Any steam plant reports from today?

[Texas_Rig]

Caught my best striper monday at GSP. It took a lot of luck and a lil heartache. I had fished the canal earlier in the day and caught several bass, small striper, and white bass. Left for a while and came back in the afternoon. It was very cold out so there was only one other boat there. When i reached the barrier big stripers were schooling everywhere it seemed. I jumped up on the deck and dropped the trolling motor. Picked up my a rig and fired. Well my line was frozen in my guides and snapoed my line. Wanting my a rig back, i tied a 6xd on my square bill rod and tried to snag it. After a few dozen attempts i gave up and cast my crankbait in one of the areas beyond the barrier where they were schooling. As soon as my crankbait hit bottom I got bit. Now i know I have a very big fish and i know i also have 12lb mono. I loosened the drag a bit and held on. After about 5 minutes the fish swam under the barrier and i can do nothing but hold on. The fish gets about 75 yards behind my boat and am now staring at my backing knot. I think if that knot gets in my guides it game over. My solution is to try and get my rod under the barrier. As i reel tight to try, the fish starts seimming back and makes it all the way to the other side. After a few tense moments trying to land this fish I was overcome with joy when i got it in the boat. Sorry for the long read

[thehick176]

Wow! Good story and great fish!!

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Texas_Rig

After a few tense moments trying to land this fish I was overcome with joy when i got it in the boat.

How about next time you turn around and show us the fish while we are cheering you on...

[Texas_Rig]

[lQUOTE=notorious;76119]How about next time you turn around and show us the fish while we are cheering you on...[/QUOTE]

Were u there? The only other boat i saw in there was more toward the entrance and i didnt think had a view of the shenanigans. Believe me if I thought u coukd see it I would have. Hell if i could have kept it alive, I would have paraded it around town. 😄

[Texas_Rig]

On a side note; another funny/heartbreaking thing happened after that. I had a friend with me that just started fishing. After I released that fish, I moved back up to the barrier to try again. My friend wanted in on the action and didnt have a big crankbait. I threw him one of mine to tie on. After a couple of casts he complained that it wasn't running straight. I grabbed his rod to tune the crankbait. Well on my first cast as soon as the crankbait hit bittom i got bit again. It's another big one. After a minute or so it sufaces about 40 yards from my boat. Now my friend is kinda jealous that ive hung another but on his rod. When this fish surfaced i see its jyst as big. Its facing away from me and i try to turn its head toward me. Well the line breaks. Bummer. I asked what size line he has and he tells me either 6 or 8 lb stren flourecent line. When we got back to my garage, I spooled him up something a lil stronger and bigger

[notorious]

LOL, No Texas, I'm on the other side of the barrier/fence generally way up on the top of the structure watching you guys have the time of your lives.

[Texas_Rig]

Gotcha

[Texas_Rig]

Originally Posted by thehick176

Wow! Good story and great fish!!

Thx hick

[commdd]

thats a great photo and story... congratulations!

[Tennoutdrsman]

LOVE IT!! Thanks for the story and Picture!

[Tennoutdrsman]

A pic of the crankbaits will help!

[Texas_Rig]

Here ya go. Caught the striper with one on left(citrus shad). Broke one off with the on righ(sexy herring). My dad lost a good one a cpl days later on the big strike king square bill. Its called and 8.5 or 8.0 i think. I would also suggest changing out the hooks on these baits. From my experience SK uses hooks that are sub par. But they make great baits so its worth a lil extra time and money to me. Good Luck and I hope this helps

[Tennoutdrsman]

thank you!

[Saltwaterwalt]

Friday, the 30th, they were stacked up, boats that is ... 20 of them, and two kayaks when I was there. Everyone fishing the edges were catching tilapia. The striper guys fishing the channel, never saw them hook up with anything. A couple boats were boating quite a few tilapia, if they had the right spot, the rest filed in where they could and had slower action. Caught 14 tilapia, lots of bream, kept six big tilapia for dinner and went home. Tomorrow should be crazy. I'm sleeping in.

[Texas_Rig]

Fished the GSP this morning. Got there right before daylight and fished til about 12:30. Water temp was 65-66. Went there hoping for striper but it didnt happen. Never saw any schooling but did see several big ones surface chasing bait every now and then. Sadly they were all well beyond the barrier. Fished up and down the canal all morning and the fish were very active and feeding. I caught 1 smallmouth, 1 crappie, couple white bass, and a couple dozen largemouth. All fish were caught on a twin tail grub or squarebill