I took the boat out of the garage on Wednesday and got the top put together. Once I got that back, I loaded my gear in the truck (man I love the camper top!). Thursday morning I headed out to get bait and meet up with one of my fishing buddies, Jim. We arrived at East Bank at around 8:15 or so. I know a lot of you think that I should get on the water much earlier. I agree! But my real job is making sure my better half is ready and off to work. She leaves the house around 7 which does not free me up until then to gather my last minute items and head out. Also I hate getting up early in the AM so even if I left her to fend for herself, I would probably still not get out at the crack of dawn LOL.
The t-top seemed to handle the ride to the lake just fine. I still have a bit of mistrust so I strapped the front legs down. Also technically the 5200 needed 7 days to cure and it had only been 4. While on the lake it felt sturdy and did not show a lot of movement while under way. I was careful not to put my full weight on it while making my way past it to go from one end of the boat to the other. I may still order the support bars available through Stryker for the front legs. I still need to get use to the lack of head room at the back as I hit my head on the rod holders a couple times! Overall the top was a blessing and made a world of difference in this Georgia heat.
The Striper are down deep in the colder waters this time of year so we searched around near the Dam for a while. We only located a few fish here and there, not the "spaghetti" you would want to find. I did manage to land a 25.5 inch Striper over one of those spots down about 45 feet. This turned out to be the only fish of the day. We moved around looking for them from the dam all the way to Old Federal but just could not hook up. We did have several strong pull downs but they managed to escape.
One of the highlights of the day was lunch at Pig Tales on the lake. There is nothing like docking your boat and sitting down to some good old BBQ and Iced Tea!
The new bait tank set up worked outstanding! I picked up 2 dozen Bluebacks, with an extra bucket of water ,on the way to the lake. As soon as I got them loaded up I turned on the bubbler and light. The light helps keep the bait calm. For the first time since owning the boat no bait died in the tank. There was one exception .... The net was left in the tank at one point and one of the bait got hung up and weakened Once freed he eventually died. I fed him to a duck we met along the way.
I did add bait saver and a foam preventer about mid day. I'm not sure the saver was needed but the tank was getting a bit of foam that immediately cleared up once the foam preventer was added.
I noticed very little if any battery drain running the bubble and light all day. The whole system is a win in my book.
Some pics from the day.....
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| 25.5 inches |
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| I usually do not keep them but I kept this one. |
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| Docked at Fish Tales/Aqualand |
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| Sailboats near Old Federal |
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| Jim untangling his Blueback from his Ben Parker :)) |
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