Fall Rockfish Are Making Me Crazy

After fishing down the lake this morning (see Humble Pie), I went to work for a few hours.  I just can't get these ferocious stripers out of my mind.  I talked with a friend of mine in church this past Sunday and he told me he saw them breaking in the back of the cove around Roane Co. Park.  So, after I got home from work and discovered that the girls all had something going on and Crystal had to work late, I decided to take a look at Roane Co. Park for myself.  I launched at Caney Creek, got good bait in one throw (shad minnows are all over Caney Creek right now) and headed over to the swimming area and public pier.  Right away I noticed healthy (10 - 15 lb) rockfish breaking on the monstrous schools of minnows.   I had a rod with a 9" redfin, and a rod with a poppin' cork and circle hook (for basic free-lining). The stripers were breaking with 25' of the boat every minute or so, but they would just do a ravenous roll and then be gone - several times I was standing cocked and ready to cast waiting for a fish to break and would cast right in the middle of the swirl within seconds of the roll and nothing - never got a bite.  It was very exciting, but exasperating at the same time.  Man...maybe someday  I'll figure out how to get stripers in this mode to bite.  It's part of what makes this whole thing so addicting to me.  I can't wait to get back out after 'em.