More wind, more rain, and larger fish

[J.A. Veil]

I returned to location X this morning for an hour before the building wind and rain chased me off. The nor’easter is stronger today. I caught 11 stripers in an hour. All were at least 18”. I had two at 19.5”, one at 20.5”, and the big one at 26”.

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The water was the color of coffee with cream -- not usually indicative of feeding fish. After the second fish, my chartreuse Buzztail paddletail was shot. I grabbed one in gold -- it was too close to the color of the water and did not get much interest. I found another chartreuse one in my tackle box, put it on the bucktail, and got a bite almost immediately.

It was tough getting back to the ramp – two foot waves, gusts of wind to >25 knots, and rain driving in my face. My GoreTex rainsuit did not keep me fully dry today. If the water were much colder, I would not have tried this. Please use good judgement in deciding if you should be on the water in strong wind and large waves. It is likely to get worse before it gets better.

[Mark]

My exposure to the elements this morning was putting my granddaughter on the school bus. The rain was falling sideways even then. That was enough of the great outdoors for me today.

Glad you got your kayak back to the launch right side up.

Nice catching. Chartreuse rarely fails -- unless you spend most of the morning on the sofa like me.

[EMSer]

I am hoping to get out Sunday AM as that is the first chance I will have. I have a couple of protected areas in mind. If they are too exposed, I will bag it.

[SpoonLoser]

Had similar results Thursday evening, but with all white 4" paddletails on bucktails and plain jigheads. Low(er) tide had me scooting a little further from some of my target areas and the deeper running (heavier weighted bucktail) saw more action in 3-6' of water. Down wind, i could have left the paddle at home, circling back their were certainly times I looked cartoonish fighting the good fight. I'm happy just getting that level of action in pretty murky water. Now with our friends in the creeks, you don't have to go very far at all. You may give back alot of 17-19" fish, but the keeper will indefinitely come along and it's all non-stop fun action with blues thrown in periodically. Freezer is getting full and I will begin targeting my family and close associate striper donations already. Gotta love mid S
September to November 1.