Hit the same area that has been producing with a friend at a late 7:30 am. Plenty of boats out there so wasn't expecting a great day. Wind was strong out of the NE but still sticking to my guns (skitterwalk) despite the chop.
Found some potholes and after working a few finally hookup to a small jack. A few minutes a huge explosion and nice run, thinking red but another,larger, jack.
At this point the wind started to pick up even more, and I could have kicked myself for never buying an anchor. I have a home made stake-out pole, but when you are drifting fast it can be difficult to setup and is not the best solution. Anyway, I manage to get the pole to hold me so i could work the area more throughly. Glad I did, caught a few 17-18" trout.
Repeated the routine farther down the drift and caught a couple more, plus a few misses including one trout that launched itself out of the water cartwheeling
By this time there were a ton of weeds on the surface to switched out to the baitbuster. Caught another 18" trout shortly after the switch. Not long after that I'm retrieving the baitbuster and see a swirl about where my line is, then a long hard run on my 8lb. outfit. Must be a another jack, but fun no less as I am being pulled around against the wind and waves. After a 5 minute battle I get a look at the fish, not a jack! My friend catches up with me and snaps a picture.
Decide to check out a spot about 1/2 mi away that has been good, but had a feeling before I got there it wasn't to be since I observed a dozen boats fishing/motoring over the area all morning. Upon arrival I notice a long line of small white floats. Someone set up a gill net? Go over there to check it out, not a gill net thankfully but about 3 dozen crab traps. Soon after some guys in a boat motor right by me to check some of the other traps in the area, making a helluva a lot of racket as usual. Knew it was about time to head in anyway (into the wind).
Spooked a couple small reds in some ultra clear water, plus a follower on the skitterwalk ha. Not a bad day, only used 2 lures: skitterwalk and baitbuster. Only saw one fish caught by the motorboaters.
