mikenewman
10-17-2006, 11:56 AM
My first couple of trips of the new striper season had been less than auspicious. First to admit that my striper hunting skills are inadequate, I reached for the Batphone:
"Kevin, I need help! I don't need a boatload of fish, I need a boatload of knowledge. Show me the Delta through your eyes."
"Ok Mike", says KD, "let's do some detail work".
DETAIL!!! I woke up this morning with detail leaking onto my pillow. Yesterday KD was as good as his word and showed me how to look at the Delta through new eyes. We visited literally dozens of locations from Stockton to Old River. At each one I was given a masterclass in reading the water: "Look at the way the water backs up against that berm"/ "See how the boat holds position in this eddy"/ "Must be a nice flat against that bend 'cos no sediment could build up on either tide"/ "See the vegetation on that rip rap means it doesn't get scoured" On and on it came. To be honest I was dumbstruck by the years of hard won knowledge that this guy has acquired- all quietly given without self proclaiming fanfares or BS.
Sounds intense? Not a bit of it, we had loads of laughs throughout the day. Any fish? Sure we had a good mix of schoolies and LMB. Could have had numbers if we'd stayed at the productive spots but that wasn't the object.
Finally, in the late afternoon the wind tired and lay down. KD sniffed the air, consulted the skies and pronounced the sweetest phrase in the book:"Topwater". I was then treated to an hour of adrenaline filled magic as stripers and LMB chased, slashed and savaged the balsa head diver. I actually managed to hook some of the schoolies and LMB but my excitement and inexperience betrayed me on a couple of lunker Stripers. (Instead of maintaining the strip, I had a tendency to strike the fish by pulling the rod. This snatched the fly away from one very substantial fish which then lunged three feet in pursuit, creating a bow-wave you could have surfed on) Conditions have to be right, but KD assures me that topwater action is there for the taking throughout the winter.
Here's a nice LMB taken off the top in open water:-
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/Mikenewman_/KDLMB.jpg
What a treat to be able to spend a day in the company of someone who genuinely knows and loves the magnificent Delta. Must be the equivalent of a keen golfer getting a day's coaching from Tiger Woods :)
Thanks Kevin.
Mike
"Kevin, I need help! I don't need a boatload of fish, I need a boatload of knowledge. Show me the Delta through your eyes."
"Ok Mike", says KD, "let's do some detail work".
DETAIL!!! I woke up this morning with detail leaking onto my pillow. Yesterday KD was as good as his word and showed me how to look at the Delta through new eyes. We visited literally dozens of locations from Stockton to Old River. At each one I was given a masterclass in reading the water: "Look at the way the water backs up against that berm"/ "See how the boat holds position in this eddy"/ "Must be a nice flat against that bend 'cos no sediment could build up on either tide"/ "See the vegetation on that rip rap means it doesn't get scoured" On and on it came. To be honest I was dumbstruck by the years of hard won knowledge that this guy has acquired- all quietly given without self proclaiming fanfares or BS.
Sounds intense? Not a bit of it, we had loads of laughs throughout the day. Any fish? Sure we had a good mix of schoolies and LMB. Could have had numbers if we'd stayed at the productive spots but that wasn't the object.
Finally, in the late afternoon the wind tired and lay down. KD sniffed the air, consulted the skies and pronounced the sweetest phrase in the book:"Topwater". I was then treated to an hour of adrenaline filled magic as stripers and LMB chased, slashed and savaged the balsa head diver. I actually managed to hook some of the schoolies and LMB but my excitement and inexperience betrayed me on a couple of lunker Stripers. (Instead of maintaining the strip, I had a tendency to strike the fish by pulling the rod. This snatched the fly away from one very substantial fish which then lunged three feet in pursuit, creating a bow-wave you could have surfed on) Conditions have to be right, but KD assures me that topwater action is there for the taking throughout the winter.
Here's a nice LMB taken off the top in open water:-
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a317/Mikenewman_/KDLMB.jpg
What a treat to be able to spend a day in the company of someone who genuinely knows and loves the magnificent Delta. Must be the equivalent of a keen golfer getting a day's coaching from Tiger Woods :)
Thanks Kevin.
Mike