Never, Ever, Leave Fish to Find Fish
It had been a simple plan: Start out before dawn; catch some small Norfolk spot for live-lining; locate a pod of rockfish; catch two keepers; get off the water before the temps hit 100. I’d done it before, and that formula had been a sure route to success. However, all the parts had to cooperate to make my plan work.
The before-dawn part was easily accomplished, though the gods know I don’t care for getting up in the dark. But after I had launched and began my bait search, I found absolutely no spot. I fished bloodworms, grass shrimp and tiny spinner baits in both deep and shallow waters where I had caught bait-sized spot in the past. But I found no takers.
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My only other option was to use small white perch for bait. I knew that perch came a distant second in attracting the attention of stripers, but I had no other choice. I gave up on spot and started to hunt small perch.
Throwing my most reliable Rooster Tail pattern at a location that had produced bait-sized perch in the past, I got one on my first cast. But it was over 11 inches. That was conflicting. Perch that big are not easy to come by, so it was only with the greatest reluctance that I dropped it back over the side.