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I’ve been fishing the spring Flats C&R striper season since 2006. Although I’ve caught bigger stripers on the Flats during this time, never have I caught so many from my canoe as I did on Wednesday, 4-18-12, 8:00am to 3:00pm. I caught 56 stripers. About a dozen+ were 17”-20”, about a dozen+ were very nice at 25”-27”, and the rest ranged 20”-25”. I caught no BIG biggies and I’m not sure I saw any biggies caught be others. All fish I saw caught by others were in the same size range as mine.
All fish were caught on either a 4” BA paddletail (chartreuse silver-glitter) on a ½ oz head or a 5” straight-tail BA (albino) on a .6 oz head. About a 40/60 split favoring the 5” the albino BA (BA aka: Bass Assassin). I’d cast as far as I could, let it hit bottom (mostly 7’-9’) then retrieve so the lure stayed about 1’-2’ off the bottom with a couple of twitches every couple of seconds. This was my routine the entire day.
I used a 2500 series Shimano on a 6’6” med/heavy rod with 10# flame green Fireline with a 8’ 20# mono leader just long enough to keep the knot off the reel when getting ready to cast. I had no brake-offs nor did I ever snag bottom.
I met Cliff at the gate to Perryville Community Park at 7:30am and pushed off from the cartop launch site around 8:00am. It was a slow pick for the first 2.5 hours. But then action ramped up sharply and peaked from 11:00am to when I quit at 3:00pm. I’m not sure if the stripers started feeding heavily at this time or if it was the simple fact that I just found where they were and what they wanted. If you are not catching fish then keep moving around until you do. All were caught along the northern section of the Flats within an easy paddle distance from the put-in.
Weather was heavy overcast with brief periods of light drizzle. Winds were a manageable at the start, 5-8mph out of the N, dropping to a near calm around noon. Water temp 60F, water vis good at ~2’+.
Lots of other boats there and a surprising number were fishing fly rods. I don’t think I saw a single fisherman using surface lures; most non-fly guys were using soft plastics. Unlike other trips in previous years, today I saw almost no surface activity. My fishfinder was crucial to finding bait then finding the pursuing stripers. Stripers showed up well on the FF as did the bait, so have your FF in working order. For me, being able to anchor was important to staying on the fish. High tide was at 8:44am. Around 2:00pm, as low tide approached, the nicer fish seemed to mostly exit the shallows and began stacking up along the edge of the channel wait for the next high tide.
Details on the Perryville Community Park put-in: Gates to the park open at 7:30am sharp. Gates are positive locked closed at official sun-set sharp. Don’t cut it close; get out of the Park a little before this time. Don’t be that guy who gets locked in due to the “one more fish” syndrome. You will be very disappointed if you get locked in.
I’m getting too old to sit in a canoe for 7 hours without standing up. As I stepped out of the canoe at the end of the trip I was as creaky and stiff as the Tin Woodsman after a spring rain. Took me a couple minutes to get loosened up. I coulda used Dorothy with her oil can. Other than that, today was outstanding trip.
Sorry guys, no pics today, even though I had my camera. With action as hot & heavy as it was I get extremely focused, so much so that I doubt I would have broken out the camera even if I had seen Jesus H. Christ walking across the Flats work'in a fly rod.
So quick, go get’m. Things may charge with the predicted rain They are within easy reach of the Community Park put-in.
All fish were caught on either a 4” BA paddletail (chartreuse silver-glitter) on a ½ oz head or a 5” straight-tail BA (albino) on a .6 oz head. About a 40/60 split favoring the 5” the albino BA (BA aka: Bass Assassin). I’d cast as far as I could, let it hit bottom (mostly 7’-9’) then retrieve so the lure stayed about 1’-2’ off the bottom with a couple of twitches every couple of seconds. This was my routine the entire day.
I used a 2500 series Shimano on a 6’6” med/heavy rod with 10# flame green Fireline with a 8’ 20# mono leader just long enough to keep the knot off the reel when getting ready to cast. I had no brake-offs nor did I ever snag bottom.
I met Cliff at the gate to Perryville Community Park at 7:30am and pushed off from the cartop launch site around 8:00am. It was a slow pick for the first 2.5 hours. But then action ramped up sharply and peaked from 11:00am to when I quit at 3:00pm. I’m not sure if the stripers started feeding heavily at this time or if it was the simple fact that I just found where they were and what they wanted. If you are not catching fish then keep moving around until you do. All were caught along the northern section of the Flats within an easy paddle distance from the put-in.
Weather was heavy overcast with brief periods of light drizzle. Winds were a manageable at the start, 5-8mph out of the N, dropping to a near calm around noon. Water temp 60F, water vis good at ~2’+.
Lots of other boats there and a surprising number were fishing fly rods. I don’t think I saw a single fisherman using surface lures; most non-fly guys were using soft plastics. Unlike other trips in previous years, today I saw almost no surface activity. My fishfinder was crucial to finding bait then finding the pursuing stripers. Stripers showed up well on the FF as did the bait, so have your FF in working order. For me, being able to anchor was important to staying on the fish. High tide was at 8:44am. Around 2:00pm, as low tide approached, the nicer fish seemed to mostly exit the shallows and began stacking up along the edge of the channel wait for the next high tide.
Details on the Perryville Community Park put-in: Gates to the park open at 7:30am sharp. Gates are positive locked closed at official sun-set sharp. Don’t cut it close; get out of the Park a little before this time. Don’t be that guy who gets locked in due to the “one more fish” syndrome. You will be very disappointed if you get locked in.
I’m getting too old to sit in a canoe for 7 hours without standing up. As I stepped out of the canoe at the end of the trip I was as creaky and stiff as the Tin Woodsman after a spring rain. Took me a couple minutes to get loosened up. I coulda used Dorothy with her oil can. Other than that, today was outstanding trip.
Sorry guys, no pics today, even though I had my camera. With action as hot & heavy as it was I get extremely focused, so much so that I doubt I would have broken out the camera even if I had seen Jesus H. Christ walking across the Flats work'in a fly rod.
So quick, go get’m. Things may charge with the predicted rain They are within easy reach of the Community Park put-in.
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