Coenen
Senior Member
I was out last weekend in the good weather looking for Stripers, and just couldn't get on anything. I bonked one in the head with a downline, and that was my day. Decided this weekend I was going for a different look. I brought up the Navionics Chartviewer for the lake and started looking at some areas I'd never been before. Those that know me know that Bald Ridge is home, but this weekend I decided to make the big paddle out to the Dam area and see if I couldn't get on some action.
Thing one, that was a looooooooooong way to go on paddle power. Next time, I may wise up and cartop it. Thing two, I'm not sure I marked a single dang striper all day. I did luck up and catch a few spots though. There were plenty of boats out, mostly running the shallow patterns that are coming on. I actually found my fish out in the big water roaming. I put the baits out, and got a half-hearted pull pretty early on. A while later, I got a real hit, the 'Bird showed a few marks maybe about 10 feet off the bottom in 30-40 feet of water, bait got absolutely nailed!
My new, high tech(read: cheapest possible) no-name Amazon scale pegged fish one at 3.7lbs
I kept poking around the West Bank area, and staring at a lot of blank screen before finding some more roaming near the bottom in the 35-40 foot range. Killed motion, and went to a vertical presentation, the fish showed up and one of the rods lays over. I missed the hook set, and while I was getting ready to send it back down, rod #2 two just leeeeeeeeans over. FISH ON! It was a donkey of a spot, about 20-21" on the board, and the scale had her right around 4.8lbs. I tried to get a release video, but I blew it. She hung for a second and chewed the top of my thumb about bloody before finally kicking off hard back into the deep.
Rest of the afternoon was pretty non-descript hunted around a lot, didn't find anything really interesting. I did run over another pack of deep fish, and scored a 3rd spot that went 3lbs even. Same deal, got the 'yak pointed into the breeze and went vertical with the baits, live bait got the bite almost immediately. I'd hate to have to hang my hat on that approach, but the quality made up for the lack of quantity. Surface temps hung in the 48-49 area warming to 51 in a couple of spots.
If you can put up with the weather, they're out there to be caught! Good luck, and stay safe!
Thing one, that was a looooooooooong way to go on paddle power. Next time, I may wise up and cartop it. Thing two, I'm not sure I marked a single dang striper all day. I did luck up and catch a few spots though. There were plenty of boats out, mostly running the shallow patterns that are coming on. I actually found my fish out in the big water roaming. I put the baits out, and got a half-hearted pull pretty early on. A while later, I got a real hit, the 'Bird showed a few marks maybe about 10 feet off the bottom in 30-40 feet of water, bait got absolutely nailed!
My new, high tech(read: cheapest possible) no-name Amazon scale pegged fish one at 3.7lbs
I kept poking around the West Bank area, and staring at a lot of blank screen before finding some more roaming near the bottom in the 35-40 foot range. Killed motion, and went to a vertical presentation, the fish showed up and one of the rods lays over. I missed the hook set, and while I was getting ready to send it back down, rod #2 two just leeeeeeeeans over. FISH ON! It was a donkey of a spot, about 20-21" on the board, and the scale had her right around 4.8lbs. I tried to get a release video, but I blew it. She hung for a second and chewed the top of my thumb about bloody before finally kicking off hard back into the deep.
Rest of the afternoon was pretty non-descript hunted around a lot, didn't find anything really interesting. I did run over another pack of deep fish, and scored a 3rd spot that went 3lbs even. Same deal, got the 'yak pointed into the breeze and went vertical with the baits, live bait got the bite almost immediately. I'd hate to have to hang my hat on that approach, but the quality made up for the lack of quantity. Surface temps hung in the 48-49 area warming to 51 in a couple of spots.
If you can put up with the weather, they're out there to be caught! Good luck, and stay safe!