Had another great Striper trip today ! Caught 5 of them. 3 in the 32" range, 1 a little smaller, and this 38", 25.2 lb'er :-) Fought like a freight train too !

Caught, photo'd and released with "explosive energy" ! I love it when they do that....

Peace,

Fish

awesome fish!

Appears your good health choices have assisted in waking Lady Luck for you Chris  WTG and stay on'em 

Big O

www.ragetail.com

NIIIIIICE!

Very cool Fish! Good to see you holding up a fish again!

Sounds like you are killin them. Nice fish!

Much thanks guys

I certainly had a blast the last two days sticking these big ol' Bass

The only bummer is, it's a totally tidal dependent bite. So, next week, all during most of the days sunlight, it will be an incoming tide.... so I will basically have about 1 to 2 hours of good fishing time. The rest is just messing around, trying to catch bait, and wasting time.

....but I have a plan

First off, I already have some dead, frozen Split tails (often 95% as effective as live ones. BTW, the 25.2 today was on a dead one)

So, I think I might just have to run around looking for a dino-fish (Sturgeon) and then, right when the tide starts to turn around, run back to my Striper spot, bust out the frozen Splitties, and Bam ! Fish on ! 

The only hideous thing is, I have 5 days of work before I can try to make this happen Isn't work a PITA ?

Oh well.

Had my fish catching fix today, so now I'll have something to day dream about this work week

Peace,

Fish

Those are some awesome fish you've been posting!!  Congrats on some great action.

Sweet looking Stripers !

I was very addicted to that particular species for a long time. It was a good time.

I'd like to mention that when the bite was good during the day, it was Always Even Better at Night. So if night ops are manageable for you, I highly recommend them.

Either way, the success your enjoying now is fantastic and making me long for days past.

Congrats.

A-Jay

Much thanks guys.

Hey A-Jay..... yea...... night fishing  :-/

I've never been good at that. I always feel completely lost / out of my element. Not to mention how frigging cold it is at night here in December ! Sure, I have cold weather gear, but gloves just get in the way, and its hard to make your hands work in 25 degrees. Not to mention the fact that often your just sitting still for long hours on end.

All that said, I can't ignore the fact that many / most of the true giants caught by friends and acquaintances (45 lbs and larger) were caught at night.

I have actually been thinking about "staying over" on one of those 6 or 8 hour tides that start 2 hours before dark.... Next week ?

Another thing I'm thinking about....

For whatever reason, these fish almost NEVER bite an artificial lure, in the water I'm catching them. However, this is a large, very shallow bay (1ft to 6 ft, depending on the tide) so I can't help but believe these fish would blast a 9" MS Slammer drug right over their heads at night.

How freaking crazy / exciting / scary would that be, to hook, fight, and land a 40+ lb'er on a top-water... at night !

Hmmmmm.....

Peace,

Fish

Nice to see you posting. Congrats on the fish!

With stripers on artificials I find that you have to fish them fast, faster than you think you need to.  It seems like they like to run stuff down.

Excellent striper, are you using a heavier rig for these guys or using the same set up you use for black bass?

VolFan, yes, I have definately experienced this with smaller 6 to 12 lb Stripers, in some of my other nearby waters.... I mean, like having to burn a rattletrap as fast as you possibly can ! But in this particular spot, they seem to be totally keyed in on 1 very specific thing... Split Tails. Not even other live baits seem to work well.

Again, maybe at night, it will turn out to be different.

are you using a heavier rig for these guys or using the same set up you use for black bass?

Well, yes, and yes I'm using a stout spinning rod, and 50 lb braid... but this is basically the same thing I use for throwing big, heavy swimbaits for Largemouth bass. The only difference being, that I use a baitrunner type of spinning reel.

The only reason for the heavier gear though, is to handle the bigger baits, and a 4oz weight.

Otherwise, I feel like I could land any Striper that's swimming out there, on my micro-light.

Heck, I've landed several Sturgeon in the 100 lb range on my micro-lights, so I doubt a 50 lb Striper could beat me (short of a lucky break.... on the fishes part, that is )

That said, their is one thing cool about the heavier gear though too, and that's that when you are able to put more pressure on a fish, it is able to put more pressure on you ! In other words, heavy gear allows you to really feel the true power of a big, strong sportfish..... and geez, do I love to feel the power of a big strong sportfish

Peace,

Fish

Very nice fish your catching. Congrats Fish Chris.

Bravo, Chris!  That's a beauty and I see you haven't lost your touch with the camera either. 

okay really way to make me jealous lol ive got NO striper action at all this year