Cumberland Striper - From Zero to Hero
[I]The History:[/I]
Many years ago I would tag along with my Dad and his work buddies striper fishing on Cumberland. There were many late nights, often falling asleep in the bow listening to waves lap at the hull of the boat. Once I even fell asleep running the trolling motor and drove us all into a cove of driftwood and garbage, as my Dad and his buddies dozed also. Fog had rolled in making the spotlight completely useless. After some debate on whether we were on the right or left side of the creek arm, we managed to untangle the mess I had us in and get pointed back to the ramp.
Then there was the time five of us went fishing in a regular cab pickup. It was a nice summer ride down in the bed of the truck, back when doing such a thing was considered normal. But, the ride back in a terrible thunderstorm wasn't as pleasant. Staying as close to the cab as possible so the rain blew over me and using the spare tire as a pillow, I actually slept most of the way home.
The big fish fries with all the striper you could possibly eat are another fond memory. I still remember leaving my Dads friends house absolutely miserable I had ate so much, while trying to remember the guitar chords he had taught me after dinner. There was only one problem with all the striper trips, stories, and fish fries...I actually had never caught one.
Then one late night, out with just my Dad in our boat it finally happened. I caught my first striper! It was only 13lb and didn't compare to some of the pictures I had seen of my Dad and his buddies fish, but it was finally [I]my[/I] first fish. I remember having quite a bit of trouble getting the fish in, since at the time I was a very scrawny 12 or 13 year old. I had never caught a fish that size, or pulled that hard, and I was hooked. Dad realized what the "little" fish meant to me and actually had it mounted. Due to health issues and other crap life tends to deal out, shortly after that fish, Dad sold his boat and I didn't fish for striper many more times. Fast forward 28 years and that fish was my only striper until this past Saturday night.
My wife and son loves to fish, and while I like it too, I have never been very good at it. Fishing and hunting are the same to me, it's more about getting out than actually catching/killing something. I can fish all day or night and never catch anything and I'm fine with it. I just love being in the woods or on the water. After owning an open bow runabout that is not designed in the least bit for fishing for 14 years, I decided to buy a fishing boat and pursue fishing more seriously this spring. As soon as I put the down payment to hold the boat, those old striper trip memories started floating back up. I just had to figure out striper fishing and get my wife and son to catch one.
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...To be continued[/I].
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I'm Too Old For The Insanity
So, if you've read this far you have probably noticed the striper bug has bit. I'm starting to question the sanity of all this. The boat, the Helix, the rods and reels, the cast nets, the baits, the truck gas, and the boat gas....wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to just fish in the seafood section of Kroger? Since I'm staying about one trip behind on this story, I assure you the insanity continues!
Sunday morning, the second of June, we decide to have another go since this is my only day off this week. This time I have finally caught striper for a change, so my wife and son decide they want to go. The [I]plan[/I] was to be up at 3:30 and off to the lake in time to catch bait. What [I]actually[/I] happened was oversleeping after fighting with the installation of a livewell pump way too late the previous evening, and getting on the water at first light. I still haven't figured out how to get bait once the light is up. It's easy-peasy in the dark with a light, but now I'm on the water, it's light, and I have no bait. The only thing I can do is cut all the hooks and re-rig with bucktails.
Just after getting all the rods switched and the planer boards out, there's a distant rumble. Surely that couldn't be thunder...but it was. A small storm had just formed and was heading for us. Since we were close to the ramp and in an aluminum boat, I figured the best thing to do was to get on the trailer. And since I was on the trailer and waiting out a storm, I might as well run to Jamestown and grab some shiners.
A bag-o-shiners and brief storm later, we were back on the water. Re-rigged for live bait, we trolled a steep rock wall that looked promising on sonar and side scan. Down the wall and back again we trolled, rounding a sharp point we picked up our second Ky bass, but still no striper. And then the Helix went blank. We might as well be fishing on the moon. How could one side of this point have so many fish and the other be blank? Then a planer hung the bottom and I had to deal with that while my wife ran the trolling motor. Out of nowhere she said "There's a boat!". Me being in the back, my first thought was "[I]I don't hear a boat[/I]." When I turned out around, there was a striper guide pulling about 12 planer boards.
A guide! And he's fishing where I'm fishing! Holy cow, maybe I'm actually in the right spot at least! Then I looked at the completely blank Helix. Okay, so what is he fishing? Obviously he knows something I don't. So, we turned about giving the guide his piece of the Dead Sea and returned to our more productive looking water. The sad part was, our little piece of that creek gave us another zero. We reeled up the lines and I tucked my tail about noon. I was tired, hot, and aggravated that a guide was[I] right there [/I]fishing and yet I can't get a single fish. But the images on the Helix looked soooo good! Before we put the boat back on the trailer, I had to have a look at that punch bowl the striper guide was fishing since nobody was around when we came back to the ramp. I idled down the bank where we originally met...nothing. I idled across the bowl, passing the big rock point...nothing. I started circling the bowl...nothing, until about two thirds of the way around and the Helix lit up. Only one fourth of that whole bowl had fish, but boy did it have a bunch! That one fourth was also the same spot the guide was in...see, I told you he knew something I didn't! Oh well, the wife and son were ready to go and truthfully so was I. It had been a long week and I was ready to head in.
Back home it was time for a good nap. The only problem was I went to sleep thinking about the images on the Helix, and I woke up thinking about them too. Next thing I know, my wife and I are headed back to the lake at about 6pm. Yep, I really think these fish are causing my sanity to slip! And what would make it slip a cog further? All those fish, both in our spot and the one the guide was fishing, are now gone! After spending over an hour going out to the main lake and back I finally found them again. They seemed to all now be in another punch bowl further upstream than before. But, I can see why. Baitfish! I have never seen so much bait, all in the punch bowl and the first half mile upstream of it. And not only is the bait there, there are fish pushing wave after wave of it down the bank.
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I'm thinking this is the night I'm going to get into the fish. Everything just seemed to be perfect. I had lines at about the right depth heading right through these active areas of skittering shad and....nothing. ARRRGGGHHH! As quickly as all the action started, it seemed to be over. The light was nearly gone, all the schools of bait scattered, and no fish in the cooler. At this point I'm starting to think the next piece of gear I need for the boat is a "For Sale" sign! But, there's always plan B.
It's pretty well dark, so we might as well drop the light and fish the point where all the shad were pushed to when things were so active. I switched the planer boards to down lines on one side of the boat and decided to check the bait on the float on that side at well. It had an empty hook, so I re-baited and chucked it back out. While switching out the planer boards on the other side, that float started bouncing. At first I just watched, as it didn't sink in that it wasn't just the shad doing that. Then it suddenly disappeared, making it obvious we had a hit! I set the hook and handed it off to my wife. After a short easy fight, she had caught her first striper! It was only 17", but at least there was room for improvement!
The shad swirled and time ticked away as we listened to coyotes and owls in the darkness. The only sound we were missing was the reel clickers. My wife had already mentioned that we both had to get up early for work, but my striper insanity nagged at me to keep her fishing at least one more hour. Good thing the sane part of me didn't win because that clicker finally went off. This time she set the hook herself and around they went....literally, around two other lines and around the prop. It was a miracle the line wasn't cut by the prop, but I finally netted the fish.
Talk about coming up short! That fish was 21 3/4"! She had a ball catching it, and I had a ball getting those lines untangled. Finally, she had caught a decent little striper and seen herself how well they pull. I think she is now hooked also, I just wish my son could have got in on it. He had his fill of boring on this mornings trip and didn't feel up to a repeat.
Now it's nearly midnight and we haven't had a hit in a little while, and we both know 6am is not long from now. My insanity finally gives in to early exhaustion and we call it a night. Getting home at 1am and getting up for work at 6 is not a good idea. I might have pulled this crap off when I was younger, but at 40 it is rough. That Monday at work was one [I]long[/I] day.
If I'm going to stay out that late fishing, I'll have to camp or sleep on the boat the next time. Hey, now that's an idea! Camp out with my backpacking gear and just sleep and fish! Surely I could get into the fish if I was right on the lake just hitting camp long enough to eat and sleep! Well, maybe if it wasn't pouring the rain every little bit in the middle of a Flood Watch...
To be continued...