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Piney Point stripers, 5/7
The wind and weather were lining up for a good evening for potential topwater action (though, Sunday and Monday will be better), so I launched at Piney Point a bit before 4pm to check things out. The plan was to troll out to Stuarts Pier, jig for stripers and croaker, try some topwater action out there, then try for some topwater at my usual spot closer to the ramp.
I trolled a deep diving Tennessee shad Yozuri Crystal Minnow (which was an awesome suggestion by DOGFISH) and it got slammed about halfway to the pier. The fish launched out of the water
, and I saw that it was a striper that looked to be close to 28-30", or so. I was stoked. It spun my yak around and ran like hell a few times before I got it turned around and back to the yak. You think by now I would've learned to use my lipper, but I didn't want to risk losing the fish at the last moment. 
I put one leg in the water on either side of the yak, grabbed the leader as the fish dove under the boat, and manged to flip it into the yak surprisingly gently. I covered its eyes with one hand and reached for the lure with the other. It was still pretty green, and it almost launched out of the boat. Fortunately, I blocked it with my leg, but, unfortunately, the hook when into my dry suit. 
It just missed the double layered section, too. I'm not sure if it leaks, though, so I'll have to check it out. Anyway, after I got everything untangled, the striper ended up only being 24". 
I released it, and it took off like a rocket like nothing happened. So it wasn't my personal best in terms of length, but it was easily in terms of weight. He was a total football, and he was still looking to spawn. It was probably the second hardest fighting striper I've caught, too.
I made it out to the pier without any more excitement. I jigged 5" Gulp jerk shads hoping for croaker and 6" BKDs for stripers. I didn't get any croakers, but I picked up a 16" striper on the Gulp jerk shad.
Around 7pm, I started chucking a big popper around. I didn't have any luck with that, so I tried a 4" Badonk-a-donk and a 1oz Rattletrap, both of which went untouched.
I trolled the Crystal Minnow back to the launch and switched to a big Bomber minnow when I got to shallower water. Nothing. I didn't have any hits on a Skitterpop at my topwater spot, so I called it a night at 8pm.
The water temp was between 62 and 64 depending on where I was. The water was kind of muddy, but I don't think the muddy layer was all that deep because the salinity increased from 5.4 at the surface to 7.8 about 2ft down and stayed there to at least 10ft, which is the length of the cable on my meter.
In all, it was a pretty nice evening. I was expecting a skunk, so the 24" football was a good surprise. Plus, I love catching fish while jigging even if they are small. Also, I finally learned my lesson about using my lipper.
I trolled a deep diving Tennessee shad Yozuri Crystal Minnow (which was an awesome suggestion by DOGFISH) and it got slammed about halfway to the pier. The fish launched out of the water
, and I saw that it was a striper that looked to be close to 28-30", or so. I was stoked. It spun my yak around and ran like hell a few times before I got it turned around and back to the yak. You think by now I would've learned to use my lipper, but I didn't want to risk losing the fish at the last moment. I put one leg in the water on either side of the yak, grabbed the leader as the fish dove under the boat, and manged to flip it into the yak surprisingly gently. I covered its eyes with one hand and reached for the lure with the other. It was still pretty green, and it almost launched out of the boat. Fortunately, I blocked it with my leg, but, unfortunately, the hook when into my dry suit. It just missed the double layered section, too. I'm not sure if it leaks, though, so I'll have to check it out. Anyway, after I got everything untangled, the striper ended up only being 24". I released it, and it took off like a rocket like nothing happened. So it wasn't my personal best in terms of length, but it was easily in terms of weight. He was a total football, and he was still looking to spawn. It was probably the second hardest fighting striper I've caught, too.I made it out to the pier without any more excitement. I jigged 5" Gulp jerk shads hoping for croaker and 6" BKDs for stripers. I didn't get any croakers, but I picked up a 16" striper on the Gulp jerk shad.
Around 7pm, I started chucking a big popper around. I didn't have any luck with that, so I tried a 4" Badonk-a-donk and a 1oz Rattletrap, both of which went untouched.
I trolled the Crystal Minnow back to the launch and switched to a big Bomber minnow when I got to shallower water. Nothing. I didn't have any hits on a Skitterpop at my topwater spot, so I called it a night at 8pm.
The water temp was between 62 and 64 depending on where I was. The water was kind of muddy, but I don't think the muddy layer was all that deep because the salinity increased from 5.4 at the surface to 7.8 about 2ft down and stayed there to at least 10ft, which is the length of the cable on my meter.
In all, it was a pretty nice evening. I was expecting a skunk, so the 24" football was a good surprise. Plus, I love catching fish while jigging even if they are small. Also, I finally learned my lesson about using my lipper.
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