Flats, 5-2-12

[HJS]

I finished up my Susky Flats C&R season yesterday, 5-2-12, 11:00am to 3:00pm. Although I caught about 20 or more stripers, none of them were worth counting and certainly not worth writing home about. I didn’t measure but I think all of them were 20” or less, most were a lot less. The only nice fish of note, maybe in the mid-twenties, threw the hook halfway in.

I launched at Tydings Park for the first time. Decent launch and no launch fee for my canoe with 40# troller and no $6 bridge fee. No sooner did I get out to the main channel that I starting marking fish, sometime LOTS of fish. I started slow-trolling in and out of the main channel towards the small islands to the south stopping here and there to anchor up for a while. I was using 5” BAs in albino and chartreuse rigged on ½ to ¾ oz jigheads. The closer I got to the island the more numerous the marks appeared.

I ran out of fishing time just before getting to the islands. So I turned around and fast-fished my way back to the Tydings. BTW, there were about a dozen boats fishing near the islands so I guess that’s where the better action was. But with the heavy overcast, annoying but manageable winds and the threat of thunderstorms I was not comfortable going that far away from the launch to get to the islands.

There were several other kayakers out there and I met-up with Cliff for a little while. Overall there were far fewer boats out there than I expected to see.

This was my best Flats season so far. I hope next spring is equally as good.

[J.A. Veil]

You have done very well this spring at the Flats and Fletchers. Thanks for all of your informative reports that have encouraged me to try a few new spots this year.

[HJS]

John - This year's season on the Flats was indeed very good, although I've heard that several years ago it was even better, especially concerning size... if you can imagine that. I'm thinking a lot of new striper fishermen got very spoiled on the Flats this spring. It's not always going to be this good on the Flats by a looong shot. Last year was a total wipe-out for just about everyone except the guys fishing bait.

[Grilled]

i was out there yesterday with clif06, biggest for me was a 30incher, clif landed a 32 and 34 i believe. the rest were in the low 20's. wind picked up quite a bit in the afternoon. i had a huge strike but couldnt get the rod out of the rod holder, the fish was pulling drag and putting so much pressure on the rod, by the time i got it out of the rod holder it was gone...darn, so pissed.

not a bad day.

[Grilled]

were you the guy in the hobie adventure?

[HJS]

were you the guy in the hobie adventure?

No, I was in my 16' green Oldtown canoe. I was fishing the channel between Tydings and the island when you and cliff set out for the Flats proper. I saw you two heading out. I considered briefly following you all out there but the wind is more of an issue for a canoe than it is for a kayak. So I elected to stay closer to the take-out in case the weather were to suddenly turn for the worse.

Good for you all getting into a couple of nice fish. Were there bunches little stripers (sub 18") out there too? On a lot of my casts I could feel little dink stipers pummeling my 5" BAs all the way in. Only occasionally would one of those little 10"-12" guys get hooked.

[Grilled]

^ yeah, i caught a few dinks out there. they are everywhere!