough, as is evident by our pictures.

Bill, Larry, Earl, Russell, Scott and Chris

Sunny, Warm, Water Temperature 58* mid lake and 65* up.
Picked the guys up at 6:30 and went fishing. I went around to where I caught fish yesterday but one of the local yocals busted me there yesterday and was there working the same bay. I set up there anyway pulling boards and started taking hits immediately. Within a few minutes there were a couple more boats in the same area all competing for the same fish. For the first few hours we took a hit about every 10 minutes but the pressure got too much for the fish and they eventually turned off. We worked another area without any luck also. We never boated a fish after 10 am today. We had bout 25 hits and boated only 10 Stripers today. I guess we had a chance to better the stringer but it just was not in the cards today. I told Earl last night how busy the lake had been on Friday and that the fishing would not be good, I said to him if we caught 10 fish I would be surprised, and that's what we caught.

Jackie, Bob and Ron

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature climbing to 58* and Clear.
As usual I got out way before daylight and caught bait, picked the guys up at the marina and went fishing. Since there was so much boat traffic yesterday I decided to find an area with no boats and out of the main thoroughfare so I set up in a bay pulling boards. The morning started out pretty good, larger fish were crushing our better baits but once a few boats passed us the bite subsided. Instead of getting hookups we started getting short strikes. I knew the fish were in the area because every time I would make a pass on certain contact zones our baits would get extremely nervous and we would usually get a strike or two. The traffic kept getting worse, it actually was the busiest day on the water this year so far. We hung in there and about 11 o'clock the fish turned on a little and we started getting solid hook ups. Today we had well over 30 bites and the guys kept a few fish for the grill at the hotel tonight and a few to take home. We all wished we had booked the date on not such a busy time but the action kept us all alert and by the end of the trip it turned out to be a good day. I am not looking forward to tomorrow's boat traffic, hopefully we can load up before the weekend warriors hit the water.

Jeff and Tyler Lawson

Sunny and Warm, Water Temperature 56* and Clear.
After catching bait I picked the guys up at the dock at 6:30 and headed for the fishing grounds. I set out 15 rods rigged with the prettiest baits of the season and pulled them for over 8 hours today. Fishing was slow, I knew 4 other fisherman on the water who did not fair very well today. We had 14 hookups and the guys boated 13 0f the 14 , a great percentage considering some previous trips that I have had recently. The boat traffic was bad today, this being the first 80* weekend every nut that owns a boat will be out from today through Monday. The Stripers will definitely get shook up the next few days. I will be out the next couple of days trying to dodge boats, hopefully a few fish will want to eat.

The Unlucky Gang

Cloudy, Rain, Sun in the afternoon and 60's, Water Temperature 54* and getting muddy.
Last night we had almost 3 inches of rain so I knew bait would be tough this morning. I threw for a few hours and picked the guys up at 6:30. I set out my whole spread right off the bat, 12 boards, a bobber, freeline and a downline. To make a very long story short I pulled from 6:40 till 1 o'clock working various contours, flats and humps. The fish were not banging the baits but we had 15 hook-ups [the board skipping across the water] but could only put a few fish in the boat. I relocated to a new area after 1, caught some fresh bait and pulled another mile for a couple hours with similar results, hook-ups and no fish. The guys were not doing anything wrong after the first couple fish, it was just that kind of day. The bobber would hook up , the rod would double, we would reel it halfway in and the fish would simply get off. The downline would double over into the water , no fish. We got two fish to with in 8 feet of the boat just to watch them swim away. All hooks were new and sharp, simply no excuses. Later on in the day I actually was afraid to get a hook-up because I did not want anyone including myself to get frustrated again. We all tried our best and ended up with a couple of fish. Glad this day is behind us, looking forward to getting back out and catching Stripers. The guys are holding their fish and also the ones they lost.

Jimmy Richards

Here is a BIG Blue Turd roller that was taken from Lake Anna on Sunday morning before daylight by Jimmy. The fish weighed 34 pounds and was caught on a Herring. This is the largest Catfish that I am aware of to be taken from the lake. Jimmy was fishing with Tony Smith.

Eric Salser with Brian

A friend of mine Brian took Eric out for a morning trip and here are some of the results. Eric is holding a nice fish he caught today, and by Brian's remarks Eric may be hooked pretty well himself of Striper Fishing.

Eric Ciccone

Jim,
Eric had a monster on the line and brought her in for a photo...every cast that I make to that "secret spot" will be in anticipation of seeing her again.
Jim...can we submit to the game dept for a citation?
Rob...and Eric

Rob sent this as a email to me the other day. By the looks on Eric's face he does not need a piece of paper to remember this nice fish, the moment will always be etched into his heart.

Billy, Matt, Ben, Big D,, Don

Sunny, Bluebird skies, cold, Water Temperature dropped to 54*.
I got out at o dark 30 this morning and threw for bait for 3 hours and picked the guys up at 6:30. Set up over a 25 foot flat that rose up to 7 feet pulling boards. I had everything set when we hit the hump and 4 lines hooked up. We wrestled those fish in, made a circle and hit again taking a couple hits. I circled again but before I could get close to the good area a jerk in a bass boat went out of his way to run over the area. He had to go 200 yards out of his way and ran over a foot of water, I was hoping he would hit bottom, he was completely clueless. I told the guys right then we should get out of there but about anywhere you go on a Saturday you have to deal with the nuts. Anyway we hit the area a couple more times and could only catch a couple punks so I moved a couple thousand yards away and pulled similar areas with little success. I was not expecting much of a bite today with the cold front blowing through, this morning when I picked up my clients my whole boat was a sheet of ice. The bluebird skies had shut the shallow fish off so I looked for deeper fish with no success. I guess we were lucky to catch some nice fish today in these conditions. Today we only had 16 hook ups and boated 11 fish.

Brian, Larry, Howard and Eric [Spartan Homes]

I got out on the water early to catch bait , picked the guys up at 6:30 and set out a spread of 15 lines rigged with some beautiful baits. I pulled over a couple flats where I thought we should get hits but did not get even a swirl. As I was moving from one flat to another I came over a point in 22 feet of water and the board that was up on the bank went off. Eric jumped on the rod and battled the fish to within 10 feet of the boat and it got off! Someone else hooked up also , we landed that fish then I saw Eric's hook, it had been straightened out. We ran a couple other flats with little success, we would hook up, the boards would skip across the water but the fish would not come in the boat well. We were only boating half our fish. I got a call from Anthony who was out and he said the fish were doing the same thing to them, but worse. We fished the area till about 9 and I decided to catch more bait in case the bite were to get better later on in the day. After 1 1/2 hours of throwing I set up to pull a 2 mile stretch of water. We went 2 hours without a hit. It had become very cloudy and we could not get bit without the sun being out. The couple times the sun would peek out we would start taking hits again. We kept seeing Stripers in 20 feet of water but they were just not in the mood to eat today. The wind did not help much either, it is hard to fish in 20 mph winds. We hung in there till the wind blew us off the water, I left the guys cleaning fish back at the dock.

A Happy Client

Hey Jim,

I just wanted to send a little note to thank you for showing us how to catch stripers last year (April 25). We became addicted and I don’t think Bob or myself has fished for bass since we took that trip with you!! My girlfriend got 6 of the Waterbugz planerboards for me last year, and I bought a bait tank, wireless trolling motor, new rod/reel combinations, rod holders, etc. so that we could try to catch stripers on our own. We remember you telling us “don’t think you can come out here tomorrow and catch fish”…of course, you were right! We struggled BIG TIME. We were happy when we caught 3 keepers in one morning!! Got to start somewhere right? Well, after struggling last year, we were pretty confident we had it figured out for this spring. So the 3 of us (Brad, Bob and Tim) went fishing Saturday 3/20. We woke up at 3:30am and caught bait and debated where to fish. Well, 5 minutes after putting out the first bait we had a keeper in the boat. We ended up catching our limit by 1:00pm and needless to say we were very happy.

I recently became a va-outdoors.com forum supporter and posted a report of my recent fishing trip, and made sure to thank you for showing us how to catch stripers. A few people responded by saying things like “Hemby is the man”, “Jim Hemby is the striper KING”, etc. Of course I know from experience that you are the “striper king”, that’s why I still look at your blog every morning when I get in to work.

You got us ADDICTED to striper fishing and we love when those planer boards go skipping across the water! (I attached a picture…that’s Bob figuring out which one to clean first).

Thanks again Jim.

Brad Trunnell

Trunnell Electric

15754 Crabbs Branch Way

Rockville, Md. 20855

301-258-8300

301-258-0270

brad@trunnellelectric.com

Cliff, Lenny, Emil and Paul #2

Sunny, Breezy and Warm, Water Temperature 57* and Stained.
Picked the guys up at 6:30 after catching bait this morning. Since I had these clowns out yesterday I had decided to try something completely different this morning. I set up on 15 foot flats pulling boards, free lines and a bobber. I set my spread out way before where I thought the fish may be feeding so that I would be ready just in case we took numerous hits all at once. I pulled up onto a 7 foot flat and every rod on the right side of the boat went off. The guys scrambled for a few minutes, I rebaited, turned and hit it again, and again, and again until the fish simply turned off. I hit a few other areas nearby but the fish seemed to be congregated right up on the 7 foot flat. After a couple hours of that I decided to go get some fresh bait and hit another similar area about 2 miles away from the first area we fished. Again I set up way before I hit the 7 foot flat. Once I pulled up onto the flat all Hell broke loose again , guys were running around the boat, breaking off fish, getting lines fouled with others, Stripers laying on the deck, then when I got over 10 feet deep the action would subside. Again I circled around and duplicated the same route and caught fish after fish. We had so many hits and fish on today we should have been off the water by mid morning but I think these guys had way too much fun last night. One time after screwing up 3 in a row I asked the guys if they had met another guide last night and did that guide pay them to aggravate me today! Seriously these guys are good fishing buddies, we all got along well and had a great couple days on the water. They all can give it as well as take it. Needless to say they will have plenty of fish to take back to Pa. tomorrow. Today's stringer weighed well in excess of 100 pounds.

Lenny, Paul, Cliff and Emil

Cloudy, Sunny, Rain, Sunny, Windy and Rain, Water Temperature 54*.
I caught bait early this morning and picked the guys up at the State Park where they were camping at 6:30. I was very concerned with the weather they were calling for today, I postponed these guys from yesterday to today in hopes of better weather but it was tough today. We set up pulling boards over shallow flats where fish should be but all we could do was get short strikes. I must have pulled a couple miles before we could get the fish to bite, even then we continued to get short hits. The weather was crazy, there must have been 3 fronts pass through today. The wind started out of the south, then the west and ended up blowing out of the north. To make things worse the water temp dropped 5* since Sunday. I continued to try different patterns till I figured out how we could put fish in the boat. Right when we were dialed in a Bass boater ran right over a flat on a point that I was heading for, he went out of his way to screw the fishing up. We pulled through there anyway with no luck, then hit another flat adjacent to it and hooked up several times. Although the fishing was tough today we hung in there and ended up with a good catch. I am taking the same crew out tomorrow, now they know the 'deal' we should have a better day.

Jake, Jesse, Larry, Tim and Barry

Sunny turning Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature 59*.
I got out 4 hours before daylight this morning to catch bait knowing it was a weekend and there may be a lot of people catching bait. The first bridge I hit had lights on it so I went to the next bridge and there was already someone on it. I put a light out on my boat and caught bait, even took some to a friend Timmy so he would have enough for the day. Picked my clients up at 6:30 and headed for the fishing grounds. All I was looking for today was to get away from boat traffic so I went where I could see no boats and set out my spread. We took a couple hits near a bank but the fish were not hooking up and after the first 5 or 6 hits I began to worry if the fish were going to eat after yesterdays boat traffic. Although I was not on the water yesterday I had a friend on the lake say it was a zoo out there, hopefully today would be better. I worked one bank for about a half a mile with little success so I switched sides of the lake and we started taking hits. By now the guys had a better feel for how to get the fish in the boat once they hooked up so we were now putting fish in the cooler. We were getting bites about every 10 minutes until the wind picked up, then the hits subsided to one every 20 minutes. I saw a point where the wind was blowing across it creating waves on one side of it and calm water on the other, I told the guys we would catch them there and we did. After a couple of passes we had limited out and called it a day. I knew it would be a tough day today being a weekend but we all worked as a team and in the end everyone was happy except Larry [The big guy]. He kept catching punks and "Girly" fish, Jake [the 10 year old] gave him grief all day.