Today, Wednesday, June 21, 2023, serves as a poignant reminder of life’s blessings and my imminent retirement. After 40 years of running a private practice, transitioning from four days of clinical work to just two has brought about noticeable changes. This year, I’ve taken up fishing the lake and forebay on Wednesdays for the first time in my life. Today was particularly remarkable as I had the entire lake to myself, without a single fisherman in sight within a considerable distance. Such solitude is often preferred on these occasions.

Arriving at the lake, I was pleasantly surprised by the mildness of the usually gusty winds. As the morning progressed,  a magical calmness settled upon the lake’s surface. I marveled at the sight of schools of Shad and young stripers creating ripples as they glided across the water. My Livescope revealed an abundance of fish, providing me with numerous choices for the day. Intrigued, I pursued the schools of shad with a shad fly setup, hoping to entice them into biting. It proved to be an enjoyable hour, although I wasn’t successful in getting any bites. The larger schools of shad occasionally display an indiscriminate appetite for any fly in their path. However, they are skittish and challenging to follow. While fishing for shad, I found myself in close proximity to pods of wake-creating fish. Surprisingly, I noticed schools of young stripers congregating near the water’s surface, a phenomenon I had observed last summer on the forebay. These stripers seemed disinterested in slower flies, likely focused on spawning rather than feeding. However, there were instances where they would strike at rapidly moving flies. Employing this technique, I managed to catch a dozen fish from these schools by swiftly maneuvering my flies through them. I also attempted using a topwater fly, specifically a crease fly, but couldn’t entice them to bite. While I lost count of the number of young stripers I caught today, my main objective was to locate larger fish. Amongst the myriad of small schools, I successfully landed eight substantial specimens. I couldn’t help but notice that these larger fish consistently swam alongside others of similar size. Thus, it seems to be a matter of finding these notable schools amidst the vast number of smaller ones.

Im starting to film with a new camera – the Insta360 X3.  There have many improvements made with the camera but most important to me is the ability to  loop record 360 footage like I do with GoPros.     I had the Insta360 hooked to an external battery all day and it did not overheat.     This camera will be especially useful with two fishermen in the boat.   I will be able to edit both fishermen on the same 360 footage.

With my departure for La Ventana only four days away, I desired to catch a couple more stripers before fully immersing myself in saltwater angling next week.