The sun was
just beginning to light the sky on a warm calm June morning, my boat was rigged and ready for the coming day of fishing. I patiently waited for my two clients to arrive, a local hunting guide and his brother, neither of
which had ever experienced striper fishing. As I stood looking out at the lake enjoying the fact that I was alone at the ramp and there were no other boats on the water, I caught a glimmer of boiling water. I focused my
attention to this area in the low light conditions it was hard to tell but it looked like a huge school of surfacing fish. I grabbed my binoculars for a better look and sure enough my first thoughts were correct. Now my patience had turned into fever, I wanted to get to these fish fast. Lake Wilson, KS has never been known to have alot of stripers surfacing but this day was to be different. After about 10 minutes of
watching these stripers ravage the shad and the size of the school ever increasing my fishing partners of the day arrived, they had driven in the fog for several miles which had slowed down there arrival.
I pointed to the school and informed them it was time to be out there. We loaded their stuff which included an ultra lite rod which Tim wanted to catch a striper on and headed for the school. As I approched them the
sight was awesome, I slowed the boat and slid as close as I dared, Tim's first cast with his ultra lite connected with about a 4 lb. striper which made one hard run and popped the line like it was nothing, Bill had a
hook up with a casting rod I had rigged and was fighting his first striper. Tim decided his tackle was too small so he grabbed one of my striper rigs and began casting, hooking up almost instantly.
This
was the start of a day we will all remember for along time, we caught and released 13 fish in the first hour, at times the stripers surrounded our boat and were so close you could count the stripes on there sides. As
the light levels increased the fish moved out to deeper water but continued to surface.
There were schools on top in just about any direction you looked, by now I was trying to concentrate on finding the
bigger fish. We had seen several stripers in the over 10 lb. range but were never lucky enough to get a hookup. By the end of the day we had caught 26 stripers up to 7 lbs. and missed at least that many more. It was
indeed a day to remember.
Madd Jack Hoskinson enjoys helping his clients catch the best. Madd Jack Striper Guide Catching Stripers and Wipers In Kansas. Visit his site at
