Oct 6th - Lower Chester River

[5th Tuition]

It's been challenging the last couple of trips for me. I covered a lot of water before eventually finding them stacked up and pulling in doubles off umbrellas with several rods down at a time But there was a lot of bait filled, but unproductive water, that I ran over

Today, I had a friend out in the morning, and I could only hit the water after noon for a short while
I ran south from the Bodkin to check in with Phil. He had two barely legal fish after trolling 5-6 hrs I left him to run and gun (I was solo) and told him I'd call if I found anything worthy.
I headed east and found nothing but bait. Headed north, but still on the eastern side. Drifted a few areas that looked promising (drop offs and humps) without a nibble.
Decided to head home and check a few places along the way. Saw a few birds (5) circling close to the water. If I see two sitting together, they usually have a dead fish they are pecking on
Because, this was the first good looking opportunity, I drifted over the spot with engine off (so not to spook my only potential "find"). The meter lit up with suspended fish
My first cast of a 6 inch bkd hooked up a NICE fish (28-29 inches). They were here
Because I was alone and just had fish for dinner a few nights ago, I slid her over the side. This is the FIRST time I have ever see what happened next. Other people often say they can see their jigs working on their fish finders, I normally don't. But when I released her, I looked at my screen and saw the large mark she left swimming down to the bottom Kind of put a tear in my eye!!

Well, maybe not

But it was neat to see. I quickly called Phil to see if he was still on the water. He answered his phone, "I know, I know; you are calling to tell me you found nice fish. However, I just put the boat on the trailer at SP".
So I ran home and thanked Uncle Jake as I passed him at #5 day marker (those of you who fish with me know what that means).

For a short trip (2 hrs), I was LUCKY to find some fish.

Sorry for the photo, I had to put the phone on "selfie" mode.
5th