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SoMD recon
Kevin and I met up for the first time since the beginning of the month to do some recon in a new spot. We hit the water at about 4pm, which was about halfway through ebb tide. Water temperature was 71-72*.
We started out trolling various lures favored by stripers, reds, and specks. Kevin hooked up first with something strong, which got us all excited:
It turned out to be his first ray of the day.
A little while later, I landed a 16" striper that hit a salt and pepper with chartreuse tail Bass Assassin Die Tapper. I missed a few more hits before I landed an 11" perch on a chartreuse Gulp grub:
It's been a long time since I brought home fish to eat (I've been catching too many skunks), so I was stoked. Kevin started bailing 16-17" stripers, nice perch, and some croakers in the same area. There might've been another ray in there, too.
Then he hooked "the biggest striper I've ever caught!" I've been there when Kevin lost some nice fish, so I raced around to document the momentous occasion:
You'll have to ask him about that one.
I landed a slightly smaller perch, a 16" striper, and an 11" croaker on the Gulp grub before we decided to move on. Meanwhile, Kevin caught some rays and one or two other things.
At the next spot, I caught a 17" striper, two 12" croakers that were pretty fat for their size, and another 11" perch. The cool thing about the croakers and perch was that I caught them on a 3" pearl Zoom curly tail shad. The croakers were all over it even though I don't think it's scented. I could feel them pecking at it but could only land those two. Anyway, things slowed after that, so we headed to one last spot before going back to where we started to try for some top water action. At the penultimate spot, I caught a 11.5" perch that looked like it was much bigger when it came out of the water (apparently, we both need to recalibrate our eyes):
Kevin hooked his 5th and final ray.
I managed one more 16" striper on a Rapala Skitterwalk before we called it a night. All the action for me today was in 5ft of water. Kevin caught rays in anywhere from 2ft to 10ft, I think. Many of my trips this year have been slow, so this was a much needed change of pace. Bringing home some nice perch and a couple croakers was the icing on the cake for me, but seeing Kevin catch his personal best striper and set a new record for hooking the most rays in a day was a nice bonus, too.
We started out trolling various lures favored by stripers, reds, and specks. Kevin hooked up first with something strong, which got us all excited:
It turned out to be his first ray of the day.
A little while later, I landed a 16" striper that hit a salt and pepper with chartreuse tail Bass Assassin Die Tapper. I missed a few more hits before I landed an 11" perch on a chartreuse Gulp grub:
It's been a long time since I brought home fish to eat (I've been catching too many skunks), so I was stoked. Kevin started bailing 16-17" stripers, nice perch, and some croakers in the same area. There might've been another ray in there, too.
Then he hooked "the biggest striper I've ever caught!" I've been there when Kevin lost some nice fish, so I raced around to document the momentous occasion:
You'll have to ask him about that one. I landed a slightly smaller perch, a 16" striper, and an 11" croaker on the Gulp grub before we decided to move on. Meanwhile, Kevin caught some rays and one or two other things.
At the next spot, I caught a 17" striper, two 12" croakers that were pretty fat for their size, and another 11" perch. The cool thing about the croakers and perch was that I caught them on a 3" pearl Zoom curly tail shad. The croakers were all over it even though I don't think it's scented. I could feel them pecking at it but could only land those two. Anyway, things slowed after that, so we headed to one last spot before going back to where we started to try for some top water action. At the penultimate spot, I caught a 11.5" perch that looked like it was much bigger when it came out of the water (apparently, we both need to recalibrate our eyes):
Kevin hooked his 5th and final ray.
I managed one more 16" striper on a Rapala Skitterwalk before we called it a night. All the action for me today was in 5ft of water. Kevin caught rays in anywhere from 2ft to 10ft, I think.
Many of my trips this year have been slow, so this was a much needed change of pace. Bringing home some nice perch and a couple croakers was the icing on the cake for me, but seeing Kevin catch his personal best striper and set a new record for hooking the most rays in a day was a nice bonus, too.
Hearing his drag go off had me convinced, too.
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