Coenen
Senior Member
Made it out on Lanier Thursday for most of the day, and what a fine day it was!
Kept the 'yak close to home after my last trip. I blew all day Sunday hunting for fish out in the bigger water near the creek mouth and ended up finding them much further back, right near the dock about an hour or so before dark. Murphy's Law of fishing, I suppose. I headed back to the back of the creek right off the bat and spotted some schooling action on top. Let the baits back a little, and pulled on through. Bagged a little dink spot to get the skunk out as I made the turn to head back out.
Had plenty of fish and bait on sonar so I made another circle. I was letting my planers out when the port side reel starting singing in double time. Circle hook grabbed good, and it was on with what turned out to be a really nice spot, maybe the biggest I've taken in 2018. Right about 19" with the tail pinched, and fat, fat, FAT!
Wandered furth back in the creek again when one of the other rods went off, hook held fast, and soon enough I had my first striper of the fall season. He wasn't big, but he was a start...
Kept working the area a bit more to no avail, so I bumped over into the next pocket for a while before circling back, stuck one more 20" range stripe before making a move across the channel to a big flat that is often a producer this time of year. It was a good move, packs of fish were around, and surprisingly active for a day with high skies and flat calm. Managed to get my Thanksgiving guest of honor in the form of this nice 24-25" stripe. While I was getting everything back set, I got a really solid channel cat as well, first I've caught in a long time, no pictures there, though.
Followed the surface action back into another nearby creek arm, and managed another couple of 18-20" stripers, before I called it a day and headed home for dinner, but what a day it was...
Everything for me came on weighted freelines and shiners. Fish showed a pretty strong preference for a deeper presentation. Baits in the 2-3" range seemed to produce best. I had a few jumbos that I laid out on true flatlines behind the boards, and didn't get rewarded, may have just been lazy baits. A lot of the fish I caught were hacking up little, tiny threads. Had piles of bait on screen for most of the day, most of it was down deep, 45 feet or so. Active fish were up higher, 20-25ft, I took a couple of shots with casting gear at a group of nice stripers that were in maybe 10ft. Bass seemed related to quick depth changes, I'd go over a drop-off or pull up on a flat, and the 'Bird would light up. Surface temp was in the high 50's. I'll likely be back at it tomorrow, even if it means singing the "post frontal blues."
Y'all get out and catch a couple!
Kept the 'yak close to home after my last trip. I blew all day Sunday hunting for fish out in the bigger water near the creek mouth and ended up finding them much further back, right near the dock about an hour or so before dark. Murphy's Law of fishing, I suppose. I headed back to the back of the creek right off the bat and spotted some schooling action on top. Let the baits back a little, and pulled on through. Bagged a little dink spot to get the skunk out as I made the turn to head back out.
Had plenty of fish and bait on sonar so I made another circle. I was letting my planers out when the port side reel starting singing in double time. Circle hook grabbed good, and it was on with what turned out to be a really nice spot, maybe the biggest I've taken in 2018. Right about 19" with the tail pinched, and fat, fat, FAT!
Wandered furth back in the creek again when one of the other rods went off, hook held fast, and soon enough I had my first striper of the fall season. He wasn't big, but he was a start...
Kept working the area a bit more to no avail, so I bumped over into the next pocket for a while before circling back, stuck one more 20" range stripe before making a move across the channel to a big flat that is often a producer this time of year. It was a good move, packs of fish were around, and surprisingly active for a day with high skies and flat calm. Managed to get my Thanksgiving guest of honor in the form of this nice 24-25" stripe. While I was getting everything back set, I got a really solid channel cat as well, first I've caught in a long time, no pictures there, though.
Followed the surface action back into another nearby creek arm, and managed another couple of 18-20" stripers, before I called it a day and headed home for dinner, but what a day it was...
Everything for me came on weighted freelines and shiners. Fish showed a pretty strong preference for a deeper presentation. Baits in the 2-3" range seemed to produce best. I had a few jumbos that I laid out on true flatlines behind the boards, and didn't get rewarded, may have just been lazy baits. A lot of the fish I caught were hacking up little, tiny threads. Had piles of bait on screen for most of the day, most of it was down deep, 45 feet or so. Active fish were up higher, 20-25ft, I took a couple of shots with casting gear at a group of nice stripers that were in maybe 10ft. Bass seemed related to quick depth changes, I'd go over a drop-off or pull up on a flat, and the 'Bird would light up. Surface temp was in the high 50's. I'll likely be back at it tomorrow, even if it means singing the "post frontal blues."
Y'all get out and catch a couple!