Striper timing for Nor Cal

Now most are looking for them in place around the Delta where the water is still and maybe shallow hoping to find a place where the water is a few degrees warmer like dead end sloughs and Disco Bay.

In Feb/March they start looking for them at the mouth of the American River and up on the lower Feather River near Star Bend.

April starts the serious spawning run from the Delta where most of the free roaming population heads up around Colusa on the Sacramento River. The first fish are real fresh small fat males. Then comes the big females. May is a main month for this surface spawning mostly at night now. They are still up there in June but many are coming downstream a nd very hungry after having sex. Lots will be in the Bay and then along the beaches outside the Golden Gate Bridge feeding like crazy.

April/may is the top time in the lower American River for many stripers in big schools from the mouth at Discovery park all the way up to Paradise Beach. In June we get so many american Shad in the rivers that the Stripers seem to be too busy for flies. July through September is the rest of the season in the lower American with fish all the way to the Nimbus Dam.

They will be around the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge coming in from the ocean to winter in the Delta in Sept/Oct. This is a big time for stripers in that area around the Sisters and Red Rock.

October starts the wonderful Delta season with November being a top month there. By the first of the year the water gets real cold and makes catching stripers on a fly a little harder for most.

Hi Bill
Most who fish the American believe Stripe is in year-round . I have personaly seen them caught in Feb. and Nov. , but haven't figured out how to make them eat when the water is cold . It's just as well that I don't get 'em in winter , got to have a break SOMETIME ! David

David,

I think when the water gets below 50 degrees it is hard to catch any fish on flies. Hard, but not impossible.

I believe those Stripers are in the American all year too.

My friend Al Perryman caught a 26 pounder that was the offical worlds record on 6# test (for a while) from the American River in December a long time ago.

Back in the late '60s and '70s there was a group of young guys around here that were after stripers then with flies. They all had small prams and fished for salmon, steelhead, shad and stripers.

It was Al Perryman, Jimmy Potter, Al Fong, Cal Guinn, Larry Cullins and Bob Long plus a few others?? I was a "wanabe" myself but was never in their league. These guys were (and still are) "commando" fly fishers way ahead of their time.

I had a picture I took of Al Perryman and Cal Guinn with 6 stripers in the spring of ~1970. It was before catch and release had even been thought of. I worked at West Capitol Rod & Gun, the "bait shop" as we called it and they came in about 9am with this bunch of fish they caught that night at the mouth of the Feather River. It was a 40#+ hog, a 26#, and the rest were 15 to 20#. This was 35 years ago on a fly rod. Nothings new.

Bill , every time you tell that story I CAN SEE IT !! You really need to post that photo , I think everyone would get a kick out of it :D . David

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Originally Posted by David Lee

Bill , every time you tell that story I CAN SEE IT !! You really need to post that photo , I think everyone would get a kick out of it :D . David

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I will look for them.

I was thinking about it now that I have a "all in one" that is a scanner right here at home.

Hi Bill These guys Jimmy Pottler, Cal Guinn, and Larry Cullins and myself spent many nights fishing for stripers, I lost contact with them. Do you know if they are still fly fishing. fishon gene goss :)

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Originally Posted by gene goss

Hi Bill These guys Jimmy Pottler, Cal Guinn, and Larry Cullins and myself spent many nights fishing for stripers, I lost contact with them. Do you know if they are still fly fishing. fishon gene goss :)

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I just saw Cal a few weeks ago. He is retired and still lives in Auburn.

Jimmy is out there somehwere?

Larry is retired and up in southern Oregon now by Al Peryman.