Fish Hawk report 10/30

Its been tuff striper fishing this season. The spring was a miss for us and the so far the fall hasnt been great. Got down to the fort late friday night and turned on the vhf and all we heard was "Small craft advisory in effect untill 6am saturday morning" Great... Got up early sat morning to a very angry delaware bay. Nw @20 and falling tide. It was "sporty" to say the least, but fishable. Waited around a bit to see maybe if it would let up. Got down the dock 10am and headed for a few miles off the beach. Plan was to stick in one spot and wait it out. Made a bunch of moves last weekend and only got two throwbacks. Setup for the remainder of the outgoing and right away got a short. As the day went on we picked through the throw backs and after the turn for the incoming Riss bags a keeper 28" on the nose. First fall keeper! way to go! Picked through more throwbacks and the seas calmed somewhat and made for a nice afternoon. Just as the incoming tide was about die out my reel starts screaming!!!! All day we had fish hit the baits and then drop, so I picked up the reel and locked it up and still was pulling line. I was in for a fight, few seconds pass and felt the fish get off. I was sooo upset. I missed a fish a lifetime. Rebaited and recasted and went up on the bow to recover. Thinking that the fish that was on the end of my line is halfway down the bay and not to be caught by me. A few mins pass by and next thing I know my reel starts screaming again. This time I gave it a few more seconds before locking up and bam! ITS ON! after a 10 min battle of the fish surging and taking line got him boat side and . Riss had the net ready and one scoop he was landed.



My personal best. 45" and 27lbs! When the fish got into the boat I noticed that the hook was just in his lip and barely hooked. Even after letting him run a good 8 seconds before locking up the reel. This fish didnt inhale the small chunk like the smaller fish did in the day and like last year with the bigger ones. My guess is the water temps might still be too high for their metabolism . What a great way to end the day. Heres another pic of the fish taken back at the house.

nice fish tom ...congrats....

Tom

Great job!!!! Congrats on your personal best!!! Your persistence paid off big time!!!! We sat where i told you I was at and had a short and a few swings and misses, no crabs either. Fish are still finicky, I think if we had picked that spot earlier we would have scored big time. Got a tip on where to find some large from a guy with a two man limit of 40" plus fish when we got back to the dock. Gonna try it Tuesday, I'll give ya a shout to let you know what's up.

Great Job on the personal best!!! There's nothing like that feeling of sheer power being on the other end of rod. The 41 from the other day I thought for sure was going to beat my 43 from last year. It was scary strong and I want more pulls like that... Last 2 times out was fishing with people who don't fish and can't wait till my fishing partner gets off the fence. Definitely lost a nice fish both days trying to put someone on a good fight. Not happening again unless I get a line screamer first. Without going into a rant I usually tell newbies they get the first one and after that we fish our own rods. No more mister nice guy. I'm all talk I love getting people into striper fishing.

I mentioned that to someone about the bite the other day. Someone was mentioning that croaker or something small playing with the bait. Out of 23 shorts Sat only one bent the rod over and ran with it. Tap, tap, tap go away is my bait still there? Tap, tap he's back. I'm supposed to Striper fish from my captains chair, I spent the whole day on the gunnels with rod in hand. Might sneak out Tuesday or Wednesday for a couple hours. I'll let you know how it goes if I get out.

I'll be fishing this weekend but probably not the tournament. My kids have their play that they've practicing for since Aug. Not going all 3 days to the play but have to make a good showing they're only young once.


Great job on the 45 again heard through the grape vine that you got two keepers.