Anyone think Friday night is going to be any good weather wise? I got a new hydro glow light and a family itching to go. Thinking about checking out the Purple Martins and then try our hand at these new limits.
Definitely looks like a good night as long as it doesn’t storm. Calling for ESE winds around 5mph. I do good around the dam with a forecast like that. You may also want to check west of bomb off the points on the lexington side.
Wellcraft V-20 sportfish with a 200 Evinrude
As of right now I should be out there for a little while this evening as long as the rain doesn’t run me off…
Decided not go out Friday night for fear of storms.
Went Saturday morning in the fog and only managed 1 keeper. However I did find a sweet little 65’ hump right beside a 120’ channel.
Took my wife, who is due any day now, and my 5 yo son out Saturday night to try out my new hydro glow on my new hump. Worked awesome. I had bait stacked from the surface down 20’ off the bottom,and marked fish all night coming from the bottom and feeding on the bait. Lost a big fish by the boat, then lost another nice one. Finished the night with 3 good size keepers. I was the only one able to fish so I only had 2 rods out and couldn’t keep them baited all the time solo and reel fish. Figured out my circle hooks are way to big. I need something smaller to keep from gut/tongue hooking bigger fish that inhale the bait. Need a smaller hook to slip past the soft stuff and get a lip hook 100%. Nice night on the water, and it was the most relaxed I have seen my wife in 4 weeks.
Sounds like a nice night, and losing a fish near the boat isn’t a big deal right now, dependent on the fish of course. What size circle hooks have you been using? We’ve been using 5 but are starting to go to 4’s. We’ve only had problem with gut hooks in the smaller ones, the rest have all been hooked where they should be, side of the mouth.
We have a few humps marked that I think should be real good, but haven’t done well there. Perhaps it’s the time of day (usually early in the morning) and the way we’ve been fishing (anchor right over the top of the hump). Our best success has been a pattern of deep cuts with shallower water close by. We’ve only been striper fishing on our own for 3 years now and have a lot to learn, but I will say that this has been by far our best year out on the water.
Been using 4/0 probably gonna switch to a 2/0. I normally don’t get too upset about losing fish. But so far the 2 fish that I have hooked that felt like pulling up a Buick have both pulled loose. The unknown is what kills me. This is my first year fishing stripers. Probably about 3 months into it, and from what I have been told I have picked the best year in the past 3 to get into it. It’s highly addicting. Late night anchoring, early morning trolling or downlining as the sun comes up, either way, I love them all.
I will say though you missed a BEAUTIFUL night friday. Temp was probably in the 70’s with a light breeze. Totally relaxing. We marked some fish around a 60/40’ depth change, clicked on the spot lock and sat back and relaxed. fishing was slow for about 45min to an hr, ( basically until the herring were in the light). one cast, cut them up and it was game on from there. went to using one pole each just to make the catching last longer. Nothing to write home about but did lose 2 really nice fish due to pulled hooks. I too may be making the striperskiff move to the tiny circles. I have never believed in them till i went with tim that night and didn’t lose a single fish.
chip; i am a firm believer in circle hooks. hardy ever get a gut hook on stripers or cats.
Jeremy, I’d go even smaller than 2/0. I use Owner #2 Circle Hooks and have friends that even go to a #4. They look small, but work well. Last Nov, we landed a 39" red while fishing the nearshore reef for sheepshead with a fiddler on a #2.
The way the barb is pointed in will often cause it come back and hook your bait in the head if you hook it going from one side of the nose to the other, but if you go in the mouth and out the top in front of the eyes you will never have that problem.
'07 198 DLX Carolina Skiff
FS90 Suzuki
Thanks for the link Tim. I think it is more the style of hook I am using instead of the size. But I am sure the size helps. I have been using only Gamagatsu Octopus hooks, and I am now finding out they are not a true circle hook. Very common to gut hook fish with this hook, which sounds right as I either pop off or gut hook fish 50% of the time.
We caught almost 30 fish the other day and only had one gut hook and zero pop offs. Granted the one gut hook was the big 28" fish your grandson caught, so it must be that the bigger fish just inhale the bait and the chances increase trying to pull the hook back from deep in the throat.