NEAR WORLD RECORD STRIPERS!!! 2011 started out as a rough Trophy season. After days of waiting around at the hotel for decent weather, and numerous "touch and go" trips in between sloppy conditions, we found ourselves smack dab in Trophy Heaven.
This is the first time I brought my two boys to the Chesapeake in December for the Cow Striper run. We were lucky enough to squeeze the trip in between two small craft advisories and fish in flat calm conditions. I was fishing with good friend and old NSBA buddy, Dewayne Lambe. We started the day by setting our spread of 10 rods right on top of the school of a lifetime. We barely had time to get all of the rods out when we heard the first drag sing, then the second. The 50 pound plus fish struck the two outside planer rods which were at least 200 feet away from each other. This gave us any idea of the size school we were dealing with. 13 year old Michael was up first, I strapped the belt on him and he set the rod into gimbal pin just in time to hear the second screamer. 11 year old Jonathan grabbed the rod, but the belt was in use, so he had to "gut" it out!
Both fish were big, taking huge amounts of line from the spools set at 7-8 pounds of drag with 30lb mono, with the fish 100 feet away at strike, and another 100 stripped away, they were both in for a battle. I don't know if they could have got it done without the ACCURATE 50N 2-speed reels. If you have never used a 2-speed before, the biggest advantage is being able to down-shift to the incredibly powerful 3:1 ratio gear. In this gear, the boys only had to hold the rod tips high and slowly crank whenever the fish were not draining line. NO NEED TO PUMP AND TAKE!
These 2 boys have played tackle football for more than half of their lives, but there is no way they could have conquered more than one of these beasts with a traditional single speed reel, especially with a high speed reel. There is just no way. Twenty minutes of Pump and Take would have done them in.
The first two fish weighed in at 52 and 57 pounds! If caught just one year earlier, or weighed just a few lbs more this year, they BOTH would have had new all tackle IGFA World Records in Junior and Small Fry divisions! BUT, the day wasn't over yet, the boys went on to catch another half dozen cows EACH over the next few hours, the smallest being a 40 pounder. Dewayne capped the day off with a 56 pounder, just before we went in with an empty live well.
These days are a gift, fishing with a good friend can make it special, but watching your Sons do what nearly EVERY professional Striper fisherman in world has only dreamed of doing, truly makes it a treasure.
I'm sure it will be quite a few years before my Boys realize what they have done, but I realize right now that it could NOT have been done without the ACCURATE 2-SPEEDS!
Thanks again Accurate!
Please watch the video from that day on You Tube.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w84Bo51rhU&feature=channel_video_title
Hey Mike,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on those cows! I found your vids. when searching for Accurate reels. I noticed you've used a few models, which one is best for the bay? My 7 year old had a real hard time pulling In a 38" rock on an old Penn so I'm looking for a couple two speeders.
I've seen you talk about the rods but never saw what they were, can you tell me?
Thanks!
Tight Lines
Hey Mac,
ReplyDeleteThe rods are the new Accurate Xnergy rods. They are perfect for live bait, or trolling. They have a very soft tip and an incredible backbone. For years it was nearly impossible to get both in one rod. The soft tip is the single most important thing for live bait drifting or "strolling", it allows the bass to pick up the bait turn it, swallow it,and swim off. By the time the fish feels resitance, the rod is fully loaded and bent down to the "backbone", at this point, the fish takes off, setting the hook. If the rod was graphite, the fish would feel the rod and drop the bait, or take off before it can get the bait down, thus the "quick-hit". This is even worse when using no stretch braids. These rods are also amazingly thin for thier line rating. The rods at the fore-grip are thinner than my pinky, yet are rated for 50lb line!
In this video we were using the 50N (Narrows), they are the best for kids because of the narrow spool. There is little or no need to finger-lay the line on the spool. As long as you don't over fill the reel, you should never have to deal with reel-jamming lumps that you can get on wider spool when you forget to guide the line while retrieving. The 2-speeds are absolutely the "ticket" for kids, women, or maybe older guys. I have shocked pro striper fisherman with 50 years experience! They have never used a 2-speed anything, let alone an Accurate "work of art". There are several advantages, there is no need to pump the rod on bigger fish, just hold the rod tip high and crank. Over-pumping, or "snap"-pumping is probably the biggest cause for pulling hooks. Ben Secrest referred to it as "trying to rip the fishes head off". No pumping means less fish lost, we lost 0 fish the day of this video, also, the kids were able to catch a dozen Cows each before getting tired, inststead of just one or two. Not to mention, most people buy "high speed" single speed reel models, thinking "I will just crank slower if need be". They never think about what will happen AFTER the hook up, they only think about presentation. If you buy the single speeds, stick to the low speeds. EVERY single speed reel in my videos are low speed. Also, Ben doesn't recommend 2-speeds for Striped Bass, since they don't dig staight down and circle for the entire fight like Amberjacks, and I agree for the most part. (but it is pretty sweet, just standing up and winching 50 pounders in-Ha!)
Hopefully I answered everything you needed answers on. Feel free to email me anytime, I will be glad to help if I can. These comments are not sent to my email, so I have to check for them from time to time. email me for quick replies-mikesmedley9@gmail.com Thanks! Good Luck!