Stripers & New Friends

Stuart Row brought a friend of his along today as we headed out and attempted to get him hooked up with a nice striper, a fish he had never caught before. Dave is quite the accomplished fly fisherman, but apparently has done much lake fishing for stripers. We started at the barge tie up on the southwest side of Long Island. Stuart caught a pair of nice rockfish right off the bat, and missed another - but then the bite shut down.  We moved up to the top of the island to try the southern most drop off near the Osprey nest, but no stripers were showing up on the graph.  Earlier, when we were getting bait, I got a nice batch of threadfins that I just could stand to throw out, and man am I ever glad I didn't.  Since we were up near the Osprey nest I decided to rig up my Stradic 3000/7' St. Croix rig with a live bait Carolina rig - 1st pitch laid a perfect 3" yellow tail up on the shallow flat next to the big stump that sits at the base of the Osprey next and no sooner had it entered the water and wham! a beautiful 4.5# smallmouth crushed it.  It was a fantastic fight on that lighter tackle.  I caught another smaller smallmouth (~1.5#) on the very next cast. We then moved down around the east side of the island and Dave finally got to experience the ferocious fight of a rockfish.

Dualin' Stripers

A first for Dave

4.5# Bronzeback

Stripers

Scott, Ethan, Ian, Dylan Holt, and I went rockfishing up around Long Island. We caught several in the 8 to 15 pound range on nice gizzards.

The Stripers are Back

When the boat launch below Melton Hill Dam gets packed with center console striper boats, it is like a red flashing light with a siren saying "The stripers are back - go fishing!"  So I fished the Clinch today after work for just a couple of hours to see if I could locate any of the silver kings.  I launched at the Gallaher Bridge and got bait in the first inlet upstream and to the right. The water was 61 F and I've always heard this is kind of like the magic temperature at which the rockfish start running up  the river. I rigged up an 8" gizzard on a Carolina rig  with a 7/0 Owner Super Mutu Circle hook and started a float trip along the deep bank just out of Caney Creek (the one with the Soaring Eagle Campground in the back of it) and almost immediately a 12 lb striper hammered it.  I thought I was in for quite an afternoon.  Unfortunately, I got a good dose of how many stick ups and logs there are along that stretch of bank, so I ended up losing quite a few 7/0s and wasn't boating too many rockfish.  I did see quite a few fish on the Lowrance, but I spent more time getting hung than anything else.  It's all part of the learning process.  I ran up to Grubb Island to try a  different spot, and I picked up another almost identical 12 lb striper.  I began to get low on bait and so I called it a day after only about 1-1/2 hours, but I learned a lot and I can tell the stripers are up there and feeding - so just like the stripers...I'll be back another day, hopefully soon.

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.

Cooling Water Temperatures Means Roving Stripers

I had just a couple of hours to fish this afternoon, and my buddy Stuart Row had been catching some nice striped bass in his cove in the afternoons.  As the weather and the water have started cooling off, the shad minnows have moved into the shallower coves in desperate search of the warmest water the lake has to offer.  So guess who's following? You got it...the wolf pack of the water, stripers...and of course Big E.  I put in at TWRA's Shady Grove launch, got a nice batch of 3-4" gizzards and ran across the lake to Row Cove.  I rigged up with a poppin' cork, a 3' 15 lb test flourocarbon leader and a 2/0 Owner Mutu Light circle hook on old faithful Shimano Stella 4000 FB on my new 7' 0" ML FWS 703-1 Temple Fork Outfitters spinning rod that I bought yesterday at Edgemoor Sporting Goods in Claxton.  Needless to say I was eager to break in my new rod the right way - inaugurating it with a silver king.  The surface water temperature was 58 F.  Right away I could see the rockfish relentlessly harassing monstrous schools of minnows.  The feeding frenzy had my adrenaline pumping and at one point a striper that was at least 15 lbs came completely out of the water about 10 feet from the boat as he recklessly exploded on a school of gizzards.  The stripers were moving around so quickly and covering so much water that it was evident that chasing them was pointless.  Consequently, I strategically positioned the boat where I felt they would most likely surface again.  In the two hours I had to work with, I caught one striper about 5 lbs and lost two others.  It was pretty frustrating because the fish were everywhere but just too spread out to really be able to pinpoint.  I did take the one I caught home and enjoyed a fresh fish dinner.  Striped bass are becoming one of my favorite table fare fishes as well as one of the most exciting freshwater sport fish to catch.

Clinch River Striper Fishin'

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day.  The weather is beginning to cool off more at night, and the humidity is lower during the days.  There's getting to be a really strong hint that fall is just around the corner.  So guess what that means?  Elliott has an ever increasing urge to take 1/2 day vacation and go fishing or hunting!  I chose to launch today at the Gallaher launch to concentrate on the upper end of the Clinch.  I got to the river at about 1:00 p.m. and was at the upper end of Jones Island with a bait tank full of perfect shad at 1:30.  Melton Hill was generating yet so I through out a shad on a float and put it on the Ambassadeur 7000 with 50 lb mono on the 8' St. Croix rod in the holder in the back of the G3, and fished with a bottom rig on the Shimano Stradic 8000 with 80 lb Power Pro and a 50 lb flourocarbon leader on the 7' Shimano Tallus Saltwater rod up front.  I slowly used the trolling motor and worked my way down the north shoreline of the island.  As I worked my way down the river I spooked up several pairs of wood ducks (Aix sponsa).  They are especially beautiful ducks, and very leery of any one coming close.  I kept count today and I saw just over 20 wood ducks in all today.   About 30 minutes into my float trip, the current began to pick up and I no longer had to use the trolling motor to move myself along.  My confidence always goes way up when I've got a little bit of current.  I particularly like to be on the river when the generation starts and conditions go from nothing to good flow.  I feel like this can sometimes turn things on for a number of reasons; current creates ambush points, current moves baitfish, it can drop the temperature, along with a variety of other reasons.  But... today it wasn't making a difference - no bites.  I had invited my good friend Charlie Shields to come with me today, but he had a couple of things on his plate and wasn't able to make it, but at about 3:00 he called and had miraculously cleared his schedule and was on his way to the ramp.  I think he might have a touch of the same addiction I have had since birth.  On the way down the river to pick Charlie up I noticed a bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) sitting on a log on a shallow flat (about at old Pickel Island).  I immediately slowed down pulled out the binoculars and watch him for a few minutes before he took to flight and his flight path took him back across in front of me with the sun at just the right angle highlighting all of his beautiful features; deep dark brown body, snow white head and tail, crisp yellow beak and feet.  I got an exceptionally close look at him - he probably came within 50 to 75 yards of me. As I fired the motor back up to head down to pick up Charlie, I hoped he would stay perched on the bluff overlooking the river for Charlie to see.  I got Charlie and we headed back up to Jones Island for another float.  This time Charlie used a float (free line) rig on my Shimano Stella 4000 with 15 lb Power Pro and a 15 lb flourocarbon leader, I continued to fish the bottom, and I left the 7000 Ambassadeur in the rod holder.  We floated about half way down the north side of the island and I hooked up a spunky 5 lb striper.  Little did I know this would turn out to be the only fish of the day.  At about 5:30 Charlie had to leave to go back to a work appointment, so I ran him back down to the ramp.  Along the way we spotted the bald eagle again and Charlie snapped a couple of pictures before he tired of our gawking at him and flew off.  After I dropped Charlie off I worked downstream from the Gallaher launch, and focused the last few hours of my day on hopefully finding some breaking fish pushing minnows up on the flats.  I stopped at 5 or 6 places along the way between the Hwy 58 bridge and Rick Klein's house only seeing an occasional rockfish break the surface.  When they did break they were very spread out and never stayed in the same spot long enough for me to capitalize.  Only at about 8:00 p.m. when there was only a hint of twilight left did I finally get into a school of fish.  I had one blow up on my redfin and another crushed a live free line minnow, but neither fish fully took the bait and so I did get a hook up.
I did have a beautiful V of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) fly over me at dusk.  Again as earlier, the faint bit of remaining sunlight highlighted perfectly the best parts of these beautiful waterfowl making for a great nature scene.  On the ride back to the ramp I realized I've been seeing an increasing number of Great Egrets (Ardea alba).  There is a roosting island for the Great Egrets just downstream of Rairity Ridge on the opposite side of the river.  Each bird provides a unique viewing opportunity.  I really enjoy watch and learning of their ways, and how the Master created them to survive and thrive.
Thank you Lord for a great day out on the water, with a good friend, and for time alone to enjoy You and your creation.

Clinch River Stripers

Scott with a 15 lb Striper

Ian with a 9 lb Striper

Gourmet Rockfish - About as fresh as it gets!

Scott, Ian, and I fished the Clinch River this afternoon for stripers.  We launched at the Gallaher Rd. launch at about 3:30 p.m.  The first order of business was to get our bait.  So we went  into the first creek to the right as you go upstream from the launch.  The water temperature was in the low 60's.  We got a good number of 6 to 10" gizzard shad and headed up the river to Jones Island.  We started on the upper end of the island and within 10 minutes I landed a 5 lb striper, and Scott caught one about the same size.  At about 5:00 p.m. Scott hooked up the big fish of the day, a 15 lber (see picture above).  A little bit later good old Ian was chunkin' his favorite jig and got ahold of a really nice 9 lber (see pic above).  He is one of the luckiest guys I've ever been around. 
We fished another hour or so and it began to rain and lighting.  So, we headed back home, and as we got to the launch the rain started absolutely pouring out of the sky, and the wind was going crazy.  So I guess it was a good thing we decided to pack it up when we did.  The final fish count was Scott - 3, Ian - 1 and me- 1
The last picture is of Scott's 15 lber (or at least a piece of it) - I took it home and filleted it up and had some of it for dinner.  It was some of the best fish I believe I havc ever tasted, really firm, white and flaky.  I covered it in flour, salt, and pepper and  then added a little Chef Paul Prudome's Redfish Magic seasoning and then lightly fried it in olive oil. I had it with rice and it was literally some of the best fish I have ever put in my mouth

Striper Fishin' the Clinch

After Scott (my brother) listened to me talk about striper fishing all night long at the Kingston Football game on Friday night (by the way Kinston beat Scott Co. 21 to 12 - Go Jackets!) he decided to go with me on Saturday morning. Ethan and Ian joined us. We started by getting bait in Dead Man's cove (Young Creek)- nice 6 to 10" gizzard shad were abundant in this creek, so we loaded up with as many as the bait tank could hold and headed up to take a look at the area I had been catching fish in previous days on the ole' Lowrance. There were tons of baitfish and what looked to be good sized rockfish all over the drop from 10 to 30'. So we started fishing on the bottom, but didn't have any luck - occasionally we would see a nice striper break the surface but never got any to bite. We decided to make the long run up to Jones Island because I just felt sure we could find some fish up there in the early part of the day. We made the run of about 14 miles and by the time we got there TVA had started generating at Melton Hill Dam, so we had current - I always feel more confident when I'm fishing with a little current. Right away we started getting bites using bottom rigs and free lining. Scott and Ethan each lost one, I had several short strike my live bait, and then Ian hooked into a nice 10 pound striper. Just a little bit later, Ian hooked up with the big fish of the day - a 21 pounder - the biggest of his life. Needless to say he was psyched and so was I! I added one more 5 pounder to the stringer and shortly thereafter we ran out of bait. We went into Paw Paw Creek and I finally accumulated enough good bait to get back out on the river. Unfortunately it was getting a little later in the day (~12:30) and the bite seemed to turn off. Since we had a long run ahead of us and since I had to get back home to get ready for UT's first football game of the 2010 season, we decided to call it a day, and what a good one it was. Thank you Lord!

Striper Fishin’ the Clinch

I took Mike Walker and Adam Doughty up the Clinch this evening. Unlike the night before, I struggled a little bit to get the right size shad minnows – I couldn't seem to find them on the flat between the two bridges in town. There was an abundance of smaller gizzards and threadfins everywhere along the main channel in huge schools. I ended up getting good sized gizzards in Dead Man's cove. The first spot we went to was the spot I saw fish breaking across from the mouth of Clary Foote's place. Since we spent some extra time chasing bait fish, we arrived at the spot at the opportune time - ~7:15 p.m. Just as we arrived big stripers were breaking on the surface – I had Adam and Mike rigged up with poppin' corks (in essence free lining) and circle hooks – The first cast Adam had a fish on and lost it, next cast lost another fish, next cast he caught about a 1&1/2 lb smallmouth, next cast lost one. At this point my heart was beating out of my chest – Mike moves up to the front of the boat and gets hooked up and lands an 8lb striper. I hook up another 8lber – somewhere in all the chaos I think Mike and Adam each lost 3 or 4 more fish and then Adam caught about a 2&1/2 lb smallmouth. As is typical, the stripers seemed to move on so the bite slowed a bit.  We moved down river a mile or two and started seeing stripers break the surface on a flat - a couple of blow ups on a redfin but no fish in the boat.  We moved again a little further down stream to the flat with milfoil in front of Rick Klein's and saw more stripers breaking the surface.  I missed another fish blow up on the redfin and Mike missed on on a minnow - By this time it was good and dark and we all had to get home.  Man oh man, what could have been.  If we'd caught all the fish we had a chance at tonight you would have just finished reading a much different story - that's how it goes some times on the water.

Clinch River Striper Fishin'

I took Stuart Row and Christian Allen up the Clinch this evening for a few hours in hopes of finding a few stripers. I got bait between the Hwy 70 and I-40 bridges. We started out at the routine spot across from Rick Klein's house and didn't find any. We then ran way up the river (~13 miles) to Grubb Island. We floated shad under a poppin' cork along the shore line, and right away I caught one that was about 8 lbs. We stayed another 15 minutes or so and then headed back down river until we saw rockfish breaking across the river from the mouth of Clary Foote's place. Another fisherman was closer to the breaking fish and got the slip on us, blocking our line of casting – we sat there and watched him catch a couple and then out of utter frustration, we moved on downstream. We returned to the spot across from Rick Klein's house and almost immediately saw fish breaking in front of Rick's dock. We quickly motored across the channel and hooked up two nice stripers – Christian caught one on a free line shad and I caught one on a 10" redfin – I missed another couple on the redfin.

Striper Fishin' the Clinch

Today I had the good fortune to take Jack Britt and Dan Hurst striper fishing on the Clinch River from 7:00 a.m. to ~12:00 noon.  We were also joined by some of our other good buddies, Charlie Shields, Stuart Row, and Stuart's son Ben - they fished from Charlie's Ranger.  We concentrated on the same general areas that I had been finding fish in the past few weeks, but since it was the morning and Melton Hill Dam wasn't generating we were in a very different situation.  I got good sized (6 - 8") gizzard shad minnows for bait up on the flat between the Hwy 70 and I-40 bridges.  We fished a couple of hours with no action and then decided to run up the river and try some other spots I had luck with in previous outings. Just as we were ready to head up river we checked in with Stu and Sir Charles and noticed Stu was hung (or at least I thought he was judging by his rod being doubled over to a non-moving object), as we got closer we realized the non-moving object was beginning to slowly budge.  As the fight ensued we each speculated as to what the monster may be...water soaked log? a turtle? possibly - if he's lucky a drum? - well as usual I was shown up and to the water surface came a beautiful 18 lb flathead cat!

After all this excitement we continued up river and here in a minute the river started flowing, and Dan caught a nice 11 lb striper up around the Gallaher Bridge on the flat near the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Site.  I was hopeful that the fish would turn on, but it wasn't meant to be today.  We ran back down river again and finished out the day where we started out, and Jack's patience finally paid off with a small blue cat and a beautiful 18" sauger - which turned out to be my lunch!  One extra added treat was that we saw a mature bald eagle fly down to the water surface and pick up a dead fish (probably one of ours).  This happened on two different occassions this afternoon and got to get a terrific view of him - really a beautiful and majestic creature.  Overall, it was another great day on the water spent with two of the guys I admire most. 

Striper Fishin' the Clinch

Mike Walker and I launched on the Clinch at the Food City Launch to rockfish.  We got good sized gizzard shad minnows between the Hwy 70 and I-40 bridges just downstream of the Steam Plant on the flat on the left side.  We went up and fished the 1^st bend in the river above the Emory/Clinch confluence but got nothing.  We then went up to fish the shore line just down from the entrance to Dead Man’s and got nothing.  We then ran further up the river around the 3^rd bend and saw some rockfish breaking on the surface.  We proceeded to catch eight rockfish between 10 and 20 pounds on free line live gizzards (~6” ).  The water temp was ~75F and was crystal clear so I watched several of the fish come up and take my bait – it was awesome!  Thank you TWRA for your wonderful striped bass stocking program.

Storms had passed through the area earlier in the afternoon, and I had actually cancelled our trip for the evening because I thought the wind and rain was going to be horrific.  But at about 5:00 p.m. the weather seem to calm down and so I called up the guys and in a matter of minutes we were back on target.  I took Christian Allen and Will Tullock out in search of big stripers tonight on Watts Bar. We gathered up our bait at the usual spot this time of year - Center Farm Cove for 6 - 8" gizzard shad.  The water temperature remains in the mid to high 80's so it's tough keeping the bait alive for very long.  Once we had an adequate supply of bait we ran up the river to the northwest side of Long Island to look and see if any rockfish were staging at the drop off just near the TWRA tractor loading area of the island.  Right away Christian hooked into a drag squealing striper that he fought for a couple of minutes but somehow it came loose.  That's not too common when using the circle hooks I like to use.  We continued to allow the current to drift us around a little and here and in just a bit Christian had another hook up.  This time he landed the big boy - a 20 lb striper.  His personal best - we were all pretty psyched up.  We continued fishing for the next couple of hours, but things just seemed to be dead.  We caught a couple of small blue cats, but nothing else for the night.  Either way it was an excellent trip and Christian was very glad he had gone.  Once again I vow to never change my plans based upon the weather forecast.

Striper Fishin' with Will

I took Will Tullock (a summer intern at Strata-G) to the upper end of Long Island tonight.  We started about 6:30 p.m.  I got good sized (~2.5-3.5”) shad minnows in Center Farm, and we headed up river.  Will caught two nice rockfish (4 lbs and 6 lbs – see picture) right off the bat at the drop off just above the osprey nest at the uppermost end of Long Island.  
We proceeded to catch several other white bass as the evening cooled off – the good white bass action started around 8:00 p.m.  Will really seemed to enjoy himself, and as a thank you for taking him his mom made me a plate of the finest brownies I believe I have ever tasted.  Thanks Ms. Tullock!

Rockfishin' with Luke

Luke and I went back out to the upper end of Long Island tonight to catch rockfish.  I got good shad minnows (gizzards) in the Center Farm Cove.  Luke hammered a couple of nice ones (8 lbs and 10 lbs).  The 10 pounder is shown in the picture.  What an incredible blessing he is in my life.

Watching the Graph

I went out to the upper end of Long Island by myself tonight and caught several nice rockfish in the 4 to 10 lb range.  Below is a picture of the graph at the drop off just up from the osprey nest showing the dense stack of fish that were sitting at the base of the drop off.  Wow! When the graph looks like this you better hurry and get a big ole' gizzard down there.

Fishin' with the Bosses

I took Joe Whedbee and Dave Peters (Vice President of Johnson Controls, Inc.) below Ft. Loudoun Dam tonight.  Dave was in town for work and Joe had promised to take him fishing, so Joe asked me if I would take them striper fishing – of course I was able to be convinced!  I went to Watts Bar earlier in the day and got some good sized (6 – 8”) gizzard shad because I have been struggling to get bait below Ft. Loudoun and I wanted to make sure we had good bait.  I arrived at the boat launch (below Tellico Dam) a little early so I thought I would run up below the dam and see if I could find the fish real quick.  I stopped at the end of the wing wall off of the lock and immediately caught a 5 lb (Boca Grip Certified!) largemouth bass – it was awesome!  I left there not wanting to ruin the spot and went on up below the dam (nearest the lock discharge side) – 1^st minnow in the water was a 10 lb rockfish – BAM!  He fought like a ton of bricks.  I ran back down below Tellico and picked up Joe and Dave.  I wanted to take Dave to the end of the lock wall first thing and let him catch a nice bass – but just as we arrived a tournament fisherman had locked through from Ft. Loudoun Lake and he was camped on the spot.  So, we went on up to the dam – right away Joe and Dave each caught nice rockfish in the 6 to 10 pound class.  Then Dave caught the bruiser of the night an 18 pounder (see picture) – he was thrilled!  It was a real pleasure to get to fish with Dave and Joe tonight.

Striper Fishin' with Joe & Clip

I took Joe Whedbee and Brian Clippenger (Regional Sales Manager with Johnson Controls, Inc.) up above Long Island tonight.  Brian was in town for work and Joe asked me if I would take them.  We did ok – not near as well as in recent times, but Brian and Joe each caught a few good fish – I believe Brian caught a personal best judging by his reaction to the squealing drag!

Doubling Up on Personal Bests

Kate, Karoline, Adam Doughty, and I went fishing on Watts Bar (upper end of Long Island) tonight.  I got our bait (gizzard shad) in the Center Farm cove.  All of the bait was large (7 -10”).  We fished from ~6:30 to 9:00 p.m. and caught several blue catfish, ranging in size from 1 lb to 10 lbs.  Kate also caught a nice 14 lb rockfish (the best fish of her life), and Karoline caught a 5 lb largemouth bass on about a 6” gizzard shad!  That's quite a hawg for a 12 year old.  This was by far the best bass she’s ever caught.  Two personal bests in one evening - awesome!  Thank you Lord Jesus for all your many blessings!

Doubling Up on Personal Bests & Big Flatheads

Crystal, Arnold, Nancy, and I went fishing on Watts Bar (upper most end of Long Island) tonight.  I got our bait (gizzard shad) in Center Farm cove.  All of the bait was large (7 -10”).  We fished from ~6:30 to 9:00 p.m. and caught several rockfish, channel catfish, blue catfish, and flathead catfish.  Crystal and Nancy both caught the biggest fish of their lives – Crystal a 9 lb blue cat and Nancy a 15 lb rockfish.

I also caught a really nice 45 lb flathead catfish.  My Boga Grip only goes up to 30 lbs and the flathead pegged it out instantly, so I measured it at 46” and I estimated it weighed between 40 & 45 lbs.  I looked up on the Missouri Department of Conservation website a catfish length vs. weight estimator (http://mdc.mo.gov/fish/sport/catfish/length_weight.htm) and it says a 46” flathead weighs 45.59 lbs. Sweet!