I fished the steam plant the last two mornings. Had the boat at the bar by 630 both days. Water was a little stained yesterday but better today. Temps were 50 in the river and 59 at the steam plant both days.
Skipjacks seem to be hard to come by. Haven't caught or seen many caught since President's Day. I threw a sabiki rig and trout magnets at the beginning of my last 3 or 4 trips without much luck. Also watched a couple guys throw them for a couple hours with only one or two to show for it. Plenty of Threadfin though.
I had the place to myself yesterday so I experimented a bit with my new planer boards. From my stationary place at the barrier I drifted shad behind boards in the current to work the banks. Yesterday I had one hit and caught a pretty nice black drum.
Today I had a little more luck. I fished artificials upstream of the barrier for the first hour or so with out a hit. Saw some really nice blow ups down by the sand bar and shad getting chased just out of casting distance. Decided to stop casting for a bit and put my boards out around 730. Had my back turned a little while later and heard drag start screaming. Grab the rod and everything goes slack. I start taking up line only to realize that he is B-Lining it straight for my boat. He goes under and instead of letting him take some line I tried to horse it out. Couple head shakes later and I broke off at the hook.
Retrieved my planer board and returned to my spot. Put the board out into the same spot and hooked up again about 15 minutes later. This time I got to fight for a couple minutes before the fish headed for the barrier. It got under and took another 30 yds or so before I got its head turned. Got it next to the boat and I turned into a little kid. The belly on this fish was REDICULOUS! It went 27 lbs on the Bogas. I had one more hit a little while later but didn't hook up.
I will be traveling for work for the next 35 days so my year at the steam plant may be about over. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's pictures to hold me over.
GSP 2/24 and 2/25
