Need to fill the bait tank on Thursday with well water and add 3 cups of rock salt (need to buy at Lowe's - the blue bag-done) and a tablespoon of Calcium Chloride. Maybe a tablespoon of Shad Keeper too. The 2 liter soda bottles need to come in from the boat for freezing-done. I'll try to keep the baits a bit cooler than 85 degrees. Can't plan on everything going right as shit happens!
Thinking to get a bilge pump with 800 gallons/hour and different hose to fill the tank and empty from the lake - done. The back up Rule 500 gallon/hour that is in the Creek Bank tank is too slow. Got all the stuff for the bait tank and the guide-on lights.
No crew is available as Marcus is swamped at work and Bill Fowler is too distant for a day on the water. So, it's a solo event. Learned that I have to park the boat so there's no backing in the dark at the house. Can't do anything about the boat ramp, but I have the stern LED spot light that I didn't use earlier. I'll be sure to tie a line on the boat this time! Yep, it worked out OK, but still difficult orientation.
I may add a night vision back up camera to the T for night backing. The unit I use now doesn't have the transmission range to use on the boat and view in the cab. The night vision camera/transmitter and receiver has much greater range. Another project to accommodate my aged body!
Ruminating about past Kiptopeke fishing adventures. Here is Ramrod (now deceased), Joy (barely able to hold a tiny striper), and my brother, Raymond. Think this is about 2011, but could have been earlier.
In the previous year, first time on the bay, my daughter Debbie caught her 39 pounder, just shy of a citation. Joy T Brew had the skunk.
Guess it's time to plan for 2015 fishing at Kiptopeke. Will be different as I don't intend to stay the entire month. Yet, it's early . . . and fishing on Lake Anna is supposed to be at it's peak.
2 AM and on my way
Yep, nearly got stuff ready by parking the boat so I could pull out of the driveway without backing. Couldn't sleep and decided to get up and go at 2 AM. Think it was more like 3 AM. Wasn't a difficult path to follow up lake to the Stubbs Bridge. Full moon! Several boats at Stubbs and one thinking fisherman put his lamp in the only path I'm sure my T will pass. No problem, I just motored through his bait. Didn't see Pete, so I went on up to Dillards bridge. Pete and buddy Ryan had two lamps hung and were hauling in hundreds of shad with each cast.
I filled my sorting bucket and added some rock salt. Pete dumped a net full into the sorting tank. In this case, the sorting tank is just a means to harden the baits a bit and get a lot of scales to drop to safe the bait tank filter chore.
Then into the Creek Bank tank.
I think some got injured on the way to the bait tank and croaked. Just too many baits in the net before going into the tank. Pete knows his stuff. My tank was definitely over loaded.
Pete mentioned pulling boards before dawn. I wasn't prepared. Put my 1 ounce egg sinker down lines on the planer and it sank like a rock. OK, take the sinker off and retie the line. Yeah, right, NOT. But, I got one out and immediately the depth changed from 20 to 3 feet. Lost effort. Besides, I couldn't see the planers in the dark anyway. Need some kind of LED on the board or a means for Sturcture Scan to show the location.
No luck with boards. Pete and crew mentioned Rose Valley. I went to Marshall creek first, but nothing interesting on the echo. Then up to Rose Valley. Lots of what looked like stripers, but inactive. Even Hemby was in the area. Pete was on his way in and I left to get fuel. Fueling at Lake Anna Marinas is another story, but on the water E-0 is about $3.50 and at Duke Oil in Mineral, it's $2.50 a gallon. Have to keep hauling 5 gallon fuel tanks.
Since the fuel location is right on the 208 bridge, I decided to go to the power plant. Nothing there, so I went to the Dam. Couldn't read my phone and Pete's phone wouldn't take calls. When I did read my text, Pete was on stripers back at the fueling station area, High Point. Damn!
Pete has the Neptune runnin fine!
and boating stripers . . .
By the time I got back, all the striper action was over and just catfish were taking the shad.
During the entire day, I was plagued by the structure displaying "stopped". Have to keep touching the "stop sonar" toggle on the lower right of the screen. A pain!
Now noon and I decided to call it a day.
Hopefully Pete will have photos of his adventure and crew to add to this post.
For the end of this story,the following
At the ramp and exhausted. Tie the boat up to the leeward side of the small dock. The water is very low in the lake and stepping up or down to the boat is difficult for me. Up the ramp and do the combination (very tiny numbers for my tired eyes) and let the heavy beam swing to the stop. Then, back the trailer down the ramp and try to get it near touching the dock. Learned from past that the trailer cannot be with water at the top of the fenders. The ramp is very steep and there isn't any guide from the rear bunks . Best to keep the rear bunks about half in the water regardless of the fender depth. Power as high as possible and then crank the boat the rest of the way.
OK, boats on the trailer and the gate is closed and locked. Hauled the boat to the Rockland Creek Estate home driveway and . . . left it for later.
Couple hours later, backed the boat to the front drainage ditch and pumped the bait tank water out of the tank. Bagged the 3 or 4 dozen live baits and the dead into a bag for the freezer. Bill Fowler, a fishing buddy in NC barters the baits for favors. Nearly filled a gallon zip lock freezer bag. Tank empty and filter dumped. Surprising how many scales the baits lose, like a layer of silver on the filter.
My filters are from Wal-mart and sold as cushions to make chairs. Can be costly, but I get about 4 filters from each package. Just cut to size and slide into the filter holder. Might be a new bait tank in the future as there are improvements since I got mine.
Trailer now parked off the driveway, bilge plug out, all electronics off, but the charge cord is still somewhere and useless!
In the house, I got a note from Mike smedley, "Team Old School". He just returned from South Carolina and Sea Pro is back in business. Mike just makes Striper Boating videos and displays equipment. Sea Pro wants him in a new 24' 8" Sea Pro (no pictures available as it's still under wraps). Mike says every issue about the 2004 and there abouts models has been resolved. Awesome, as I love my Sea Pro! Also, Mike mentioned the new Simrad GO7? Damn, it's all moving so fast. Unfortunately, I'm too old to think about a younger float. But, them electronics are begging me to update to something more useful.
Guess it's time to start a plan for the next adventure on Lake Anna or Buggs Island. In the meantime, the lights for the guide-ons are waiting for connections. The back up camera?
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