Sweet Ending of 2012 ( Josh's Monster )

 Hit the River for the stripers with Larry Johnson in his boat with Josh Rayner for the last trip of 2012. Arrived at 8 am to 19 degrees and partly cloudy skies.  Within ten minutes still within sight of the launch Josh hooks the shocker of the year! We see this fish thrashing at the surface and all our jaws dropped.  Moments later it realized it was hooked and took a run straight for the bottom and the real fight began. After a few minutes Josh lips his new personal best striper and biggest fish of his life @ 37 inches and 22.5 Pounds. Took some pics, got the weight and shot a video of the release which i will post later.  Josh's next cast he hooks into another large fish fighting even better than the last one which ended up being 33 inches. So with the first 2 fish of the day josh had his 1st and 2nd biggest stripers ever.  

We were having a blast, didnt matter that we were freezing and our lines and guides were frozen. It was an amazing beginning to the day and a great end to a great year.We went on to catch over 130 for the boat on a day which the bite was on and off all day. We caught some fish in the 20-26 inch range but no more keepers. Larry thanks for another fun trip and cant wait for many more next year.  Recap and totals of 2012 coming soon.

Fishing to Escape tragedy even for a little while.

  Yesterdays events that unfolded here in nearby Newtown CT have shaken this state, this country and even the world. Its hard to believe something this terrible could possibly happen but the pain these families are feeling is very real and it will be a struggle for the rest of there lives asking the question why... Sometimes there are no answers and no answer will ever be good enough. Ive found myself trapped to the news hearing every new detail as they became available. Last night i didnt sleep much at all as this whole story really hit home and  I almost cancelled going fishing today but decided to get away from my TV set and just try to enjoy the day the best we could.

 We hit the river for the schoolies yet again, with our last 2 trips combining for over 460 fish the bar was set high. Today was different out there though..the schools of fish were massive but were found in deeper water and were not nearly as aggressive as in recent weeks.  Which made it almost more fun in a way, we had to think more instead of mindlessly catching hundreds..we tried other lures, colors and technics. Josh tied on a storm paddle tail swim jig and started hammering fish left and right. The flukes were consistent but sometimes a change in color did the trick as Larry Johnson found out when switching to a gold and white combo.

Dynamic Travado

 After looking on Dynamic Lures website and not seeing any photo's with stripers i decided i wanted to get one and send them the pic as something new to add to there site possibly. I used there lure called the Travado which is a deep diving jerk bait that goes 6-12 feet casting and up to 15 feet trolling. After a few cast i knew i wasnt getting deep enough so i started what was a 20 second troll before i hooked up. Took a few photo's and let it go. Was my first striper on a dynamic and first ever trolling. 

Biggest fish of the day was a 25 inch i caught on an albino super fluke. Which gave a great fight on my new rod and reel combo. Man are they fun on the light tackle. At the end of the day Josh caught 60 and i caught 51. Not bad considering we werent out that long and we had to work for them. On another note it was nice to see Rich Zaleski back out on the water setting the hook on 80 fish including one keeper that was a tank. For his report click the link on the sidebar.  Also click dynamic lures link and order yourself some lures for the holidays or just for yourself. 

Dynamic Travado

25 inch

Day of Days! Earning our stripes...

 Josh and I just one year ago had our first taste of the river schoolies with Larry Johnson and we had an amazing day. Josh landing 62 , me landing 58 and Larry getting 47 while navigating us around for our first trip.  It was then our best day of fishing ever and was something we would continue to try with my own boat again and again. Last year after that trip our best trip was 17 combined for the day.  Was a huge disappointment but with the crowds of boats and lots of pressure and simply not knowing the river and how the schoolies tick we just kept trying with sub par results. 

 Well 2012 has had a better start.... Our first trip we caught 38 fish combined and then the following week went back to a 6 fish day. Leaves you scratching your head. But we went out this morning with the goal of 100 fish for the boat... After a slow start and watching fisherman such as Steve D and Alex (dont know his last name) catch them on almost every cast i really started to take notes. Find out why some spots hold more fish in regards to tide and depth as well as the way they fish there lures.. and it paid off today.  Josh's first fish of the day was his new PB striper @ 29 inches. His first keeper of his life which after a few photo's was set free.  By around 11 there were a ton of boats and finding your own spots was difficult but when you could it was game on.

 We ended up going on a run of about 120 fish within an hour and a half. Most fish between 18-22 inches and every one of them fights like there 30 inches.  These fish are strong and about half way to the boat seem to suddenly realize there hooked and start to really pull some line. We went on one last drift for the day being the only boat for about a half a mile stretch and we nailed em. Doubles after doubles after doubles. It was unreal. By the end of the day we had 228 schoolies. Sore arms and huge smiles!  All on white or white chartreuse super flukes on 3/8 jig heads.  Today i feel we earned our stripes and i cant wait to get back and do it again.  

This trip goes out to Rich Zaleski with hopes for a fast recovery and quick return to these fish he loves more than anyone who was out there today. Your blog and fishing insight has helped both Josh and I become better anglers. So thank you. 

by: Joe Jacobowitz