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Thread: Chartruese / White Not Always

  1. #1
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    Jan 2005
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    Smile Chartruese / White Not Always

    Most of us that fish stripers a lot know the usual color choice to start with is most often chartreuse over white. But not always the only choice. Think back when you were a kid and fishing with dad. Throwing or trolling a big red and white plug was standard practice back then. And it's still a good color combination.

    This morning Jim and I got an early start and headed up the Yuba. The water is almost crystal clear and the bottom can still be seen at 6' -8' or more. We start like usual with our favorite chartreuse flies but things are slow. Not the normal quick grabs like we often get. Vary the speed of the strip, faster, slower, let it sink deeper? I finally get my first grab and small schoolie comes to the boat. Great fun on a 7 wt. But not the fast action we want. Could the water be too clear? Maybe a more natural looking color would work better? We move back into the Feather and continue our search.

    Upstream last week we found some fish in a side slough that were keying in on chasing minnows and we did real good. Let's hit that again? Not today. We switch flies, different colors, still nothing and we keep moving hitting every likely spot we've fished in the past.

    The river is loaded with trees and snaggs everywhere. A real obstacle course trying to weasel through without getting a hole through the hull. Several more stops and we're almost at our limits. The water is faster here and also very clear. Jim decides to switch flies and kiddingly says he's going to put on a red & white. I keep my same chartruese 1/0 on pick up two more dinks.

    Jim now hooks up and he's bent over with a better fish. "Red & White!" we shout. It's hard to control the boat AND play a fish at the same time in this fast water but a nice keeper comes aboard. We move around trying different spots out of the main currant and Jim hooks up again. Another nice size fish, and same red & white fly. Now I'm rummaging around looking in my bag for red & white but nothing I have is small enough to throw well on a 7 wt.

    Still using my same chartreuse / white fly I make a long cast into some back-water and get an instant grab. Set, set, and this one feels better. But it's coming straight toward the boat and I can't get a good pull to feel how good it is. I strip as fast as I can and she goes deep almost under the boat then turns straight away. I can't stop her or even slow her down, and the line burns both my stripping fingers before I have to let go. I'm standing on all my stripped line and a loop jumps up and wraps around my thigh. Yeeow! that hurts, but I can't get it loose to get her back on the rod. Seconds later my thigh is burned and the line pops before I can get untangled. #%@* damn and a lot more.

    This felt like one of the biggest stripers I've ever hooked. It felt more like a tuna down in Baja. I couldn't do a thing to control this fish, I couldn't slow her down, I couldn't turn her, nothing.

    We're both laughing, and I'm shaking from the adrenaline rush. and have to sit down.

    How big was she ? I don't know. Neither of us got a glimpse of her.

    Jim keeps fishing and hooks up again to another nice fish. Again on his red & white fly. I'm still sitting and shaking asking myself " How BIG was she ?"
    Tony




    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

  2. #2
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    Default

    Last edited by Tony Buzolich; 07-25-2020 at 12:35 PM.
    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

  3. #3
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    Dec 2006
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    1,067

    Default

    I am a firm believer in red and white.

    Evidently.... so was this little girl.

    Hopefully, she learned a valuable lesson before she swam away

    Click image for larger version. 

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  4. #4
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    Jan 2005
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    Sebastian, FL, USA, Earth
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    Default

    There are many classic colors for streamer flies and lures:

    red/white

    red/yellow

    black/white

    all black

    all white

    ______________________________________

    50 years ago fly fishers believed that Stripers could only be caught on flies in the evening, night time and early morning.

    White flies AM and PM

    Black flies at night

    ______________________________________

    ~40 years ago a Striper fly fishing guide out of Eddy Bauers in the Bay area used leadcore with a black, white or yellow streamer in the Bay.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  5. #5
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    Oct 2010
    Location
    orangevale ca.
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    She’s a beauty Mark! Can’t wait till I hook one that size!

  6. #6
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    A Striper over 10 pounds on a fly rod is a wonderful experiences.

    One over 20# today is a big deal as the larger Stripers seem to have disappeared.

    If you land one over 30# it is a rare occurrence today on the West Coast.

    ___________________________

    I think I have had 2 Stripers on that were around 30# on a fly but lost them both.


    Once was in the Delta in the Fall with Captain Kevin Doran on a 9 weight I hooked one that just stayed on the bottom and fought.

    I had not control, it just swam where ever is please, and after 5 minutes with a head shake it was gone.


    The other one was with Captain Shane Harden up near Colusa on the Sacramento river in the Spring spawn.

    We were drifting a rip rapped bank and on a 9 weight I hooked a big one that started heading upstream, running very fast.

    It ran out into the middle of the river, violently boiled on the surface about 50 yards above the boat.

    Then when fighting it the 3/0 hook straightened out and it was gone.


    I will remember those two fish forever and don't ever mind being beaten by a great fish.
    Bill Kiene (Boca Grande)

    567 Barber Street
    Sebastian, Florida 32958

    Fly Fishing Travel Consultant
    Certified FFF Casting Instructor

    Email: billkiene63@gmail.com
    Cell: 530/753-5267
    Web: www.billkiene.com

    Contact me for any reason........
    ______________________________________

  7. #7
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    Amazing how good memories like that stay with you forever.
    Tony
    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

  8. #8
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    Aug 2005
    Location
    Big Island Hawaii
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    Default

    And keep you up at night!
    Don Memmer

  9. #9
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    Oct 2005
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    Fair Oaks
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    Tony, thanks for the good post. I guess I thought most of the stripes had headed back to the salt by now, but residents are forever

  10. #10
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    The rivers up here are loaded with lots of dink stripers from this season's spawn. It's hard to believe that an 8" striper will go after a fly that is almost as big as he is. Those that are in the keeper size range must have come up late in the spring and still be hanging around. Now having said that, there is also the big resident stripers that don't migrate and simply live here all year. Because of their size they have the ability to eat whatever they can fit into their mouths and there is always something in the rivers that will fit. Even right now as the shad begin to disappear , I'm sure those bigger stripers feed on the little stripers.

    I remember once taking my son down to one of those sloughs that crosses Hwy.37 near Vallejo. He hooked and landed a nice schoolie that was spitting up a bunch of little stripers as it bounced around our feet. They were only about 2" long and looked like Zebra fish you buy at PETCO.
    Tony
    TONY BUZOLICH
    Feather River Fly
    Yuba City, CA.
    (530) 790-7180

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