I set out on this trip Friday 7/19 with a good friend of mine, and we hit the water at 6 in the evening with my boat loaded to the max. Being able to park on the main ramp was awesome.
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Due to my lack of preparation and space in the boat, I was forced to just drive by 15 to 20 boils on my way to setup camp. There were patches of debris in the water, but it wasn’t the worst I’ve experienced. Ended up setting up camp at the base of castle butte in blue notch in the dark.
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Thanks to the a/c unit we were able to get a great nights rest, and woke up Saturday ready to battle the monsters of the north. I had two bags of anchovies stashed in my freezer, and we made quick work of 50 stripers that morning. I caught a few doubles which was pretty neat.
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We only saw a single boil around red canyon, but the schools we found in red canyon were huge! They were borderline snakes, big fish but kinda skinny. Water temps were 79 to 80 and it was a nice green color in red canyon and blue notch. The channel in front of red canyon was super muddy still. We ran to the horn to make a few phone calls, and had no luck in the muddy water. Caught a few bluegills in Scorup, but that was far as my gas supply would let us go.
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We cleaned fish around noon, and repeated the process that evening. A great day of fishing and the best part was we didn’t see another boat all day!
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Well maybe not the best part…
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An awesome day capped with an awesome dinner.
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Having exhausted my chovy supply, the next morning we headed down to cleaner water on the hunt for boils. We made it to good hope and it was on all day. There were huge boils that stayed up for 5 to 10 minutes, and they were not spooky. The boils would pop up next to the boat, and I could hear the fish banging into the side of my boat.
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We filled the cooler many times, breaking to clean fish and then repeating. They were big fish that were very fat and healthy. The boils went all day and we were the only boat in the bay chasing them. It was epic!
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When we ran out of room for fish in coolers, we started catch and release. The water temp around the boils was 86, and there was greater visibility. Had another great meal and enjoyed the solitude of the north end.
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The next morning we broke down camp and loaded the boat, but this time I made sure to pack the boat so would be able to battle boils on the trip home. This guy and his buddies were sad to see our tent go, they seemed to like living under our tent.
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We hit boils in good hope on the way home and filled the cooler again. We kept around 200 for the trip and released so many more. We put a hurting on those northern fatties and as I write this I am feeling like they put a hurting on me! Tight lines worldlings!
Well done chovy snd crew!
