By Loren Brooks

Izaak Walton (1593 – 1683) who was best known as the author of The Compleat Angler, said, “There is more to fishing than catching fish.”

I thought about that as we drove to Echo Bay, on Wednesday. I remembered Verl Hatch pointing out a rock formation, 2.6 miles from the shoreline road which bears the likeness of the Indian head nickel. If you pass the sign, warning drivers of turtles crossing the road, you are close to the spot where you can see the profile. The formation is close to the curve in the road on an overhang about eye level as you drive.

I’m sure you have seen lots of images on the lake or the hills surrounding the lake. Some people refer to the black line of rock at marker 19 as the “Rooster’s comb”.

Inspired by some record catches by Bud, Junior and Walt (of the Fun & Sun Trailer Park), this past week, “jigging” for Striper, we decided to try our luck. We searched the northern arm of Overton in an effort to locate large schools of fish.

The device known as the “fishfinder” or sonar is the key to locating large schools. Jigging is another technique, where you do not use any bait.

I have mentioned the “Dart lure” in the past. The veteran fishermen from Overton know exactly what I am talking about. Guys like Otto Gumprecht, Phillip Anderson, and Cal Payne have been using them for years, and in fact have made a few lookalikes which catch fish. The most common color is a white 2 ounce lure. I would recommend using “Spiderwire” braided line, on a level wind bait casting reel or strong 14 pound monofilament line on the same kind of reel. You can use spin casting reels but in my opinion the level wind is smooth and detects a strike on the way down as well as when jigging just off the bottom.By using the thumb on the spool as the lure sinks rapidly from the reel you can catch the fish at various depths. .

It took us about two hours in searching for a school that would respond to the lure. At 2:10 pm, in 70 feet of water, we found some hungry Stripers and caught 51 fish in 51 minutes! Gary and John had the time of their lives.

It’s true. There is more to fishing than catching fish. But we got right with it and just barely got home before dark with an ice chest full of fish.

Verl and Deloy reported their catch Wednesday, fishing in Roger’s Bay and did real well, trolling with anchovies.

It is reported that some boats are fishing south of Echo and catching some nice fish. Frank Kimball and friends did real well, using live shad near Boulder Beach.

Keep on, keeping on, with that lure or bait in the water. Take a friend fishing in some of the best waters west of the Rockies for Striper Bass.