More striper 12-21!! picture heavy

After a weekend full of graduation and holiday parties, and it being my ONLY weekend off this month, I was glad to hit the water yesterday before my next work stretch.

I had the honor to fish yesterday with long time friends Capt Butch, and Capt Chris Foster who took a break from the charter business (Yeah Right charters) and made the drive all the way from Southport/Oak island to fish with me for the day. They haven't caught a striper in umpteen years, so the pressure was really on to have a good day.

Well it didnt take long at all. within the first 15minutes, we caught 6 fish casting on light tackle. The fish did not want to stay schooled up tight and stay up long, so I ditched the idea and took a ride to find more signs of life.

didnt take long until we found them in about 10-20FOW off a little hump I found on my 1st trip. first pass i made over it, we loaded up 5 rods at one time and had a first on my boat. caught 2 striper at once on my A-rig. after that every pass we made over this hump yielded 1-2 fish. some very nice quality fish at that.

once the dust settled, we concluded the day with 29 keepers with 3/4 of them in the 5-7lb range. The boys went to the coast with a PILE of meat for a huge cookout. nothing will go to waste. It was an absolute honor fishing and catching up with these boys. got to try out some of their new sponsored products, and hopefully it will help put a few extra fish in the boat down the road

the ONLY rods that got hit yesterday once things slowed down were the A-rigs on the downriggers set at 6-10 ft. For those who say you CANT catch fish shallow with your big motor, AND you dont need a downrigger on a lake, ill just say ill keep on using my 90HP yama, and ill never leave home without MY downriggers ;)

Ran into another CDC legend on the water as well. not saying any names because its been said the paparazzi keeps following him around, but he too seemed to of had a decent day. Ill let him chime in whenever :biggrin

Enjoyed it Chris and Butch. We will do it again sometime soon!!

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Good job pete, wished I was there.......:biggrin

My son has double up on the Alabama rig a good many times. Them things are deadly! We ended up with 29 yesterday, also. Fishing a different method, I'm not a troller, nothing wrong with it, just like feeling that thump!!!

I'm trying to understand this.... and maybe I'm wrong... please correct me.... but there isn't regulation for any lake in NC.....that I can find.... that allows 3 people to keep that many fish.

Congrats on the catch but the regulations states that you can keep a max of 4 fish per person. The regulation use to be 8 fish per person on some lakes but they have lowered. I'm not trying to be party pooper or nag about someone catch fish. Catch all you want. Keep as many as the law allows. Maybe you had more people with you than you're naming?

Perhaps i wasnt in NC? !?!?! ;)

Sundance his post clearly didn't state which state he was in. You have 49 left to check.

Congratulations on an epic day Pete. Never mind the haters and keep on catching.

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Originally Posted by pete

Perhaps i wasnt in NC? !?!?! ;)

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That explains it. I wasn't trying to bash you or hate on you. Its just that the "optics" appear to be shady. Handle it however you want. I don't think I was thinking anything most anyone else wasn't thinking.

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Originally Posted by roach1

Congratulations on an epic day Pete. Never mind the haters and keep on catching.

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I'm not a hater. You shouldn't assume I am. I like Pete. Never have given him a reason to think anything otherwise. I wouldn't think he would do something shady. It just appeared that way. Looks can be deceiving at times. My mistake.

1 short of a limit...Shoulda live bait fished. Haha. Way to stay on top of them. That water color looks really familiar!?

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Originally Posted by sundance

That explains it. I wasn't trying to bash you or hate on you. Its just that the "optics" appear to be shady. Handle it however you want. I don't think I was thinking anything most anyone else wasn't thinking.

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No offense taken on my end Sundance. I definitely set my self up for it in a prior post.
Catchem up!

Far be it from Pete to stir the pot! But when you deliver like that you deserve to be able to open it up a bit.

Nice haul again Pete!

NICE!!! That looks like Lake Wylie, near Tega Cay.......is it?

Great post Pete. I know theyre in that lake thick. Just keep catching and posting.I Love seeing what I aint catching .Maybe I can get on the water tomorrow or sunday.

Congratulations to y'all on a great day on the water!! Man that's a load! Question: What size rods do you use on downriggers? Planer boards and u-rigs? Or can you use same size on all 3 ways? Thanks and thanks for the report and pics.

Personally me myself, i like using a medium action short rod (6ft or 6ft 6) on the downrigger. Medium action is a must because you need that flex in the rod when you load it up on the downrigger, then again need the bend with every bite.
Same for the planner rods when i live bait, except i perfer a 7fter.

Pete I've got 1 more question if you don't mind. I'm getting some planer boards tomorrow but what lb test line should I have on my reel and leader should be what? Thanks for your help.

Lowest id use for the planner boards is 12lb, but personally like 20lb. I use 20-25 on the downrigger.

If you get planner boards, make sure you get the waterbugz. The store bought ones you would get at a chain store are terrible!