Stripers on the American? How long?

[JerryInLodi]

How long have stripers been going up the American?

The reason I ask this is because I lived in Sacramento and Carmichael through my teen years. I would guess that I spent over 120 days a year wading, fishing and swimming in the American from Howe Avenue through the Sunrise Bridge area from the time I was about 11 through 17, (1955 through 1961). During that time I and my friend caught every kind of fish, carp, sucker, trout, salmon (including Silvers with Andy Penn of Andy Penn's Drum City), smallmouth, bluegill, shad, and even a catfish on a super duper in front of the filtration plant at Howe Avenue.

During those years I NEVER saw a striper on the American. Was I just unlucky? I don't know, stripers are VERY aggressive fish and I'd think, with the combination of lures, plugs, and bait that we fished with that I'd have hooked at least ONE striper in all those years?

Have their migration patterns changed? The upriver spawning migration on the Sacramento occured then as it does now but, I just don't recall anything about Stripers on the American beyond the mouth at the Sacramento.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great post Jerry,

Andy Penn is still around and is a really 'cool dude'. He had a music store in south Sac and then did lots of taxidermy. He is pretty much retired but still fishing and hunting. He still plays in a group around town on occasion, soft jazz?

I have been selling tackle for the American River for 42 years now and I can tell you that back in the '60s and '70s there were 'tons' of Stripers in the Lower American River but not too many knew about it.

I worked at 'Sports Unlimited' on Arden Way and 'Tower of Sports' on Howe Avenue back then. The other good sporting goods store for tackle was the 'Saving Center'.

Only a handful of folks fished for them though.

We sold 'Hair-razor' lead head/bucktail/worm jigs in 1/2 once in black, white and yellow for the Stripers.

We also sold lots of Rebels and Rapalas too. Most underwater models and some top water.

I can remember fishing at upper Goethe Park for Shad in the summer and in the evening around sunset we would see large Stripers downstream chasing Shad up to the surface and eating them.

I put on a 'Brooks Blond' streamer and waded down near the activity and hooked a big Shad on that streamer?

I use to fish night crawlers for Steelhead when I was a teenager on the American River with friends before we got into fly fishing. We would hook Stripers on those night crawlers on occasion. My friend Larry Kelly hooked a big Striper that spooled him at Howe Avenue back then.

We sold top water plugs to some guys who worked at the CA DF&G who used them for Stripers on the American River in the summer. They said they use to let the small salmon and steelhead loose from the hatchery in those days which would draw the Stripers into the river. Then they started to let them go down stream like in the Delta which might have effected the fishing some.

We had some commando Striper fly fishers back in the 1970s like Al Perryman, Jim Potter, Cal Guin, Al Fong, Larry Cullins, Craig Ziegler, Joe Shirshac and others but only a small group and they all fished from small prams.

Stripers seem to be in the lower American River most years from April through September or at least this is when they seem to take flies best?

Andy Guibord is one of the most knowledgeable people on the Lower A for Stripers because he has floated almost every Tuesday and Wednesday for over 5 years now in the summer.

Our great friend, the late Dave Howard, would be the other person who really knew about those fish. He was one of the best anglers I ever met and a fun guy to be around.

Jerry,
If you lived here, you would be out there every day in the spring, summer and fall but the Delta is pretty hard to beat.

[JerryInLodi]

Bill, in thinking about my youthful years, because of our age and school, we were generally on the river from about ten in the morning till five or six in the summer when school was out and from about 3pm until dark, as early as five in the winter when school was in.

Now those are not the best times for stripers which I understand are most active in the clear waters of the American during the early morning and late evening.

As far as catching them on night crawlers, well we used garden worms since night crawlers were beyond our budget. Grasshoppers were the bait of choice for trout.

The mention of the Savings Center brought back a lot of memories. We'd visit it on ocassion before heading to the filtration plant at Howe.

[mike-n]

Jerry,

I have seen stripers in the A since the mid 70's. I grew up in Carmicheal and that is when I started haunting the river.

Bill,

Dave was sure a fun guy to have in a shad line up.

MN

[Sturmer White]

OH! Yes! I remember when.
1941 I had a friend that kept a 12 foot row boat tied to the big tree on the South west side of the H street bridge. No one ever bothered it,think about that.
We would trol from there to almost Howe with River runt spooks. Both large and smallmouth were there then. The river had a lot of hellgramites in those days that the fish loved.
I caught my first steelhead at age 12 down by the Log hole on a small flat fish. Now if I could only remember my wifes birthday. OH!OH!
Jerry,Gas up that boat, I"ll see you tomarow.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Sturmer is older than most of us and fishes more than most of us today, that is really cool.

My friend Jack McLaughlin was a Sacramento city fire fighter now retired and maybe still alive? He was a great fly fisher. Part of the old Sacramento bunch.

He told me when he was a kid he use to guide on the Lower American River before the dams were in for Smallmouth Bass with hellgramites.

I think many of our Valley rivers were great Smallmouth fisheries before the dams.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Sturmer is older than most of us and fishes more than most of us today, that is really cool.

My friend Jack McLaughlin was a Sacramento city fire fighter now retired and maybe still alive? He was a great fly fisher. Part of the old Sacramento bunch.

He told me when he was a kid he use to guide on the Lower American River before the dams were in for Smallmouth Bass with hellgramites.

I think many of our Valley rivers were great Smallmouth fisheries before the dams.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Sturmer is older than most of us and fishes more than most of us today, that is really cool.

My friend Jack McLaughlin was a Sacramento city fire fighter now retired and maybe still alive? He was a great fly fisher. Part of the old Sacramento bunch.

He told me when he was a kid he use to guide on the Lower American River before the dams were in for Smallmouth Bass with hellgramites. I think the river almost dried up in mid-summer in those days?

I think many of our Valley rivers were great Smallmouth fisheries before the dams.

[JerryInLodi]

See below

[JerryInLodi]

Bill, Sturmer was with me last night, 5/31/07 and stuck about 15 LMB. To do so he had to cast a popper head on into 15mph winds. Here's a picture of one of them. He's a great guy to fish with!