River stripers

[mar]

Been doing a few drifts on a local tailwater striper fishery the past two weeks. Constantly changing flows made for some challenging fishing but still managed to hook a few.

Lots of these feisty critters:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0375.jpg





A little bit bigger: I still get a kick every time I see the other fish in the school swarm around the hooked fish.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0380.jpg


Last weekend, I floated the river with a friend. We slowly worked our way upriver and fished some likely holes on the drift down. First stop got our blood going as we spotted some feeding fish. Positioned the boat on top of the feeding fish and started fishing.

Immediate reward:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0347.jpg


Got a couple more schoolies then it shut down. On down to the next run. We found a school of fiesty smaller fish right off the bat. Drifted 50 feet further down and my buddy hooks up. We thought it was another dinker then it woke up. These fish fight hard.

My buddy's fish landed after chasing it down:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0352.jpg


Another 100 feet downstream and caught a couple more dinks. In one of the casts, I had a much larger fish follow the fly all the way to the boat only to turn away a few inches away from the fly. What a rush! At least we know some bigger fish are there.




Fast forward to this weekend. Did a solo trip this time. First stop was dead. The water looked really fishy but no one home. On to the next spot where we saw the large fish the week before. I started at the top of the run. First cast....quick strip and got a tug. Maybe a dink? Set the hook and it felt light. The fish was swimming towards the boat. It turned and all hell broke loose. Hard screaming runs. Strong...strong fish.

A nice teener:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0362.jpg



Hope to tangle with you again someday:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0372.jpg

[GreggH]

Great pix, nice to see the PFD in some as well. Keep them pictures coming bro.

[Jeff C.]

Very nice Mar! I'll have to target some linesides when the shad are done.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Wow Mar......congratulations and thanks for this wonderful post.

These great photos will get people's blood pumping.

Having a boat is a good thing.

As most know the Lower American River has Stripers in it spring summer and fall.

[Mike O]

Cornholio definately had your back those trips.

[Rockman]

Nice report and photos. With the water flows settling down on the upper Sac., and your great report. I will now have to go up to Dunsmuir and get my boat and start searching for those linesides down here. Nice fish porn!

[Andy Guibord]

Mar, way to go!!!!!

[mar]

Glad you guys liked it. I've been putting a lot of time on the water and it's nice to know that it actually pays off once in a while.

Andy,
Thanks for all the info you've given me at the shop and on the water. You' re a wealth of info and a class act. Hope you have some open dates in the coming weeks :-)

[mar]

Did a quick drift before going to work this morning.


The first spot that was dead last week was very much alive this morning. Lots of dinks feeding on the surface. Caught more than a few right off the bat. Mixed in with the dinks are some chunky legal-sized fish.
One of the two 3-lbers in the school that whipped me pretty good:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0384.jpg

A few more dinks after that and on to the big-fish spot from last week. Did the same approach and made a cast to the same spot. And wouldn’t you know it, got a similar tug five strips into it….is my friend back in the hole??
Not really. Got me wound-up though:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0387.jpg



This pattern would repeat in the next few spots downstream. No big girls this time.



The ugly fly. Used to be better looking but now a bit chewed-up after tangling with a few stripes.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSCN0386.jpg