A Week Later - Not Much Happening on the West River

[UnkleRob2020]

Arron and I launched into the West River on Monday Morning. For most of the morning, we had an outgoing tide and we worked the same areas that produced success last week. None of the spots that had produced last week were productive yesterday. In six hours, I caught 2 stripers and one white perch. I have to admit that I had high expectations due to last week's success and it was still a beautiful day on the water for most of the morning.

The winds shifted/gained power around 11am. We continued to fish although it was more challenging. Trying to cast towards shore I could only line up two casts before I had to paddle back to reset. It was a lot of work with little reward. If I was catching fish, I wouldn't have minded as much :--)


We ran into a couple of forum members (Dave and Scorchy) and from what I gather it was a slow day for everyone.

I felt quite fancy as Arron towed me back to the launch via his newly installed electric motor.

[scorchy]

Good seeing you guys out there. I'll definitely make a return visit when I need a break from the craziness of Solleys and have time to make the trip. Was really slow for me as well and trolling was tough with all the floating grass near the shorelines - hopefully it's not like that all the time. The day was saved though by
this 24"-inch beauty, my biggest rock of the year


20230619_091104.jpg

[Mark]

Rob,

That's fishing -- they're present one day and gone the next.

Scorchy found a nice one that eluded you. That's fishing too.

[dsaavedra]

It was nice to see a few forum members on the water. I got an earlier start than the others, launching at 5am. I was fishing before the sun cracked the horizon and started off well. I had dozens of strikes on topwater but had a harder than usual time hooking them or keeping them hooked. I only got 4 or 5 of them to the boat. I suspect most of the missed strikes were from small fish that were not properly getting my plug in their mouth.

Once the sun rose above the tree tops the bite slowed considerably and I started working paddle tails. I finished the morning with 22 stripers and 2 perch. A few of the stripers were in the 20-21" range, most were in the mid-teens. I was off the water by 9am, having caught almost no fish in the last 1+ hour of the trip.

Not a bad trip by any means, but slower than it has been in previous weeks.