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Raptor and I plied the waters of Mill Creek and Whitehall Bay today. We launched late morning on a falling tide and stayed out nearly five hours until the early afternoon.
Weather conditions were ever-changing. Mostly it was overcast but there were periods of sun followed by dark threatening clouds. No rain fell. Wind was either gusting or calm. The waves were large at times with considerable choppiness in between huge swells. It was like a roller coaster. And then behind shelter it was calm.
But there was good news. We boated over 80 white perch between us about evenly divided. It’s an excellent day when your count gets fuzzy near 40 fish. And we each caught 3 stripers. Five of those 6 stripers were legal sized fish. Raptor caught the largest by trolling a white bucktail dressed with a white Fat Sam paddletail. It was a 22 to 24 inch fish. I got two 18 to 19 inch stripers and one at 16 or 17 inches.
We released all the fish we caught today.
Although we each hooked a nice striper trolling our best success came casting Rat-L-Traps to the rip rap and wooden retaining wall at Hackett Point. Not only did we pick up 4 nice stripers that way, the white perch were very willing to challenge the Rat-L-Trap. However, by far I caught more white perch on a 1/8 oz. jig/spinner combo. The color of the trailer didn’t matter. I used chartreuse, yellow and white Mr. Twisters until they literally fell off of the hook from abuse. My stripers each hit a ½ oz. Rat-L-Trap.
These two lures caught all my fish:
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Here is Raptor with a striper he hooked near the wooden wall.
P1010248.jpg
Then on the way back across Whitehall Bay I got this fish trolling the Rat-L-Trap. Notice its face. I’ve seen fish like this posted before but it was my first time to catch one. The Rat-L-Trap was attached the underside of its bottom jaw. Given its length at nearly 19 inches I assume it is a member of the 2011 class upon which so much rests for the health of the striped bass population. Let’s hope it doesn’t pass that face to its progeny.
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So ended our day at Mill Creek and White Hall Bay. However just a few yards before our launch site I made a couple more casts to pick up a final white perch. A fish quickly complied and I immediately put up my rod. That’s a good way to end any fishing trip – a fish on the last cast. It was easy to do today.
Weather conditions were ever-changing. Mostly it was overcast but there were periods of sun followed by dark threatening clouds. No rain fell. Wind was either gusting or calm. The waves were large at times with considerable choppiness in between huge swells. It was like a roller coaster. And then behind shelter it was calm.
But there was good news. We boated over 80 white perch between us about evenly divided. It’s an excellent day when your count gets fuzzy near 40 fish. And we each caught 3 stripers. Five of those 6 stripers were legal sized fish. Raptor caught the largest by trolling a white bucktail dressed with a white Fat Sam paddletail. It was a 22 to 24 inch fish. I got two 18 to 19 inch stripers and one at 16 or 17 inches.
We released all the fish we caught today.
Although we each hooked a nice striper trolling our best success came casting Rat-L-Traps to the rip rap and wooden retaining wall at Hackett Point. Not only did we pick up 4 nice stripers that way, the white perch were very willing to challenge the Rat-L-Trap. However, by far I caught more white perch on a 1/8 oz. jig/spinner combo. The color of the trailer didn’t matter. I used chartreuse, yellow and white Mr. Twisters until they literally fell off of the hook from abuse. My stripers each hit a ½ oz. Rat-L-Trap.
These two lures caught all my fish:
D.jpg
Here is Raptor with a striper he hooked near the wooden wall.
P1010248.jpg
Then on the way back across Whitehall Bay I got this fish trolling the Rat-L-Trap. Notice its face. I’ve seen fish like this posted before but it was my first time to catch one. The Rat-L-Trap was attached the underside of its bottom jaw. Given its length at nearly 19 inches I assume it is a member of the 2011 class upon which so much rests for the health of the striped bass population. Let’s hope it doesn’t pass that face to its progeny.
B.jpg C.jpg
So ended our day at Mill Creek and White Hall Bay. However just a few yards before our launch site I made a couple more casts to pick up a final white perch. A fish quickly complied and I immediately put up my rod. That’s a good way to end any fishing trip – a fish on the last cast. It was easy to do today.
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