Did a couple of quick east end recons last week, less than 20 min a piece......nothing doing.

Yesterday (Sunday) AM however, yielded two bass on two casts, both cookie-cutter 27".....(I measured 'em). Nothing for the next 15 min., then I had to scoot....

Let the games begin....for us of the non-bait crowd...

H

hey Harrible hows it going ?
Chris L

Glad to hear it Harrible. We are going to fish RI till the herring give out then we'll see you down the Ditch.

Look forward to seeing you guys at the canal this summer.....

This morning I nabbed a 14-15#, right off the bat, again with the artificial stuff.....it was a short trip again, as other duties called.

I saw JP this AM...a couple of his herring fishing buddies scored some decent bass at the herring run. It was not very busy with fishers for this time of year, but the fish were running bigger......I saw several in the 20-25# class after daylight, and I've heard quite a few 30+ have fallen recently.

From this point forward I will be fishing 3-4 times a week, and would expect JP will be doing the same....if history repeats (or gets better), some of the bigger fish will fall for jigs and the like...

It was great to see Powers. It's getting to be a tradition.....

Give a holler when you are coming down.....

H

That's good to hear Harrible.
I went to the canal for the first time today at around 5:30 and nailed a 28" bass on my first cast using a homemade pike in herring color. That was the only one I got and I did try jigging but the wind was tuff.

Hey Slip, Is that your first striper from the canal this year? Getting your first on one of your own plugs is a great way to kick off a new season. I got my first keepa on a cowboy Sunday am. I went again this morning for an hour but no luck. The sunrise on a scale of 1-10 was a definete 10 though. Would have been even nicer from the east end I bet.

Jeff, yes it was my first fish in the canal this year on my first trip to the canal and on my first cast. I hope to catch more next time. Maybe I should try a beachmaster cowboy also.

Slip-

Nice to get rolling again, eh?

I did not see much of you after June last year, although JP told me you had a banner year at the Ditch. Do you fish nights pretty exclusively when spring has passed...?

I usually catch the last hour or two before dawn....thought I might see you now and again.

H

The bass finally hit the skins when the east current went slow/slack and for about an hour into the West.

I dropped a 20#er at my feet when the hook pulled out of the skin jig. Saltheart: we've got an improved crimp connection, right ?

Harry, don't be encouraging Slipknot. ;) . We see enough of that guy without having to cheer him on :p

The new design has the wire laced through the hook eye. The crimp is now cast right into the jig body. We tested the new design and the 7/0 Mustad hook straightened out. Nothing let go.

We are now looking at beefing up the brass eyelet you tie to. With people using 65 lb braid now instead of 30 lb mono , we want to beef up everything.

We have a whole box of new jigs just for you Jim. We should arrange a delivery so you can start using these new ones. We need your feed back on the new design too!

Saltheart,
Actually had the same question for you. Any chance the jigs might be shipping out soon? Looking forward to giving them a workout in the near future.
Thanks,
Chris

They are all made Chris. I was suppose to ship a bunch friday but ended up spending all day getting ready for our first herring trip that night (get a freshwater license , charge the battery , etc , etc) . I'm gonna start doing a few each night till I get everyone's out. I ginda figured we had some time but the canal appears to be heating up early this year so I got to get going.

Saltheart,
No problem at all, and all the much more understandable considering it's fishing that got in the way. No rush at all, and thanks for the update.
Chris

Hit the canal tonight (weds) from 9 or so until 10:30 by the run. I didn't get any fish or hits on artificials and overall seemed pretty quiet. One guy I talked to got one fish from 6-10 using live herring and that one fish was caught right around 10pm as the west tide was just getting up to speed. I guess it was good this morning on the outgoing tide. As A side note I got a wake up call as I was cruising home- I had a deer in the left passing lane heading for my lane but luckily not in too big of a hurry. I think my drivers side mirror took the skin off his nose!