Lake Anna Striper Guide Journal

DP's Lowrance

2012-06-03T11:07:00.003-04:00

Guides DP and Anthony went out for a couple hours this morning looking for Stripers and took these pictures off of DP's graph. The top picture shows the Stripers between 24 and 35 feet deep.
The red horizontal line is his sinker being pulled through the school. The arches that are streaking either up or down are actually feeding fish while the other arches depict fish in a neutral mood. Needless to say they caught fish here.

JFHQ-NCRJ3 Annual Fishing Trip

2012-06-01T15:23:00.000-04:00

Today was this groups Annual fishing trip to Lake Anna. Group participants were Mr. George Lockwood, Col. Shields, Angel, Michelle, Jerry, Al, Scott, Chris, Craig, Tamim, and Zimmer. Although fishing was slow today due to the bad weather everyone hung in there and had fun. Today we never found any huge schools but fish were scattered everywhere we looked. We would put the baits in the fishes faces but the fish had something else on their minds other than eating.

Summer Hogs

2012-05-30T12:43:00.000-04:00

Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature 82* and Clear.

I have been waiting for the water temperature to hit 80 degrees for the summer bite to turn on and catching 30 Stripers this morning before 8 o'clock ushered the season in for Tony and myself. We decided last night to go out this morning early, catch bait and fish different places where other boats and fisherman would not harass us. Most fisherman just don't realize that boat motors turn fish off [maybe not the punks but the nice fish will not tolerate motors or pressure]. As you can see by the Lowrance pictures we got on them and stayed on them this morning. The top picture shows 3 screens, the left screen is Bottom Lock showing the bottom quarter [10 feet] of the water column. The middle screen is traditional sonar on a 0 to 40 foot scale, the right screen is on side scan looking 80 feet out to either side of the boat. Stripers are the arches on the sonar and dashes on the side scan. The other 2 pictures I took bottom lock off the screen. As you can see by the top picture, there were hundreds of fish around us from 15 to 26 feet deep. Notice we were on concentrated fish but on the lower two pictures we got on larger fish on the outsides of the school. The fish were high enough in the water column to run planner boards and most of the fish in the picture with Tony holding the fish were caught on boards. The problem we had this morning was that we had so much action we could not get many baits out without hooking up. This time of year it is imperative to have at least 4 anglers on board to keep up with the action. I have 2 boats rigged and ready to accommodate groups of fisherman. Call to set up a trip and get in on some of the best action of the year, summertime schooling Stripers.

Paul Henon and Sons.

2012-05-25T16:16:00.002-04:00

Sunny and Hot, Water Temperature 80* and Clear.

I got out very early this morning , caught bait and picked the guys up at 5:30 at High Point Marina. Today we were looking for schools to put downlines on so I started looking with my Lowrance as soon as we left the marina. I saw broke up fish for about 15 minutes but I ran over a large school so we set up on them. We had some action and moved on. We would look for fish, set up on them , catch fish, loose the school and do it over and over again all day. We caught well over 30 fish today and Paul caught 4 Bass on downlines over 40 feet of water. The guys kept a mess of fish for a fish fry this Memorial Day weekend and released all the other fish to fight again. The picture of my Lowrance is one of the schools we worked early this morning. Paul took out his son and two son in laws today for an enjoyable day on the water before the weekend warriors hit the water tomorrow.

This weekend is a weekend to remember all the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Semper Fi

David, Lyle and Scott

2012-05-11T18:46:00.001-04:00

Sunny and Cold front conditions, Water temperature 71* and Clear.

Guide Brian Mohr got out on the water early this morning, caught bait, picked his crew up and went fishing. He set out a spread of boards pulling 5 to 40 foot flats this morning. Fishing was slow due to the cold front but they had fairly steady action till the wind got out of control. Brian had to make a move to get out of the wind and caught a couple more fish before calling it a day. Looks like all of these Stripers have spawned.

Mark, Byron, Len, Anna Marie, Bill and David

2012-05-09T16:23:00.001-04:00

Cloudy and Warm, Water Temperature 72* and Clear

We went out this morning at 4:30 and caught over 50 beautiful baits before daylight. We went and set out a spread of baits where there were no other boats within sight. We hooked up immediately and David reeled the fish in. We fished about 100 more yards then the next thing we knew there was a pontoon running circles out in the lake, we could not figure out if he was trying to swamp us or just spook every fish in that part of the lake. He eventually ran right over the flat we were trying to fish so all we could do was get our baits in and go elsewhere . We again found a area where there were no boats so we set our spread out and started taking hits again. We were getting numerous hookups but having difficulty getting them in the boat. We eventually got our act together and caught plenty of fish. Mark is pictured holding up his largest fish ever, a solid 15 pounder.

Ryan, Aric, Zack, Brian, Bob and Billy

2012-05-07T17:51:00.001-04:00

Cloudy and Pleasant, Water Temperature 74* and Clear.

We hit the water at 4:45 and went to catch bait. By daylight we had over 50 beautiful pieces so we took off and headed for an area where we could not see any boats. I set a spread of a dozen boards and a bobber out and proceeded to pull flats. We ran into an area where we started seeing fish on the Lowrance and for the next 4 hours we hooked up about once every 10 minutes or so. We fished the area till an Osprey started hitting our baits when fish would rise them to the surface and after it killing 5 different baits we had to get everything in and move. I went and filled the bait tank up again with bait and set up in a different area. I told the guys this spot could be better than the first area we worked. I had only gotten out a few boards when we started hooking up again. For the next 3 hours we duplicated this mornings action. We had quite the day, fishing was excellent and action was great. Once this afternoon a Striper was chasing a big Gizz up on the surface and next thing we knew a Blue Heron flew down and took the bait from the fish! We experienced it all today. The guys only kept a third of what we hooked up today, releasing the others to fight again. By the end of the day everyone was wore out and ready to give it up. Bob is pictured holding up a nice Striper while Billy is thinking "Why didn't I pick up that rod!"

Karl and Jake

2012-05-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

Cloudy and Damp, Water Temperature 74* and Clear.

DP took these clients out today and here is what he had to say about the day.

Yesterday I spent the day on the water with my son Anthony, he made a memory of a lifetime for me when he gave me a hug and said "Dad this was the best day ever". Today I had the privilege of having a father son team on my boat. It made me think about all the times that I have spent with my dad on the water and dream about all the times to come with my son. Jake caught the largest fish of his life today, but there were two things that impressed me the most. First is the way that he handles a fish, he knew exactly what to do from the moment it hooked up to the moment he released the fish to be caught again. Second is the fact that this kid researches new bodies of water and gives a power point presentation to his dad on why they should or should not fish certain fisheries. It was a pleasure to have spent the day with these two fine anglers. Thank you Karl and Jake.

Shawn, Big Al and John

2012-05-03T17:41:00.000-04:00

Cloudy and Misty morning turning into Sunny and warm afternoon, Water Temperature 74* and Clear

I met the guys at 5am and off we went to catch bait. It was another difficult morning throwing for bait and after 2 hours we had about 40 beautiful baits in the tank. We drove to an area that I wanted to fish but there was already another boat there so I turned around and set up somewhere else. We put out about 15 lines rigged with big Gizzards and pulled a variety of structures ranging from 6 to 40 feet deep. For some reason the fish this morning were lethargic, they would roll the bait without taking it. We would only hook up on maybe half of our strikes. After running out of bait again we caught more and set up in a different area taking a lot of action till boat traffic turned the fish off. John caught this huge Bass over 20 feet of water on a live bait. We all had a fun day on the water.

Stewart and Mark

2012-05-02T17:14:00.000-04:00

Cloudy, Hot, Water temperature 74* and clear.

I got out early on the water to catch bait but a thunderstorm blew through scattering the bait. I had caught about 30 baits but wanted to start with more so I picked the guys up and threw till we had about 50. It was too late for me to go where I originally wanted to fish so I set out a spread at the mouth of a creek where there were no boat to interfere with my spread. We started taking hits not up in the shallows but over deeper areas on breaklines. We had steady action for about 2 hours before the bite subsided. We went and caught more bait later in the day and set up in a main lake area but fishing had slowed down considerably. The bottom picture is Mark holding a Bass he caught over 25 feet of water on a Gizzard Shad. Stewart in the middle picture is holding a Citation Bass that he caught on a Hollow body swim bait nearby where Mark caught his fish. Today they caught 12 Stripers, kept 9 to eat and released 3. We also caught numerous Catfish today. Today is Marks birthday and my daughter Emily gave him this trip.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK

Jack, Paul, Kim and George fn Barboza

2012-04-30T17:49:00.000-04:00

Cloudy and cool, Water temperature 64* and Clear.

I got out early to catch bait then picked up the guys at High Point. We set out a spread of planner boards and a bobber and before we knew it we were hooking up. Fish were feeding early this morning and it was all I could do to keep up with the action. Fish fed for about an hour before they shut off or us loosing a couple fish turned them off. We had gone through most of the bait so I had to go catch more which was not easy, I spent every bit of 2 hours till I caught 20 in one cast. I set out another spread with fresh bait and hadn't gone far before we started taking hits again. We fished in this area for the next 3 hours till we ran out of baits, not bad action for mid day fishing. Today we kept 13 Stripers.

A beautiful windy day on the lake

2012-04-27T16:40:00.000-04:00

Sunny and Windy, Water Temperature 64* and Clear.

Both DP and I had clients today so we got out on the water very early and caught bait before picking up our clients at High Point Marina. DP went up one side of the lake and I went up the other. We both pulled spreads of planner boards over various depths. The fish only cooperated the first hour of the morning then fishing slowed way down due to the cold front. We both did our best to put our clients on fish and everyone had a good time today. The top two pictures are of Eldon with a Citation Bass and a nice Striper. The third picture is of Michael's Stripers which is the largest fish he has ever caught. the forth pic is DP's clients holding up Stripers and the group picture is of the Jim Ciulla gang. The bottom picture is what happens when the wind is howling, your trolling motor batteries are spent and a Stripers swims through your whole spread on one side of the boat, courtesy of Elden on DP's boat. You can click on the pictures to enlarge.

Paul, Bob, Dave and Ron

2012-04-26T05:43:00.000-04:00

Sunny and Pleasant, Water Temperature 61* and Clear.

I got out early to catch bait this morning, picked the guys up and was fishing by 6:15. It was quite foggy this morning so I set up in an area where I thought boats would not run over us. We pulled a spread of a dozen planner boards along with a bobber and a free line over shallow points and flats. I was concerned about the water temperature dropping over the last couple days and also today was a poor day to fish according to the solunar tables. Our first hit was a catfish which confirmed my fears but the next half dozen hookups were traded off between Catfish and Stripers. We fished for about 4 hours going through about 30 baits before it was time to go catch more bait. I looked and threw for a couple hours before getting enough bait to set up a spread again. We set up over a little deeper flats this time and took 6 hits, boating a couple fish and loosing some very large fish. Overall it was a good day, the weather was beautiful with not too much wind, fishing was fair and friendship was great.

Some of last weeks catches

2012-04-23T05:48:00.000-04:00

Here are a few pictures of our guides catches from last week. Tony took Marc, Mike, Mark and Tim out fishing and although they did not want to keep any fish he managed to get a picture of them holding some fish up. Tony took Sam and Jimmy out and caught this nice stringer of Stripers. Bob is holding up 4 of the 12 Stripers that guide Brian put them on. Finally DP is holding a stringer of Stripers that his client could not hold up. Our guides learned from the master, they are ready to take you out on the water and prove it. Give us a call and book a trip while we still have some available dates.

My New Boat

2012-04-22T14:29:00.000-04:00

I just purchased a second boat [22' Crest Center Console ] just like mine to accommodate our growing guide service. Over the years business has expanded to the point where I have had to make adjustments to handle the demand of numerous groups of clients, many wanting to fish on the same dates. I have made changes to insure the continued high level of service we offer our clients. In addition to the second pontoon boat which can handle up to 6 anglers we also have 2 Champion Bass boats to handled the client who wants to learn how to fish for Stripers with live bait off of a platform that may be more like their own boat, a boat that can handle windier conditions but is limited to 1 to 2 anglers. We now have a total of five guides that have a total of well over 130 years of experience fishing for Stripers on Lake Anna. In addition to myself and Anthony, DP Seay, Tony Smith and Brian Mohr have teamed up with us to work together to keep our clients constantly on Stripers.

After seeing this video of the electroshocking boat I am beginning to think I bought the wrong boat!

Doug [Douger] and Joe

2012-04-18T15:22:00.002-04:00

Cloudy and Rain, Water Temperature 65* and clear.

Picked the guys up at 5:15 and went to catch bait. I threw for about 45 minutes and caught 58 nice baits. I was excited about the morning, it was suppose to rain which hopefully keep a lot of the boaters off the water but when I called Doug yesterday his wife said he was out fishing and had fished the day before also, my kind of guy. Doug and his cousin Joe were interested in seeing what this lake Striper fishing was all about and by the end of the trip I believe they found out. We had taken 46 hits when I ran out of bait in the tank so I emptied the tank and right before we started to get the remaining few baits in 2 hooked up at once and they reeled them in. Forty eight hits in a morning is quite a bit of action, makes you not even feel the rain pouring down on you.

Brad, Casey and Cliff

2012-04-12T18:26:00.002-04:00

Brad got in touch with me about a week ago to fish today and take his daughter Casey out on the lake but I was previously booked so I hooked him up with Tony. Before Tony had deployed all the baits they started taking hits. Tony had got on the water at 4 to catch bait to insure they could be fishing at daylight and it payed off with a nice stringer of Stripers. Today they had about 20 hookups, caught 9 Stripers, a nice Bass and a Catfish. The wind blew most of the day restricting Tony from fishing where he wanted to.

Craig and Mike Rasmusson

2012-04-12T12:37:00.004-04:00

Sunny and Windy, Water Temperature 58* and Clear.

I picked the guys up at High Point at 5:30 this morning hoping to catch bait before daylight.
The bait gods were with us today and we caught over 50 in about 5 or 6 throws. That enabled us to get a spread of baits out on the water at the crack of dawn early enough to beat some of the wind that has been blowing every day. I hadn't quite got all my boards out when the first Striper of the morning boiled a bait then hooked up for a brief moment. We got that rod in to change the bait and the one right next to it hookup up but 10 seconds later simply got off. Not a good start but at least we were getting hits. Instead of turning and going back I decided to just hold my course and put out my full spread. Lately it has not mattered where you fish, the most important factor to catching fish has been to stay away from boat traffic and keep out of the wind in order to keep your baits in the water column where the fish are holding. We caught 5 or 6 Stripers then the wind started howling again so I headed for a more protected area out of the gusting wind. Once I hit a calmer area and slowed the trolling motor down one of our free lines hooked up and Craig jumped on the rod. Next thing I knew the fish had pulled my tight drag out about 50 yards from where she originally hit. I cleared the back of the boat of rods that were out in order for Craig to fight the fish but it was too late, the fish had already got into one of our planner boards. Craig wrestled the fish from one side of our spread to the other, up under our boat to pulling out 30 to 40 more yards of drag. Craig's arms were on fire and he was ready to tap out but I got on him to keep doing exactly what he was doing, holding his rod high in the air, keeping the rod bent and not letting the line touch anything. Eventually the fish tired and Craig got the fish close enough to the boat for me to get a net under it. Craig was exhausted, the fish was HUGE and his father got it all on a video camera. We popped a couple of pictures and continued to try to fish the bank we were on. We caught a few more Stripers but the wind was getting worse and the 8 pounders they were reeling in just didn't seem to be much of a challenge any more. It was around 10 o'clock, Craig could not keep any more Stripers because he did not have much room in his freezer for fillets, they had conquered Lake Anna and were ready to go in and get the fish to a taxidermist. We went back to the marina and the fish pegged Carlos's scale. The fish was in excess of 21 pounds, a memory Craig and his Dad will never forget.

California Phil and Vince

2012-04-11T16:25:00.002-04:00

Cloudy, Windy and Cold, Water temperature 60* and clear.

We left High Point at 5:30 and went to catch bait this morning. After catching over 30 I set out a spread of a dozen planner boards and a bobber. Just as I put my last bait out a board got hit and Phil reeled in the first Striper of the day. Vince's eyes bugged out, he took a picture of the fish while another board was screaming across the surface. Vince jumped on that rod and got the fish in the boat. I don't believe they were ready for this kind of action but it didn't take Vince very long to figure out the deal. From there on out Vince was ready to pounce on any rod that got nervous and he did with the exception of letting Phil reel in an occasional Catfish.[Just kidding] We continued to have action, hooking up about every 10 to 15 minutes till we ran completely out of baits. We went to catch more baits but it took 2 hours to catch enough to set up again. It didn't take long to start hooking up and continue where we left off. Today was a very bad day weather wise on the water, aside from the wind blowing 25 MPH, Snow and Hail it was quite cold out there. We had 20 Stripers hooked up today and caught a Bass and a Kitty also. Can't wait for the wind to die down.....

Tony , son Brandon, his wife and Daughter Casey

2012-04-05T16:41:00.001-04:00

Partly cloudy and windy, Water Temperature 62* and clear.
Today was a slow day on the water, we fished all day for about a dozen hits. We ended up catching only 6 Stripers, a Bass and a couple Catfish. Hopefully after the full moon faze the fishing will get better.

Dan and Jacob Ourada

2012-04-02T17:48:00.002-04:00

Sunny and Cold Front, Water Temperature 63* and Clear.
We got out at 6 and went to catch bait. The wind was Howling and a storm had just blown through. We caught 38 baits then I looked for awhile for a place where I could fish where I could somewhat control the boat and my baits. I had only gotten 3 lines wet when Jacob hooked up with the first Striper of the day. While he was trying to get it off the hook another Striper hooked up but got off before getting to the boat. Unfortunately where we took hits the lake was white capping so all I could do was try to keep the boat heading straight while I put baits out. We worked the area for about 2 hours boating 4 Stripers. Eventually we ran out of bait and had to catch some more. Fishing was SLOW but we hung in there and Jacob ending up having a ball catching Stripers. Today was an extremely slow day but Jacobs patience and fishing ability paid off with a nice stringer of fish.

Anthony's Clients

2012-04-01T08:15:00.004-04:00

These are a few recent catches of Anthony"s clients.

Matt, John and Alex Pastino

2012-03-25T17:02:00.003-04:00

Cloudy and Cool, Water temperature 67* and Clear.

We got out at 6 from High Point and went to catch bait. We caught a tank full and set out a spread of planner boards and a bobber. We caught one before I could get a side of boards out and took a couple of more hits quickly. A few boats went by and fishing slowed considerably after that. We continued to work a shoreline for over a mile with our baits getting chased to the surface but landing only a couple of Stripers. By 11 we had run out of baits so we got our spread in and went to catch bait. It took a while to locate what I wanted but once I did we caught bait in short order. The wind had got up which prevented me going to where I wanted to so I choose an alternative spot and set our spread back out. By now it was noon and I was ready to put some fish in the boat. We started hooking up and for the rest of the afternoon we would boat a fish about once every 10 minutes or so. Today we caught 19 Stripers, a Bass and a few Catfish. Alex is pictured holding the Bass he caught which he released. This is a heavy stringer, you can click on the picture to get a better look at the fish.

Gordon and David

2012-03-24T15:32:00.002-04:00

Cloudy and Rain, Water Temperature 70* and Clear.

Picked the guys up at the State park at 6, went and caught bait then set out a spread of a dozen planner boards. We started the morning off OK with Gordon landing a Striper but our next 5 or 6 fish were Catfish. I told Gordon after we landed the first Cat that it was a bad sign to catch a Cat where I knew Stripers were holding, it is a sure sign that the Stripers are not feeding. We worked the area for about 2 hours then had to move. I set up on some spawning flats and within a hundred yards we had 8 different Stripers roll our baits but did not hook up once. I made a turn and hit it again and that is when David hooked up with the largest Striper of the day. The fish were there but not feeding well so I simply worked the banks around for about a mile catching a fish here and there, mostly out well off the bank. We hung in there in the rain and ended up catching a nice limit of Stripers today.

DP and Cory

2012-03-22T15:44:00.002-04:00

DP and Cory went out to prefish for a Bass Tournament this morning and after an hour of fishing for green fish DP said "Man, We could have caught a tank of bait and had Stripers in the livewell by now" and that was all it took for the guys to put the boat back on the trailer and head for the lake. By the looks of their Stringer I think they made a good move.