# 2/23/13 House Report: "In The Zone"



## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

2/23/13: I get skunked sometimes. It's not often, but sometimes it just isn't meant to be. Yesterday was not one of those days. I'm not sure if it was because I helped some lady change a flat tire last week or if it was because I put in a lot of time on the water already and the fishing gods were smiling on me when I went out. Anyways...sit back and enjoy this one. I don't get to write many reports with 10 Fish Ohio hybrids and stripers in a single outing. 

*CONDITIONS*:
High of 45 degrees, mostly sunny, 9mph wind from the West. Stable barometer.
Water temperature 42 degrees, water clarity: stained w/6-12inches of visibility. River levels stable, slightly on the rise.

*REPORT*:
I hit the water around 1pm yesterday, stalling as long as I could trying to find someone to go fishing with me. It wasn't happening, so I packed up my yak and headed out by myself. Driving out to the river, I had a really good feeling about the trip; it was beautiful outside. When I arrived, I was greeted by 4 really nice fishermen (and women) who had been killing the crappie and wipers from shore. One of them turned out to be a fellow OGF'er, Mystic, and if you are reading this, I had a really nice time talking to you and your friend before heading out.

I paddled upstream and started marking some pretty big fish in the 18-20foot range. I wish I had taken a picture of my fishfinder, as they were stacked up on a text-book looking shelf, holding under a ball of what appeared to be small white bass or large shad. First drift and it was game on. It wasn't much, but from the look on his face, I know the fish were not happy to see me: 









On my next drift, I caught tank of a hybrid that was pushing 5 pounds, and he had a similar concerned look on his face:









Pass after pass, I got into one right after another...and they were huge. The smallest 3 fish were 16-18inches, and even those short ones had guts on them. Here are a bunch of quick pics. I'm going to have to make a second post here to get to the good stuff. Wait for it...

















































twins









(...continued)


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

(Part 2):
I ran out of room for pics in that first post, so I saved the good stuff for the end:

I got into some really big fish yesterday, three of them over five pounds, most of which being all true stripers. The first big one hit my blade bait so hard, it felt like someone had taken a golf club to it. I had to pull him to shore because he was too long for my net!
















This one was probably a hybrid, but he was long like a striper and his lateral lines were all solid past his neck. He slipped out of my freaking hands before I could get a good picture of him:








And last but not least...I caught my first double-digit striper @ 27inches and 10.6 pounds. I felt like the Old Man And The Sea fighting this beast. I only had 2# diameter braid on and I could tell by the fight that my hookset wasn't a good one. I let her pull me around for about 10 minutes before I tried to land her in my net...but she was too long and wouldn't fit. I had boga grips in my pack, but she was only hooked by a single treble hook so I didn't want to risk it so I had to drag her to shore like the others. In all of the excitement, I didn't get my kayak close enough to shore and I fell into thigh-high freezing water which filled up my boots. That sucked but I was on an adrenaline rush having landed such a large fish. It actually threw the hook out on shore, so I consider myself very lucky to have landed it. Some of the local fishermen were kind enough to snap some pictures for me:

















Overall, it was one of those awesome days that are too few and too far in between where everything just comes together. I had a technique that worked and a spot on a spot that was holding a lot of fish. Fish totals for the day ended up with 5 drum, 3 white bass, 12 hybrids and 3 stripers. 10 of which were FishOhio size. This day is going to be hard to beat!
-House


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## bearcatbomber (Jul 12, 2012)

Nice! Sounds like an awesome day. I can't wait to get back out when some of my off days come along in the next couple weeks.


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## oldstinkyguy (Mar 28, 2010)

Wow, those are spectacular fish house. Thats going to be hard to top for trip of the year. That big one is as pretty a hybrid as I've ever seen. All on blade baits?


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## BassAddict83 (Sep 21, 2010)

WOW! Nice job buddy! I would have gone out with you but I just worked 12 10hr days in a row and haven't had any time to fish at all. I really wish I could have been there though! That is an awesome report!


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## HOUSE (Apr 29, 2010)

oldstinkyguy said:


> Wow, those are spectacular fish house. Thats going to be hard to top for trip of the year. That big one is as pretty a hybrid as I've ever seen. All on blade baits?


Yea, they were crushing the blue one for a while but I think I made all of them angry and eventually had to switch to a silver buddy. I had a Smack Tackle flitter-2 tied on as well, but I never got around to throwing it because the blades were working so well!

Sorry I didn't meet you out there on your trip. I didn't have your phone number saved correctly and I ended up oversleeping anyways, lol. It worked out for the best I assume, although I would have loved to have had a chance to fish with you. Plenty of 2013 left though


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## kingofamberley (Jul 11, 2012)

Incredible trip brother! I'm not worthy!


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## deltaoscar (Apr 4, 2009)

kingofamberley said:


> Incredible trip brother! I'm not worthy


+1
You are the man House. Awesome fishing. Those first two fish do indeed look sorry to see you. Thanks for the report.


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## Mean Morone (Apr 12, 2004)

Way to go House!


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## E_Lin (Jun 30, 2011)

That is an awesome day. I would love to fish with you sometime, but seeing stuff like that makes me wonder if you would leave any for me and catch them all yourself... Great job and it looks like the fish are really starting to regret you being out on the water this year.


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## MIKE*A (Apr 12, 2009)

Congrats! Thanks for the pics..


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

nice fish house! great report too!


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## Smittyfisher (Dec 11, 2012)

Nice fish how deep were they?


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## trailbreaker (Oct 11, 2008)

great fish


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## Crawdude (Feb 6, 2013)

AWESOME!


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

heck of a day man, you got the pattern down for sure. congrats


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## GarrettMyers (May 16, 2011)

Did you catch these on the east fork of the stonelick river like the rest of them?


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## j777extra (Oct 22, 2011)

Looks like a good day of fishing


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Only imagine the fun fight you had with those. Had the chance to get a few wipers in scioto last fall and what a fight. Congrats on a unforgetable day you had.


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## Matulemj (May 29, 2012)

GarrettMyers said:


> Did you catch these on the east fork of the stonelick river like the rest of them?
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Yeeeesss


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## Riverbum (Jan 27, 2013)

WOW !!!!! What a catch. Congrats ,makes a guy really think if he wants to go to work tomorrow 


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## Dandrews (Oct 10, 2010)

scheesh, that was a heckuva good day!!

I just noticed that it's a full moon...interesting.


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## treytd32 (Jun 12, 2009)

better start looking for more flat tires to change lol congrats


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## Nubes (Dec 3, 2012)

NICE! You and Smitty both were out there enjoying it. I think he got into enough whites he could have lived of them till mid summer?? All I got out of this weekend was not enough sleep, a busted wallet from having to work on my truck and a sore back from chores yesterday. LOL Nothing worse than stringing a new rod on a nice weekend only to put it away! And with the weather that we got coming I should have just said screw it and went fishing!


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