First for 09
 

Had my buddy Bill and his son on board today. Hit SWC before 1st light. Start of the corner didn't see any life so kept going. Saw some birds , then marked bait on SE side so we jigged and cast but only got 20-30 lb stripers. Pulled the plug after 1/2 hr and ran quite a few miles looking for life but not much the whole way.

Finally after a long ride found lots of bird activity and started marking bait. Got 4 bars out and started trolling. Was rigging up a bally for a 5th rod when the long right rigger pops. I go to the rod since Bill was driving and then the short right pops, doubles!

Billy grabs that rod and I'm on the long rod. Bill starts clearing the other rods. We can tell Billy's fish is small so I let him work his in while I just hold mine steady so we don't cross up lines. He gets it boatside in 10 mins, we get a lip gaff in it and haul it in.

I start working on mine and it takes awhile to get it boatside. We were thinking maybe we could release the first fish and take the bigger one. By the time it got close and we're getting in gaff range, we're not sure the 1st fish would come back so I said let's release the second one. Get the fish boatside and get a lip gaff in him. We swim him for a bit and after awhile starts kicking and we release him. He was a decent fish in the 60's.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...s/CIMG2459.jpg


We measure Billy's fish and he tapes out to 44". Nice to see some small fish around.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...s/CIMG2460.jpg

Large fish hit an Orange FO bar with green/yellow stinger

Small fish hit black bar with glow/pink dots stinger


We trolled some more in the same area but couldn't get another bite. We then looked for stuff to cast to but only found bass and blues. When we headed back in we saw a couple fish roll on the surface. Cast in that area for awhile but no takers so we headed in. Great day on the water, got the skunk off the boat for this year!

nice looking fish jeff. when the bycatch is big bass you know it was a good day. call me next time you want company

Congrats!!! Great to see the footballs are out there, and well deserved double up when you burn the fuel to go ea$t.

nice job, good to see some maller fish around as I was kind of starting to lose hope of being able to take one on spinning gear this year

Jeff Congrats - that first pic is great.

You beat me for the day - spinning rod frustration and broken off fish on my boat.

Nice job!
better than we did up north

It's about damn time. I bet you did the crazy Ivan's leaving the harbor didn't you?

Good looking fish now put the trolling gear away and bring out the spinning tackle.

Thanks Guys, took awhile this year.

Haha, I didn't recognize the screenname, but know those comments.

Nice job Jeff.