The fish day on LKA that wasn't

                          A disappointing overnight

Spent much of Monday afternoon trying to get stuff ready for the Tuesday fishing adventure.  Got my small cooler and stashed 2 bottles of water, a tuna snack, and a can of barbeque sausage.  Wanted the fig things, but forgot.  This time, I hauled the landing net to the boat.  Went about converting some rods to down lines so I would have 9 on the boat.  Decided not to worry about planers at this time of yer, yet it would be simple to change if needed.  OK, all rods ready.  Made up another 10 octopus circle #1/0 hooks with 2 feet of 15 pound flurocarbon.  The picture shows the hooks with attached stingers in the top of the tube.  Very hard to organize, yet the tube keeps them handy, leaders in great shape.  Through the season, different hook set-ups are needed.  This type is for larger gizzards where the hook goes through the nose and the treble stinger goes near the vent.  The photo shows that the leader is wrapped around the foam tube.  The end of the leader is pressed into a slot cut at the bottom of the tube.  Works for me!

Early in the year, a 4 foot leader is used and a second hook is fastened to the swivel with a snap.

OK, enough of tackle.  The bait tank needed filling, but I wasn't able to move the cars to accommodate the much too short hose from the house.  Melody wasn't able to help, so I opted to wait until morning and either fill the tank by bucket or see if Marcus had a hose that could reach the boat at his house.  Can't5 make it to Stubbs or Dillards bridges to hang lanterns at 3 AM, so have to use jumbo shiners.  Only thing still in question is my cooler that went home with Nathan.  I will need it and ice for the day.

Sent a text to Marcus to verify the morning adventure.  The reply came to tell me that Nathan wouldn't be able to make it.  Work preference over fishing?  Marcus works nights, but will give up sleep for a fish day.  He and I agreed that the event should be postponed until after the 4th weekend.  Fortunately, I decided to let the crew haul most of the remaining gear to the boat so I don't have a lot of stuff to put away.  May park the boat in it's usual spot and put the cover back on to keep the debris from filling the boat.  May neat the truck free for other activities.

So, I'll spend some time today getting a new cooler so I'll have one for the next outing.  I also got a back up camera bundle off Ebay and got it working on the bench.  Not sure it will work as well as the tiny Peak unit.  Yet, the Peak unit served me well for 4 years and eased hitching the trailer.  Still took a bit of back and forth to get the ball under the coupler, but usually only took one step out of the truck to verify and drop the coupler on the ball.  Without the camera, I would have to get out of the truck several times to hitch the trailer.  Can't do that anymore due to my inability to climb in and out of the truck.  the new using is supposed to be wireless, like the Peak, but has separate transmitter and receiver modules.  The peak receiver has the wireless built into the monitor.

My description of events for June 30, 2015.

Pete's Saturday, birthday, report . . .

Pete made his birthday adventure a success by:

Up and on the water at Hunter's Landing by 2:30 AM.  Took over an hour for the lantern from Dillards bridge to bring the baits.  Pretty slow, but got about 100 baits in the tank.  At Rose Valley area, Pete's crew found the stripers in the deep channel and used all baits by 2 PM.  Don't have photos of his catch, maybe later.

Off the water, he opted to go North on 522 and continue the birthday party celebration at Tim's.

I got the call from Pete late on Sat to disclose is "fish story"!

OK, the first outing on LKA didn't go as planned . . .

               I'm awake already!

So, I was awake at 4:45 AM and just clearing the eye stuff when the phone rang.  Should have been the alarm, but .  .  .  Bill Fowler was on Kerr and the high wind and lack of adequate baits in the tank prompted him to cancel his travel to LKA.  With only a couple dozen baits in his tank, there wouldn't be numbers for 2 boats.  I sent a text to Marcus to see what his druthers were.  In Bumpass, the weather was overcast and threatening rain, but no wind.

The return text said that my crew was on the way, bait or no bait.  Got the Sea Pro launched and we were on the water at 6:30, a half hour late.  Marcus and Nathan were anxious.  Stopped at dike 2 to see if there were baits, but the sonar wasn't working?  Tried to get the trolling motor to run, but it had power and wouldn't rotate.  An impossible situation!  Kept playing with the remote and finally got the head to rotate so there was direction, but I'd drifted into 0 depth.  Fired the outboard, bad idea, and headed for deep water.  Bump, and another bump, obviously the motor hitting rocks. :(  OK, clear and on our way to Fish Tales to get bait.  Marcus loaded $25 of jumbo shiners on the boat and we had to wait for the 55 degree bait to increase somewhat near my bait tank.  Finally got the baits in my tank and we were off again.

Today's crew:  Marcus doing the selfie, Nathan on the left doing the bird, and Joy at the helm.

Nathan's first keeper of the day.

Right outside the no-wake area, we saw many arches, finally did an about face and dropped baits - nothing.  So, went up the river toward the destination called the "SPLITS".  All kinds of boats across from JET's Island, so we looked there for a few minutes.  Not seeing much on the sonar, we opted to get on with the planned Pete's thoughts.  Saw Himbey's pontoon leaving High Point while we headed up river.  He kept on going  above Jet's and we didn't see him until later in the day.

Up the North Anna River to the Rose Valley Cove, but didn't see much.  Dropped baits anyway just in case the stripers were scattered.  No luck!  So, headed back through the "S" curves to the Splits.  Tried toward Jet's for a bit, but nothing.  Then headed back to the starting area just outside the no wake markers at Fish Tales.  I decided to do the drop offs  on the way and Nathan picked up his first keeper of the day.  That was it .  .  . and then Hemby's pontoon motored toward us.  Of course we would love baits!  About 4 dozen very nice hardened baits.  Got new striper location info - at the mouth of Marshall Creek.  Hemby's associate had taken clients to the area twice earlier in the morning and limited.

Back up river to Marshalls Creek and found deep water just down river from the mouth that had tons of arches.  Picked up one dink and continued to get hits - catfish type and boated several 10 inchers.  Finally opted to go into Marshalls Creek and picked up a large catfish for the cooler.  Back to the deep water where all the arch activity was.  Still only catfish hits.

Getting late and Marcus had to be at his house by 3 PM.  Got to the dock in time.  Nathan helped me unload gear and he was on his way.  Nathan was a happy fisherman because he caught the only keepers of the day.  I didn't fish, only tried to get the boat going.  Marcus only got small catfish for toss back.

Exhausted, I didn't have the energy to clean the bait tank.  The boat is still in a location where the hose will reach.  But, Saturday after the fish day, each time I decided to get to the boat, monsoon rain fell.  Now Sunday and it seems clear after continued T-storm all night.

Bill Fowler and crew fished Kerr with a limited bait supply and boated a couple of stripers and blues.

First time on LKA with the Sea Pro 2015

OK, finally got a crew for Friday 26 and it is hot with forecast afternoon T-storms.  Bill Fowler is to meet me with his Sea Pro and his crew, Jammie.  My crew is Marcus and friend.  This will be like the blind leading blindly.  Pete gave me lots of encouraging instructions for finding the stripers at this time of year and where the bait might be at 4 in the AM.  Fortunately, Bill will be bringing bait with him. :)

                Pete's Derosario's admonitions for where to drop baits:

So, you got my email about bait etc. If I were going to put together a summertime gameplan here is what Id do. Early morning I would check out between Rose Valley Island and Rose Valley Cove. There is a nice "sandbar" between the island and the northern shore that seems to do well. That whole area could be holding fish.

Next place I would check is a bit down lake, at the points and mouth in front of Marshalls Creek. Then follow that coastline downlake to Boxley Point. If no love there, Id swing across the lake to the lighthouse. There is a bunch of rocks/riprap on the point that I speak of, and it is the entrance to Pigeon Run. I would check that point/channel and head down pigeon just a bit. Dont waste too much time here, if they are there, they are there. If not...........

Coming out of pigeon Id head back uplake. Its called fisher point. Id check out that point, and swing tight as you head uplake and stay maybe 30-50 yards off the bank. It is a little setback from the main channel and they just LOVE to hang out in there. Wish I was there now, actually. Follow that bank up to Bohemian Bay. If no luck there keep on moving until you make it back to the splits, swing right and check all the turf outside of the state park. Lot of water to cover, but with sidescan you are bound to find the schools of daytime herring and the lurking stripers beneath. No go? Keep on moving and check out the up lake side of Jetts Island.

So by this time,you should be doing quite well. If not, hopefully the baits are still frisky. Now, its time to find the deeper channels. One of my favorite 10-11:30 spots is the channels that swings in and out in front of High Point marina. By this time you will see the stripers at 25-35' deep, hopefully active. This channel should produce from here up to the splits. 

When boat traffic gets very heavy look for anywhere the water is deep (30'+) and NOT in the main travel paths of boaters. A perfect example of this is the channel that runs between Big Ben flats (Rose Valley Island) and Paynes Shore (which is the downlake bank from Rose.)

If, and only if NONE of this works for you guys, you have two options. Go up to Tims for some stiff drinks and bitching, or head downlake to the Sturgeon Creek area. Your guesses are as good as mine down that way!!!!!!!

                                      Pete Derosario's thoughts on bait:

Wish I could be out earlier on Friday. Its hard to hit the water at 9am when it is getting so hot by 12. Yuck.

Anyways, it has been a while since I have been on the lake. But, fortunately I have figured out the summer patterns pretty well over the years. If you are to catch bait here, you need to hang about 2 hours before first light, or 2:30-2:45before sunrise. I will throw 30 mins. after I hang and if no herring, MOVE!!!!!!!!!! To another bridge we go. Right now 208 and stubbs are where I would be. If you get there and someone is throwing net, just ask them how the herring are. If they say they have only caught a few (and you believe) DONT HANG THERE!!!!

Anyways, once you get bait, in the morning the mouths of creeks and points are where I would focus my efforts. Maybe have a board or two out, but focus on stripers bouncing in and out of the thermocline (with downlines). This time of year we look forward to finding HUGE schools and rocking them until our baits are gone and coolers are full. I like to start at mouths and points from the state park, rose valley, and all the way up to 208 bridge. Normally, but 10am, the stripers move into the channels. Lots of times you will find them between splits and 208 hammering on baitfish in and out of the main channels.

If you have no luck in this area, you can keep moving down to sturgeons creek. I dont really like fishing this side of the lake because there is a LOT of water in this area. But, desperate times call for desperate measures.