Posts: 43
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2010
Reputation:
0
Friday evening decided to give Willow a shot. Invited a new striper fisherman(Eric) I had recently met for his 1st trip to the river on a boat. Went down to Monkey Hole and began trolling. 4th pass while going against current I landed a 9LBer on the 12" rainbow ac plug. Fish spun my line around a submerged tree branch in about 15' of water. Got directly above the fish and the tree branch and was able to shine a light down and actually see the fish and lure down there and felt pretty hopeless. Finally took another pole and tied off a large cheap heavy swim bait and dropped it down on top of the fish and was able to hook my plug. I pulled up while Eric released the other line and was able to to get my string to spin around the branch and it let my pull in the fish and lure into my net. Great save!!!
After that battle, we continued to work the Monkey Hole for hours. I let Eric use the 12" rainbow pattern and he only had one hit in that area. We started our way back upstream and not even 3 bends north of Monkey Hole, Eric landed a 14LB monster, it wasn't real happy to be caught and didn't show any signs of giving up but it ended up in the net nevertheless. All in all, great trip on the river for me! Attaching a cell phone pic of the 14LB'er.
[signature]
Posts: 357
Threads: 0
Joined: Jul 2010
Reputation:
0
nice work. Thats a nice striper right there[fishin]
how fast were you guys trolling.
[signature]
Posts: 43
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2010
Reputation:
0
Thanks! Hope is VERY important on that river man. If had no hope I would have quit fishing that river years ago, many many hours there without even a bump. Monkey Hole, from what I have been told is just above the where the power lines cross the river. I could be totally wrong,lol. I have had a few different people tell me that so I'm sticking with it as "Monkey Hole" lol.
[signature]
Posts: 43
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2010
Reputation:
0
Thanks Vegaskid, I don't have a speedometer on the boat but I would say 2-3 depends on what direction. I also use me drift sock alot of the time to slow me down even more.
[signature]
Posts: 1,036
Threads: 0
Joined: May 2008
Reputation:
0
Way to go on not giving up! on that particular fish too. Good thing that water is clear enough to see through.
So is that upriver from willow or down?
[signature]
Posts: 514
Threads: 0
Joined: May 2010
Reputation:
0
beautiful striper, give us all a little hope i think. nice work on the retrieval of your lure and the fish, alot of times it doesn't go that way when u are hung. those plugs are not cheap. great job!!![fishin]
[signature]
Posts: 916
Threads: 0
Joined: Aug 2010
Reputation:
0
Very nice report n pic [cool] love to see the big boys. Thats what you call puttin in the work congrats. Did you keep em? Did you fish through the night? thanks
[signature]
Posts: 858
Threads: 0
Joined: Oct 2006
Reputation:
0
Chad71 you should post on the AC Plug site Alan gives prizes for pics of fish caught on his lures. (Like a free backup plug)
[signature]
Posts: 1,300
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2007
Reputation:
0
Awesome man, way to go on those quality fish.
[signature]
Posts: 43
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2010
Reputation:
0
LOL, it's down river from Willow. You can't miss the power lines crossing the river.
[signature]
Posts: 1,300
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2007
Reputation:
0
I took my wife and newborn daughter to Willow on Monday. We trolled and casted for about 3 hours before it was time to go, and got nothin. Had one big striper jump about 30 yds behind the boat when we were trolling. I turned around and worked the area for a minute, no love there.
We were cruising back in, and I saw something flopping on the surface in the middle of the river. Headed over to investigate and found this carp wallowing there.
[inline "all 133.jpg"]
He had been hit by a prop (so it seemed) and couldn't swim. I tossed him back in. Maybe a 70lb striper will make a meal of him...
[inline "all 134.jpg"]
The arsenal for the day:
[signature]
Posts: 357
Threads: 0
Joined: Jul 2010
Reputation:
0
Those new casitas look sweet. I just picked up a couple from laker plaza. Looks like a nice trip[fishin]
[signature]
Posts: 916
Threads: 0
Joined: Aug 2010
Reputation:
0
Thought u angled that carp when I looked at the pic lol [cool] keep heading out there your bound to land a big boy.
[signature]
Posts: 1,300
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2007
Reputation:
0
Yeah, those swimbaits are nice. The only problem I found is that the 6" bait doesn't have good tail action until you are really cranking it in. Not good for a slow retrieve. The bigger one has great action though. I like the smaller one for casting to structure and ripping it in.
[signature]
]
]