Veteran's Day Report
Just wanted to say Thanks to all our Veterans out there for your service. GBF had a fishout scheduled for today and Joey and I had hoped to catch a ride with someone with a boat to pursue his quest to catch his first Striper on a fly. All boats were spoken for so we decide to rent a boat for $60/day from Paradise Point Marina. The group was going to meet early at 0600 but we opted to sleep in since we could not pick up our boat till 0800. We were pretty much were on our own with a bare bones boat with a 15hp Evenrude, but we had one thing going for us and that was the knowledge I obtained from a NCFFB Striper mini bash hosted by LeeS about 3 years ago.
So we loaded up our stuff and headed out into the Delta. We had everything we needed for a full day of fun. Food, Drink, Rain gear and a GPS just in case we got lost. I rigged up 1 rod for going deep and one with a popper. Joey used his new Striper sinking line. I don’t know if any of you have been in a small boat with a 12yr old flinging Clouser’s but I think you either have to be pretty brave or just half crazy. I have not decided which one I am yet.
We fished Disappointment Slough area the whole day. I had a map but with very little experience it was pretty much useless. We ventured out and just fished all the spots that looked fishy. Problem was they all looked fishy. We checked out the side channels looking for some deeper water that was not all weeded up. We fished the rock banks and what ever structure we could find. The Delta is such a Creepy Cool place with all the stuff that out there. There are some many things out there you just don’t what you are going to see around the next corner.
We found a side channel that looked good and we started fishing one side of it that had docks and natural structure. I was pretty much in charge of keeping the boat going in the right direction and trying to get a cast in somewhere in between. Well Joey had said he had hooked a fish but if you had ever fished with him before he says that a lot followed by the old Charlie Brown ooooooohhhhh! So I asked him how long he was going to play that weed bed. He said no Dad it’s a fish and when he put it on the reel it started to take some line since his drag was set way too loose. Like a good Dad I informed him he was going to get a bird’s nest if he didn’t tighten his drag. He gave me the look and said I can only do one thing at a time. I was worried he was going to lose the fish since with a barbless hook and I know it was because I pinched it down real good.
This fish was having its way with Joey and I had to keep giving him back seat instructions like you better put some heat on that fish to keep him out of those weeds and the dock. Well the fish finally tired and we landed him. It was a pretty darn nice first Striper on a fly. Joey had a take a moment to calm himself after catching that fish. I think he was so excited and was a little tired after the battle. He broke the ice and now we caught the Delta bug.
That was the only fish we boated the entire day. I had one grab on the popper while I was messing with the boat and Joey said a Crappie had jumped on my fly and he tried to set the hook by grapping my line. It was an awesome day out there with some sun, some overcast and looked like rain but never did materialize. Gas was $1.99 in Lodi and with those savings it nearly paid for the boat. Here are a couple pictures from our trip.
Joey's first Striper caught on a chat/white clouser tied by yours truly.
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