This is the look I've been getting from hybrids this month:
![Image]()
They know I've got their number, and I have been very fortunate to have had such good success this late in the summer dialing them in. Please don't get me wrong, though. I get skunked... I get skunked a LOT, lol, but I learn from every trip and know that if I put in enough time on the water, I will sooner or later get into something worthy of a few photographs.
Report:
9/6/2013, after fishing all morning with coangler and having a terrific time catching some big fish (Link:http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?t=240511&page=2), I headed back to familiar waters closer to home. I wasn't really sure how I could top the great morning we'd had. We had landed 3 fish over 25 inches and I had lost a battle with the fish of a lifetime. I made the mistake of grabbing the reel on an explosive fish that was spooling me, and I ultimately paid the price with a loud snap on my 14 pound Fireline. Never again...
I hiked down to a spot where I'd caught my personal best river hybrid just 10 days prior, and ironically, I was wearing the same exact shirt and using the same exact combo as when I caught this 27", 10 pound hybrid on 8/26:
![Image]()
. The only difference was that I was using an identical Pfluegger reel with 14pound Fireline instead of 12 pound braid like the last trip.
I fished the area for 2 hours without so much as a hit, losing 3 of my favorite lures, and I was beginning to think that I should have just called it quits earlier in the day when I was on top...but then I decided to go sit down on that same rock as my last report to rest my back and get a drink. So there I was in the same exact spot, wearing the same exact shirt, using almost the same exact lure (it was missing its eyes by now) and it happened again. I flipped my swimbait out into the gnarliest water around, targeting the only sliver of shaded water on the stretch, with little hope of catching anything and I was greeted with an explosion of water that was violent enough to spray my face from where I was sitting. My drag screamed as the fish went racing off to the Ohio River. I didn't react right away because I thought that I must certainly be dreaming. Is this really happening again? Suddenly, I am haunted by a flashback from the morning trip where I lost the mother of all big fish, and questions start racing through my mind: Did I set my drag correctly? Will this new line break on me again? Is one of my guides knicked? Did I just crap my pants??!??
Unlike the morning monster I let peel off 100+ yards of line, I played this fish like a champ, working my drag up and down to match his energy level while keeping my rod tip high to let my rod do the work. It looked like a battle from the surf, with two hands on my rod at times while the fish exploded with anger as the fight raged on farther and farther downstream. After a final desperate effort to pull free, the fish finally succumbed to its fate of photographs and "holy craps" while I quickly set to work releasing it back into the water. All I could think about was the fish from the morning trip that got away and how I had found a way to somewhat settle the score with the fishing gods. It didn't even cross my mind that it might have been the same fish from just 10 days before until I was reviving it out in the current. I measured it at 27 inches but did not have a scale. Could I have possibly caught the same personal best 27inch hybrid twice in a row? It certainly looked and felt heavier than the last one. I'll post a few pics of this fish and then a side-by-side comparison. I'd love to hear what you guys think:
![Image]()
![Image]()
![Image]()
Comparison:
8/26 vs. 9/6
![Image]()
Until the next striped adventure...
They know I've got their number, and I have been very fortunate to have had such good success this late in the summer dialing them in. Please don't get me wrong, though. I get skunked... I get skunked a LOT, lol, but I learn from every trip and know that if I put in enough time on the water, I will sooner or later get into something worthy of a few photographs.
Report:
9/6/2013, after fishing all morning with coangler and having a terrific time catching some big fish (Link:http://www.ohiogamefishing.com/community/showthread.php?t=240511&page=2), I headed back to familiar waters closer to home. I wasn't really sure how I could top the great morning we'd had. We had landed 3 fish over 25 inches and I had lost a battle with the fish of a lifetime. I made the mistake of grabbing the reel on an explosive fish that was spooling me, and I ultimately paid the price with a loud snap on my 14 pound Fireline. Never again...
I hiked down to a spot where I'd caught my personal best river hybrid just 10 days prior, and ironically, I was wearing the same exact shirt and using the same exact combo as when I caught this 27", 10 pound hybrid on 8/26:
I fished the area for 2 hours without so much as a hit, losing 3 of my favorite lures, and I was beginning to think that I should have just called it quits earlier in the day when I was on top...but then I decided to go sit down on that same rock as my last report to rest my back and get a drink. So there I was in the same exact spot, wearing the same exact shirt, using almost the same exact lure (it was missing its eyes by now) and it happened again. I flipped my swimbait out into the gnarliest water around, targeting the only sliver of shaded water on the stretch, with little hope of catching anything and I was greeted with an explosion of water that was violent enough to spray my face from where I was sitting. My drag screamed as the fish went racing off to the Ohio River. I didn't react right away because I thought that I must certainly be dreaming. Is this really happening again? Suddenly, I am haunted by a flashback from the morning trip where I lost the mother of all big fish, and questions start racing through my mind: Did I set my drag correctly? Will this new line break on me again? Is one of my guides knicked? Did I just crap my pants??!??
Unlike the morning monster I let peel off 100+ yards of line, I played this fish like a champ, working my drag up and down to match his energy level while keeping my rod tip high to let my rod do the work. It looked like a battle from the surf, with two hands on my rod at times while the fish exploded with anger as the fight raged on farther and farther downstream. After a final desperate effort to pull free, the fish finally succumbed to its fate of photographs and "holy craps" while I quickly set to work releasing it back into the water. All I could think about was the fish from the morning trip that got away and how I had found a way to somewhat settle the score with the fishing gods. It didn't even cross my mind that it might have been the same fish from just 10 days before until I was reviving it out in the current. I measured it at 27 inches but did not have a scale. Could I have possibly caught the same personal best 27inch hybrid twice in a row? It certainly looked and felt heavier than the last one. I'll post a few pics of this fish and then a side-by-side comparison. I'd love to hear what you guys think:
Comparison:
8/26 vs. 9/6
Until the next striped adventure...
may need to change your name to oldstinkyguy 
