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I have had few opportunities to fish for stripers this spring. Yesterday I looked at the wind and weather forecast for Sat morning and was surprised to see a clear and calm morning. I launched from Jonas Green about 8:00 am to calm seas and water temp in the low to mid 60s. I deployed 4 trolling lines with jigheads and paddletails and headed toward the river mouth. Two of the rods had 1-oz jigheads, the others had about 3/4-oz heads.
The sonar screen was filled with lots of bait and other marks that looked like fish. I expected to have a banner day, but lockjaw was the primary behavior I experienced. I trolled downriver for 45 mins before I had my first bite in about 13' depth. I could tell it was not a large fish (16”-17”), but it meant that the skunk was gone.
A white later, I decided to troll near structure in 4' to 5' water depth. I was a bit concerned because of the heavier-than-usual jigheads I was using, but decided to give it a shot. I had very low expectations for a bite and did not expect to find any large fish there (in past trips there, I had caught fish in the teens and low 20s only in that location). All of a sudden the front right rod (3/4-oz jighead and 4.5” white 12 Fathom Shadzilla) went down very hard. Initially I was not sure if I had a fish or if I had snagged bottom. After feeling some head shake, I realized I had a large fish. I continued pedaling to keep the other lines behind the kayak. The fish fought hard. After two minutes, I found that two of the remaining lines had snagged on the bottom creating a bit of a mess in the cockpit as those two lines tangled with the line holding the fish. I stuck with it and landed a fat 27” striper – my largest of the year to date. After taking a quick photo (sorry it is a bit blurry) I put the fish back and got the other lines loose.
2003-08-15 14-57-41.jpg
For the last hour on the water, I tried a 5" Sebile crankbait that seems to have a great swimming motion. It did not entice any bites today. Given the interesting sonar marks I saw all day long I had expected to catch more than two fish. However, given the tough striper bite in recent weeks, I am satisfied with getting two fish today, and particularly in getting the 27" fish. One other item to note was the presence of pieces of green aquatic plant that must have been floating free in the water. I had to wind in my lures often to check to see if they were clean -- often they had some of the green plant on them.
The sonar screen was filled with lots of bait and other marks that looked like fish. I expected to have a banner day, but lockjaw was the primary behavior I experienced. I trolled downriver for 45 mins before I had my first bite in about 13' depth. I could tell it was not a large fish (16”-17”), but it meant that the skunk was gone.
A white later, I decided to troll near structure in 4' to 5' water depth. I was a bit concerned because of the heavier-than-usual jigheads I was using, but decided to give it a shot. I had very low expectations for a bite and did not expect to find any large fish there (in past trips there, I had caught fish in the teens and low 20s only in that location). All of a sudden the front right rod (3/4-oz jighead and 4.5” white 12 Fathom Shadzilla) went down very hard. Initially I was not sure if I had a fish or if I had snagged bottom. After feeling some head shake, I realized I had a large fish. I continued pedaling to keep the other lines behind the kayak. The fish fought hard. After two minutes, I found that two of the remaining lines had snagged on the bottom creating a bit of a mess in the cockpit as those two lines tangled with the line holding the fish. I stuck with it and landed a fat 27” striper – my largest of the year to date. After taking a quick photo (sorry it is a bit blurry) I put the fish back and got the other lines loose.
2003-08-15 14-57-41.jpg
For the last hour on the water, I tried a 5" Sebile crankbait that seems to have a great swimming motion. It did not entice any bites today. Given the interesting sonar marks I saw all day long I had expected to catch more than two fish. However, given the tough striper bite in recent weeks, I am satisfied with getting two fish today, and particularly in getting the 27" fish. One other item to note was the presence of pieces of green aquatic plant that must have been floating free in the water. I had to wind in my lures often to check to see if they were clean -- often they had some of the green plant on them.
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