While showing Brett Blouin and Marty Miller some of the techniques I use for catching stripers, it may have been a bit overwhelming for them with the multitude of rods and various techniques that I use. We started with just 2 planers, 2 down lines and 2 free lines fishing right off the Balus Creek ramp into the bay. Water temp was 48.1°. After marking a multitude fish and no takers we headed to the back of Flat Creek after an hour and a half. When we got to the blue dock we were marking fish again. The water was a little more stained but the water temperature was 50.5. We went a little further back into Flat to the narrow finger just to the left of the creek itself and hooked up with a 24 1/4″ striper in 30′ of water on a planer board herring brought in by Marty, his 1st lake striper. We then went into Flat Creek itself finding 55.3° and lots of activity on the sonar. At one point we had a double on my new rocket launchers but were unable to boat them. We eyed a 100′ length of water that was 10′ deep half way in the creek by the last 2 docks on the left. We then anchored at a turnaround area just beyond and staged our rods with bait on just 4 planers and 2 diagonal bobbers. We were to clip them to the line as I took us off of anchor and moved forward. Well experience would have been prudent but instead there was a calamity of lines getting snagged on the blowdown roots on just one side and we ended up with only 1 planer going through the hot spot section. I guess I was too greedy with my apprentices. Sorry guys.

We left Flat and went to pull umbrella rigs at the merge of Balus and Flat creeks moving towards the ramp. On the way I was discussing the URig rules with them. On our first pass we got hung in a tree. We centered around the line as it went straight down, wrapped the 100 lb braid around a cleat and pulled it off the tree successfully. On our second pass we hooked up with a fish but they did not follow my strictness about having slack in the line. Marty passed the pole to Brett and the fish got off. Hopefully a lesson they will always remember the next time they use an umbrella rig.