8/04 report

[Charlie Gonzales]

Spent my birthday on the water with my good friends Matt Johnsom and Andy Guibord and had a blast.
Had the guys throwing top water for the first couple hours but didnt get have any luck. About 10am the fish woke up and Matt picked up the fist fish of the day, a fat 5lb'r that ate a 5/0 rainbow Airhead on an I line. Down stream Andy picked up his first fish of the day, a good size schoolie that had company with it. Matt threw out the airhead again and had a large fish boil on it on the surface but didngt get a solid hook set. He picked it up, threw it back out, and the fish inhaled it, again on the surface. So now we have a double on and the fish are goin crazy. Andys schoolie comes unbottuned durring the fight but Matt still had his fish on; after brinigng the fish to the boat several times and it making several strong runs, I reached down and got the Boga on her. A very fat and healthy fish that went just over 15 lbs. So we get a few pics and make sure shes revived and watch her swim away, then I row us back to the top of the run to do it all again. Picked up a couple more schoolies in it but no more big girls. After that not too much more action, a few grabs and couple follows on the big airhead, but no more hook ups.

Hopefuly Andy will post some pics soon.

Thanks to my friends for making it a very special day for me.

[Jasonh]

Charlie, Why didnt you say anything at the shop yesterday? I didn't know it was your birthday.

Happy Birthday!

Jason

[Scott V]

I'm glad to see you were rowing on your birthday. Happy Birthday buddy, I have a present for you, just let me know when we can get together and I will bring it with me.

[STEELIES/26c3]

Happy Birthday Charlie

It's fun when you reel up a schoolie and it gets marauded by a lone wolf. Glad you had action and company.

M

[Ed Wahl]

Happy birthday you old fart.

Sounds like a great time on the water.

Ed

[matt johnson]

Big thanks to Gonzales and Andy Guibord for getting a hack like me into some great striper opportunities! All I really had to do was get the fly out there...

Also tremendous thanks to Charlie Bisharat for the "Airhead"! That fly is versatile, effective, and totally cool to fish, especially in the upper water column.

Charlie Gonzales has really got that Intermediate /Airhead presentation dialed in. It was a real door opener for me. I can't think of a better way to conduct the "search" for stripers in water of 10 feet or so or less with good visibility (well, outside of using topwater during the magic hours!). Those big flies just move fish, and the I line keeps you up out of the weeds and out of the tree limbs. Places that just don't fish with lead core... Plus, you get to SEE the fish move to the fly. What a rush!

Happy Birthday Charlie! Matt.