Norman 1-3 starting off 2015 with a bang

Took one of my customers out on a halfday trip yesterday. Owed him a trip for the longest time and finally the schedule worked out to get him out on his first striper trip. He is a bigtime "bow fisherman" here locally but wanted to see all the hype of this striper fishing like so many do.

Plan was for a half day trip, fish no later then 1:30pm and be back in charlotte 230 to get ready for the Panthers game!

lines in about 730 on some good fish/bait marks. as i am getting the last downrigger out, something didnt "feel right" while dropping the ball down. sure enough a striper found the bait on the drop. good start to the day. Then come all the bass boats hauling @$$ after their blast off racing to see who can catch a 2lb fish first!

moved around some to places i really havent fished much in the past. "accidently" picked up a nice striper in 16 ft of water while bumping the motor to 4.5MPH to deeper water. go figure. couple hybrids and bass as well.

as we head back towards home, find a nice bunch of birds working, with NO BOATS in the area. got the first rod out, no sooner did i pick up #2, fish on and pulling drag. still put #2 out while buddy fights #1. turn to get a 3rd rod, and #2 is hooked up....let the fish pull drag and still put #3 out. pick up #2 then #3 goes off....triple and they are all nice fish. get all 3 in the boat, turn the boat and didnt even get all rods out before they start going off again. some of the best "feeding" marks ive seen on Norman in a while. if i had 8 rods out, im sure id have 8+ fish on.

sore mouthed a few and headed to the ramp.....trailered at 1:15, and home in time to watch the panthers victory!!

Final tally was 7 striper, 4 hybrids, 6 BASS that i offered to sell to those bass tourney guys for $10 per pound :) and 3 jumbo perch.

Another fine day on Norman....this cold snap should get them going good next week!!


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Wow, the others make the one in second picture look like bait. Was the best bite on down riggers or just down lines/
Thanks for the report

Good job Pete

Another great day, Pete!

Good job pete. But I would not expect anything less from you. The man has skills!

Good report looks like a killer day on the water!

Good job. Thanks for the report!

Way to go

the wife and I went Friday (the 2nd) we havent really got the hang of it yet and im sure its because we aint getting down deep enough or going fast enough or the opposite of both...i think..., but we have got a couple so thats confindence.........i saw a couple caught shallow with live bait in the birds............we did however get into those jumbo perch so we changed up a bit and stuck to that most of the day because my wifes philosophy is "if we are catching fish why do something else"?....Pete are you fishing the upper or lower end of the lake?

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Originally Posted by ScooperDude

Wow, the others make the one in second picture look like bait. Was the best bite on down riggers or just down lines/
Thanks for the report

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It really changes day to day. ive been catching more striper/hybrids on the downlines. the downriggers are picking up the better perch. last week caught more striper on the downriggers. one thing is pretty consistant though, the hybrids seem to bite best in the upper water column.

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Originally Posted by fishinRod

the wife and I went Friday (the 2nd) we havent really got the hang of it yet and im sure its because we aint getting down deep enough or going fast enough or the opposite of both...i think..., but we have got a couple so thats confindence.........i saw a couple caught shallow with live bait in the birds............we did however get into those jumbo perch so we changed up a bit and stuck to that most of the day because my wifes philosophy is "if we are catching fish why do something else"?....Pete are you fishing the upper or lower end of the lake?

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Fishinrod,
Ive been all over the place. on this trip, i ran all the way to the islands above the 150 bridge all the way down to governors island then back up. Caught fish in many points inbetween. they move and they move fast. when they feed, it seems to be a quick 20 minute feeding frenzy then they are back down for a while. you just have to be at the right place when that switch is flipped "ON".

one thing that is pretty consistent, i am catching BIGGER fish above the 150 bridge.

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Originally Posted by pete

Fishinrod,
Ive been all over the place. on this trip, i ran all the way to the islands above the 150 bridge all the way down to governors island then back up. Caught fish in many points inbetween. they move and they move fast. when they feed, it seems to be a quick 20 minute feeding frenzy then they are back down for a while. you just have to be at the right place when that switch is flipped "ON".

one thing that is pretty consistent, i am catching BIGGER fish above the 150 bridge.

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thanks man...I kinda thought you were north of the bridge in a couple pics you posted......this below 20^ night temps we're havin has got me thinking.....