BPL April 6th morning trip
 

Wow. This year has been slow compared to the last couple of years. I had a crew of my coworker and his brother, cousin, and nephew. My coworker's relatives were visiting from West Virginia and have never fished for trophy sized stripers so he asked me to take them. With our crew of 5 we put out our 6 rod spread. Before all 6 were out we had a fish off the board on a solo 3oz green mylar chute. Quickly after landing that fish, we landed number two on a green umbrella out 75' with 20oz. We were off to a good start. However after that the bite died. We ended up losing a fish that we couldnt get a rubber band to break on and we also lost a fish off the board that was most of the way to the boat. There was very little bait and very little marks. Despite my crew of 5 we went 2 for 4. Both fish were mid 30's fish. Despite the disappointment in action, we had a great morning on the water. We were glad to still have the opportunity to fish.

Saw a couple of other CBAnglers out there who reported about the same action as us.

Here is the spread I have been running this preseason (for the most part) with one planer board.

planer board (starting closest to the board)
1. 2 oz green solo chute out 8 bars
2. 2/5 oz tandem out 7-8 bars
3. 5oz solo white chute 6-7 bars
4. 3/6 oz tandem chute 5-6 bars
5. 6/9 oz tandem out 5 bars

Then I run 1 umbrella off the boat out 5-7 bars with 16-20oz inline.

Thanks for the report Greg....it has been a strange spring for sure.......

Thanks for the report. I have had similar results the last few times out, definately not like the past few years. Hopefully the fishing will get better in the next few weeks.

No one is catching any good numbers now. Hopefully the fish are still on the way...........Gary

Greg; it was good talking to you this morning. We had a friends boat for his shakedown cruise and although the boat ran well; we only picked up one fish all morning. It would be one thing if we were seeing bait and fish on the screen, and we weren't catching them; but we are not seeing bait or fish in any significant numbers. Last year there was so much bait your lines would quiver as they went through, occasionally you would snag an alwive and you would have to clear it from the spread. But not this year (north of Bloody). It's like trolling in your neighbors pool.
I'm beyond concerned; I'm worried. The water temperature is around 57 degrees, so it's not too cold. The water is not full of silt and debris; so it's not dirty water. Perhaps the salinity, is way off because of the snow and rain this spring? I can't figure what's keeping the bait south.
If there is a bad YOY nuimber this year, they won't be able to blame it on C/R season. There are less boats out than I've seen the last three years. I hope they did a flyover this spring:D and saw how few boats were out.
With less than 1% mortality, I know I haven't put a hurt on the population this season, hell I'm not even "educating" fish.
5th (Marty)

Preach it Marty, Preach it!
Attachment 236

Like a dog with a bone, ain't I:D
Keith we had Lou's boat out for the shakedown cruise today. I was thinking about calling you on the cell while we were out, but I couldn't remember if Annapolis had banned talking on the cell while driving a boat yet:eek:.

Have you been fitted for your custom lifejacket that you will propably need to wear next year while on the water? And yeah; I went to home depot today and bought three cans of florescent orange paint so I can meet the new "guidelines" that are coming out for planer boards shortly.

And I don't know what I'm going to do about Lou and his coffee. With the zero tollerance about taking a leak overboard (but millions of gallons of raw sewage by the city is just an oops), Maybe I'll buy him some depends for his birthday.

Darn it Keith; get me off this soapbox. I think I'm headed to the stockades next time.

Sorry guys; thought I was on the TF board. Please ignore the above.
5th (Marty)

Damn Marty,

I feel pretty bad after reading your sermons. I guess next you'll be giving us poisonous cocktails so we can have a mass suicide? :D

Now in all seriousness, it was a great day on the water today. My weather report had the winds light and variable in the morning, with wind building from the southeast to 11-12 mph as the morning progressed. We had very little wind all morning, and ran back to SP on flat water. We did see some birds diving, but appeared to be in shallow water (>25 ft). Saw lots of birds SITTING just east of Thomas as we ran back in.
Sorry to hijack Greg's thread!
I'll be back out next week, after I get some things crossed off my honeydo list.
See you all on the water soon; 5th (Marty)

Nice report Greg, glad you got them...I was out giving my spread a shakedown too...mine is a little different, consisted of a 1 oz Francis Zell Special Jighead, unpainted with a chartreuse 10" BKD...it worked really well though, it took me a while to get this spread dialed in but when I did and found the bait there were fish :)