Results from 1st ever Stripper trip for veteran you helped!!

[cra97]

OMG, what a BLAST!!!!! Thank you all for your support, ideas, information and words of encouragement on my first ever trip to Cumberland for Strippers (definately won't be my last!!). My dad came in from PA, brother-in-law from MO, and we had the absolute WORST weather possible, but the BEST TIME!! We left for our trip on Friday, when the storm was hitting obviously, but we were not going to miss this trip no matter what the weather did to us. It took us about 5 hours to safely make it from Louisville to the site in my RV (only 2.75 hours coming home . We went straight out, in the snow, to start fishing and caught nothing but colds. So I called the guide, Brandon White (who I have to say is possibly the BEST PERSON I have ever run into anywhere fishing), and he said he would still take us out if we wanted since we made the trip down in the weather. He basically said if we wanted it bad enough to drive that far in the snow, he would find a way to get his boat in the water Sat. morning and get us out.
So, we started out at 5 am leaving Keeland (sp?) and cut the only tracks on the road to the dock 10 miles away (this was an adventure in itself). We got there and the first thing we see is Brandon backing down this really steep hill to put his boat in, the only issue was his truck tires were in drive and the boat was pulling him slowly backwards into the water anyway. We thought for sure he, the boat, and the truck were going in right then and there. I am not sure how, or why he was crazy enough to do this for us, but he managed to get the boat in and truck back up to the lot like it was no big deal (we took pics of the whole thing it was so nuts to watch). Anyway, Brandon takes us out on the 6 hour trip we paid for and he ends up staying out Sat. on the water with us for 8 hours, and Sunday for about 8.5. This man did EVERYTHING humanly possible to make this trip as much of a fun experience as possible for us. The end results may not sound amazing, but I assure you there was noone who ever had as much fun as we did just being out there together for those two days as a family with a GREAT GUY like him. We ended up catching 3 Strippers over the two days, they were: First one was 35 inches and right about 27 lbs (fatest fish I have ever seen in my life, and was not carrying eggs!), Second one was 40 inches and tipped the scales at around 32 lbs, the third was the runt of the litter and was 34 inches and a little over 22 lbs. All in all the fish, at least he said, were pretty good size and a TON OF FUN to catch!! We had 8 poles in the water at a time and, believe it or not, all three were caught on the SAME ONE (which was, as best I could tell, right on the top with about 5 feet of line out for the shinner behind the plainer board).
We tried everything under the sun you each suggested in Hatchery Creek, the river, and right up by the dam, but had no luck at all one our own. I ran into a guy who said he had been there all week and he said in 5 days out there he saw only two fish brought in and they were just small crappie, nothing else had been caught this week as far as he knew there. I really would have been shocked if we HAD caught any considering the conditions, temp and our inexperience with the area and fishing in general.
I said I would post the results of my trip for all of you who took the time to help me, and share your experience, so that's them. Oh yeah, just one last note to add, these fish are the BIGGEST any of us have EVER caught in our lives, so that made it something special to us as well. I would HIGHLY recommend Brandon White as a guide to anyone looking for a person to use. He is a one man show, but he definately went out of his way to make sure we had a great time (not to mention I am not sure ANYONE else would have even risked taking us out the way he did on Saturday in those conditions) and even stayed extra time, which he certainly was not paid to do, to try and see if we could get anymore fish. The guy seemed like a "good ole'boy" who has grown up in the area and could not have been nicer, or better to us than he was. I had a great time in the face of some of the worst conditions we could have imagined.
Thanks again to all those who PM'd and posted ideas for me in my previous threads. Take care and good luck to you all!!!

Rob

[cra97]

Forgot to mention that I will have pics of the catches (part cause I am excited and other part so you know I ain't FOS...lol). As soon as I get them I will put them up for your viewing enjoyment

Rob

[mhall]

WTG and I hope you guys tipped him, that is going above and beyond for sure. Nice fish in any striper fisherman's eyes.

[DJD]

Yep that's great news and awesome memories! The heck with the weather go out if you can because those are some of the best trips. I remember the trips that we fought waves or wind or unfortunate circumstances just as easily as the perfect trips....sometimes even enjoyed them more!