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Author:
PECo
Date:
Mar 06, 2013
Subject:
Housatonic River - Shelton 03/05
Message:
After a few sightseeing outings on the Connecticut River, TurtleKiss (aka Kira) made me take her down to the lower Housatonic River, so she could see what a fish looks like. We headed to the Sunnyside Boat Launch Facility in Shelton. When we arrived, a tree crew was cleaning up the trees in the park and taking up the space for trailer parking with their chipper, so I ended up having to park my jeep and trailer off to the side:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/4900/img4849cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
When we launched at 8:20 am, the air temperature was above freezing, but the wind was blowing out of the north at a steady 10+ miles per hour. However, since NWDarkcloud (aka Bob) wasn't around, we enjoyed full sun:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/3396/img4847cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
Ahhh, that feels good! :D Low tide was at 12:44 pm, so we fished both sides of it. After we left the ramp, we zig-zagged across the river as we headed upriver to the cove on the downriver side of Two Mile Island. We didn't mark many fish with the finder until we got to the cove, which we were glad to see is now totally free of ice:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6567/img4853cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
We marked a few bunches of fish holding on structure or cover on the bottom with the finder, but we also marked a big school of fish that appeared to be circling around the cove near the bottom. We'd find it, then lose it, find it, then lose it. It was so thick that the finder couldn't discriminate individual fish within the school. It appeared as a 10 foot thick red wall moving across the bottom in 30 to 35 feet of water. Kira and I both threw jigs. I stuck mostly with a Pearl five inch Trigger X Minnow on a white/red eye 1/2 ounce fishhead jighead. For two hours after we launched, we got nothing. Not a bite. Not a nibble. Not a bump. Nothing. :? At 10:20 am, a fisherman whom I had seen on the lower Housy before pedaled up in a Hobie Pro Angler:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/2111/img4855cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
Hey, Sean! Or is it Shawn? Anyway, since Sean had a fish finder on his Hobie, we helped each other out spotting the school. Knowing where it was and getting the fish to bite were totally different things, though. Around 11:30 am, I finally snagged a fish when I was trying the Hard Jerk and Fall technique that I learned from mep21 (aka Mark). I was surprised when I pulled up a fat 11 inch white perch. So surprised, I guess, that I totally forgot to take a photo of it. :? Kira was disappointed that the school of fish we had been targeting with striper lures was probably made up of white perch. I'm fairly sure that it was an anadraomous (aka freshwater spawning saltwater fish) male, because the horny bugger milted on my hand. It was another hour before I snagged up a schoolie striped bass:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/9064/img4858cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
Although Kira was more impressed with the striper than the white perch, I was getting frustrated that I was snagging fish, instead of hooking them in the mouth. Only a few minutes later, I snagged up what ended up being the first of four striper scales:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/4583/img4859cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
Just great. . . . :roll: While the fishing wasn't going very well, the weather was. The sun stayed out, the wind eased and the air temperature rose to the mid 40s. It got nice out there! :D At 1:10 pm, while trying the Excruciatingly Slow Drag technique that I learned from hila2006 (aka John), I finally caught a schoolie striper by hooking it in the mouth:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/508/img4860cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
Whoo hoo! :D On my next cast, I got another hit using the Excruciatingly Slow Drag technique, but lost it. :x At 2:45 pm, I got another hit I figured was a decent sized striped bass that was either hooked in the mouth or snagged near the tail. It pulled drag for a few minutes before I finally horsed it to the surface and Kira netted it:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/8164/img4862cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
It was a 21 inch striped bass that I snagged above the pectoral fins. Sonofab*!@# :x 15 minutes later, Kira finally boated a fish, although she knew that she had snagged it immediately after she hooked it:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/7578/img4863cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
I ended up snagging one more schoolie striper:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5214/img4866cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
As the sun began to drop below the treeline, I called "Just One More". I never got mine, but Kira snagged up hers:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/5417/img4867cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
Oh, well! :roll: By the time that we put out from the river at 5:40 pm, the parking lot had emptied out:
[img:b42045b7c5]http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8877/img4868cropped.jpg[/img:b42045b7c5]
Although Kira never caught a fish, technically, because she snagged both of hers, I think that she was glad to at least handle a fish. We're going to have to work on this fishing thing some more. :D
Author:
DirtyDawg10
Date:
Mar 07, 2013
Message:
Guess you'll have to keep practicing...I know sounds horrible, right?
Author:
bassinthesalt
Date:
Mar 08, 2013
Message:
the fish are turning on the lures after they go to hit them. its not like they are just getting snagged
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