06-08-2006, 06:20 PM
WINDY...WINDY...WINDY...we departed from Callville Bay in a 59' houseboat and 26' deck cruiser early Friday morning. We experienced high winds till Saturday night (around 9:00). Surprisingly, we caught around 20 stripers on Friday. We fished from morning till 1:00 in the morning. Saturday was even more windy but as soon as the wind died down...they came out of the wood works. From 9:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., we caught at least a 100 stripers, 20 catfish, and a large turtle. Yes, a turtle!!! Nearly, crapped my pants. My friend was battling the turtle for about 5 minutes. I thought he had landed a large catfish. The rod was bending severely but he wasn't putting up a fight like a striper does. As I got the net ready, I saw a large flat object through the water. I asked myself, "what the heck is that?" It almost looked like a sand shark. When I got it in the net, I realized it was a turtle. Crazy... Anyway, I had serious difficulty removing the hook from the turtle's mouth. He had a large mouth that could snap my finger off. I had no idea a turtle could stick his neck out 8 inches. Unfortunately, the hook broke but at least we were able to release him immediately.
We also caught something that I could not identify. It looked like a cross between a striper, largemouth and smallmouth. It was about 20 inches, 4 lbs., pretty meaty. The top half was light green like a smallmouth. The bottom half was white (like a striper but it had no stripes. It had a very large mouth like a largemouth. Definitely wasn't a smallmouth even though it had that green color. What was that? Does anyone know? Is there any way a striper and smallmouth could have combined like that?
Sunday afternoon, the reduction in wind allowed us to take the deck cruiser to Gov't Wash. My God, I had a map and printout from Google Earth but I could not tell where the heck I was. The water level has dropped so much that I couldn't tell the difference between the various coves. There were so many cars parked along the shoreline that it was hard to tell what was Boxcar, Crawdad or Gov't Wash. I saw a lot of little boils. We caught a few stripers fishing the boils but they moved around a lot so we weren't too successful.
Sunday night, we caught more catfish than stripers. All the catfish we released. That night, we also caught a 9 lb carp off an anchovy!?!? Crazy... I've used dough bait and even Hawaiian bread to catch a carp just for a good fight (I've heard they're not good to eat). My friend had heck of a time reeling it up but we were shocked to find that it was a carp. I've never seen or heard about a carp that went after an anchovy.
All in all, it was a good trip. The Forever Houseboat was really nice. Much better than Seven Crown's Houseboat. I believe we were in Hideaway Cove but I have no idea. I thought we were in Crawdad Cove but it looks like I was off significantly. Actually, Friday morning's severe winds forced us into a cove that was protected by a peninsula albeit you could barely see the peninsula above the water line.
I've now fished Temple Bar, Overton Arm and Boulder Basin. I'm not even going to try the Virgin Basin. By far, my best fishing has been at Temple Bar. Between four guys on a good night, we'll catch over 200 stripers. We even timed it once. My friend and I were timed for 15 minutes. We caught 13 stripers in that 15 minute period, which includes baiting the hook and unhooking the striper. I'm planning a week long trip for October. Can't wait!
Thanks again to Reellittlephish and Baysport for all your advice!
Best regards to everyone,
Paul
[signature]
We also caught something that I could not identify. It looked like a cross between a striper, largemouth and smallmouth. It was about 20 inches, 4 lbs., pretty meaty. The top half was light green like a smallmouth. The bottom half was white (like a striper but it had no stripes. It had a very large mouth like a largemouth. Definitely wasn't a smallmouth even though it had that green color. What was that? Does anyone know? Is there any way a striper and smallmouth could have combined like that?
Sunday afternoon, the reduction in wind allowed us to take the deck cruiser to Gov't Wash. My God, I had a map and printout from Google Earth but I could not tell where the heck I was. The water level has dropped so much that I couldn't tell the difference between the various coves. There were so many cars parked along the shoreline that it was hard to tell what was Boxcar, Crawdad or Gov't Wash. I saw a lot of little boils. We caught a few stripers fishing the boils but they moved around a lot so we weren't too successful.
Sunday night, we caught more catfish than stripers. All the catfish we released. That night, we also caught a 9 lb carp off an anchovy!?!? Crazy... I've used dough bait and even Hawaiian bread to catch a carp just for a good fight (I've heard they're not good to eat). My friend had heck of a time reeling it up but we were shocked to find that it was a carp. I've never seen or heard about a carp that went after an anchovy.
All in all, it was a good trip. The Forever Houseboat was really nice. Much better than Seven Crown's Houseboat. I believe we were in Hideaway Cove but I have no idea. I thought we were in Crawdad Cove but it looks like I was off significantly. Actually, Friday morning's severe winds forced us into a cove that was protected by a peninsula albeit you could barely see the peninsula above the water line.
I've now fished Temple Bar, Overton Arm and Boulder Basin. I'm not even going to try the Virgin Basin. By far, my best fishing has been at Temple Bar. Between four guys on a good night, we'll catch over 200 stripers. We even timed it once. My friend and I were timed for 15 minutes. We caught 13 stripers in that 15 minute period, which includes baiting the hook and unhooking the striper. I'm planning a week long trip for October. Can't wait!
Thanks again to Reellittlephish and Baysport for all your advice!
Best regards to everyone,
Paul
[signature]