St. jerome Creek

[ronaultmtd]

Bill (Ictalurus) and I fished the most wind either of us have ever fished in today- white caps in the creek- I don't know how fast the winds was blowing but it definitely was bad-

The inlet was a mile and an half from Buzz's Marina- we launched right at 2 p.m. to catch the rising tide- Bill got the first fish a short striper on the XRap- I made sure he had the right lure because I gave him one- We stopped at a channel about a 1/4 mile from the inlet and started tossing lures and catching fish- I quit counting after 18- stripers and trout- I don't know how many 13 inch speckled trout I caught but I was really tired- we were really into the fish- after a while I got a 14 1/2 incher that I put on the stringer- We went to the inlet and worked the inlet still catching shorts- I caught a ton of 17 inch stripers. I had three that were 17 1/2 inches- Bill got a nice keeper and I wanted one so I tried the bigger lures- same results- 17- 17 1/2 inches. Bill lost two really nice stripers before catching his daily limit of 2 over 18 inches- I got a second big speckled trout of 22 inches and had 2 fish on the stringer- right at dark I switched to top water popper and hooked a really nice striper, obviously a keeper but I didn't measure him because it was dark and I didn't have a flashlight- The carbon Visipole worked great- the light was perfect- We slayed em- one of the best day of fishing I have had-

Bill with the first fish of the day in a howling wind-

[ictalurus]

Just finished cleaning my catch.

I owe Ron big time for the X-rap. I caught nearly all my fish on it today, except for the two biggest stripers.

Final tally--3 stripers @ 18" that I released, between 10-15 trout up to 13" (didn't get a keeper, unfortunately), and 2 keeper stripers at 19" and 23". I'd love to know how big the two I lost were, because they both fought harder than the 23-incher. I got the second one almost to the boat when the lure popped free. I was using a popper, and the front hook was fouled, so I bet the tail hook pulled free when I got it to the boat. Grrr...

I caught 2-3 trout on a 4" chartreuse curly tail grub, most were caught on Ron's lure, and the biggest trout were caught jigging a Stingsilver in the inlet. The hook had to be dressed or it didn't seem to work. The 19" striper pulled the last of the dressing off the first one, and I had to switch to a back up.

I caught stripers up to 18" on the X-rap, the 19-incher on a Stingsilver, and one 18" and the 23" striper on a Stillwater Smack-It. The popper was actually wedged in the bigger stripers mouth.

Now for pics.

Ron with a trout:


Another trout:


Ron with a striper:

[ictalurus]

More pics

Ron's stringer (this pic doesn't do the big trout justice):


Waves in the creek:


My 19" striper (it was 19.5", honest):


My 23" striper:


My hand after a bluefish bit it (note the blood on my knee in the background):


It was awesome fishing with Ron again. I have to admit, I thought he was crazy for wanting to fish in howling wind, but it was crazy like a fox. Plus, he made sure I was properly equipped. Mike put us right on the topwater stripers, too. It was definitely a team effort, my best day at St. Jerome's, and one of my 2 best days this year. Woohoo!

[kevinfry]

great day,,,,,,I'm fine with staying home based on the wind you encountered. Tomorrow may be different

[moc]

Good Job gents on the stripers and trout. Can you post close up pictures of that hot lure Ron gave you? I may have to pick one up in th future.....

[ronaultmtd]

great day,,,,,,I'm fine with staying home based on the wind you encountered. Tomorrow may be different

It was a brutal wind, no doubt about that- gusts easily to 40 on the water and inside the creek we had whitecaps and rough waters when we got in the main channel- coming back a mile and a half to the marina against a steady wind and a lot of chop last night was no picnic, but I knew if we could find some protected waters the fish love rough water and the currents that kicks up. Bill and I both had Mirage drives so that gave us an advantage- our arms were sore but it wasn't from paddling!

[MetroMan]

Nice going guys!!

[ictalurus]

Martin--here's a link to the lure we were using:
http://www.rapala.com/assets/images/...r/x-rap_sb.png

It was the XR-10 size, which is 4" long.

Ron--my arms actually are tired today. Hopefully, a few more trips like that will get me in better catching shape.

[ronaultmtd]

The first place we stopped to fish and caught all the trout/striper wore me out Bill...I actually had to leave, troll around for a while, drink some water and eat a power bar to recover. My right forearm was cramping- never had so much action on every cast like that while trying to maintain the Kayak in position against that much wind and current- Like trying to juggle while hopping from foot to foot- but I am NOT complaining a bit- love to do that again- I still have to clean my mess of fish- the insulated bag worked like a charm- still had plenty of ice on the fish this morning- p.s.- the striper is 23 inches-measured him/her this a.m.

Tell Mike his intel was perfect and that I thank him- the $5.00 launch fee was well spent-

[WST120]

Great report and great fishing. Now that the wind has died down, I am going to head out there today.

[ronaultmtd]

Good luck today, Dave- I hope you do as well as Bill and I did-

[Southerly]

nice job in tough conditions - really looks like you made it into a great fishing day!

[ronaultmtd]

It just goes to show that under almost any weather conditions (except thunderstorms with lightning) you can find a place to catch fish out of a kayak- if yesterday wasn't the textbook definition of "marginal" I don't know what would be.

Any place close to shore on the western side of the Bay would be fishable with the winds we had yesterday- it would be choppy and hard to stay in one place, but fishable- I looked at the maps before choosing St. Jerome Creek- it looked big enough without being too big and shallow enough without being too shallow- under normal conditions I would have chosen Point Lookout, but as "Plan B" it wasn't bad- If I were going today, it would be to Point Lookout-

[J.A. Veil]

Ron and Bill --

Great job on working with the conditions to find fish. It sounds like a fun time.

In one of the photos posted by Bill it appears that Ron had a white plastic cylinder dangling from his wrist. I am curious what that gadget is.

[ronaultmtd]

fish grip- trying to get that striper to open its mouth didn't work out so I just grabbed it-