drumking, Riverpark, bass, 3/31/10, Bayman

[FishNews]

My good friend, Mark Camp (Bayman) and I went to the Riverpark again this AM looking for some more smallie action. We had a grand slam in bass. Stripers, smallmouth, largemouth, spotted, white, and yellow bass caught. One turbine running 10,000 cfs this AM and it was a different turbine from the single that was running the other day, so we didn't know what to expect at first. We had a good two hours of fishing.<br /><br />Fishing with both 1/8 oz and 1/4 oz jigs with plastic trailers, we landed about 4 white bass, 2 largemouth bass, 3 spotted bass, 1 yellow bass, 8 smallmouth bass and 7 stripers. Mark had 2 big fish pull off after a 2 or 3 minute fight and we suspect that they were stripers. Running hard upstream and screaming drag and finally pulled loose. I should have checked his drag setting. emoBang Oh yeah, Mark caught my pet drum too. I just can't catch another one<br /><br />The largest striper that we weighed pegged my 15 pound scales after reading 17 lb 15 oz before the EEEE showed on the screen. It was no bigger than 20 and probably just around 18 pounds or so. I had another one that big that we got to the net and he wouldn't go in the net peacefully, got about 1/2 way in there and back out, tried to lip him, got my fingers in his mouth and he shook his big head and twisted out of my grip and broke the line. emoBang I had the fish whipped, should have just try to net him again.<br /><br />We landed 8 smallies this AM, but only one that was pushing 4 pounds. Most of the rest were in the 1.5 to 2.5 range. Three very nice spotted bass went home with me along with a 6.7 pound striper that was gilled hooked and bleeding badly, so I kept him and one smaller striper to make my limit. <br /><br />I must once again sing the praises of Mr Crappie Hi-Vis yellow line. Our fish were caught on 6 lb test line and let me tell you, it is the strongest line for its lb test that I have ever used. Uh, don't tell the fish that they don't hit yellow line in clear water. It must be flurocarbon or you just won't get any bites with these bass. emoPoke These line makers are having a field day with that one. emoBig emoGeezer