Schoolie time

[mar]

Managed to get a couple of good sessions this weekend. No real big fish to speak of, but the number of nice chunker schoolies more than made up for it.
Last-minute day off on Friday; got the green light to fish for as long as I want. A few dinks to start off, then got this bad boy:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0030.jpg

Really slow for the next few hours. Wind picked up at noon but I continued chucking it. Found a good school of these little guys:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0036b.jpg

Finally cried uncle and took shelter from the wind. Might as well fish for these while waiting for it to die down:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0043b.jpg

Later in the afternoon I ran into a huge school of these:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0049b.jpg

Crazy non-stop action till dark:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0057b.jpg

Started pouring hard so called it quits at 8pm. Not a bad 14-hour session.


Gave the sore arms a much needed rest on a rainy Saturday. Convinced the better half to do a fishing / photo session with me today.

First stop was money; nice chunker to start the day:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0072b.jpg

Next cast:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0092b.jpg

Got a few more, then on to the next spot. Birds were workin' overhead and soon enough, some surface splashes. Hooked up within the first few casts and I put her to work:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0226b.jpg

Make sure you don't post my 'boat hair' :D
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0227.jpg

Got a few more:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0234b.jpg

Bonus fish:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0244b.jpg

On to the next spot. More birds overhead. Looking very promising. Casted to a point and got 6 of these in 7 casts:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0254b-1.jpg

More splashes in the channel. We would chase it, catch one then they start busting further downstream. Chase it again, catch one, then they would bust upstream. Freakin circus. Enough of that.

Time to head to our favorite shady tree and take a little break:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0260b.jpg

We were rudely interrupted by two schools of fish busting bait on the surface. She can sense I was starting to twitch so off we went trying to make them pay for the rude behavior. Third cast and a 4-5 lb lmb exploded on the airhead, missing it as it went airborne. Yowzer. We got payback on 5 of the smaller guys:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0263b.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0269b.jpg

And just like that, they were gone. So we finished our beer before heading to our last stop.
Finished the day with a few more of these along with some smaller lmb's:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0277b.jpg

Some critter pics she took during the session:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0107b-1.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0175b.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0160b.jpg

Another nice weekend of fishing. The aggressive grabs of the schoolies and lmbs certainly made up for the lack of larger fish.
Till the next session.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Very nice....thanks for all the great photos.

What camera?

[Hatch]

Good work M.C.
HATCH

[Spicytuna1]

Great stuff man, way to get after em. Don't think are too many better ways to spend 14 hrs on the water. Way to get after them

[Jeff C.]

Nice Mar! At least you're geting into some fish. I've been sucking on the American. One smolt on Sat. and a dark salmon yesterday.

[Dan Blanton]

Managed to get a couple of good sessions this weekend. No real big fish to speak of, but the number of nice chunker schoolies more than made up for it.
Last-minute day off on Friday; got the green light to fish for as long as I want. A few dinks to start off, then got this bad boy:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0030.jpg

Really slow for the next few hours. Wind picked up at noon but I continued chucking it. Found a good school of these little guys:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0036b.jpg

Finally cried uncle and took shelter from the wind. Might as well fish for these while waiting for it to die down:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0043b.jpg

Later in the afternoon I ran into a huge school of these:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0049b.jpg

Crazy non-stop action till dark:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0057b.jpg

Started pouring hard so called it quits at 8pm. Not a bad 14-hour session.


Gave the sore arms a much needed rest on a rainy Saturday. Convinced the better half to do a fishing / photo session with me today.

First stop was money; nice chunker to start the day:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0072b.jpg

Next cast:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0092b.jpg

Got a few more, then on to the next spot. Birds were workin' overhead and soon enough, some surface splashes. Hooked up within the first few casts and I put her to work:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0226b.jpg

Make sure you don't post my 'boat hair' :D
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0227.jpg

Got a few more:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0234b.jpg

Bonus fish:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0244b.jpg

On to the next spot. More birds overhead. Looking very promising. Casted to a point and got 6 of these in 7 casts:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0254b-1.jpg

More splashes in the channel. We would chase it, catch one then they start busting further downstream. Chase it again, catch one, then they would bust upstream. Freakin circus. Enough of that.

Time to head to our favorite shady tree and take a little break:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0260b.jpg

We were rudely interrupted by two schools of fish busting bait on the surface. She can sense I was starting to twitch so off we went trying to make them pay for the rude behavior. Third cast and a 4-5 lb lmb exploded on the airhead, missing it as it went airborne. Yowzer. We got payback on 5 of the smaller guys:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0263b.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0269b.jpg

And just like that, they were gone. So we finished our beer before heading to our last stop.
Finished the day with a few more of these along with some smaller lmb's:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0277b.jpg

Some critter pics she took during the session:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0107b-1.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0175b.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/DSC_0160b.jpg

Another nice weekend of fishing. The aggressive grabs of the schoolies and lmbs certainly made up for the lack of larger fish.
Till the next session.

Hey Mar,

What did you catch those redear on. I'm really interested in learning more about the delta panfish fishery. So far I have not been able to locate big numbers of them. Just a few here and there. I've been using mostly nymphs on them. I have landed a few Moes though. If you don't mind sharing a bit of panfish infor with me, drop me an e-mail at danblanton@danblanton.com

Great report! It looks like you have them wired.

[Randy Lee]

Mar,
Beautiful pictures! Ole Boat Hair can catch fish and take great pictures. Lucky you. What a great partner.Thanks for the uplifting report.
Randy

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

Hey Mar - LOVE the pink clouser! I managed a barely legal-size stripe myself on hubby's pink super minnow (similar)....

We weren't near as lucky as you, however. Only found that one and a couple more LMB...

Been a while since we've posted - HI to everyone!

[TomV]

Hi Mar,
Sounds like you had a great day on Sunday. We fished on Saturday and it was very hot bite, even though we had lots of rain and wind and a sea lion visit. On Sunday we had a really hot bite first thing in the morning and then it became sporadic as we chased the occasional boil. Best fish came on Saturday at 8 pounds and several 4-6 pounders. The fish are finally getting bigger than a few weeks ago.

[mar]

Thanks all. It was a fun weekend for sure. The delta is a very special place.

Bill, the camera is a Nikon D3100.

Jeff,
No worries, shad season is just around the corner :D

TomV,
Were you in that bad-a$$ white jet sled? Nice seeing you out there. You guys are pretty hardcore fishing in the rain/wind on Saturday.

[TomV]

Hi Mar,
That was us in my North River. We had our doubts about Saturday and my son was just getting back from a business trip, but the day was planned and we decided to go for it. The windshield and top are great for days like Saturday.

[mar]

Fished in the fog this morning with the little one. Found a good school of fish and caught a bunch from dinks up to 5lbs.

Striper wrangler:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/Rian_handline1.jpg

Fought and landed some nice chunkers"
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/Rian_fishon2.jpg

Wiped out after a hard day's work:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/Rian_sleep1.jpg

[TomV]

Congratulations on the nice day out with your son and the smile says it all! Heading up to the Trinity this week and won't be out on the Delta until the 8th.