My First Stripe on the Sac!

**Mrs.Finsallaround** · 04-12-2009, 10:05 AM

So, after the great report from Bill the other day, Paul and I decided to be adventurous.

After some advice from Andy at the shop and Johnson's Bait & Tackle, we hit the new Tisdale ramp. We got some negative reports from people that had come in with extra minnows from downstream.... So, we headed upstream.

We motored up way past Grimes, and finally picked a spot, started fishing back down. Not too far downstream, I hooked up... damn, it's just a sucker! He sure was a different color than what we're used to seeing. Big black stripe down it's lateral line. He seemed to like the ugly chartreuse clouser minnow I tied in Pete's fly-tying class a few weeks ago.

Anyway, coming down to another bend, thought I was snagged again, except this time, it pulled back

! 'Bout DAMN time I got one on the Sac! I ended up landing a 22" stripe....

BUT, he was a "big ol' pig", weighing in at 6 lbs! Wow, that felt good!

There's plenty of junk in the bottom of that river! UGH. I got snagged a number of times, and lost several flies

(the clouser, a minnow, and ruined another minnow), something we're not accustomed to in the delta. I guess it's a good thing a certain someone ties them

! Paul says, if I keep losing 'em like that, I'll have to tie my own....

No, Paul hasn't caught any yet.....

So, we anchored for lunch in Girdner Bend... And, of course, while we were stuffin' our faces, a fish had to jump outta the water about 30 feet away.... figures. Good thing it was just a bait fish... Paul thinks it looked like a squaw fish, 'bout 12" or so... So, we finished eating.

Moving right along.... Not to be outdone....

Downstream a bit further, Paul lands another 6 lb'er on his 6 wt tcr. This drug us down and around an anchored bait-guy. He says "you catching 'em on minnows?"... Paul says, "yeah, sort of". I made him weigh it after he let me land it for him. This one was 23". Still pretty fat.

So, we motored back up to the top of that run....

Almost in the exact same spot.... Paul yells "Fish on!" and around we go again.... back downstream, around the bait-guy (Paul needs a bigger rod

). I sheepishly tell the guy, "sorry, we got another one..."

This one weighed in at 9.5 lbs... 28". Another pig.

I think we were the only fly-rodders out there, that we saw....

Once the sun hit the horizon, we tried top-water for a little while. And, of course, the wind came up

I smacked myself with a bubblehead, hooked it in my coat... (hurt like hell, but I still won't pinch my barbs!

At least I don't fish naked!) But, LOVED my rio short!

Back at the ramp... In the dark.... Had to crawl up the rocky bank, and get the truck... Slowly, but successfully backed the trailer down the ramp (only my 3rd successful attempt). Very nice ramp, but no restrooms, or dock, or LIGHTS. But, FREE, and has a garbage dumpster... guess I can't complain too loudly.

All our fish were taken with casts that were 2 feet from the bank, and in less than 10 ft of water...

All-in-all... a good afternoon out... If this is the definition of "tough for fly-rodders", we'll take it.... I'll take a 6-6-9 any day!

**Charlie Gonzales** · 04-12-2009, 10:36 AM

Sounds like a great trip, and yes you will donate a lot of flies to the Sac.

**Tony Buzolich** · 04-12-2009, 05:01 PM

Way to go.
Sounds like you and Paul have figured it out. Great job going in to an area blind so to speak. Be careful a little above Grimes as the river is full of trees if you have a prop.

**paulegan81** · 04-12-2009, 06:45 PM

Yea we have a Prop.....
and we did see all of the trees above grimes... could have got through but it was getting late and we had not even started fishing yet so we started just below the trees and drifted down....

I think I will go to Twisted leaders with a 17# tippet like I use on the American..
T-11 and T-14 don't hold up to breaking 20# or 25# Maxamia...
Better to lose a fly than a $15 head....

As for "figuring it out" I don't think we are quite their yet....
as the fish were not in the spots that I would have picked as best bets.....
We did manage to hook up with a couple and that made for a good first trip....

Seeing where some of the boats were parked and some of the better anglers were fishing gave me some insight.....

fly size and color didn't seem to matter much
As Robin caught her fish on a 2 1/2 inch Grey over white Super minnow (Eganator)
I caught mine on a 7" Blue/Yellow/chartruse over white Jig hook NON-whistling whistler (large Dumb bell Eyes instead of bead chain)
This same Fly has been on my deep rod from Oct. last year..... May be I should tie another.........Maybe not it is still working.....

The last fish did break off some of the blue crystal flash and quite a bit of the yellow bucktail

Robin just skimmed over the fact that the two fish I caught were the biggest fish she has ever had/got to land.... and the 9#'er was not done as I got him to the boat as fast as I could...... she had great leader control and lip'ed them right away......... which was a good thing too, If she had dropped the 9'er I would have had another rod in the shop... the T-11 had wrapped the rod when I dropped the tip as she grabbed the leader

**Scott V** · 04-12-2009, 07:14 PM

Nice job guys, good going Robin. I am glad to see that the boat is running better now.

**paulegan81** · 04-12-2009, 08:29 PM

yea we kinda owe you a trip don't we
I would like nothing better than to get you into a good stripe....
let me know when you have some free time.....
the boat is still not at 100% so we keep going up stream..

there was nothing major wrong with the boat just that the oil had been forced into the carbs from letting the boat sit and pressure building in the oil tank
Easy fix I just had to run about 6 gals of gas through it while on the trailer at Discovery Park.. This dissolved the oil and it started to run a lot better.....
now it just smokes a little much and idles a little rough when cold.......
"IF it ain't payments it's repair bills" lol
This is why I love my mechanic I called Willson at Sacramento Outboard and told him about the problem on his answering machine.
I said "I need my carbs rebuilt", and was ready to bring it to the shop and pay around $400. He called back the next day. Willson told me of the common problem with Jhonson/Evenrude Vro systems and explained what to do....
No charge, No "your going to need........ and bring your wallet", No "I think I can get you in next week if you can leave the boat for 10 days"
Just concern about why I haven't been fishing, good honest advice, and a few laughs............

**Bill Kiene semi-retired** · 04-12-2009, 08:36 PM

We did get hooked up on the bottom quite a bit too but we just went upstream above them and most pulled off.

Maybe we should be using circle hooks that don't get snagged up so much?

I know that Andy Guibord and Jim Christensen have used circle hooks in the Delta especially around wood.

**paulegan81** · 04-12-2009, 08:54 PM

We use mainly Jig hooks and we were hung up a lot. heck i hung three times on one drift...... on the same tree..... the good thing about Jig hooks is MOST of the time the eyes get caught and if you go up stream like you said they will pull loose......

**David Lee** · 04-12-2009, 09:02 PM

SWEET REPORT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW - go get those 20+ pounders that I KNOW you're gonna get in the next few weeks !!!!!!

David

P.S. - Circles don't hang as much as other hooks do ..... but when they DO hang , that's the end of that . Trust me on this one .....