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Author:
PECo
Date:
Jan 16, 2013
Subject:
Housatonic River - Shelton 01/15
Message:
I figured that I'd go fishing with Michael (aka Michael) sooner or later. When he suggested Tuesday, I figured "Why not?" The weather forecast was for air temperatures in the 30s and winds up to seven miles per hour out of the north-northwest. We got on the water at the Sunnyside Boat Launch Facility at 8:00 am: [img:6722efa50d]http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4664/img4565cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] I had been using a couple of different tide tables that didn't agree with each other :roll: , so now I check the NOAA tables. Low tide was at 9:01 am and high tide was at 2:32 pm. The water level was already very low when we launched. In fact, there was an eight foot difference in the water levels between the low and high tides. :shock: The water temperature fluctuated between 34 and 35 degrees. Compared with the weekend, there were relatively few boats on the water. We saw fewer than 10 all day. I began throwing a Pearl Silver four inch Berkley Gulp! Minnow on a white/red eye 1/2 ounce round jighead, while Michael threw some lures that he brought with him. And, no, they weren't all Rapalas! :lol: He eventually settled on a two tone blue and white soft plastic fish on a fairly big, maybe 1/2 ounce, fishhead jighead. We didn't mark many fish on the fish finder near the ramp and headed upriver toward Two Mile Island. However, it didn't take long for each of us to boat a striped bass: [img:6722efa50d]http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2166/img4566cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/5417/img4567cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] As you can see, I remembered to bring my PFDs, this time! :lol: As the water level continued to drop, we boated more stripers: [img:6722efa50d]http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/7595/img4568cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/7744/img4569cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/8053/img4570cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/1170/img4571cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7857/img4572cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] The bite slowed after the slack low tide hit. In fact, the fish seemed to have scattered. At about 10:00 am, we made a run down to the upriver side of Country Club Island. Here's the view upriver from next to the island: [img:6722efa50d]http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/7981/img4582cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] It was a good move, because we found the fish, again: [img:6722efa50d]http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/2240/img4573cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9377/img4574cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/5890/img4575cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/1592/img4576cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/2996/img4577cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/4949/img4578cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3771/img4580cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] [img:6722efa50d]http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/2088/img4581cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] Shortly after noon, the bite slowed, so at 12:45 pm, we ran back up to Sunnyside. As we passed the ramp, we marked a school of fish with the fish finder and I quickly boated one: [img:6722efa50d]http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1233/img4583cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] However, although we marked some big schools of fish between the ramp and the cove on the downriver side of Two Mile Island, we just couldn't get them to bite. Anything at all. For 1-1/2 hours. :cry: Michael even pulled out a Rapala Clackin' Rap and I tried my white five inch Sebile Magic Swimmer. We got nothing. So, we ran back downriver to the upriver side of Country Club Island. We tried there for only 1/4 hour, but didn't get even a nibble, so I suggested that we run further downriver to a cove I saw on Google Maps in front of Pine Rock Park, just upriver from Sikorsky Aircraft Headquarters. As we motored into the cove, we marked small schools of fish on the bottom in the mouth of the cove. Michael was throwing a translucent yellow soft plastic fish on another big fishhead jighead and [i:6722efa50d][b:6722efa50d]finally[/b:6722efa50d][/i:6722efa50d] boated a schoolie striper, 2-1/4 hours after I had boated the last one: [img:6722efa50d]http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7536/img4584cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] Only a few minutes later, he hooked into another, so I quickly got my fluke jig into the water near where he had hooked up. I have a theory that schoolie stripers are like schooling yellow perch. When they see another fish feeding, they're more apt to feed, too. And testing my theory paid of with our first double: [img:6722efa50d]http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6574/img4585cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] Although we continued to mark fish on the bottom with the fish finder, we couldn't get them to bite. For some reason that I can't figure out, though, Michael snag hooked about six of them. :shock: I'm not kidding. Apparently, he was dragging his lure underneath the stripers and hooking them from underneath. After a couple came off near the boat and we unhooked a couple next to the boat, we had to net a 26 incher, because he had snag hooked it in a sensitive area :lol: : [img:6722efa50d]http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/9061/img4586cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] He snag hooked the next one in about the same spot :roll: : [img:6722efa50d]http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3472/img4587cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] Ouch! :shock: At about 4:30 pm, I noticed that it was starting to get dark, so we began heading back upriver. I suggested that we stop at a spot just downriver from Country Club Island: [img:6722efa50d]http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/351/img4579cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] After I called "Just One More", Michael got his: [img:6722efa50d]http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1499/img4588cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] On his next cast, he lost his jig. Rather than have him retie in the fading light, I called "Last Cast" on myself. Thankfully, I got my Just One More, too: [img:6722efa50d]http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1061/img4589cropped.jpg[/img:6722efa50d] We caught a total of 21 schoolie stripers, not counting the ones that Michael snag hooked. :roll: I caught 11 and Michael caught 10. Ironically, although I couldn't prevent Rapala Man from throwing a Rapala lure, he caught (or snagged :lol: ) all of his stripers with non-Rapala lures. :o Thanks for getting me out on the water, Michael. If we hadn't gone, I would have looked at the snow, today, and thought to myself, "Why the heck didn't I go fishing, yesterday?" :wink:
Author:
Michael
Date:
Jan 17, 2013
Message:
It was a pleasure Phil. I had a good time even though it was cold. The soft plastic I started off with was a 3 1/2" Storm Pro Curl Tail. Not sure what the chartreuse lure was. Last lure was a 4" soft plastic eel. Weird how I was foul hooking so many and actually got that 26" fish right inside :lol: Grazie amico :wink:
Author:
PECo
Date:
Jan 17, 2013
Message:
[quote:d88aae3ad3="Michael"]Weird how I was foul hooking so many and actually got that 26" fish right inside :lol: [/quote:d88aae3ad3] 26"? Wasn't it 21-3/4"?
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