This week was rather short for me but it was definitely one to remember. I got back out on the lake after a long 4th of July weekend, only to find that the recreational folks never left after the holiday. The lake looked like it was a weekend all week and I think the boat traffic affects the bite at times. I haven’t been spending a whole bunch of time in the creek this week and I’ve been focusing on the vast main lake humps and points. Topwater has been my preferred pattern this week but I’ve also been mixing in the spoon, spybait and drop shot, all with a degree of success. It’s pretty much typical summer patterns and not a whole lot will change over the next 2 months.

I did get to see an old friend of our family that came for a fishing visit. Michael and his son flew out from Texas to spend a few days site seeing and a day fishing with me. When Michael told me he was coming in for a fishing visit with his son I got the dates and then pinged my old buddy and striper guide Alex Vasquez for a little striper fishing in the morning followed by a bass fishing afternoon in my boat. Alex and I go way back to my years as a striper guide. Alex and I fished together a few times probably 8-10 years ago and with Alex being a veteran also, we kinda have this unwritten brotherhood of respect. Back then Alex was just learning the ropes of striper fishing and he and I put a lot of fish in the boat during our trips. Alex was the perfect striper guide for Michael and his sons visit.

When our striper day finally got here Michael, Brent and I met Alex at Tidwell and we headed out for a morning of chasing stripers. Electronically, a lot has changed since I was chasing stripers. Alex had a cool Simrad system in the console and Livescope up in the front. Sidescan on the Simrad was used to search left to right and the Livescope was always moving and searching areas in front and below as well as side to side searching. I was amazing for me to see how far technology has come in 10 years. The fish are definitely loosing the advantage on their home waters. Alex didn’t disappoint and we we catching fish on downlined/freelined herring almost immediately. Within minutes of putting baits out on a few fish scattered in a deep cut Brent was bringing in his first striper and shortly after that Michael was fighting his first striper also. after that it was just moving around and scanning till we found groups of scattered fish to drop on. This went on for the next 4 hours and we all had a blast. Alex has turned into an awesome striper guide and he’s running a great little smile factory out of that center console. l posted Alex’s business card below and I’ll tell you guys that if you or your friends are looking for a memorable striper trip make sure you give Alex or Jeff Blair a call. Both are very knowledgeable striper guides and the best of the best on the lake. They don’t dissappoint…ever.

When we ended out trip with Alex, I had kept 7 nice sized stripers for a friends table fare for his family and friends and we dropped those off for my friend who was very appreciative. Myself, Michael and Brent grabbed a quick bite to eat and jumped in my bass boat for a few hours of creek fishing. Brent is 15 years old and very interested in bass fishing so I showed him how to walk the dog, the spybait technique and the drop shot, all of which was pretty new to him. Brent did well with the spybait and got the hang of that pretty well after missing a few topwater blow-ups and he brought a few bass to the boat including his first spotted bass ever.

We capped the day off with a nice dinner and Michael and Brent headed back down to Atlanta where they were staying. It was great to see Michael again and riminess about past times. I met Michael and his family through my dad who had worked with Michael and his dad in the oil business for years. My dad and Michael lived very near each other and they got to be very close friends. Michael’s dad and my dad have since past and I know they were both in heaven looking down on our fishing trip this week. It was very special for both of us. Here’s a few pictures from our day and I also included a link to my “What’s on the Cast Away Deck” video for this week after the pictures. Lake temps are hoovering around the mid eighties and the lake is only down about a foot.