Striper bite continues :-)

[Fish Chris]

Had a pretty good trip yesterday... in spite of the fact that it rained on me about 4 of my 11 hours on the water Not heavy.... just enough to keep everything soaked. What a PITA.

Oh, and the one other downside.... My first fish, which quickly inhaled a large, 13" Split Tail (can't say it was a HUGE fish, but probably at least a high teener) the same lame arse thing happened, that caused me to lose that giant last week ....The hooked got fouled up, and snagged back around the line That's only happened twice now, since I modified my rigging, but once is too much ! Urggg.

Anyway, I ended up catching 4 Stripers... two about 8 lbs, one in the 14 lb range, and one very beautiful, strong, 20.0 lb'er Yes, exactly 20.0 lbs

.....which reminds of the old joke about a 10 lb Largemouth... I've caught two Largemouth's that were exactly 10.0 lbs, and I have a buddy who caught one 10.0 lb'er... So of course, we ribbed the heck out of each other about those catches with.... "Are you sure it was 10 lbs ? Couldn't have been 9.9 lbs could it ? You know, scales can very.... You were not on a rocking boat when you weighed it were you" ? LOL

And then, you know why so many 10 lb Largemouth's get caught right ? It's because so many guys go fishing without a scale

Anyway, here's the 20.0 lb'er... What a beauty, huh ?

Peace,

Fish

[roadwarrior]

Nice fish and GREAT pic!

                               

[SausageFingers23]

Beauty!  Your photos are always gorgeous.

[hookingem]

That fish is gorgeous! Congrats! 

[Fish Chris]

Thanks guys

Oh, and I forgot to say, but I caught that 14 and one of the 8's on the micro-light, with my new Shimano Sahara 1000.... Which, BTW, is working great now, with the addition of that carbontex drag washer

The 14 fought great on that gear, as you might expect. The 8lb'er, on the other hand, fought like a 20 ! It just flat didn't want to give up ! .....and kept trying to wrap the line on my other pole ! Urgg ! I swear it took twice as long to land that 8lb'er, as it did the 14 !

Those were great.... but I think after that little drag test, I'm going to stick to the heavy rods for the Stripers (easier to handle the big baits), and I'll break out the micro-lights again, whenever I get into a good Sturgeon bite.

Freaking rain today Forcing me to get my chores done I guess....

Peace,

Fish

[paul.]

another nice one chris.  what kind of rigging are you using?  i sometimes use live skipjacks.  ever since i started hooking 'em through the nostrils with a piece of plastic worm to keep 'em from sliding up the hook, i can't recall having lost a fish due to having the hook coming back around and re-hooking the bait.  then there's the old saltwater rubber band rig where the hook is attached to the bait but not IN the bait.  i can understand why you'd be po'd about losing a fish when the hook goes back in the bait.  that sucks to know you never even had a chance of putting a hook in the fish that bit.

anyway, you're on a tear with those big stripers for sure.  congrats on another.

[Fish Chris]

Thanks Paul 

Here's a shot of a rigged Split Tail.

Basically, we use a threader (just a long needle) and tie our hook to one end of a 30" leader, and the threading needle to the other. We then stick it just under the skin, and push it all the way through until it pops out by the tail.

Two things I do nowadays though;

1) I cut two of the hook points off, right in the middle of the curve, and then debarb the single, remaining hook.

{so, even on those ocassions when a Striper really swallows the bait, to where I can't easily remove it, I am very confident it won't be too hard for the fish to get rid of later}

2) I crimp a split shot on the leader, right where it exits the bait, to keep it from pulling forward, and doing anything goofy. This has worked VERY well.... until these couple X's lately. Hmmm.

Fish

[bassman31783]

Another great looking striper Chris.  Your on a roll.  I couldn't imagine catching a 14 pound striper on a micro.  Must be fun.  Great job.

[roadwarrior]

another nice one chris. what kind of rigging are you using? i sometimes use live skipjacks. ever since i started hooking 'em through the nostrils with a piece of plastic worm to keep 'em from sliding up the hook, i can't recall having lost a fish due to having the hook coming back around and re-hooking the bait. then there's the old saltwater rubber band rig where the hook is attached to the bait but not IN the bait. i can understand why you'd be po'd about losing a fish when the hook goes back in the bait. that sucks to know you never even had a chance of putting a hook in the fish that bit.

anyway, you're on a tear with those big stripers for sure. congrats on another.

In fast water, in the boils under the dam, we rig

the skipjack up through the bottom lip and through

the top lip to keep the mouth closed. The alternative

is on the top of the head, behind the eyes, but NOT

through the brain. "Live bait" must be, alive!

8-)

[breezy]

That picture makes the striper look absolutely enormous. Not that it's a small fish by any means. As much as I love bass, it's hard to beat the fight a striper puts up for a freshwater fish.

So basically you're rigging the bait by running the line under its scales? And it's rigged 'backwards' too? Definitely interesting. When using shiners I just hook it through the nose/top lip just in front of its brain. Simple and effective.

[shimmy]

Well Chris, looks like you are getting smaller and the fish are getting bigger...Like Mr. Sheen, i think you are "WINNING" either way. Great job as always.

[Fish Chris]

Thanks again guys

Breezy, well, under it's skin.....but obviously, you don't want it to go too deep into the flesh. These things are amazingly tough though ! If you don't get bit (on a bad fishing day) they will usually live all of a 10 hour fishing day !

And I know it seems like you are rigging them backwards.... but when you think about it, a Striper always takes a bait fish head first.... So with this rigging, you don't have a line, trying to pull it around the wrong way, and the hook is already in the setting position

Oh, and it's better to have a photo in which the fish looks bigger than it really was.... then, the angler gives the actual weight, which is smaller.... Than for it to look smaller in the photo, and the angler gives the actual weight... or worse yet, his guess of its weight, and that # is bigger, right ? I mean, who's going to lie and say it was smaller than it really was ? ;D {actually, I've been catching a bunch of 30's and 40's.... but I didn't want to act like I was the shiznit... so I've been shrinking the weights LOL}

Shimmy said, "I'm winning" ! ;D ;D ;D

Peace,

Fish