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Author:
PECo
Date:
Jan 14, 2013
Subject:
Housatonic River - Shelton 01/13
Message:
I hadn't been fishing with mep21 (aka Mark) since last September and he had never fished for striped bass before, so we decided to fish the lower Housatonic River on Sunday. We planned to meet at a Park and Ride in Farmington before dawn at 6:30 am. Unfortunately, I ran late and didn't show up until 6:40 am. :? When Mark asked me what he should throw into my Jeep, I told him that he didn't need anything, because I had a setup for him to use and an extra. . . [b:f22afc62af]OH, CRAP![/b:f22afc62af] :shock: Just then, I realized that I had forgotten to put my new inflatable PFDs into the Jeep. :x As Mark grabbed his PFD from his car, I mulled over my options: 1) Go without a PFD :thumbdown:; 2) Drive 20 minutes back to my house to get one :?; or 3) Call NWDarkcloud (aka Bob), who lives only two minutes away, wake him up and borrow one from him. :oops: I called Bob and woke him up. :wink: Mark and I drove over to Bob's house and he got a PFD out of The Way More Better for me to use. Thanks, Bob! :D On our way to Shelton, I was telling Mark about how I had gotten my 2013 All Waters Fishing License from Dick's Sporting Goods, when I asked, "Hey, have you gotten yours?" Mark's response was, "[b:f22afc62af]OH, CRAP![/b:f22afc62af]" :lol: Luckily, he had his 2012 Fishing License with him and was able to renew it online with his smartphone. 8) Sunrise was at 7:17 am, low tide was at 8:40 am and high tide was at 1:40 pm. When we arrived at the Sunnyside Boat Launch Facility at about 7:30 am, the parking lot was already almost full and there was a fleet of boats out on the water. Well, actually, we could see only part of the fleet, because the river was completely shrouded in fog. The air temperature stayed in the 40s all day and the wind slowly rose throughout day, from almost nothing to five miles per hour out of the south. As we prepared to put The Other Woman, Too into the water, we were approached by another fisherman. It was madkey (aka Rich), who was preparing to launch his boat with a buddy. After we put the navigation lights onto The Other Woman, Too, Mark launched me into the river, and parked the Jeep and trailer on the side of the parking lot. We began slowly moving upriver and looking for schools of stripers with the fish finder. The water temperature fluctuated between 34 and 35 degrees all day. As we approached the cove in front of Two Mile Island, I looked over at Mark and noticed that he didn't have his PFD on. When I reminded him about The PFDs At All Times Rule, his response was, "[b:f22afc62af]OH, CRAP![/b:f22afc62af]" :lol: He had forgotten to take it out of the Jeep. :oops: Along with his gloves. :roll: After we went back to the ramp so that Mark could get his stuff, we decided that since we hadn't really marked any schools with the fish finder near the ramp and Two Mile Island, we'd head downriver to check it out. We zig-zagged slowly down the river, but didn't mark many fish until we spotted several on the bottom in about 25 feet of water, just upriver from the island off of Great River Country Club and the red navigational buoy. We dropped the trolling motor and finally began fishing: [img:f22afc62af]http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9311/img4521cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] Mark threw a five inch White Pearl Zoom Fluke on a chartreuse 1/2 ounce fishhead jighead, while I threw the same fluke on a white/red eye 3/8 ounce round jighead. It took a while for us to figure out how to get the scattered fish to hit the fluke jig. At 8:45 am, Mark discovered that a couple hard jerks and a pause after the fluke jig hit the bottom would get hits and boated the first fish: [img:f22afc62af]http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/966/img4507cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] After he boated the first striper, he quickly boated four more: [img:f22afc62af]http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/130/img4508cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/786/img4509cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/3374/img4510cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2449/img4511cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] And then, for good measure, he hooked one for which I had to pull out the net: [img:f22afc62af]http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4850/img4512cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/924/img4514cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] Yeah, Baby! :D [img:f22afc62af]http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/551/img4513cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] Although the 26 inch striper was two inches shy of being a keeper, we wondered whether anyone actually keeps and eats striped bass out of the Housy. Anyone? :?: I finally swapped out my 3/8 ounce jighead for a chartreuse 1/2 ounce fishhead jighead like Mark's (Thanks, again, blue kayak fisherman! :D ) in order to better be able to keep it on the bottom. I soon got the hang of Mark's "Hard Jerk Technique" and boated a schoolie of my own: [img:f22afc62af]http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2725/img4515cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] I'd like to thank Bob, again, for lending me the green PFD. Thanks, Bob! :D We each caught a couple of more stripers with the Hard Jerk Technique: [img:f22afc62af]http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/1608/img4517cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/263/img4518cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/3736/img4519cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1460/img4520cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] Shortly after 10:00 am, we hit a lull and decided to head back upriver and see how the fleet was doing. However, before we reached the ramp, we marked some scattered fish on the bottom in the channel next to the docks with the fish finder, so we stopped to check it out: [img:f22afc62af]http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/1343/img4522cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/7451/img4523cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/4496/img4524cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/2556/img4525cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6553/img4526cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/9623/img4527cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] At 10:45 am, after I lost my 1/2 ounce jighead to a decent striper right next to the boat :x , I retied with the 3/8 ounce jighead before we finally joined the fleet: [img:f22afc62af]http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/4947/img4531cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] Joining the fleet quickly paid off with our first double: [img:f22afc62af]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/4493/img4528cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] The stripers that were schooling near the fleet were more suspended than on the bottom. I think that my lighter 3/8 ounce jig helped me keep it at the right level in the water column and I went on a mini run: [img:f22afc62af]http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1669/img4529cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/476/img4532cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/5699/img4533cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] We checked out the cove and the point where the channel runs past Two Mile Island: [img:f22afc62af]http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/1880/img4534cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] And we found more schoolies: [img:f22afc62af]http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/9871/img4535cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8317/img4536cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1382/img4537cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/3793/img4538cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] We spotted Rich and his buddy trolling their way into the cove on the downriver side of Two Mile Island and motored over to ask how they were doing: [img:f22afc62af]http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1897/img4539cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] That's Rich in the orange cap. Hey, guys! :D Rich told us that he had marked a tight school of fish at the edge of the ice shelf on the west side of the cove that he thought were probably white perch. He couldn't get close to them through the ice with his trolling rig and suggested that we check it out. I tied a Pearl Silver 2-1/2 inch Gulp! Minnow on a silver 1/16 ounce fishhead jighead onto a crappie setup and dropped the minnow jig through a crack in the ice to the fish that we marked 25 feet down on the bottom with the fish finder. I got a quick hit but missed the hookset. When I saw Mark just sitting there watching me, I told him to drop his big jig down, too, in case the fish were schoolie stripers, instead of white perch. Almost immediately, he felt a tap and set the hook on a fish: [img:f22afc62af]http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5220/img4540cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] He actually gut hooked the little white perch in the side of its belly. :shock: Hey, Rich, you were right! :D After we left the cove, we checked out the main river channel that runs next to the island. Although we marked fish on the bottom with the fish finder, we couldn't get them to bite. So we headed to the cove on the upriver side of the island. We marked only sporadic fish with the fish finder, but decided to give it a shot. There were three other boats up there. We didn't get even a nibble. I told Mark that we'd leave after anyone in sight got a fish, but it never happened. We finally gave up and headed back to the downriver side of the island. It was almost 1:30 pm and we found that the fleet had disbanded. We saw several boats putting out at the ramp. Does everyone leave when the slack high tide hits? :?: The bite definitely slowed, although we saw some fishermen boat schoolies with umbrella rigs. However, Mark got one with his fluke jig: [img:f22afc62af]http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2209/img4541cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] Since the bite had slowed near the ramp, we decided to head back downriver to where we had started the day. On the way there, we marked only a few scattered fish in the channel off of the docks. At about 2:00 pm, we noticed that the water had begun to flow a little bit with the start of the outgoing tide. We didn't get any hits on the upriver side of what I'll call "Country Club Island", so we decided to fish the downriver side of it. Although we marked only scattered fish on the bottom with the fish finder, we quickly began boating stripers, starting with another double: [img:f22afc62af]http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/5207/img4542cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] We got a few more: [img:f22afc62af]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/223/img4543cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6550/img4544cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/5897/img4545cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] And then we got another double: [img:f22afc62af]http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/5084/img4547cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] I got one more: [img:f22afc62af]http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/9493/img4548cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] And then the Fishing with Mark Show began: [img:f22afc62af]http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/1426/img4549cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/2239/img4550cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/558/img4551cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/3607/img4552cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/627/img4553cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/5125/img4554cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5582/img4555cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3285/img4556cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9048/img4557cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/708/img4558cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/8135/img4559cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8913/img4560cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] [img:f22afc62af]http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/9493/img4561cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] Yeap, I snuck one in there! :roll: Somewhere along the way, Mark lost his 1/2 ounce jighead and tied on a white/red eye 3/8 ounce round jighead like mine. However, I never could figure out what I was doing differently than he. If anything, I think that I was probably fishing too fast and not keeping my jig on the bottom. As frustrating as that was :?, it was fun watching Mark hook fish, after fish, after fish. :D As darkness began to fall at 4:30 pm, I called "Just One More" and finally, [i:f22afc62af][b:f22afc62af]finally[/b:f22afc62af][/i:f22afc62af] got another one: [img:f22afc62af]http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/2768/img4562cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] It turned out to be my lunker, at a skinny 22 inches long. Yeap, that's definitely [i:f22afc62af][b:f22afc62af]meh[/b:f22afc62af][/i:f22afc62af] compared to Mark's fat 26 inch lunker, but it sure felt good to boat it. After I called "Last Cast", Mark showed off and got his Just One More, too: [img:f22afc62af]http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/2201/img4563cropped.jpg[/img:f22afc62af] We got off of the water at 5:00 pm, as darkness began to fall. We ended up with a total of 50 fish. Mark got 33 schoolie stripers and the white perch, and I got 16 schoolie stripers. I think that we learned a few things: 1) The stripers that we marked with the fish finder on the bottom were more willing to hit a fluke jig than the stripers that were suspending, even when they were in schools; 2) The bigger stripers were not in schools; think Lee Harvey Oswald or Lone Ranger; 3) I need to pick up some heavier jigheads! After spending the entire day on the water, we headed over to Archie Moore's Bar & Restaurant in Derby. It had the Texans-Patriots game on and we grabbed a couple of burgers at the bar. It's a great place to stop after a day of fishing on the lower Housy. :D
Author:
bass tracker
Date:
Jan 14, 2013
Subject:
Housatonic
Message:
Nice job Phil & Mark! 50 fish anyday is a good day, the fact it is in the middle of the winter is even better. Nice report and pictures, almost make me want to brave the cold! BT
Author:
Michael
Date:
Jan 14, 2013
Message:
Awesome job guys!
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