After 2 straight skunks, and a horrible storm yesterday, I was reticent to even go out this AM. However, I woke up at 03:37, and after watching some boring TV, I realized the rain had stopped, there was zero wind, and my intentions of fishing this evening was up against a thunderstorm forecast. Figured might as well log the third skunk in a row early today, but vowed only to stay in the backyard river.
Went upriver to a cove by the head of tide and tossed a popper for a while with absolutely no signs of fish, so time for Plan B, a nearby cove that usually produces in late August at high tide. Decided to work my way out of the cove, and went up to a narrow place, a good fish ambush place. Casted for 10 minutes with no action, and went to another ambush sport. As I was about to say "screw it" to this spot, I noticed a minor disturbance in the wake of my popper. Rated that one had a 50% chance of being a fish, so casted again and had another wake disturbance, but a definite one at that. Next few casts had interest, but no hits. Decided to try a jointed Redfin, which also got interest, but no hit. Then that action abated so I went closer to the mouth of the cove.
Decided to go back to the popper and tossed out a cast. Popped the plug 3 times and mid twenty inch bass skyrocketed out of the water and cartwheeled with my plug in its mouth. The fish was not alone; 8 fish broke the glass like surface of the water around him, as his strike disturbed their tranquility. The fight didn't last long, when the plug pulled out. At that point I felt I would not have the shame of a 3rd consecutive skunking the morning little did I know that this fish would be the only one to violently grab my lure with no extreme intervention.
My casts continued to generate interest, but no hits. Decided to try a small Krocodile since the fish were feeding on rain bait. Once again, the lure generated interest, but no strikes. A needlefish was the same with fish interest shown by wake follows, but nothing more. At this point I realized the popper with the only lure getting anything more than a "disturbance in the wake" so I decided to focus on that. I got a couple of hits, but realized that this fish were "slurping" their breakfast, so if the plug wasn't going back from a pause in the retrieve, the fish wouldn't get hooked.
I never suffer silently, and I was pretty vocal in expression my displeasure with the fish this AM, but finally I did hook and land a fiesty 26" striper, only after I went through extreme gyrations and convulsions to get it from stop following the plug and slurp the plug into its mouth. This was shallow water fishing, ~6' deep and this bass put on quite an airshow, sky rocketing out of the water 3 times. OK, skunk avoided, should I go home and grab the bottle of Brioschi to calm down my stomach??? A normal person might do that, but I'm far from normal when it comes to striped bass fishing.
When the action in the cove died down, I ventured to another small cove and casted fruitlessly for 20 min, only to return to the site of my only fish. Then I got lucky, some fish actually started feeding within casting range. Multiple casts were tossed into these fish with a swirl here, a missed hit there, and the lure being totally ignored. I could feel my stomach starting to really burn, but no, I was going for #2, come hell or low water chased me out of the cove. Eventually another following fish slurped at my lure as I paused it, and the resulting hookup was signaled by yet another cartwheeling 26" fish. I decided to go for the hat trick, but the fish disappeared so I headed back to the barn, a bit ambivalent about the morning. I was relieved that I had avoided the stench of a third straight skunking, but furious that the fish had so much fun abusing me.
Went upriver to a cove by the head of tide and tossed a popper for a while with absolutely no signs of fish, so time for Plan B, a nearby cove that usually produces in late August at high tide. Decided to work my way out of the cove, and went up to a narrow place, a good fish ambush place. Casted for 10 minutes with no action, and went to another ambush sport. As I was about to say "screw it" to this spot, I noticed a minor disturbance in the wake of my popper. Rated that one had a 50% chance of being a fish, so casted again and had another wake disturbance, but a definite one at that. Next few casts had interest, but no hits. Decided to try a jointed Redfin, which also got interest, but no hit. Then that action abated so I went closer to the mouth of the cove.
Decided to go back to the popper and tossed out a cast. Popped the plug 3 times and mid twenty inch bass skyrocketed out of the water and cartwheeled with my plug in its mouth. The fish was not alone; 8 fish broke the glass like surface of the water around him, as his strike disturbed their tranquility. The fight didn't last long, when the plug pulled out. At that point I felt I would not have the shame of a 3rd consecutive skunking the morning little did I know that this fish would be the only one to violently grab my lure with no extreme intervention.
My casts continued to generate interest, but no hits. Decided to try a small Krocodile since the fish were feeding on rain bait. Once again, the lure generated interest, but no strikes. A needlefish was the same with fish interest shown by wake follows, but nothing more. At this point I realized the popper with the only lure getting anything more than a "disturbance in the wake" so I decided to focus on that. I got a couple of hits, but realized that this fish were "slurping" their breakfast, so if the plug wasn't going back from a pause in the retrieve, the fish wouldn't get hooked.
I never suffer silently, and I was pretty vocal in expression my displeasure with the fish this AM, but finally I did hook and land a fiesty 26" striper, only after I went through extreme gyrations and convulsions to get it from stop following the plug and slurp the plug into its mouth. This was shallow water fishing, ~6' deep and this bass put on quite an airshow, sky rocketing out of the water 3 times. OK, skunk avoided, should I go home and grab the bottle of Brioschi to calm down my stomach??? A normal person might do that, but I'm far from normal when it comes to striped bass fishing.
When the action in the cove died down, I ventured to another small cove and casted fruitlessly for 20 min, only to return to the site of my only fish. Then I got lucky, some fish actually started feeding within casting range. Multiple casts were tossed into these fish with a swirl here, a missed hit there, and the lure being totally ignored. I could feel my stomach starting to really burn, but no, I was going for #2, come hell or low water chased me out of the cove. Eventually another following fish slurped at my lure as I paused it, and the resulting hookup was signaled by yet another cartwheeling 26" fish. I decided to go for the hat trick, but the fish disappeared so I headed back to the barn, a bit ambivalent about the morning. I was relieved that I had avoided the stench of a third straight skunking, but furious that the fish had so much fun abusing me.
