COOCH, thank you , thank you, thank you

rangerdriven373 · Post by **rangerdriven373** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:36 pm

well me and my dad went striper fishing 2 weeks ago and only caught one little 22inch fish. so i came home and jumped on the striper forum. i seen your video and watched it over and over again. so my dad and i go and get some baits. he uses cut bait or live bait so he is not used fishing lures, like the spook or jerk bait and he sure has never used a swim bait. so we get a couple of everything that you used and we are set. we get out on the water by daybreak and go to franks. we find a nice spot after getting shot at with all the hunters out there. so i started teaching him how to use a spook. he made a long cast and started working it, half way to the boat he gets three swirls but nothing. now keep in mind he is 75 and he has never cought a fish on a lure. we idle back up to where he had the swirls and as we idle over to drift back, i see a blue gill get slung about 3 feet in the air, i punch it over there and told him to make a cast past that blue gill. perfect shot, he pops the rod twice and BAM, a huge explosion, he waits to feel the pressure and he sets the hook. the look on his face was priceless. we get it in and weigh it. almost 16 lbs. hes shaking so bad he has to sit down. i idle back up, and i slung a spook over there and bam, another huge explosion, fight it to the boat and its a 7 lb largemouth. im out here trying to get a striper and im catching blackbass. my dad tosses back over the same spot and gets hammerd again. a little over 11lb striper. we call it a day, cuz his nurves are shot, just an amazing day for him and for me , and one he will never forget. thank you again and he thanks you a thousand time over.

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DeltaDan · Post by **DeltaDan** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:39 am

rangerdriven373 -- That is just WAY TO COOL OF A STORY !!!

I am the same way as you were.....My dad wanted to fish for nothing but Stripers when came out of the hills for me and him alone on Memorial day. (Wife and boys went with my mom to DLand) We did no get any Stripers as that is what he wanted to fish for....... wanted to know what bait to bring.

-- We had such an AWESOME time.... I felt like a kid again the first time he trusted me using his shotgun and .22 alone and him asking how my day went.

We skunked that day -- even trolling Horseshoe..........He kept saying he should of bought Mudsuckers on the way down.......

I am trying to drag him down off that hill to get one some linesiders on plugs my upcomming off day/days !!
-- They are comming down on the 1st to take the boys out for a company shindig he retired from -- I am trying to see if they can come and stay the day/night before so that he can go out with the boys and I for full on action !!

Cheers to you- and Thankyou for sharing such an AWESOME story again !!

Terry Smith · Post by **Terry Smith** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:44 am

GREAT STORY!!!!!!! congradulations I did the same thing showing my Dad how to spoon for stripers. He is an old bait fisherman an even though we didn't catch anything over 11lbs we did catch over 40 stripers in two hours and his arms were just to tired to keep fishing. It's so much fun to give back something that your Dad started you off with as A child.

Terry

SloppySeconds · Post by **SloppySeconds** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:13 am

That is indeed a fantastic story! I love the idea of having to stop fishing since you are so shaken up you can't fish!

Speaking of fishing the spoon for stripers... this is one technique that I know very little about. Could someone explain the basic concept? From what I understand, you use the fish finder to find a school, then drop the spoon down into them and jig vertically?

Any tips on this would be much appreciated.

SS

TTCal · Post by **TTCal** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:39 pm

SloppySeconds wrote: From what I understand, you use the fish finder to find a school, then drop the spoon down into them and jig vertically?

That's pretty much it.

Chances are better if you graph a ball of bait above some fish but it's not totally necessary. I've spooned striper up from the bottom just graphing one or two fish alone too.

The trick is finding an area where they're bunched up for consistent success. Since striper are on the move, it can be tough to consistently find them, but they'll occasionally sit in holes from 12 to 40 feet or more.

Spooning can be a blast. One minute you're sitting there thinking, "they're not gonna hit this thing" then POW! FISH ON!

The deeper the water, the heavier you want that spoon to be. I drop it all the way to the bottom, then lift it up with a medium *pop*, then let it back down on taught line. Hits usually come on the drop.

I'm certainly not an expert though.. this is just what's worked for me. Hopefully others will chime in.

SloppySeconds · Post by **SloppySeconds** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 6:20 pm

I guess finding the schools of fish on the graph is my problem. I'm usually running-and-gunning from spot to spot, so I haven't spent much time looking for large schools of fish in deep water.

What type of water should I try looking for these schools? I'm guessing deep water near shallow flats or in main river channels?

This is one technique that I just haven't tried much, since I feel I could be fishing "good looking" spots instead of wandering around staring at the depth finder... Is there a way that I can minimize idling around looking for fish?

Thanks!