Lots of small Stripers or go look for some larger ones?

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I had a nice chat with top local Delta skiff guide Bryce Tedford.

He said that when they find a school of small Stripers he asks the clients if they want to stay here and catch a bunch of little scappers or do you want to roll it up and go look for a school of larger line sides?

That way he gives his people a choice.

Some are happy with lots of fish even if they are smaller ones but other would rather go the hunt to see if they can get something that is bigger.

I think this is a good way to make people happy.......


Bryce has a very nice new comfortable boat and he specializes in Stripers, Large Mouth Bass and Small Mouth Bass in the Delta.

http://www.brycetedfordflyfishing.com/





.

[JAWallace]

Big stripes are great, but I love using a 7 wt. Fenwick fiberglass rod with a T-200 line when we only find the schoolies. They are super aggressive, and you can easily have a 30-50 fish day on light gear. Last year I got an 8 lb. stripe in the American on that rod, in current, and to say it was maxed is an understatement, but so much fun:rolleyes:

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I am excited John that we seem to have lots of smaller Stripers in our rivers, Delta, bays and ocean.

[STEELIES/26c3]

I am excited John that we seem to have lots of smaller Stripers in our rivers, Delta, bays and ocean.
The numbers of really small (6"-20") stripers in the American River this year is exponentially greater than in the last 20 years. There are nice shoolies (7#-12#) but you have to cover a lot of water and/or fish all day to find them... and pigs (25-50 lbs) are also in the river but in lesser numbers than in years past so few will even see much less catch them...
This year our delta, our rivers, our fisheries is similar to a rebuild year for an MLB baseball team that has a lot of potential but it's mostly young and undeveloped like a farm system of rookies...
We got tons of rain and snow and water in our delta watershed which spurred on a major reproductive burst... more water, more space, more habitat, more food, more spawning, more survival of offspring, more growth, more in-migration of delta to typically smaller watersheds (like the American River). IF we could take advantage of all this biological reproduction caused by the extra rain and snow... and keep higher levels of water in our rivers, then the cycle of life would be allowed to replenish and repopulate. At least a fair percentage of these smaller stripers would grow up and add to a healthy and sustainable adult population.
This dynamic is transferable to salmon and steelhead and even other classes/species (insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals...)
Over the last 6 years, there has been a major die-off partly attributable to mismanagement of our water by government agencies and partly due to drought.
Seeing thousands of baby stripers in the river is to me as exciting as hooking and landing a 50 lb striper and setting her free after taking a photo. Both are reminders of the magnificence of nature even within an urban context. Both are proof of the potential to have healthy and sustainable fisheries/ecosystems.
Now, the trick is to convince policy and decision makers that this magnificence is worth saving and that building the twin tunnels with a potential to move 4.9 million acre feet of water out of the delta is a very bad move for life, fish and human...