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John Rentch and I launched from Goodhands Creek this morning at 9:00 a.m. High tide in The Narrows was predicted to be at 9:41. Yet, look at how high the water was at the Goodhands Creek Landing 40 minutes before high tide:
P1020796.jpg P1020797.jpg
I was encouraged. I generally like to fish a falling tide and I thought Goodhands would be ripe given this morning's conditions. That turned out to not be the case for John and me.
I went to Hog Island from the ramp, trolling two lines to the southwest corner. Each line had jig and soft plastic on it. Along the way I noticed how wide the cut in the island has become since my last visit to Goodhands which was last fall. See here:
P1020798.jpg
I recall a few years ago when that opening was a mere trickle of water. Today John Rentch brought his Slayer Propel through it and marked a depth of 7 feet. Erosion...now Hog Island is two islands and soon to be three because it is also eroding on its southern portion
Shortly after passing the cut near the south west corner of the island I hooked up with a small striper:
P1020800.jpg
I got on the radio to let John know I found some pullage, albeit small, when I had to cut my transmission to him short. Both lines went down hard. The first rod I picked up was losing line fast. The drag was screaming. Unfortunately, I didn't feel the familiar striper head shake. I immediately had my suspicions but I wanted to be sure. So I pulled back on the rod and regained some line only to lose another 30 yards line fast, but still no head shake. At that point I knew -- a dreaded CNR. I regained some more line and then did the patented CNR release maneuver. I pointed the rod directly at the ray and held the drag with my left hand and pulled back hard with my right making sure there was no bend in the rod. Success. CNR gone, but also my leader. It broke the 12 pound mono leader at the braid. The knot was still in tact, however. Now to rod number two. I figured whatever was on it had gotten off during my tussle with the CNR. I was surprised to feel the telltale heaviness when I pulled the rod from its holder -- heaviness with no headshake. Yep, another CNR. So I repeated the drill I had just gone through. I gained a little line, lost a lot more and gained some back. Satisfied that it was indeed a CNR I did another quick release with the same result. My leader broke at the braid knot.
Two CNRs at once! I'm a reluctant troller as it is. If anything can make me swear off the technique entirely it's CNRs. Now I had to reconstruct two leaders. That took a good 20 minutes to tie two double uni-knots in wind and waves. Trust me, it's a lot harder to do on the water than in your garage as you prep for a trip.
Anyway, after my lengthy retying session I got back to fishing. However, this time I didn't troll. I did a complete lap of Hog Island, casting either a small jig and paddletail to the shoreline or one of my perch jig spinners. I caught two small stripers and a white perch on that lap, which was a bit disappointing given that the water was flooding into the grass on the island. There had to be more fish in those grasses than that! Here's one of the stripers I caught on my perch spinner:
P1020801.jpg
That turned out to be the largest striper of the ten I caught today.
After my circuit of Hog Island I headed over to Kirwan Creek. I even had the nerve to troll along the way. I picked up several more small stripers on the trip and no CNRs, thank goodness. I also picked up a lot of SAV. That was not a problem near Hog Island but the route to and the mouth of Kirwan was full of this:
P1020804.jpg
From Kirwan I fished my way back to the ramp, casting into the shallows near shore, not trolling. Again, all my catches were small stripers and one more white perch.
When I got back to the ramp I couldn't help but notice this irony. A contractor has a pile driver (I believe) stored on a barge near the ramp. See here:
P1020807.jpg
Obviously, business has been slow for this particular company. Notice what's atop the equipment:
P1020808.jpg
So, that was my day at Goodhands. My friend John worked a different area. He went north and caught larger fish but still no legal sized stripers.
We were disappointed with the quality of the fish we caught, especially since conditions seemed to warrant a good day. But we also were happy to get out. The forecast suggested rain in the morning and that did not materialize. It was a bit chilly out there, however. It's hard to believe it's 30 May. Eventually the warmth will return with larger fish, I hope.
P1020796.jpg P1020797.jpg
I was encouraged. I generally like to fish a falling tide and I thought Goodhands would be ripe given this morning's conditions. That turned out to not be the case for John and me.
I went to Hog Island from the ramp, trolling two lines to the southwest corner. Each line had jig and soft plastic on it. Along the way I noticed how wide the cut in the island has become since my last visit to Goodhands which was last fall. See here:
P1020798.jpg
I recall a few years ago when that opening was a mere trickle of water. Today John Rentch brought his Slayer Propel through it and marked a depth of 7 feet. Erosion...now Hog Island is two islands and soon to be three because it is also eroding on its southern portion
Shortly after passing the cut near the south west corner of the island I hooked up with a small striper:
P1020800.jpg
I got on the radio to let John know I found some pullage, albeit small, when I had to cut my transmission to him short. Both lines went down hard. The first rod I picked up was losing line fast. The drag was screaming. Unfortunately, I didn't feel the familiar striper head shake. I immediately had my suspicions but I wanted to be sure. So I pulled back on the rod and regained some line only to lose another 30 yards line fast, but still no head shake. At that point I knew -- a dreaded CNR. I regained some more line and then did the patented CNR release maneuver. I pointed the rod directly at the ray and held the drag with my left hand and pulled back hard with my right making sure there was no bend in the rod. Success. CNR gone, but also my leader. It broke the 12 pound mono leader at the braid. The knot was still in tact, however. Now to rod number two. I figured whatever was on it had gotten off during my tussle with the CNR. I was surprised to feel the telltale heaviness when I pulled the rod from its holder -- heaviness with no headshake. Yep, another CNR. So I repeated the drill I had just gone through. I gained a little line, lost a lot more and gained some back. Satisfied that it was indeed a CNR I did another quick release with the same result. My leader broke at the braid knot.
Two CNRs at once! I'm a reluctant troller as it is. If anything can make me swear off the technique entirely it's CNRs. Now I had to reconstruct two leaders. That took a good 20 minutes to tie two double uni-knots in wind and waves. Trust me, it's a lot harder to do on the water than in your garage as you prep for a trip.
Anyway, after my lengthy retying session I got back to fishing. However, this time I didn't troll. I did a complete lap of Hog Island, casting either a small jig and paddletail to the shoreline or one of my perch jig spinners. I caught two small stripers and a white perch on that lap, which was a bit disappointing given that the water was flooding into the grass on the island. There had to be more fish in those grasses than that! Here's one of the stripers I caught on my perch spinner:
P1020801.jpg
That turned out to be the largest striper of the ten I caught today.
After my circuit of Hog Island I headed over to Kirwan Creek. I even had the nerve to troll along the way. I picked up several more small stripers on the trip and no CNRs, thank goodness. I also picked up a lot of SAV. That was not a problem near Hog Island but the route to and the mouth of Kirwan was full of this:
P1020804.jpg
From Kirwan I fished my way back to the ramp, casting into the shallows near shore, not trolling. Again, all my catches were small stripers and one more white perch.
When I got back to the ramp I couldn't help but notice this irony. A contractor has a pile driver (I believe) stored on a barge near the ramp. See here:
P1020807.jpg
Obviously, business has been slow for this particular company. Notice what's atop the equipment:
P1020808.jpg
So, that was my day at Goodhands. My friend John worked a different area. He went north and caught larger fish but still no legal sized stripers.
We were disappointed with the quality of the fish we caught, especially since conditions seemed to warrant a good day. But we also were happy to get out. The forecast suggested rain in the morning and that did not materialize. It was a bit chilly out there, however. It's hard to believe it's 30 May. Eventually the warmth will return with larger fish, I hope.
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