My dad and I found them bunched UNDER the boat yesterday am, like you see in the pics. Had DRs in front and above them with 3-5" lively herring from David. Also freelined a couple of rods, tried jigging with DDs and used every thing we know with no bites!!! Frustrated left the place and moved mid lake where we marked one every here and there and trolled with redi-rigs and FL and burned them off in a couple of hours. Catched many 22-26" in a couple of hours. What did we do wrong?
Sportsman Heritage 229 CC
Yamaha 200 HP
Jeremiah 29:11 !!
Sometimes the morning after a full moon night can be tough. I think the fish can silhouette the bait from below against the moon and are gorged by the time the sun comes up. But I can’t say that I have ever had that many below and couldn’t get action.
I think you are right about the morning after a clear night with a bright full moon! We have caught fish till the sun shows it head over the horizon, and had them cut off like light switch!
Thanks! I was wondering about the moon and well fed stripers not wanting anything else:angry: Makes me feel better but still at least one bite!!! with all 4 DR and 2 FL and 2 jigging spoons, oh well maybe next time
Sportsman Heritage 229 CC
Yamaha 200 HP
Jeremiah 29:11 !!
Jorge, upon further review of your pics on a bigger screen, those just were not feeding fish. The arches are moving down. Had that been a feeding school, the apex of the marks would have been to right side of the screen. Oh well. We get that sometimes:smiley:
I’ve been coming across some similar schools (slightly smaller) and turning up stagnant results as well… Is there any way to draw a school to feed/bite when they don’t seem to want anything you put down there?
Good to know info about the school not turning up (apex side) from Fogman though… Never have paid attention to that but will now
Wow Fog I am impressed! I guess it comes with experience. I feel even better now. You guys should put up some FF reading talk at the club. I am trying to figure how to spot a large striper:question: and had no idea you could tell whether they are feeding or not. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Sportsman Heritage 229 CC
Yamaha 200 HP
Jeremiah 29:11 !!
Don’t feel too bad. For about 45 min. I was on some nice schooling fish Wednesday evening in the elbow area. Only managed one 24"er. They were moving so fast I couldn’t stay on them with the trolling motor on high. Some of the fish were definitely in the teen range. Maybe my topwater was too small. I did lose another good fish trying to swing it in instead of dipping it. So many fish… so little time. I plan to try them again tomorrow.
Jorge, those were big fish. I can tell by the color and thickness of the arches. Structure scan would have provided an interesting view also. If the arches were turned up, you’d been busy indeed:smiley:
Full moon is tough for any species. We troll offshore at night as well as bottom fish during full moons. Forget about catching a grouper during the day when the moon is full.
oh well maybe next time