Gil, Oren and Nor

October 31st, 2008: Sunny, Cold morning turning into Beautiful afternoon, Water Temperature 55* and Slightly Stained.
Picked clients up at their dock and went to catch bait. Caught 50 and started fishing right where we caught the bait. Set out a spread of boards and bobber and pulled shallow flats. Took about 20 minutes before we got hit and Oren jumped on the rod and put the Striper in the boat to break the ice for the morning. Pulled another 300 yards before all our bait became nervous again. I told the guys to get ready and soon thereafter a planner board went flying across the water with a nice Striper on the end of the line. Nor did well to get the fish in the boat. We only got one hit there but I knew there were other fish there so I turned and pulled it again. Although the fish were not aggressive today for the next 4 passes on the point we got hit. Around noon we relocated to the mouth of a creek and found another area that was holding a few feeding fish. We had 3 hits within a 30 yard area and caught a few fish but Boats kept running through the fish and spooked them. The guys had a great time today and kept enough fish for a BBQ on the lake this evening.

Richard, Bridget, Ronald Bergey and Haze Daw

October 27th, 2008: Cold and Rain, Water Temp 60* and Clear.
The weather station said this morning it was going to be 60* and Sunny, at daylight it was cloudy and by 10 it was raining and rained the rest of the day, and the temperature never got out of the 40's. Needless to say we were not ready for today's weather and my clients did get chilled somewhat. Went and caught bait this morning and set up pulling boards shallow since I did not see any bait or fish on the depthfinder. First fish hit next to the bank and Haze wrestled it in to start the morning off. Pulled a couple hundred yards more with a couple of hook-ups but we could not get them in the boat. Kept working the boards today and never saw any deep fish till later in the day when we found some breaking fish. They sounded and the depth finder lit up from 15 to 30 feet deep with fish. Haze even caught a Striper on a Sea Shad ! Although the day was cold and wet the crew hung in there and by quiting time we had a great stringer of fish. Bridget is pictured holding a 12 1/2 pound Striper, the largest of the day. We had 4 fish today over 30".

Ron Greenwell

October 22nd, 2008: Sunny and breezy, Water Temp 65* and Clear.

Picked Ron up at the dock at 6:30 and went and caught bait. Set up on a roadbed and pulled it with boards without a hit then moved to a 8 foot midlake flat and hooked up. While Ron was reeling the fish in several more Gizzards got swirled but the Stripers just would not bite the bait. Hooked up on the bobber, it was a pig, Ron actually thought it was hung on a log, he handed the rod to me to break it free, I yanked it and was sorry I did so fast, when I got it back to the boat the hook had huge scales on it! Made another pass on the flat and only got a swirl so I moved over to the nearest bank and put the boards on the bank, did not get bit. The bobber hooked up again and Ron got that fish in over 22 feet of water. Caught more bait and pulled another area that had previously been producing nice fish for my clients, only got 1 bite in 5 foot of water and Ron put the fish in the boat. Today we only had 5 hits, the cold frond killed us again.

The Bob Hammond Crew

October 18th, 2008. Cloudy and cool, Water temp dropped to 68* and Clear. Was suppose to pick the guys up at the marina at 6:30 this morning but when I got to the marina at 6 they were there and chomping at the bit to go. I put the boat in the water and we took off to catch bait. Went to where I had been catching bait but it was really broken up due to the second day of this cold front. Finally by 8 I had caught 50 baits and we went looking for fish. This front was hitting hard and it was windy so I set up in an area where I knew there were nice fish but somewhat protected from the wind. Second day of major fronts can be brutal for Striper fishing and I was fishing for a dozen strikes today. We put out 8 downlines first and started pulling a 25 foot flat , primarily to see how the wind would affect the boat and to see how bad boat traffic would be. We worked 2oo yards without a bite so I put out 3 boards and a bobber and put the boards on a bank. After 5 minutes we got 2 hits but the fish did not hook up. Thirty seconds later both the same rods got hit and the boards went flying across the water. We had a mini fire drill for about a minute working the fish but got both of them in the boat. We worked up the lake a few hundred more yards with more boards without success so we turned around to go hit the area where we caught the Stripers earlier. By now I had out my full spread of 8 boards, a bobber and 8 downlines. We pulled the area full of anticipation but did not even get a strike. What a bummer! I knew then today would be tough. We continued to work in the general area catching a Bass on a downline and a few other Stripers on freelines. Had two other friends out fishing today that did not catch a fish and got bait from one of them and set up in the wind pulling an area where my clients caught some nice 30" fish this week. Put another Striper in the boat on a board and then the bobber got hit. Zac picked it up and fought the fish for 3 minutes before the fish simply pulled off. He had only gained on the fish half the distance to the boat! We sure wanted him to boat that fish but it just didn't work out. That was the last hit of the day. Today we had 11 strikes, Zac is pictured with his first Striper.

Paul Henon and Crew

October 17th, 2008: Cloudy and Rain, Water Temp 70* and Clear.

Picked the guys up at 6:30 at High Point and went and caught bait. I was concerned about the cold front blowing in last night and today's temperatures being 25* colder than yesterday. Bait was tough but once I had 48 I went to find fish. Only took about 5 minutes for me to find a school over 30 foot of water so we set up downlines on them and got 5 hits before loosing the school. Searched some more and found fish a little shallower and worked them till we ran out of bait. Went and caught more bait , found some single fish and fished downlines on them. Today we had 2 hits on boards and 19 on downlines. We saw only one school of Stripers busting today but 2 other boats were working them so we left them alone. After this weather comes through and the water temps drop 5 degrees Striper fishing will be out of control.

Jeff Fincham with friends Doug, Dwayne, Wayne and Scott

October 16th, 2008: Sunny and warm, Water Temp 72* and Clear.

Picked the crew up at their dock at 6:30. I knew it would be an interesting day today because not only were they new clients but when I got to their dock not only were they there but also 4 Large, heavy coolers filled with beverages for the day. We loaded everything up and went to catch bait. Caught 32 and needed a few more so I ran uplake and saw a friend throwing but he had only 3 baits. I saw some baits on the depth finder and made 3 more casts putting 18 more baits in my tank and giving Ricky about 25 to get started. I went looking for fish but could not find any on the depth finder so after looking for 15 minutes I decided to set up a spread of boards and downlines and see what the fish wanted. Our first hit was on a board over 26 feet of water and Wayne jumped on the rod. After fighting the fish for 2 or 3 minutes he started moaning , groaning, panting [this is not a sex novel, but his friends commented it sounded kind of like a porn flick], and landed the fish after a 5 minute battle. We all had fun with Wayne , but seriously he was hurting reeling that fish in. Before we hooked up again Jeff said he showed Wayne my web site last night and Wayne commented on a saying I have on my home page referring to your arms burning, ....., that that could never happen on Lake Anna. Well, the rest of the day Wayne complained how hard that 31" Striper fought. The next 6 hits came on boards and then we had 2 hits on downlines, all over 20' or more. I went and caught more bait, made 1 cast for 75 Gizzards, and relocated to another area fishing solely downlines. We would get hits about every 15 minutes for the rest of the day. Once all the coolers were empty we decided to call it a day. We had a lot of fun today and could have had a nice stringer if Jeff didn't loose so many! All kidding aside, we all had fun today, had a great crew, had 26 strikes today and the guys took home some fish for the grill and the freezer. Three of the fish today were over 30" long.

John Crawford with friends Phil and Mike

October 10th, 2008: Sunny and warm, Water Temp 69* and clear.

Picked the guys up at their campers at Christopher Run and threw for bait around there, only catching 16 pieces. Went midlake and looked for bait with no success but fish were breaking everywhere. We could not get on the schools of breaking fish, they would only be up for a matter of seconds before sounding so we went to catch more bait. I looked a couple of other places then found some, made a cast and caught 34 more, then went fishing. Set up on a 15' flat running 15 baits on boards and downlines with no luck, pulled a 25 foot flat nearby with no luck, then moved up onto a 5 foot flat running boards, still no luck. Pulled off to deeper water and caught a Striper on a downline, then got hit a couple more times. I got all the freelines in and just ran downlines the rest of the day. Most of the times we saw fish there were only 8 or 10 fish in a pod and we would catch only 1 fish from a pod. Towards the later part of the day the fish schooled a little better, had 3 lines go off at once, then just before we came in we hit Spaghetti and most of the lines went down. One of the guys on board did not bring much luck with him today [I won't mention his name], every time he would pick up a rod with a Striper on it Mike would loose the fish. The guys wanted to put him in the penalty box but he caught a nice bass so they let him fish the rest of the day. Today we had 18 fish on, put 6 Stripers, a Largemouth and 5 Catfish in the boat.

Jeff, Mark, Mike, Shawn and Jim

October 7th, 2008: Sunny, chilly morning, Water Temp 71* and Clear.

Picked the guys up at 6:15 and went to catch bait. Another cold front blew through and made bait collection difficult, tried areas that I had been catching it on previous trips with little success. Ran to the other side of the lake and tripped over a school ,threw the net and caught over 30 and went fishing. Pulled from Hunters up hitting the points and flats without getting a bite. Relocated to another area and put out 8 downlines and 7 boards and pulled various depths till we caught a fish. We made 8 circles on the spot and got hit every time till we ran out of bait. Looked for 45 minutes for more bait, could not catch or even find any, called it a day. I suggested to the guys when they booked the trip that fishing was not very good and they may want to pick another date, so instead of going out Monday they choose Tuesday! Duh! These guys had been with me before and needed a day away from work and knew how fishing would be, went out and had a good time. They all were happy with the results. If anyone needs a Ford, check them out at Universal Ford, maybe they will book another trip with me soon if you buy a vehicle from them.

Paul Barboza , Dave Ault, Bob Burleson,Ron Rheude, Rene Fonseca

Oct. 2nd, 2008: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temp 72* and Clear. Picked the guys up at the Marina and went and caught 40 baits. Put out a spread of 8 boards, a Bobber, and 6 downlines and pulled some 20 foot flats. With the front coming through last night and the air temp being 47* this morning I was a little concerned how it would effect fishing today. We worked for 1/2 mile before getting our first fish but after putting it in the boat we had all the boards on the bank side go off. Talk about running around the boat, people were going everywhere, the fish were going everywhere, and the good thing was we got all the fish in the boat. Went a little further and nailed a few more fish then the fish turned off. We worked the area and similar areas only picking up a few more and some big Catfish. Went to catch more bait and from the time I caught bait this morning till noon, all the bait had left the creeks where I had been catching them and pulled out to the main lake over the channels. I knew the front finally got to the bait and the Stripers!

Berk Ellis and Brian Mohr

Sept 30th, 2008: Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temp 72* and Clear.

Been away on vacation for a couple of weeks and wanted to go find some fish for my clients this week so I called a good client up and invited him and his friend Berk to go out with me today. He jumped on the offer and they met me at the marina a little after 6 and we went to catch bait. I checked a couple of places seeing a little bait but kept looking till I found what I wanted. Made 5 or 6 casts and caught 40 nice baits. The water temp has dropped 7 or 8* since I was out last so I decided to pull some very shallow flats, points and banks. I set up in an area and made a 1 mile pull, only to almost boat a turd-roller. We made a move to another area and I put out 10 boards and 6 downlines, covering 80 yards wide from top to bottom. Bert broke the ice with a nice Striper soon after we got set up so I decided to pull another mile to see what would happen. We got into some fish finally and put a half dozen fish in the cooler but ran out of bait so we went to catch more. No worries though, I was only 1/4 mile from where I located bait earlier, made 1 cast and put 40 in the tank, made another cast and we were set for the rest of the day for bait. We hit another area for awhile with no success so I decided to duplicate the same pattern that worked earlier and started catching Stripers again. This time the fish were Nailing the baits, some hits were so hard the fish would break the line on the hookup or bury the rod in the water. Poor Berk, he was having issues touching the line and fish getting off and also having problems getting the rod out of the rod holder when a fish would get on, but once I gently explained to him the proper way to avoid those problems he got a little better. Today we had 25 fish on, boated 15 fish, Brian taking a few home to eat.

Monty Walker with Angela and Jack Olinick

Sept 15th, 2008: Sunny and Warm, Water Temp 81* and Clear.
Picked clients up at High Point before daylight and went and caught bait. Caught over 40 very nice baits and set up in the mouth of a creek and pulled boards over the points and flats there, the only strike we got was Angela's Bass. After an hour of no fish I went looking for some fish to work with downlines, saw a bunch of schools of Stripers, mostly smaller fish. We worked 3 different schools with no luck. I then found some larger fish and pulled boards and downlines through and over them, still no hits. Monty caught a Bass on a point then we moved. We then went almost to the back of a creek and worked downlines and boards from the bank out to 25 feet deep, still nothing. We fished for 7 hours today, never getting so much as a strike from a Striper! I tucked my tail and went home to forget the day. Best thing about the day were my clients, they were understanding of the poor fishing and I invited them back to try again when the fish are more cooperative for half price.

Ken Wilson and Linda Ayers

Sept 19th, 2008: Cloudy and cool, Water temp 79* and Clear.

Got on the water at 4:30 and went to catch bait. That was my first mistake of the day. I went to where I had been catching bait but saw very little, lost 1 net and tore another. [A $200 morning]

Caught only 8 or 10 baits by the time I picked my clients up at their dock at 6:30 and went to catch more. I hit the areas that bait has been but it wasn't. Around 8 I went to a midlake cove and saw and threw for bait there but Stripers were all around the bait which made it even harder to catch. By now I had about 18, I moved about 100 yards out and tried to put downlines out but there were too many Stripers in the area. Clients were catching them casting and on the downlines as fast as we could get them out. I never had more than 3 out when we were on the school without them going down. Talk about confusion, my clients did not know what hit them! We boated 10 in 10 minutes then I had to go catch bait. To make a long story short, bait collection sucked today, I must have looked and thrown for 5 hours today, the guys caught plenty of Stripers to take home.

John and Frank Guillard

Sept. 9th, 2008: Cloudy and rain, Water temp 80* and Clear.

Got a late start this morning, didn't leave the marina till 6:30 and it was already getting light. Went to a flat to catch bait but it was too light for it to be balled up well so I headed for another favorite place to catch bait. I came around the corner and saw a couple of acres of Stripers busting so I set up on them, only with artificial. As fate would have it, there were huge fish under the breaking fish and we didn't have any bait to put on them . We all picked up lures and hooked up 9 times in about 10 minutes , the larger fish hitting Spooks. I left the school and flew to get bait, threw about 5 times and put 36 nice baits in the tank, and went back to where we left the fish but could not find them. We fished shallow and deep without catching any more for a couple hours. We found some nicer schools later on in the day, fishing them with boards and downlines but the front must have turned them off somewhat, we would see hundreds of big arches on the screen, put baits in their faces and nothing. Then for some reason right before it started to rain the fish turned on and we had 8 fish hit within 10 minutes, I turned back around and hit the area time and time again, still seeing the fish but they would not bite. Today we caught 15 Stripers and 4 Cats, the guys only keeping a few for dinner and releasing all the others to fight again.

Gene Crudo and Gary

Sept. 3rd, 2008: Sunny and Hot, Water Temp 85* and Clear.

Picked the guys up at 6 and went and caught bait. Set up working 5 to 25 foot flats with boards and downlines. Pulled for 2 hours with no luck so we threw those baits away and went and caught more. Saw a couple of fish break over 30 foot of water so I set up with downlines once I saw fish on the depth finder. Worked that area for an hour, seeing nice stripers but only boating a couple, although Gene did have a very nice one on for awhile , but it got into a braided line and snapped off. Set up on numerous other groups of Stripers, running boards and downlines, seeing plenty of fish but they were not hungry today.

Joe and Alan Gray

August 29th, 2008: Drizzle and Cool, Water Temp 79* and Clear.
Picked the guys up at 5 at the dock and went to find bait. 3 hours later we had 40 pieces so we went fishing. Ran into a HUGE school of Stripers, had to be many thousands of them, about 6 or 8 acres at least. Things were pretty simple then, put some baits in their faces and hold on! The depth finder was covered from top to bottom so I tried to set out downlines but before I could get 3 in the water they kept getting hit. I scrambled to keep bait in the water but for 20 minutes all I could do was to keep 3 to 6 lines out before they would hook up. After less than an hour of fishing we had hooked up with 19 Stripers and Alan said he had enough so we reeled them in. They kept 10 to take home. What a difference a day makes!

Enoch Hord with Jim And Jimmy

August 28th, 2008. Rain, Wind, more rain, Water Temp 80*.

Picked clients up at 5 and went to catch bait. Checked out a dozen places for bait that had been productive but the bait had moved. With rain pouring down we looked and threw until we caught 30 and went to go fish. By now it was almost 7 and the wind was blowing 20 to 25 mph which made pulling boards a little tough. After getting blown around the lake for a couple hours I went and caught more bait and stopped by the marina to get a cup of coffee and change into dryer clothes. Only option now was to find a place to fish where I could deal with the wind. We fished for 4 or 5 hours more, only catching these 4 Stripers.

East Winds+remnants of Hurricanes = Poor fishing

Kaci Price, Dad and Paw Paw

August 26th, 2008: Cloudy and Cool, Water Temp 83*.
Picked up the crew at 5 and went and caught bait. Set up pulling 10 to 25 foot flats this morning with boards expecting the fish to be shallow feeding before the cold front blew through. Wrong! Pulled for 2 hours for 1 Striper so I hit another flat and popped a Striper and a Bass, but only singles. Went and caught a little more bait and hit some deeper 30 to 40 foot flats where Stripers were stacked up, nothing. Went to the back of a creek, saw a nice school in the channel at 20 feet , nothing. While I was back in the creek I wanted to hit a main point and a Hump so I pulled over them, popped single Stripers on both, no other hits. The air temperature had dropped 10 degrees as a cold front blew through, cold enough to put on jackets [in August!]. I only had one more thing up my sleeve, I made another run and put the boards extremely shallow, up on the banks, and guess what? Yea, we jambed them in 1 to 4 foot of water. Go figure? Brad is pictured holding a Bass he caught, Kaci caught all the nice fish letting Dad and Paw Paw reel in a few Catfish.

Brian Mohr's inlaws Marc, Del and Dori Mautte

August 22nd, 2008: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temp 83* and Clear>

Brian and I got out at 5 and caught bait and picked the family up at 6. Set up on a flat pulling 9 boards, a bobber and a free line, and 4 downlines rigged with all sizes of bait. About 30 yards before I hit the flat fish started busting all over it and my boards were about to come right through the middle of the school. As you can imagine, almost everything went off at once and the action commenced. Within 8 minutes we had 8 Stripers on plus a Largemouth that Dori caught. I re-rigged and circled back around but I must have zigged where I should have zagged cause we did not get hit there again. I pulled over to another flat and caught a keeper then went and caught more bait. Brian had to come off the water early to go to work so I made 1 more pull and when I hit a hump that I was targeting 2 more fish hooked up. Plenty of action for a few hours on the water this morning. The guys are holding diner for tonight!

Clarke Norman with guests Bill and Tom

August 21st, 2008: Cloudy and warm, Water Temp 84* and Clear. Picked the guys up and went and caught bait. Bait collection took a couple of hours this morning and we got started fishing at 7:15. I hit an area where fish were and popped a keeper Striper that looked like a pencil, it was so skinny. We worked similar patterns getting a few hits but the fish just did not want to eat. I can't figure out if it was the clouds and a small front moving through or just missing the major feed or what but they would not eat this morning. The guys are pictured holding a few that we did catch.

Amandda Crowley's friends Gavin, James, Charles, and Boo

August 16th, 2008: Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temp 84* and clear.

Went out early to catch bait but again collection was tough and picked my clients up at their dock at 7. Set up on a similar flat like I fished the day before and put out a dozen freelines on boards and bobber. James hooked up on a downline and within 30 seconds 4 other rods hooked up. Talk about a Chinese fire drill, it looked like the Olympics on the boat for awhile with people dodging each other, chasing and reeling in fish , jumping over seats, avoiding tangling other rods, you name it, it happened. After the commotion settled I made a turn and hit it again and again and again, every pass getting hits, some by Stripers, some Catfish and 4 hits by an Osprey that keep hitting our baits when the Stripers would roll the baits up. We were out just for a morning trip and the guys had plenty of action until the fish and Bird killed all of our baits.