I-Bay 3/12 Short trip but fun

[camomanbg]

Heard it was going to be warm on Saturday while at work on Friday so I decided I was going to try and get out and fish for browns.  I left work, picked up my 14' aluminum from where it was being stored, drove home and changed clothes, drove to my dad's to get the motor, drove to my storage unit to get my gear, went to F&S and Gander to get a net, inline planers (stupidly bought two left side church boards in the process), and a net.  Spent until almost midnight trying to rig it up so I could run 4 lines.  I stopped at Mitchell's and bought an interchangeable Off Shore Tackle inline board.    

We launched at about 7am, motor started after a couple pulls and ran perfectly!  We headed east and setup at Shipbuilder's.  We ran an inline planer off each side with a J-11 back 100' (firetiger and gold/black) and we ran two spoons flat out the back 45-60', with a michigan stinger goby and a FLT UV Green Alewife) with a 1oz weight about 5' in front of them.  

 

It didn't take long to hook the first one and it was what you hope for when out brown fishing after that.  We ended up with a flurry and managed to catch a fish on every rod before getting that first one re-set.  My friend Mark did all the reeling, I just drove the little tiller motor.  We picked up 2 more before the park and then hit a lull in the action as we didn't get a bite from the park to just past Hedge's.  We pulled the rods and ran back to the park and picked up two more before we got to shipbuilders.  My friend who did all the reeling in had to be on land at 10:30 so we pulled them and headed in after ending on a fish.  

We went 8/8 in a little more than 3hrs.  7 Browns and 1 Laker, 1 nice brown and the rest were cookie cutters or close to that.  All those above lures caught fish, but the firetiger J-11 was the most productive even after swapping out the gold/black for a firetiger solid stickbait.  I only checked surface temp once and it was 37.5.  We didn't have a depth finder so I just drove where I thought I should be and when the action slowed I zig-zagged.  We caught most of our fish in what my navionics app and said was the 10-14' range doing 2.5-2.7 on the app, but we did find one in real tight where I was nervous about snagging bottom or hitting a rock.  Wish I could have stayed out there all day, it was beautiful out.  It was awesome to go out on a whim and make it happen with a less than ideal setup...but if you want to fish bad enough you do what you have to!

 

I did notice immediately that the offshore tackle board performed much better than the church board that was the same size.  I stopped back and bought another one so I could retire the church boards.  I like the orange color and the pin in the back of the church boards better but they barely pulled away from the boat in comparison to the OST one.  

 

It's a great time to get new people out and on a bunch of fish...go take someone new out there and show them how fun it can be!    

[cdq]

Good job Brian! Jason told me you were getting out on Saturday, wish I went out but Jason had me work at Camp this weekend but caught some Steelhead out of Powder Mill after my shift was over!

[GlassWater Outdoors]

I love the offshore! Nice day you had. Congrats

[Missdemeanor]

Outstanding

[Frogger]

Great report. You made it sound easy ! Congrats on your day

[tannero]

Awesome. Gives me the itch 2 get out

Sent from my SM-G900V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[bondouley]

Good job!

[master baiter]

Congratulations!  You caught a few more than we did (5/8), with about half as much equipment.  L to hear these stories, as I contemplate spending more money on equipment with the new season arriving.  It's the wizard not the wand.

[Locoman]

Nice catch. If you keep your inline board rod tips higher you will get more distance from the boat.

[RUNNIN REBEL]

Great report, with pictures and "strategy execution details" to boot.

 

Jerry

RUNNIN REBEL

[camomanbg]

Nice catch. If you keep your inline board rod tips higher you will get more distance from the boat.

I know that, but that board the rod holders are on is held in place with carriage bolts in the oar locks and when there is pressure on the rods it tips back.  I didn't have the time to remedy that before I got out there.  I tested that board out last summer a couple times with just the two Scotty rodholders and realized it tipped but I was running slide divers and I was alone which made it just about impossible to reel anything in so I gave up on the idea.  I just decided to live with it for this trip. 

 

My original plan was this!  

I was going to use the two cheap eagle claw rod holders ($4) clamped on the gunwales for the board rods (which would have had the rods positioned straight up and down) and then use the two Scotty's for my "rigger rods".  I was going to hang a small ball (6-8#) on 4-5' of planer board line tied to the handles on the back of the boat with a release on the back of them.  I was going to run my spoons off of those and put the rods in the Scotty's.  The problem was the cheap rod holders wouldn't clamp on the sides of the boat (too thin) so I had to back up and punt.  Those cheap holders would barely clamp onto the 2x4 board!  I cranked them down with pliers until the backplate was dug into the board a 1/2" and they still moved as soon as we put rods in them.  I decided to just flat line the spoons with weight to avoid the rod holders not being sufficient to hold the rods under pressure and I didn't feel like making the run to get the balls out of a friends boat and I wasn't going to spend $40/ea on the balls they had at F&S or Gander.

Edited March 17, 2016 by camomanbg

[Locoman]

Roger that camoman. Keep at it and you'll come up with what you need. Ingenuity is the mother of invention after all.

[The Scottsman]

[MeatHunter737]

Quick work, nice fish!

[W.W.IV.]

Quick work, nice fish!

 

  Way to go Brian,glade you could make it out.