December Striped Bass

[John H]

I got a couple stripers today and lost one. One was six pounds which is a good fish. The last two years December striper fishing was not happening at all but this year it seems like there are enough biters around to make a kayak trip worth doing. The water was a little muddy today which I think was from some ditch runoff that was pumped in. I did find some clear water and that is where the bites were. I have found when it is muddy and the visibility is a foot or so the bites don't happen. The rain we have coming will probably end the fishing for a week or so. Hopefully after that I will be able to scratch out some bites in January and maybe even find a bruiser. Some steelhead fishing could happen in late January. One good winter fish on the swing this year would make me pretty happy but if it does not happen I will not be suprised. We will see. We are a couple of months away from some float n fly bass fishing. I am getting excited about that. Last I checked Oroville was 276' below full. That is a lot of water. Hopefully it will come up a bit and the spotted bass will be fat and grabby.

http://i.imgur.com/UVLeUZO.jpg (https://imgur.com/UVLeUZO)


http://i.imgur.com/fCZPLeO.jpg (https://imgur.com/fCZPLeO)

[Woodman]

Nice fish. Can't go wrong with a chartreuse clouser.

[MThompson]

Admire your efforts John. I've all but given up on the stripes but your posts give me some hope. Oroville is 217.5ft low at the moment and rising fast. Was there Monday. If you wait 2 months to fish float and fly you'll be 2 months late to the party.

[John H]

It is a long drive to Oroville for me so I want to wait until the party really gets rolling then I will show up. I am steelhead fishing in Washington March 1. I will try to hold off on the bass until after that.

Stripers are tough. I do my best to stay positive about it. Last Friday I got three dinkers and a pike minnow. That was a tough one. I worked too hard trying to find them and was a little beat up by the end of the day.

Berryessa has come up about 6 inches. The ground is saturated now so the rain should start producing some run off. Hopefully.