I was with a group of guys fishing in the friendship cove and rock creek area from May 25th to June 4th. We had very good success on stripers, small mouth, walleye and catfish.

For the cats and stripers I use a system that is similar to mooching for salmon. I use a sliding egg sinker of about 1/2 oz to 3/4 oz. I tie my main line to an appropriate sized swivel. From there I use 8 to 10 pound test leader of about 24 to 30 inches. I then tie on a 1/ 0 octopus type hook. I will take an anchovy and cut off the head and about 1/2 inch more. The bait should be a minimum of 3 inches long. Starting at the tail I then pierce the hook into the tail section about 1/4 inch from the caudal fin.

Next bring the hook all the way through the bait. Then near the end of the bait (towards the head section) I run the hook through the bait and leave the barb exposed. I then tighten the line to have the shank of the hook run along side of the anchovy. The last step is to put a half hitch just above the entry point near the tail. It is important to use the half hitch. The fish cannot pull the bait off. Then simply cast out and let it sit on bottom. You can also use this system for suspended stripers. Just lower bait to the appropriate depth and bang. I catch over 90% of all hits. Our last trip we put in the boat over 100 stripers and over 50 catfish.

We also trolled and picked up a large variety of largemouth, smallmouth, walleye and of course a zillion stripers. I used Rapala sunfish imitations with a ten foot marked bill. I put them back about 40 feet. On the rocky shore line of eastern Friendship Cove was a great place. Also we encountered a striper boil behind the island directly across the lake from Friendship Cove. We also jigged in Rock Creek. The schools are scattered but we did pick up a lot of fish. It seems white is still the preferred color.