November 24, 2006: Sunny and chilly, Water temp 50* and muddy.
Picked clients up at their dock and set up on a long, shallow flat running planner boards with big Gizzard shad. The water was in very poor shape after yesterdays hard rains and winds. Water clarity was poor. Stripers were not cooperative due to the Bluebird skies and the barometer spiking. After only a couple strikes on the flat we pulled off to deeper water and located plenty of fish in 20' of water. We put 6 downlines on them in addition to the 8 boards and bobber trying to get the fish to hit.
We also tried several other areas locating numerous schools of Stripers but the fish did not want to eat. We ended up catching a few Stripers on Planner boards over 40' of water [go figure]. We gave it our best shot and boated 5 Stripers for the day.

Tom Pryor and Howard Beaver

Nov. 19, 2006: Sunny and cold, Water Temp 54* and muddy.
Picked clients up and went uplake to catch Gizzards. The lake was high and muddy due to the high winds and rain from this week. Ran Planner boards and free lines over 10' flats today. Tried other depths and saw lots of fish in the 15 to 20' ranges but only got hits over 10' flats. Had 15 strikes today and clients kept 8 Stripers. Can't wait for the lake to get back to normal pool and clear up so we can fish where the big 'uns are.

Looking for Stripers

When you see this your drag should be Screeming!

Jeff and Brock Adams

Nov. 11, 2006: Sunny and warm, Water temp 55* and stained
Got a late start and had a little trouble catching bait . Set up on the same area that we ran yesterday and pulled boards over the flat next to the channel. Saturday boat traffic was horrible with the holiday and 79* temps. Before we made our first pass 20 boats had run over the flat and spooked the fish. We found the school in 22' of water but they would not rise on the boards so we put downlines on them and still could not get hit. We fished the area hard for just a couple of hits and moved to find an area with less boat traffic. Fished a 22' flat with no luck and looked for other schools for 2 hours but went back to where we started the day . We put boards out again and got hit on every pass until a boater saw us catching fish and moved right in on the spot , spooking the fish. We ended up with 15 hits, clients keeping 6 fish. Although the days fishing was slow Brock and his Dad had a ball.

George Hussey, Paul Henon and Sir George Barbosa

Nov. 10, 2006: Sunny and warm, Water temp 54* and stained
Picked clients up at 6 and ran up lake to catch Gizzards for bait. Set up on a long flat nearby a 30' channel and pulled boards over it until the boat traffic pushed the fish off the flat. Had 10 hits in the first hour on boards but when we pulled off the flat I left 8 boards out and put down 6 downlines to cover all the water column. The fish cooperated even with the excessive boat traffic today and we caught Stripers on downlines as well as freelines. We had 30 hits this morning , clients keeping 16 fish and we were off the water by noon.

Roger, Bud, Dale and CM Shiflett

Nov. 9, 2006: Sunny, Water Temp 53*
Picked clients up at the marina and went uplake to catch bait. Due to the front the lake was a sheet of mud where I had been fishing so we tried an area below where the water was just stained but had no success. Move further downlake where the water was a little clearer and set up on a long point. Put out boards and free lines and pulled the point but the leaves kept fowling the boards making it very difficult to work the area. Kept the boards out and also put out downlines running 14 lines at a time trying to make the fish bite. Fishing was slow but we were able to get 14 to bite and clients kept 7 Stripers for the day.

Paul Henon, George Hussey and George ....ing Barbosa

Oct.27, 2006: Rain and 50*, Water Temp 58*
Picked clients up at the dock and went and threw for big Gizzards. Caught enough to get started and put out boards and a bobber to run some shallow flats and points on the main channel. Wasn't but 15 minutes and we started getting hits and the action never slowed down until we ran out of bait at 1 o'clock. Went and caught more bait and went downlake and put out boards over 25' flats with long points coming out to the channel. Had some nice fish here also but the weather turned cold and the guys were ready to go in after raining all day long. We ended up the day having 24 hits catching 12 very nice Stripers and 5 Catfish.

Rick Woods, David Watts and Al Hammack

Oct. 29 2006: Very cold and Sunny, Water temp 59*

Checked a half dozen places for bait this morning with poor success. Finally caught enough to get started and put out a spread over main lake points . Hit one point that fish were moving up and down on and had hits about every pass for a couple hours. Went and spent 3 more hours catching bait and hit deeper points and humps midlake and caught the larger fish. There is a major front moving in tonight and fishing should improve tommorow.

BOAT FOR SALE

1999 CREST 22' Center Console Super Fisherman HPT
2001 Yamaha 150 HP V MAX
1999 Venture Tandom Axle Trailer

Boat Features: HPT Package 27" Pontoons with lifting strakes ,aluminum underskin, Hydrolic Steering, Planing Hull, Fishing Chairs, 2 Livewells, 13 Driftermaster Rod Holders, Lowrance x 97 Depth
finder, 3 Batteries, Built in Battery Chargers, 21 Gallon Fuel Tank, 9' Bimini Top, VHF Radio and Antenna, Minn Kota 24 volt 65 lb Thrust Auto Pilot Trolling Motor, 35 Gallon Bait Tank, and many extras.
Yamaha 150 VMAX Outboard Motor comes with SS Prop and is under factory warranty through May,2007.
Galvanized Trailer is tandom axle with brakes.
" This boat is a Striper Catching Machine"
Call Jim At 540-223-0850

Bill Hamilton with guests Matt, Luke and Ed Benes

Sunday October 22, 2006, Partly Cloudy and cool, Water temp 64*
Picked clients up at the dock at 6:30 and started the search for bait. Looked deep for Gizzards for 40 minutes but with the front passing through the bait had moved so we went shallow to find them. After throwing for 3 1/2 hours we put out planner boards rigged with big Gizz and ran flats on or near main lake points. We hit 2 or 3 points and flats before we found one with fish that wanted to feed and started getting hits on every pass. The Stripers were moving up on it to feed and pulling right back off of it. We ran the same flat for 4 hours . The Stripers were all about the same size [5 to 6 pounds] and would hit our offerings about once every 15 minutes. Matt and his sons had a great day and enjoyed fishing on the lake that they are helping to develop[Matt is developing the new community "Cutalong"at the intersection of Routes 208 and 652]. We had 17 hits today and boated 10 Stripers. Looks like the fish are starting the fall feeding blitz and fishing should be great from here on out.

Herb and Chance Younker

Sat. October 21, 2006, Sunny, Water Temp 65*
Threw for 3 hours this morning trying to catch baits . A major front moved through last night and repositioned the bait and the fish. We started out runing flats but had no luck and kept seeing the fish stacked over the channels so we put out downlines in addition to runing boards and ran depths from 30 ' down to 5 ' and still could not score. We fished 3 different areas and Chance finally caught a Striper over 23' of water on a board. Fished for a couple more hours and Herb caught one just at the end of the day. We fished hard all day and at times had 14 lines out for only 2 strikes. Although fishing was tough today the guys stayed optimistic and had a good time.

Peter Paradis and brother in law Jim

Oct. 6,2006; Rain and cold, water temp 73* and clear
Picked clients up at the dock at 6:30 and went in search of bait. On the way out I was thinking what a day this will be {a major cold front moved in last night and the temp dropped 30* since yesterday}. It didn't take long to confirm my fears after hitting 15 spots for bait we decided to start fishing at 9:30, 3 hours throwing for 25 baits. Anyway we ran boards and downlines today, only getting 10 hits, catching 3 Stripers, 3 Cats and the largest Bass Pete has ever caught. It rained 3 1/2 inches while we were out and the wind only got up to 25 miles an hour. I overheard Pete say on the way in" $210 for airfair from Chicago, picking Jim up at the airport and a 2 hour ride to the lake, $350 for a Fishing trip, $15 for beer, rain and wind pounding through 3 layers of clothing and rain gear and still getting soaked to the bone, Fishing License $15. Spending time with brother in law Jim on the water.....PRICELESS

Eddie Saghafi

Sept 20,2006, Clear and beautiful, Air temp 72*, Water temp 78*
Picked clients up at dock and went uplake to catch bait. Was very concerned about the day due to a cold front moving in last night. Bait collection was poor, took an hour and a half to catch enough bait to get started. Ran a flat with boards and hung a nice one but it ended up breaking the line. Caught a punk and released it then decided that I had to put the baits right in the fishes face to get them to hit so I converted to downlines and we started to get bit. The cold front hurt us today but we had 9 hits, caught 6 Stripers, a couple of cats and an Osprey . After being on the boat all day with Eddie at the end of the day I found out he was best friends with my brother that passed away a few years ago. What a small but wonderfull world we live in.

Gordon Johnson, Tristan Carson, Ruoy Carson, Alan Vincent

Sept 12, 2006, Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temp 79*
Picked clients up at High Point Marina at 6:30 am and ran uplake to catch bait . Caught about 40 gizzards and herring and hit a 15' flat getting 3 hits and boating all the Stripers. Wanted to run larger baits so I went to another area , found some schooling Gizzards, threw the net 2 times and caught about 50 larger Shad. Relocated on another 15 foot flat and ran planner boards with the larger gizz and within 10 minutes of putting the baits out we had 4 hits and boated 3 more Stripers. The boys did great and naturally caught the largest fish of the day. Clients had 15 hits today, kept 8 nice Stripers and a few cats. Looks like the boys will become great fisherman.

Brian, John and Jack

Sept. 8,2006, Partly Sunny and pleasant, Water Temp 78*
Picked up Brian early and took him uplake to catch bait, John and his Dad would be a little late today. Caught bait easily and ran boards on a 15' flat with no success. Picked up other two clients and set up on a flat that I fished yesterday morning where we caught 5 Stripers and ran it with no luck. Was a bright and full moon last night and I thought it would make things tough today but no hits? Pulled up and hit a deeper flat nearby and poped 1 Striper in 16' on a board so I held that depth and ran the contour , hooking up with a couple other nice Stripers. The fish seemed to want the larger Gizzard but I only had a few. Fished 4 other flats with no luck and ended up with 4 Stripers and a couple of Cats.

Kirk and Keith Mainland, David and David Grant

August 30, 2006, Partly cloudy and hot, Water temp 85*
Picked up clients early and went out to catch bait. Found some fish breaking around daylight and worked them for awhile but they were punks. Set up on a flat nearby and ran boards and bobbers. Made 6 passes on the flat and caught fish every pass. Ran out of bait and had to catch more then set up on a 20' flat I fished the day before. The wind was blowing and did not catch fish right away but kept working until we located the fish. And Boy did we ever. Everyone caught plenty of fish and the Boys expecially had a ball. Naturally the boys caught the largest with Keith catching a 32 inch Striper. Clients ended up keeping 14 beautiful Stripers for 73 pounds.

Jeff Collins and Senior Sagahfi

August 29, 2006 Sunny and Hot, Water Temp 85* and Clear

Picks clients up at High Point at 6 and caught bait. Started out running boards on a 10 foot flat with only 2 hits. Moved out to a 20 foot flat and ran planner boards and downlines and started catching Stripers. Checked out a couple of more 20' flats until I hit the right one. I knew we had found some nice fish when the Stripers started hitting the Yellow Bird Planner Boards, not the bait I was running. We had 1 fish hit the board 4 times before it finally took the bait. We had 15 hits today and clients kept 8 fish. The fish seemed healthy for this time of year. I have been off the water for awhile rigging my new boat and this was a great way to break it in.

Wayne and Blaine Simmons, Aubrey Seay and Don Ripley

July 27,2006 : Sunny and Very Hot, Water Temp 88*

Caught bait easily this morning and picked clients up before daylight and hit the water early to beat the heat. Checked 30 to 40 foot flats from the splits down to Dike 2 and didn't see a fish, Came back up and went up a creek and located a school in a major channel bend and put downlines on them and started getting hits although most fish that would bite were small. The school moved on to the next channel bend and we started catching nicer fish. After 40 minutes we lost that school and we looked for 2 more hours until we found some fish in 22'. We worked them for a while then moved on. The fish today just didn't want to eat. We had close to 200 hits, caught 15 Stripers, a dozen Cats, 3 Bass and a 10 pound Carp.

Frank and Irene Kalder

July 25, 2006 : Water 87* and clear
Picked clients up this morning at 4 am at High Point. [Client wanted to experience catching bait ] Started looking up from the marina for schools with limited success. Tried a few but couldn't get hit so I decided to look on deeper flats. Found a couple of nicer schools but the fish had lockjaw. Kept looking and found a monster school, put downlines on them and encouraged a few fish to hit, The first fish my client caught was the largest he had ever caught. Although the school was moving fast, I kept up with it for a mile for some great action. Probably a trip that father and daughter will never forget.

Steve McMullen, Pete McGuire, Brandon Hosey, Bill Creech and Tom Light

July 21, 2006 : Sunny and Hot, Water temp 88*
Picked clients up and went up lake to locate schools of Stripers. Found our first school in 25' of water and broke the crew in on how to catch Stripers on down lines. The fish stayed fairly shallow today but moved quickly as always. We worked 4 schools within sight of each other catching fish in every one. We saw a fish bust a Gizzard on the surface soI picked up a pencil popper and on my second cast a 13 pounder jambed it . I handed the rod to a client and he wrestled the hog to the boat. Fish quit bitting at 11 but not after going through 200 baits. Clients kept 15 nice Stripers for the day.