I have not posted a report in awhile, but had so much fun today, I needed to share. With today's great weather, I was going fishing, "No Matter What!" Left a few messages for a couple of buds. Never heard a thing and said to h3LL with it, I am going. Was on my way to the Dike and Sgrem called back. Thankfully, because going solo is not my favorite.
Met him at the launch, winds were light, 6's or 7's tops. We headed to the mystery bay, LOL!. Now, I have been chunking lures for five months, about sick of this ****e. Been hearing the reports of the shrimp migrating so I did it! Yes, I bought a quart of live shrimp! I could barely get Sgrem to stay on the boat once he realized my bait well was recycling salt water with live bait! angelsm
We reached the first reef and gave it a shot, there was actual bait activity but nothing major. There was the occasional mullet flip. Here we boxed one or two trout and caught numerous dinks. They were really liking the live shrimp. Hook up ratio was probably 3:1, live vs. arties. Probably caught about 15 trout at that first reef.
Well, it was time to move on so we went to the 2nd reef. We call this reef "Nastalgia Reef," because this was actually where I met Sgrem for the first time. Two years ago after cutting off his drift and a small exchange of words; I asked, "Are you on 2Cool?" He replied, "I am sgrem" LOL! Nostalgia reef literally showed no signs of bait activity, but we grinded it out because we knew there was shell there. We actually boxed a couple more there, bigger in size from the previous reef.
Here is where we digressed and were just shooting the breeze. Chatting about family, jobs, life. I shared a story with him about how excited I was when I first bought my boat. I remember fishing the Ohmstede tournament with 2Cooler's ClearLakeClayt and DPFISHERMAN. It was a tourney so we wanted every arrow in the quiver, every tool at our disposal. So we had live shrimp again :help:. Clayt had hooked into a stout 23 inch pig and while he was landing it, I said, "Clayt, get me a live shrimp out of the livewell!" Ha ha! It took me a long time to live that moment down. I definitely was caught up in the excitement.
Moving along we decided to hit the last reef. This is when things got exciting. We were drifting along and I had set my rod down to re-bait. Low and behold, Sgrem casts back and his jig head hooked into my pole. The forward momentum thrust my Falcon Bucoo and Penn Battle 2000 into the drink. Thank God for the cork because he was able to cast towards it and retrieve it. So lets just say, I will be paying a visit to Pat Ryan in La Porte to have my Battle cleaned.
The last reef was unlike any of the others. There was bucoo bait jumping, shrimp popping, bait flipping. Here, it was on, like Donkey Kong! Numerous hook ups, rods almost being pulled out of your hand, very exciting stuff! At one point when I was hooked up, Sgrem said, "Matt, hand me a live shrimp!" Ha ha! I responded "After you throw all the rods in the water!" Baw ha!
It was an incredible trip and the last reef was were we topped the box off. Water temps were 76 degrees, clarity was 2 feet. In fairness, we ended 10 keepers on live shrimp and 10 keepers on arties. Sgrem was throwing a purple Lil' John the whole time. I will admit, in the end he was gaining on me fast.
This report would not be complete without mentioning "MOAB!" Mother of All Birds! While drifting the last reef, as we motored back to the front of the reef on a drift, we noticed some birds working. We hauled arse that way, positioned ourselves in the line of the action. Credit to Sgrem as once we got in position, he worked the trolling motor to get as close as we could without shaking the apple cart. At this point, both of us were throwing baitcasters as bird action is fast. I was throwing a Down South Lure, chicken of the C. Sgrem stuck with the purple Lil' John. We were on them big time with some keepers. Sgrem kept us far enough away that the length of our cast was when we would get bit. This was a learning experience for me as he told me to stay low and not stand on the deck. Never thought it made a difference, but quickly realized the importance when the only other boat in the entire area drifted in. We were on those birds for a good 10 minutes and the actions of others completely squashed it :cop:
Hope you guys enjoyed the report! Remember it is not the size of the fish, the number, but the fellowship!
Tight lines!
Met him at the launch, winds were light, 6's or 7's tops. We headed to the mystery bay, LOL!. Now, I have been chunking lures for five months, about sick of this ****e. Been hearing the reports of the shrimp migrating so I did it! Yes, I bought a quart of live shrimp! I could barely get Sgrem to stay on the boat once he realized my bait well was recycling salt water with live bait! angelsm
We reached the first reef and gave it a shot, there was actual bait activity but nothing major. There was the occasional mullet flip. Here we boxed one or two trout and caught numerous dinks. They were really liking the live shrimp. Hook up ratio was probably 3:1, live vs. arties. Probably caught about 15 trout at that first reef.
Well, it was time to move on so we went to the 2nd reef. We call this reef "Nastalgia Reef," because this was actually where I met Sgrem for the first time. Two years ago after cutting off his drift and a small exchange of words; I asked, "Are you on 2Cool?" He replied, "I am sgrem" LOL! Nostalgia reef literally showed no signs of bait activity, but we grinded it out because we knew there was shell there. We actually boxed a couple more there, bigger in size from the previous reef.
Here is where we digressed and were just shooting the breeze. Chatting about family, jobs, life. I shared a story with him about how excited I was when I first bought my boat. I remember fishing the Ohmstede tournament with 2Cooler's ClearLakeClayt and DPFISHERMAN. It was a tourney so we wanted every arrow in the quiver, every tool at our disposal. So we had live shrimp again :help:. Clayt had hooked into a stout 23 inch pig and while he was landing it, I said, "Clayt, get me a live shrimp out of the livewell!" Ha ha! It took me a long time to live that moment down. I definitely was caught up in the excitement.
Moving along we decided to hit the last reef. This is when things got exciting. We were drifting along and I had set my rod down to re-bait. Low and behold, Sgrem casts back and his jig head hooked into my pole. The forward momentum thrust my Falcon Bucoo and Penn Battle 2000 into the drink. Thank God for the cork because he was able to cast towards it and retrieve it. So lets just say, I will be paying a visit to Pat Ryan in La Porte to have my Battle cleaned.
The last reef was unlike any of the others. There was bucoo bait jumping, shrimp popping, bait flipping. Here, it was on, like Donkey Kong! Numerous hook ups, rods almost being pulled out of your hand, very exciting stuff! At one point when I was hooked up, Sgrem said, "Matt, hand me a live shrimp!" Ha ha! I responded "After you throw all the rods in the water!" Baw ha!
It was an incredible trip and the last reef was were we topped the box off. Water temps were 76 degrees, clarity was 2 feet. In fairness, we ended 10 keepers on live shrimp and 10 keepers on arties. Sgrem was throwing a purple Lil' John the whole time. I will admit, in the end he was gaining on me fast.
This report would not be complete without mentioning "MOAB!" Mother of All Birds! While drifting the last reef, as we motored back to the front of the reef on a drift, we noticed some birds working. We hauled arse that way, positioned ourselves in the line of the action. Credit to Sgrem as once we got in position, he worked the trolling motor to get as close as we could without shaking the apple cart. At this point, both of us were throwing baitcasters as bird action is fast. I was throwing a Down South Lure, chicken of the C. Sgrem stuck with the purple Lil' John. We were on them big time with some keepers. Sgrem kept us far enough away that the length of our cast was when we would get bit. This was a learning experience for me as he told me to stay low and not stand on the deck. Never thought it made a difference, but quickly realized the importance when the only other boat in the entire area drifted in. We were on those birds for a good 10 minutes and the actions of others completely squashed it :cop:
Hope you guys enjoyed the report! Remember it is not the size of the fish, the number, but the fellowship!
Tight lines!