Tony Buzolich
05-17-2018, 07:26 PM
Uugh, I'm tired. It's getting harder and harder when you're 70 and the alarm goes off at 3:30 or 4:00 and your best friend wants to go fishing. But this last Monday was so good, and there seems to be good numbers still around. So off we go to the Sac again hoping for a repeat of the day before.
We motor a ways upstream to our usual starting spot and begin our drift. After only a couple of casts Jim is tight on a nice 6-7 lb. striper. Exactly like the day before. We swing around and make another pass this time without an immediate grab, and we drop down continuing our usual path. Jim hooks up again and the day seems to be going well. Not quite like Monday though. What's different today ? The weather has a low front moving over and it's colder. The other thing we noticed is the river is full of small fish everywhere. Shad. They've got to be shad. We didn't notice ANY the day before.
We continue our quest for stripers and pick up one here and there, but nothing like Monday. We ask ourselves again "what's different?" . Could it be the low pressure, or now the great abundance shad as a food source? Add to this, the wind is coming up and blowing hard from the south. But we press on with only half the numbers counting.
Finally at the bottom of one of our favorite walls Jim hooks up again and this one goes deep toward the middle of the river. This one is heavy and wants to stay straight down. Always a big fish habit and all you can do is hang on and see who gets tired first. Keeping a strong bend on the rod, the fish gradually begins to rise and we get a look. Geez, easily a 25 to 30 pounder! And bright chrome without a mark on her. A really fresh hen without a mark. Spawned out hens commonly have a lot of red bruises on their sides from the males banging them during mating.
Jim's getting her near the surface and I go to net her, but as soon as I touch her she dives off again for the deep. Three times we had her to the net before the fly released. Good as done.
The weather continues to blow and the skies are getting darker with rain and we call it a day. I was supposed to go fish a different river with a friend this afternoon too. I call him to cancel but he assures me the low pressure has passed and the fish here are really on the bite. Remember now, I've been up since 3:30 am. But when a friend tells you they're really on the bite,,,,,,,, you have to go.
So I meet up with Jeff and off we go to some un-pressured water and launch from a gravel bar. Like Jeff's forecast, the wind quit, the clouds went away, and the fish hit hard almost immediately. Faster moving water was hard for the flies to get down quickly but the stripers were there. One hook-up, two hook-up, double hook-ups. Geez, this was incredible and nothing like the morning. After loosing count it begins to get dark and time to head back. One last stop before quitting at a deep hole and Jeff immediately hooks up with a smile and says "big fish". I clear my line to help, and just that quick he's off. That's fishing, and it's almost full dark, and I've had an incredible day.
So today, I'm tired. A little work in the garden and that's it. Until tomorrow :)
Tony
We motor a ways upstream to our usual starting spot and begin our drift. After only a couple of casts Jim is tight on a nice 6-7 lb. striper. Exactly like the day before. We swing around and make another pass this time without an immediate grab, and we drop down continuing our usual path. Jim hooks up again and the day seems to be going well. Not quite like Monday though. What's different today ? The weather has a low front moving over and it's colder. The other thing we noticed is the river is full of small fish everywhere. Shad. They've got to be shad. We didn't notice ANY the day before.
We continue our quest for stripers and pick up one here and there, but nothing like Monday. We ask ourselves again "what's different?" . Could it be the low pressure, or now the great abundance shad as a food source? Add to this, the wind is coming up and blowing hard from the south. But we press on with only half the numbers counting.
Finally at the bottom of one of our favorite walls Jim hooks up again and this one goes deep toward the middle of the river. This one is heavy and wants to stay straight down. Always a big fish habit and all you can do is hang on and see who gets tired first. Keeping a strong bend on the rod, the fish gradually begins to rise and we get a look. Geez, easily a 25 to 30 pounder! And bright chrome without a mark on her. A really fresh hen without a mark. Spawned out hens commonly have a lot of red bruises on their sides from the males banging them during mating.
Jim's getting her near the surface and I go to net her, but as soon as I touch her she dives off again for the deep. Three times we had her to the net before the fly released. Good as done.
The weather continues to blow and the skies are getting darker with rain and we call it a day. I was supposed to go fish a different river with a friend this afternoon too. I call him to cancel but he assures me the low pressure has passed and the fish here are really on the bite. Remember now, I've been up since 3:30 am. But when a friend tells you they're really on the bite,,,,,,,, you have to go.
So I meet up with Jeff and off we go to some un-pressured water and launch from a gravel bar. Like Jeff's forecast, the wind quit, the clouds went away, and the fish hit hard almost immediately. Faster moving water was hard for the flies to get down quickly but the stripers were there. One hook-up, two hook-up, double hook-ups. Geez, this was incredible and nothing like the morning. After loosing count it begins to get dark and time to head back. One last stop before quitting at a deep hole and Jeff immediately hooks up with a smile and says "big fish". I clear my line to help, and just that quick he's off. That's fishing, and it's almost full dark, and I've had an incredible day.
So today, I'm tired. A little work in the garden and that's it. Until tomorrow :)
Tony