What about the bait?

Well, it's coming med May and I've not been fishing for months.  But some things are progressing in a positive manner.  Bill Fowler got his Gobbler a few days ago and then rewarded himself by going crappie fishing (caught 50).  I got my 2013 striper citation for the 54 # 1 oz cow.  Of course, it was actually a team capture, Team B & J Cows!

Hemby is still slaying stripers, but I don't have a clue where he's gettin it done.  www.blog.jimhemby.com  His report for May 8 says he was getting gizzards off clay banks in daylight.  He usually hangs a light under a bridge about 4 AM.  He was pullin boards over 15-20 foot flats and couldn't get baits out before taking hits. In April, maybe due to the hard winter, bait was really difficult and took hours even for the experts. 

Two weeks ago, mother nature dumped several days of rain in a few minutes on the lake and filled to cover the local docks and set lots of boats loose in the lake.  Only a day or so to drop back to normal pool of about 250 feet above sea level.

During the interim, I got the Lowrance HDS 9 touch on the console and ran the transducer lines over the deck.  Broke one lead off trying to pull the old and decided not to risk major wiring damage by pulling the new lines under the deck.  Since I had a HDS 8 transducer mounted on the left of the prop, I remounted the HDS 8 head above the 9 and also remove the Navico gps to give me better view of the water while underway.

I found a gimble for the Lowrance and may install it under the 9 so it can swing off to the side to provide a wider view over the bow.

Tried launching the Sea Pro a few times, but it will be near impossible solo at the community dock.  Doesn't seem like I'll be doing much fishing from the boat.  Maybe need to do another charter with Hemby!

Jim Hemby, a great guide and resource

Arranged a charter with Jim Hemby for March 11th that promised to be a great day on the water.  Just a few days earlier, the forecast was for 10 inches of snow, more snow, etc.  Then a few great shirt sleeve days after the sun was out.  But, the 10th and 11th of March was forecast to be 70 or so degrees.  The morning chill felt like freezing and wind made it feel even colder.  But, the fish-god smiled on us and Jim Hemby got us on some decent stripers.  We launched at Hunter's Landing.  After that, my knowledge of the lake wouldn't let me know exactly where we were at any time.  Seems like the stripers are staging for a false spawn, not yet schooled, but up river and can be on the feed.

I see Sams Flats in the Pamunkey Creek down to the "S" turns.  Think we did Terry Run up by Days Bridge and maybe Foremost Run.  Pretty sure we did Dillards Bridge for bait.  Might have done Plentiful Creek and bait at Stubbs Bridge.  Well, all maybe.  One day, I'll have a navigation app for my I-Pad that can make a trail for later interpretation.

You can check blog.jimhemby.com and http://www.jimhemby.com/guides/guides.html
to get information from the source rather than my brain pharts.

I think Jim Hemby has several guides fishing the lake simultaneouslyPossibly others were fishing the North anna River above the Holiday Bridge.

While the rig for striper fishing with planer boards is usually pretty straight forward, Jim Hemby does it his way. The top hook is for smaller  herring and the bottom mono/treble hook is for larger gizzards.  

Still have to see if the downline setup is identical to what I've always used.

Now finding that the fishing reports on Jim Hemby's blog is really a great tutor.  Gives  his technique and sonar screen shots over near the past 10 years.  Like a report for every season and location on Lake Anna.  Well, some of the reports are for the 4 legged variety.

Understanding the Lake Anna connumdrum

Well, trying to understand Lake Anna and striper fishing is best illustrated by reading   http://mccotterslakeanna.com/lake.htm  Don't think additional information about this lake is practical or needed.  The professional guides seem to be top notch on this lake, well worth a charter.

Finding http://va-outdoors.com/forum.php  was a heaven sent encounter and opens contact with the fishermen of Lake Anna.

During the interim, I'm still trying to learn cast net for bait.  Unsual lake as the private side is much warmer than the public side and the alewife cold kill doesn't happen on the private side, maybe.  Rumor is that the private side will have more bait, blueback, gizzard, threadfin, and alewife.  I think this means that the peanuts will be transferred from the private side  to the public side at Dike III.  Not sure why any sane striped bass would ever leave the damm area where the water temp, oxygen, and bait are in such abundance.  Gotta be some monsters roaming the deep!

                                   And so it goes for now, Feb 2, 2014

How to toss a cast net . . .

OK, likely I got most of my facts wrong about Lake Anna, but do have time to make adjustments.  The cast net is critical for my striper fishing success.  Given my lower back and left shoulder rotator cuff problems, I've decided to toss using a lefty technique http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CYPUVZYgv3o that seems easier and requires less rotation than the modified Calusa method I've used in the past.  Yet, the loads are somewhat similar and don't require the lead line in mouth.  My partner uses a shrimp toss that I've never mastered above the taco stage.  Yet, Bill Fowler and  his nephew Matt get it done with ease.  Maybe the strength of youth?

The 5 gallon tub has a small amount of lake water and a cup of rock salt.  The baits I catch are dropped in the tub until I get time to sort them.  The salt begins the hardening so they can survive in my bait tank.  My partner Bill employs a 4 foot green fluorescent lamp to gather baits before daylight.  On Kerr, the Nutbush Bridge provides high current water that seems to attract baits before daybreak.  I need to find out if Dike III has a similiar attraction to baits.  In March on Smith Mountain Lake, the alewifes and thinfin were attracted to dock lights and the gizzards were in the back of coves.  

I prep my tank with a couple cups of rock salt and a handfull of calcium chloride.  Some source told me that the calcium chloride helps the baits respiration?  My Creek Bank tank is quite old and I've learned where/how to get suitable filter media.  I usually over load my tank and also must run an air stone.  At 30 gallons, I'm very limited for numbers of baits when and if I can net them.  Hmmm, I think I need a bigger boat and a 50 gallon bait tank!  At times, I try service station shiners, but I've seen how distasteful the stripers are to digest them.  Watched the stripers on my sonar rise off the bottom to the baits and then settle back to the bottom.  So, they are my  last resort.

I also use Shad Keeper and an antifoam.  Never really liked the nonfatskim milk for the purpose.  I do try to change the water as needed to keep the baits lively and also use frozen quart bottles of water to cool the tank water at times.  Sometimes, it is just a bag of ice from the service station .  .  .

When I can't get bait, I visit one of the several groceries in NC that sell shad.  Greg Patterson is the man that does the work.  Yet, at $10-12 a dozen, this method for bait is limited by my wallet.

I'm supposing that there is a thermocline on Lake Anna?  Much of the year on Kerr, the stripers are locked in above 30 foot depth and summer at least 10 feet down.  My productive spots are sometimes where the bottom rises to 30 feet with holes where the stripers do their thing.

The reports I read for Feb 1, 2014 indicate that the shad kill is underway due to the cold.  Think most all fish are sluggish and just sit on the bottom and wait for the dying shad to drift in the current to their open mouths.  Hard to encourage 'em to take a frisky shad that they  have to work for?  Not sure how long this situation lasts, but other reads mention that striper fishing picks up about the beginning of March.

I learned that wipers (white bass) are being stocked in Lake Anna.  Also, I think huge stocks of stripers.  Wonder if it will result like in Kerr that there were too many hungry fish that limited growth of all.  But, Kerr has that nasty gill maggot .  .  .

Guess I better get with some exercise or I'll never get the net cast over baits.