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The original plan was for George and I to fish the UP and see if there are any smallies roaming around. But, with the POR gauge at 2', I knew that I could not safely run the POR to Lander route so we punted.
The new plan called for some pickle fishing at Spa Creek.
We were on the water shortly after 8:30a and by 9:15a, both George and I had connected with mine being a nice 19"er!
I caught a another small one and George had a huge hit, some weight and bing! Off it came.
The tide was extra low and some of the places that Bob and I had fished there before (kayaks) were just too shallow. And I tried a couple of new coves but we got no hits. So we went back to the 1st spot. Once we got near the cable crossing, George once again gets hit but does not connect. I threw in right behind him and bam, I connected with pickle #3.
I decided to try the condo and see what might be there.
Surprisingly, these three species took my offering: striper, yellow perch, white perch.
No clue why that white perch was still hanging around.
Time was getting short since I wanted to get off the water by 1p so we headed to the small creek by the ramp. I pointed to a spot that looked like a good place to catch a pickle and sure enough, George connected with an 18'er.!
A few minutes later, he connects with an 18.5"er!
It's now past 1p but we are still fishing.
I tell George that I felt a couple of bites and then, "whoa!", I had weight on my lure and it was not a stick.
It was a 22.5" pickle!
We whooped it up, made a few more casts and called it a day.
We stopped at Ledo's and got some steak and cheese subs for the road and they were actually very good. But we were very hungry too.
Not a bad day of fishing on Black Friday.
Water temp stayed at 54df and there was very little tidal movement. Slow incoming after a very low low tide.
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Way to go Ernie, those are some fine pickerel. That lure looks familiar, I think I may have one of those....;-)
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Yes you do!
I also caught one on a Megabass knock off jerk bait that a friend of mine (RIP) made for me. And of course, all of my jerks have single hooks.
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I'm just about there with you, found a Jersey guy making dressed in-line hooks. Oldbarneyteasers.com He's actually having a 50% off sale soon for repeat customers, so I'll pick you up a few! Jerkbaits are such fun to throw. On my last outing the pickles were only ticking it when it was dead still, but fun nonetheless! They were crushing other baits though....I'm rigging at least one topwater for this weekend.
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I am all in on the dressed in line hooks. Will gladly pay for a dozen. What sizes are you getting?
I had a good chase on the jerk today but no hit. Was fun watching it.
BTW, we both tried soft jerks and nada.
George did catch one on a paddle tail mounted on a jig, open hook.
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The 1/0 size seems right for most 3-5" jerkbaits, and it's the smallest size he sells (as his target customer is saltwater striper/bluefish fishers). I'm still at a loss to find the right hook rigging for soft plastics, but may just follow Joe Bruce's advice as he's posted lots of details on his blog about altering Mustad hooks for that purpose. Soft baits get strikes, but because the pickerel are biting down to kill first, I think hook up ratios are better with hardbaits and spinners. Lots of fun followers of late for sure, but even more fun when they inhale it. I had one the other day grab a swimbait as it landed! I felt like Curt Gowdy!
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1/0 is a little big for the smaller jerkbaits but fine for the 4 & 5" ones....IMHO.
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Great job, guys! My kind of fishing weather. Glad to see you are still getting some.
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Good going E & G, glad to see they're still on that shore. Somewhere there's a lot of water, it sure hasn't been in the Severn for a while.
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Mid 60's at the end of November - and fish caught. I've never seen the tide that low but when the tide started rising, the fish got active.
Ernie's was the King of multi-species.
Was an excellent day and thank you for inviting me along
I've never seen two subs disappear that quickly.
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George, you should feel privileged, Ernie never took me to Lidos when we left Truxton. They do have a good steak n cheese.
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Some additional thoughts:
- George's pickles took to the air and he was pleased.
- George bought lunch so I obliged.
- I got the S & C with the cheddar, onions and peppers...very good.
- Today's trip was a shakedown of sorts. First time using rebuilt trolling motor. Worked like it should, Plus boat had not been on the water since late Sep.
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Awesome seeing those fish go all aerial on us. Had to keep the slack out of the line so they wouldn't spit the hook
Normally I bring a couple Dagwood sandwiches. I just had the plain ol' Steak & cheese - it was awesome
Glad to be part of the shake down cruise. Motor started, trolling motor works. Except for a few little things, everything went well mechanically.
Let me know if you need any help with that pin ...
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hookup wrote:
Let me know if you need any help with that pin ...
Thanks...I forgot to do it when boat was home to get motor flushed but will get to it eventually. Maybe in 2021!
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Osprey wrote:
Any cavitation with the lower unit extension?
Never went past the condo so it was either idle or TM.
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hookup wrote:
Normally I bring a couple Dagwood sandwiches.
And they are always top shelf sammies...
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I love a good pickle report. Multispecies trip too! Ledo's is nostalgic for me. I haven't eaten there in a while.
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