Winter Delta stripers (3-day report)

[mar]

Well shoot. The Super Bowl is a blowout....might as well post a striper report.

Fished the mighty Delta for 3 days and had some success.
Had the pleasure of fishing with SpicyT on Friday morning. We did fairly well, catching 6 stripers to 6lbs on I-lines.

Mr. Tuna wrangling one in:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/ST_fishon_1_zps4f1ca5cf.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/ST_fishon_1_zps4f1ca5cf.jpg.html)

Beautiful fish to hand:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/ST_striper1_zps0a1f0745.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/ST_striper1_zps0a1f0745.jpg.html)

Good fishing with you Spicy!

Went out again on Saturday with another striper chaser. We've been going after the striped specimen together a few times over the years and its always a good time, good catching or not. This was one of those good-catching days and we had a blast. We fished clousers on I-lines right next to the weed edges. He caught most of the fish and I was relegated to taking pics. I cried foul but it fell on deaf ears :D

Going back down. Hold on tight:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/WK_fishon1_zps6102a98b.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/WK_fishon1_zps6102a98b.jpg.html)

This was repeated on a few more fish:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/WK_fishon2_zpsd0ca4878.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/WK_fishon2_zpsd0ca4878.jpg.html)

Another fish, this was an epic battle:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/WK_fishon3_zps14f49a18.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/WK_fishon3_zps14f49a18.jpg.html)

One fine example of one of the bigger fish landed:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/WK_striper1_zps268f5496.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/WK_striper1_zps268f5496.jpg.html)

I didn't get skunked :D
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/Mar_striper1_zps3604eec2.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/Mar_striper1_zps3604eec2.jpg.html)


I used my older get as a ticket out of the house to chase after them again this morning. It worked.

He got rewarded:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/Raj_fishon2_zpsa2dae68c.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/Raj_fishon2_zpsa2dae68c.jpg.html)

Fat striper to hand:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/Raj_striper1_zps2b8049f0.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/Raj_striper1_zps2b8049f0.jpg.html)

I made sure I got mine too:
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh134/mar224177/Mar_striper2_zps0bc8d8bd.jpg (http://s255.photobucket.com/user/mar224177/media/Mar_striper2_zps0bc8d8bd.jpg.html)

Went home when the rain started. I hope we get lots more of it.

[strick]

Nice work Mar! those are some quality fish. I've not been out in 2 weeks but hope to get out soon. It's bad when you live 5 min from the Antioch bridge but have no time to go out!

Strick

[James]

Good job Mar!

Looks like you had a couple decent days.
I love your pic's. I need to figure out a way to take solo pic's.

Got a buddy out on Saturday that hardly ever catches ( just one of those kinda guy's ) and he got to hook 7 and he landed 5, I got a few, but the best thing was watching one of my life long friends get his first decent striper session, he's already called and asked " when we going next?" Another monster is born.

Thanks for the killer report!

[Tony Buzolich]

James,

You made a couple of good points that a lot of folks forget. Taking a friend out and having him catch his first decent striper, and then having him call and ask about going again is what life's all about. Sharing and the acquisition of memories is life.

We were out Saturday as well with an old friend who is in his mid-eighties and getting quite feeble but still wants to go. After only a few casts he quit and said his back was hurting and sat down in the boat still watching the show. It was a beautiful day and the sun warmed him and his spirits were still high for the trip. It wasn't long before Jim had another small striper of a couple pounds pulling his line and he passed his rod off to old Don who was still sitting watching the show. Don quickly got up, forgetting about his back, and was whooping and hollering have the time of his life fighting Jim's fish. We got it in shortly, took a quick picture of Don holding it, and let it back into the water.

" What a fight it was" was all Don could talk about as he sat back down in his seat. I don't think his back hurt for the rest of the day.

Good memories with friends is what it's all about, catching fish is just a means acquiring them.
Tony

[Randy Lee]

Mar,
You die hard. I was wondering when somebody was going to post again on the striper thread. Should of known it would be you. Thanks!
Randy

[James]

Tony I couldn't agree more!

Love the story about Don, Good stuff!

[Andy Guibord]

I think I am forgetting what it is like to fish for the stripe. Thanks for the report.

[mar]

Thanks everyone!! Hoping the bite stays consistent in the next few weeks. The grabs were more aggressive with the 50-51deg water temp, which was a nice change from the 'mush' bite when the water was colder.

James and Tony: Good job on getting your friends on some fish!

[Spicytuna1]

Good fishing with you Spicy!


Thanks for having me man I had a great time and am looking forward to fishing with you again.

A little late for the party but here are some of my shots:
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab340/spicytuna1/delta/DSCF2380_zpsd0a9eb8f.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/spicytuna1/media/delta/DSCF2380_zpsd0a9eb8f.jpg.html)

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab340/spicytuna1/delta/DSCF2379_zps84d2af24.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/spicytuna1/media/delta/DSCF2379_zps84d2af24.jpg.html)

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab340/spicytuna1/delta/DSC_1850b_zps753e61c6.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/spicytuna1/media/delta/DSC_1850b_zps753e61c6.jpg.html)

Went back after it Saturday and did alright. I had a hard time with the Stripers sticking (maybe time to sharpen my hooks) but we ended up with a few good Striper's and 3 lmbs.

Saw this on the way back in. There was no Med crew around when we got there, got to hope everything was OK.

The tow guy had the old school neoprene overall style waders and the water was 51, didn't seem like it bothered him one bit though.

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab340/spicytuna1/delta/Delta%202014/IMG_20140201_105833_162_zpsa8f3f008.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/spicytuna1/media/delta/Delta%202014/IMG_20140201_105833_162_zpsa8f3f008.jpg.html)

http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/ab340/spicytuna1/delta/Delta%202014/IMG_20140201_110218_768_zpsf5121f4f.jpg (http://s877.photobucket.com/user/spicytuna1/media/delta/Delta%202014/IMG_20140201_110218_768_zpsf5121f4f.jpg.html)

Hope the fishing keeps up like this for a bit.