01-06-2012, 10:00 AM
I Sam is going back to UT tomorrow so we decided to go out together for one last time before he has to hit the books. We put into CFP around 11am and decided to head north. I had done a little scouting last Saturday and found a few good bends in the river that were holding shad. On way there we stopped to say hello to Labman. Norman was solo today and chasing stripers like us. The day started with me getting the first fish - a fiesty 2lb LM. emoFish So Sam now owes me for first fish but he ended up smokin me on most and largest. We moved spots and found some struggling bait on the top. We could periodically reach down and simply scoup up a dying shad. I guess the cold weather is resulting in the first shad kill of the winter. Water temp was mid 40's in most places we fished. Sam casts next to a dying minnow and hooks up - DRUM emoBang I am laughing cause he called striper when it first hit! We movefurther up river. Gulls are not much help today because they are just diving on dying shad and the fish are deep. Next stop we are fishing a point. I tell Sam if he casts over to the rocky part he will probably catch one - BAM - Hookup - Dang I am good LOL! This fight went on for about 15 minutes as the fish ran to the channel and stayed deep. When it surfaced we saw a nice 20+ striper. We went back to the same area and we double - DRUM emoBang Sam catches about 6 more DRUM emoBang I guess we got in a school of those suckers. We continued to work the area and Sam hooks another nice one - 9+ striper this time. We begin our run back to CFP and on way back see Labman fighting a big fish. He tells us he has been fighting it for an hour. We hang around him for another 30 minutes or so and motor over to see if we can help - the line is still coming off the reel and Norman is starting to look faint...Sam has a date so we cant wait around but heard later from Norman that he landed it and it went 35+ - emoToast emoWorthy WTG Labman - Finally off the water - beautiful day - saw eagles, saw hawks, tons of ducks and other birds. I wonder how many more days like this we will get in Jan - Well at least Friday for sure - hope you get out there while it lasts!! emoGeezer Tight lines emoAngler