When I was stationed at Mare Island one of the yardbirds invited me to go fishing with him and his brother. Glen Cove in those days was a secret honeyhole all the fillipinos went to. That's where I caught my first striper ever on a white hair raiser and a pig rind trailer. Since I was living in the barracks anything I caught went home with them. I was ok with that, since catching fish was more important than eating them

Nice fish!

Kids bought me an Old Timer battery fillet knife. Been fishing with Capt Ben , so you know it has quite a few stripers under the blade. I like it.

Dude, you've been out with Ben. You know how determined to catch a fish he can get. Hard to think of anyone I'd rather be on fhe water with when there is no bite. Like I posted earlier...If we aren't catching we are hunting.

Well. Capt Ben and I hit the river yesterday at 0630. Flat water, minimal breeze, and the water was warmer than the air temp. Looked like it was going to be a fishy day. Tried to fish one of Ben's favorite spots but a couple of bank fishermen that came in on electric bikes were already there, so we left for the usual spots. Tide was still going out at this point, so some/most of the places we wanted to fish were out of the water. Hard to cast, catch, and retrieve fish if your lure is plunked down in mud.
Trolled a bit, no love. Caught slack tide so some of the spots we tried casting at were managable with a Tonka toy trolling motor, but had us well off the bank zone. No love. Went into a mudflat as the water rose and parked in the only navagable water at the ooening. I should be, but am not, accurate as hell casting because I got to practice hundreds and hundreds of casts. Caught two, both spit out the lures at almost the exact same distance from the boat. When the lures blew back at us because the wind really picked up we decided to troll for a while.
Ben has been trying new spots to troll, with different depths, speeds, and trolling patterns since the summer fishing frenzy hasn't hit yet. If we're not catching, we're hunting. Bam...21 inch keeper ended up in the live well. We caught 2 more, a dink and one barely legal...both returned to the water to grow some more.
By afternoon the wind really picked up so we headed upriver. No luck, mainly because there's still a lot of junk floating on the surface and casting was pretty much out of the question because of the wind, which wasn't howling was blowing pretty darned hard to cast into.
All in all, 5 fish hooked, 3 landed, 1 kept for fish tacos. Great day on the water

Steve, it was good to actually catch something that gave that all important tug, rather than reeling in vegitation

Rattletraps for me and spros for Ben. We would have tried some bait fishing, but I left the bait in the freezer. Didn't matter because we were able to find fishies that wanted to play

Went out with Capt. Ben looking for some stripers. Winter fishing has been rough, with a lot of stick fish, tule fish, and seagrass fish taking almost all of our time clearing our hooks, with no fishies playing. Not so this trip....finally
Count, 4 stripers landed, 2 kept. We had three keepers in the livewell and released the 20 incher on the way back to the ramp so it can get bigger.
Great day on the river

Smooth transition...like oil on glass.....

Bought an automatic jacket, small enough Ino longer notice I am wearing it

Huh. I'd love to be bored that way!

Wow, I might actually get to participate thus year! Guess I should start making some jalapeno cheddar sausages for the grill.Or kielbasa. .

We are "usually" casting fir distance to bring the lure back thru the targeted area, so the forces must be pretty high. Still amazes me that a 1/2 ounce lure can be heavy enough to pop 30 lb braid. I always tie off fresh before an expedition, because I've learned fron others mistakes. Not always for every cast, but I tend to check the soool for loops since I have looped light braid before and lost gear in the past.
Lucky for me I always bring waaay more gear than is required

Yup.
3 carcasses in the new Christmas present freezer so far!

Thanks! I'm not sure, but I think I'm putting the bail opening left to right instead of back to front like in your pictures. Been doing it since the first time I ever casted.
I will definitely give that a try the next time out... Thanks.
And about mansplaining...as a retired nuclear engineer I know all about it. Just ask me! The Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector commented to our director that asking me a question was like asking for the time and learning all about how to build a clock