The Dogwoods are blooming 5/9/14

The rains here in Pennsylvania have prevented us from fishing the rivers, but good OLE Beltzville Lake is always a solid "PLAN B!"  Our plan this evening was to search for ... and find the stripers.  We launched around 6:00PM with water temperatures at 57 degrees.  The recent rains put water visibility at about 2-3 feet.  The water was choppy from winds blowing to the south.  We knew this was what we wanted and that any bait present was sure to be pushed up against the shorelines.  Man, were we in for a surprise!  After about 3 hours, we only had one smallmouth bass in the boat.  It was a FOOTBALL at 19.5 inches!

The week before, we only landed one largemouth bass in 7 hours of fishing.  However, we remained positive and kept chucking lures. Around 9:00, I hooked into a 20 inch walleye.

We still couldn't find the stripers and decided to head for deep water.  Guess what we found?

The stripers were out in deep water having a blast feeding on baitfish!  We threw various jerkbaits, crankbaits and deep divers into the frenzy and came out with 22 stripers in a little over an hour.  Most fish were in the 3-8 lb. range and we sure did have some fun.  It went something like this ..."Chad, get the net!  Take a picture .... Dave, get the net!  Take a picture."

We couldn't pull a double because while one of us was collecting ourselves and releasing a fish .... the other had a fish on.  A wise man (darkside from EPFR) once told me to keep an eye on the dogwoods blooming and the moon being full.  Well, the clouds and fog prevented us from seeing the moon, but the dogwoods are blooming.

Just want to give a "SHOUT OUT" to Reel River Adventures (Chris & Ken) for my sweet "football season" hooded sweatshirt.  Yes, it keeps me warm.  However, I think it brings me some good luck while out fishing.  I'm sure you can purchase one by visiting their website at http://reelriveradventures.com/

Rumor has it that "Cheddar & Horseradish" potato chips also attract schools of stripers boatside.

This was when "Sammy the Striper" told me about the Cheddar & Horseradish chips attracting their school to the boat!  Haha!

I'm not going to post all the fish but there was a good sample.  I may go back and edit this report if some pictures came out better than others.  We've been taking I-phone pictures the last few trips.  It may be time to bring the digital camera back out.  I will say this .... the fog was so thick that we couldn't see 10 yards from the boat.  I'm guessing this had something to do with the blurry pictures.  Anyway, it was a GREAT night out on the water.  I was able to boat 16 fish.  Chad added to the count with 8.  I'm making this post two nights later and both of our thumbs, arms, backs and necks still hurt from reeling in these willing participants of this adventure.  Until next time ....

steeler