Submitted by Loren Brooks
Local Fisherman
We arrived at Echo at 8:15 am, only to find that we had two dead batteries. I must have a short. The boat had sat for seven days in the parking lot. The marine store did not loan or rent batteries so we headed out to the floating tires (break water) using the trolling motor. Bud and Junior, in the “Striper” boat came by at the tires and loaned us a battery so it made our day. I promised them homemade bread for a battery. Boyd Brown and Phillip Andersen were my teammates on the venture.
We thought we were sitting on a big school of stripers at the tires, when in fact it was probably a school of Carp. We did not get a strike jigging at this location. We came to that conclusion when Carp surfaced and showed their bugle lips.
With the inboard operating we headed toward Stewart’s Point looking for striper. We used the GPS to mark a location and caught four striper. The location is N3620.341 W11425.031. Probably not that good a spot to look up on the GPS next time.
Phillip Andersen caught the first fish, jigging with a “dart”. No other fish were caught jigging. We started to troll in that area, and caught three more striper using anchovies. I like using the slider with the six foot leader. The short leader with weight is three feet. I got several strikes but only landed one fish.
Sam Pulphrey and his grandson came by at 2:00 pm and said they were further north near Stewart’s Point and marked many fish and caught 14. He said his grandson caught 10 of the 14 fish.
Our biggest fish was caught by trolling with a “spin & glow” in the outer harbor. It measured 21 inches but turned out to be a “razor” and was discarded.
It was very cold and windy. Lets face it – a very slow day. Bud and Junior caught four (one of which was a “razor”). While docking at 3:00 pm, another boat claimed five, and a pontoon boat gave no report at the dock, which says to me they did not do well. It looks like Sam and his grandson found the fish and caught the most. Sam did not take a GPS reading so your guess is as good as mine as to his “hot” location. He said they had lots of strikes.
Batteries are being charged and the boat is being winterized until after Christmas. I hope by then Overton Beach Marina will be open for launching. Thanks again Bud for the battery. I have disconnected yours from the boat and will return it in the morning.
I must have got better mileage on this trip. The boat used 4.2 gallons,(13 miles on the water) and the truck used 3.3 gallons of diesel (50 miles). ($24.00 split 3 ways is $8.00 each – not that it really matters). That’s cheaper than golf.
Two “sundogs” were spotted in the ski on the way home. A sun dog or sundog (scientific name parhelion, plural parhelia, i.e. “beside the sun”) is a common bright circular spot on a solar halo. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon primarily associated with the reflection or refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals making up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Two or more sundogs can often be seen on opposite sides of the sun simultaneously.
