New Tack, a Running Roccus Report
- Thread starter Roccus7
- Start date
No, I'm pretty sure he was in the NY Bight, or maybe off Sandy Hook.
I have to find out more.
WTH? This isn't the Jersey Shore North (Old Orchard Beach), but I finally won at the arcade with a Maine Personal Best Stripah...
Was greeted by this marvelous sunrise the morning when I got down to the dock, and felt it was the harbinger of a great morning's fishing.
As I started executing my morning's game plan, I realized that the stripers were scattered and I needed to take positive steps and not succumb to chasing breaking fish, which made me wonder if I had slipped down to Old Orchard Beach because it's so reminiscent of the Jersey Shore, boardwalk and arcades included.
Regardless the bass this AM decided it was time for the "Whack-A-Mole" World Championship in my river. They would pop up feeding on brit herring for maybe 1 minute or 2 and then disappear to pop up somewhere else. I could hear boats down in the harbor buzzing back and forth chasing the blitzes, and decided to heed the wisdom of Lord Horatio Nelson, No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy and ignored the tournament, choosing to drift along structure that hold fish in my neck of the woods.
The strategy was sound and I even had some blitzes pop up around me, which was nice. The were so short that you only had time to catch one fish before they would disappear. Just as I was release one fish from a short-lived blitz that I had to cast up river to, I hear the "popping" of some larger fish, and discovered a new blitz right by the boat. Tossed my popper into it and was immediately onto a very nice fish in the middle of this melee. My brain thought, Thank Poseidon these are stripers and not blues, because if they were blues, your line would be certainly cut off by some marauding bluefish swimming into it with its jaws chomping away.
A long, protracted fight ensued with the fish taking off on an impressively long first run that just never stopped. I thought I was in a safe area with lots of water and room, but suddenly realized that she was damn close to a mooring buoy about 40 yds away, so I cupped my spool and took a little line so we could drift clear of that. As soon as we were no longer in danger, I let the big girl run away. This battle royal continued so long that my arm started to cramp, a first for me striper fishing in Maine, but I played through the pain and netted this 34" beauty.
She, and I, were totally spent from the battle, but I quickly unhooked her and spent a good 5 minutes reviving her so she can live another day.
All in all a magnificent morning, with 9 fish from 20 - 34".
Was greeted by this marvelous sunrise the morning when I got down to the dock, and felt it was the harbinger of a great morning's fishing.
As I started executing my morning's game plan, I realized that the stripers were scattered and I needed to take positive steps and not succumb to chasing breaking fish, which made me wonder if I had slipped down to Old Orchard Beach because it's so reminiscent of the Jersey Shore, boardwalk and arcades included.
Regardless the bass this AM decided it was time for the "Whack-A-Mole" World Championship in my river. They would pop up feeding on brit herring for maybe 1 minute or 2 and then disappear to pop up somewhere else. I could hear boats down in the harbor buzzing back and forth chasing the blitzes, and decided to heed the wisdom of Lord Horatio Nelson, No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy and ignored the tournament, choosing to drift along structure that hold fish in my neck of the woods.
The strategy was sound and I even had some blitzes pop up around me, which was nice. The were so short that you only had time to catch one fish before they would disappear. Just as I was release one fish from a short-lived blitz that I had to cast up river to, I hear the "popping" of some larger fish, and discovered a new blitz right by the boat. Tossed my popper into it and was immediately onto a very nice fish in the middle of this melee. My brain thought, Thank Poseidon these are stripers and not blues, because if they were blues, your line would be certainly cut off by some marauding bluefish swimming into it with its jaws chomping away.
A long, protracted fight ensued with the fish taking off on an impressively long first run that just never stopped. I thought I was in a safe area with lots of water and room, but suddenly realized that she was damn close to a mooring buoy about 40 yds away, so I cupped my spool and took a little line so we could drift clear of that. As soon as we were no longer in danger, I let the big girl run away. This battle royal continued so long that my arm started to cramp, a first for me striper fishing in Maine, but I played through the pain and netted this 34" beauty.
She, and I, were totally spent from the battle, but I quickly unhooked her and spent a good 5 minutes reviving her so she can live another day.
All in all a magnificent morning, with 9 fish from 20 - 34".
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In my experience of catching over 4,000 stripers over the past 10 years, I cannot disagree more vociferously with this comment. I'd say that 10-15 kts of breeze blinds you to what's happening around your lure. In the 0-5 kts of breeze, the glassine water conditions I prefer for fishing in an estuary are present and I've learned to read any subtle changes of the lure's wake that alert me to a fish's presence.
Let's put it this way, fish are following your lure more times that you can imagine, and when you detect this in calm water, you can often change your retrieve and popping sequence to elicit a strike. I'd say that at least 25% of the bass I catch are due to retrieve changes made when I realized there was a fish following my popper. When I fish in 10-15 kts, I feel like I'm fishing blind, and when fishing in 15+ kts, the waves make any decent plug presentation almost impossible, with the lure hopping from wave crest to wave crest. In these conditions I seek tide appropriate spots in a lee to fish.
C-Day at Chez Roccus!!
I know the rest of the world is commemorating the 78th Anniversary of the D-Day, Allied Invasion of Normandy, but today hit the Century Mark, catching the 100th stripah of the season making it C-Day.
Nothing huge today, 9 fish 18 - 26" bringing the YTD total catch to 107, including 13 "Keepahs", only retaining 2, 97 fish from 20 - 27" and 5 fish less than 20". Starting to see smaller fish which I find to be good news, lest the fishing totally crashes once again in the coming years...
I know the rest of the world is commemorating the 78th Anniversary of the D-Day, Allied Invasion of Normandy, but today hit the Century Mark, catching the 100th stripah of the season making it C-Day.
Nothing huge today, 9 fish 18 - 26" bringing the YTD total catch to 107, including 13 "Keepahs", only retaining 2, 97 fish from 20 - 27" and 5 fish less than 20". Starting to see smaller fish which I find to be good news, lest the fishing totally crashes once again in the coming years...
The Roccus Corollary to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle Explained
Fishing still great, but after an evening and morning of playing Whack-A-Mole, Jedi Master Level, I've decided to propose the Roccus Corollary to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, a famous scientific concept that all of you BS Physicists should remember:
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that when it comes to a quantum (the smallest piece of matter), you can either know how fast it is going, or where it's located, but not both at the same time without being uncertain.
The Roccus Corollary to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that when striped bass are feeding in your area you can either know that they are there and feeding, or where they're going to feed, but not both at the same time without being uncertain.
This Corollary is proven by the outbreak of the piscatorial equivalent of Whack-A-Mole in 'da hood. You see bass feeding, but whenever you approach that location, or another one you feel that they will start feeding in, they pop up feeding somewhere else.
Regardless, between yesterday and this morning I was able to land 14 stripers from 18 - 31" even with my inability to correctly determine where they would pop up next.
Fishing still great, but after an evening and morning of playing Whack-A-Mole, Jedi Master Level, I've decided to propose the Roccus Corollary to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, a famous scientific concept that all of you BS Physicists should remember:
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that when it comes to a quantum (the smallest piece of matter), you can either know how fast it is going, or where it's located, but not both at the same time without being uncertain.
The Roccus Corollary to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle states that when striped bass are feeding in your area you can either know that they are there and feeding, or where they're going to feed, but not both at the same time without being uncertain.
This Corollary is proven by the outbreak of the piscatorial equivalent of Whack-A-Mole in 'da hood. You see bass feeding, but whenever you approach that location, or another one you feel that they will start feeding in, they pop up feeding somewhere else.
Regardless, between yesterday and this morning I was able to land 14 stripers from 18 - 31" even with my inability to correctly determine where they would pop up next.
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longcast
Well-Known Angler
Stay on them! I have been sidelined by a few issues, but will try and get back in it down here soon. Full moon on Tuesday. Does that affect your fishing?
90% of them caught on a popper, but when I see them enjoying Alewife Slurpees, I toss an X-Rap Saltwater Subsurface X-15 at them.
For some reason, the smaller fish love that lure; I've seen 15" fish repeatedly hitting it!! The slot fish seem to be much less interested in it, as only 1 of my 14 slot fish on the season has been on the X-Rap, but on an odd day, most fish caught on it. Last night's 31" bass, which was caught on a popper, had a belly full of tiny herring and one large alewife in it
Go Figure...
The more extreme tides do help things, but they are problematic for me in that dawn tides are low, and on the moon, my boat sits on the bottom. If I really want to get out, I just put my boat on our HOA dock the night before and take a 1/4 mile in the morning...
Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up...
Nice morning today, got up early to hit a spot that is best at mid-flood and nailed it in that 1st drift was a 5 fish drift, 21 - 27". Next 2 drifts were worthless so I toodled down to the harbor, swearing I would NOT play Whack-A-Mole today. Approached my 1st intended drift, when the arcade opened and I succumbed to the siren's song and slapped a quarter into the slot.
The game was easier today, in that 1 of three casts into the melee would result in a hit on my popper AND the fish were staying up feeding for minutes, not seconds. I even had time to video some of the action after already catching 3 fish from this pod that I shared with my neighbor John.
Ended the morning with an even dozen, 18 - 27"
Nice morning today, got up early to hit a spot that is best at mid-flood and nailed it in that 1st drift was a 5 fish drift, 21 - 27". Next 2 drifts were worthless so I toodled down to the harbor, swearing I would NOT play Whack-A-Mole today. Approached my 1st intended drift, when the arcade opened and I succumbed to the siren's song and slapped a quarter into the slot.
The game was easier today, in that 1 of three casts into the melee would result in a hit on my popper AND the fish were staying up feeding for minutes, not seconds. I even had time to video some of the action after already catching 3 fish from this pod that I shared with my neighbor John.
Ended the morning with an even dozen, 18 - 27"
You don't get many mornings like that everyday.
Actually, fish feeding like that has been SOP for about a week now. I kept saying to myself I should video, but the "blitzes" have been so quick at times, the terns don't even get to them before it's over.
Today was different in that the surface activity would continue in 1 area for a couple of fish catches, instead of getting one cast in before they go off somewhere else.
Fishing with Federal Inspector Oversight...
This AM was another nice one with 9 fish from 21 - 28", making the YTD totals of over 160 bass, including 15 slot fish.
Had some avian highlights, with the first of seeing 3 terns hassling a flying turkey?!! Why hassle the turkey unless they are programmed to hassle big brown birds. I had a big brown bird hassling me while fishing, nothing like fishing with oversight by a Federal Inspector.
This AM was another nice one with 9 fish from 21 - 28", making the YTD totals of over 160 bass, including 15 slot fish.
Had some avian highlights, with the first of seeing 3 terns hassling a flying turkey?!! Why hassle the turkey unless they are programmed to hassle big brown birds. I had a big brown bird hassling me while fishing, nothing like fishing with oversight by a Federal Inspector.
Fishing has dropped like the Market, and guess who came to visit today?
Haven't been skunked in June in years, but the handwriting was on the wall. 3 fish on Saturday AM, with a few dropped, and only 2 caught yesterday, the only 2 hits of the morning. Today I went out with my BIL and hit all the spots hard, only having one swirl to show for it... The Roccus is NOT amused!!
Haven't been skunked in June in years, but the handwriting was on the wall. 3 fish on Saturday AM, with a few dropped, and only 2 caught yesterday, the only 2 hits of the morning. Today I went out with my BIL and hit all the spots hard, only having one swirl to show for it... The Roccus is NOT amused!!
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