Bella and Jonathan come Striper Fishing!

Jonathan and I decided to take Bella to the lake today and it was a blast!! Here she is sporting her new "life jacket".

What's great about this new vest is that it's got a handle on the back that makes moving Bella around a breeze….

Well, the day started late due to a "rain delay" and with the strong winds, I wasn't expecting too much all things considered. Funny how these kind of days usually turn out to be the best! Before we got out of the "no wake" zone of Aqualand, we had our first bite. Jonathan promptly landed this healthy Spotted Bass caught on the troll.

Because the weather was "iffy", I decided to start by getting gas. This took a little time and during this break, the rains started in again… After another 20 minute delay, I thought I saw a break in the clouds up lake and decided to make the trip. This turned out to be a smart move with fish all over the water column biting everything we used. The troll bite was effective today with 4-5 landed via leadcore. Here is Jonathan getting a good workout on a nice Lake Lanier Striper.

Once we got over fish, it took a little time for Jonathan to "remember" how to jig but I guess it's just like riding a bike. He ended up boating several as did Dad. Here I am sporting a nice Lanier Striper while Jonathan battles another one on the swimboard.

Jonathan landed fish every which way and this year I'm working at getting him to handle them more. This will really help when the bite gets fast and furious. And he's gotten so much bigger he's barely able to fit under the top on the boat anymore. And of course Bella had to inspect the fish we caught. Usually they'd get a lick or two and she seemed to approve.

This Striped Bass was actually about as heavy as Bella!

After reeling in a bunch of fish, we decided to take a swim break. Bella is in training and one of the ways she likes to work out is to pull Jonathan around the lake. She doesn't "tread" a lot of water but she'll go and go and go….

She ended up dragging Jonathan to shore where the two of them walked around looking for "treasure". When they came back aboard, Jonathan brought his find of the day – a chicken wing bone! Bella thought this was a sure prize too but I convinced him (and her) it had to go back to land.

All in all, we did quite well considering the day started miserably. Even after the rain passed, the wind was relentless. It was blowing all day around 12-18 mph and it made fishing tough. I wasn't able to stay over them long at all and with all the trees around, it was amazing we boated as many as we did. Not sure if we got 10 or a 11 but it really doesn't matter. The big fish was 11-12 lbs and they were caught trolling and jigging. The surface temps were only 83 so the lake still has some heating up to do before the fishing peaks. And the fish are still scattered down lake but again, I expect that will be changing shortly. The good news is that I'm catching fish in 80-100 plus feet of water and that means they're moving deep. This is my kind of fishing!!!

Look for more of the same the next two months and at this point it's not a question "if" we'll catch them; it's more a question of "how big" are they gonna be!

Oh, and I want to Thank Rick for "pulling through" again. Keeping with tradition, the Stripers decided to bite as soon as he left to visit his Dad!! No bull, this is the third year in a row that we've had this happen. He usually goes to visit his Dad around the end of July and when he's gone it's like magic!! All the fish seem to just appear and they're aggressive too! I'm thinking when the fishing gets bad late in the year, maybe I'll pay for him to go make another trip to see good ole Bori and Jill….

Capt. J.