I spent five days over the Thanksgiving holiday in Los Angeles. Traffic was brutal but for the most part I dodged it. I saw a blue cow and ate a really tasty deep dish pizza in Long Beach but did not catch any stripers. I moped around a bit because I was not catching stripers but it was still a fun time and we had some tasty turkey and walnut pie.

Upon my return from Los Angeles I went to the Delta and was welcomed back by fog and a couple of pretty big stripers. The first big one stayed out of trouble and was landed without too much difficulty. The second one towed me straight into a dead tree and went underneath a submerged bush and around a point. I had a lot of line out, the kayak was stuck in the dead tree and the fish had me right where he wanted me. The line went slack for a heart stopping second and it seemed that all was lost but the line had only gone slack as it came untangled from the bush. The fish was still on and did me a big favor by heading away from the sticks and out to the middle of the slough where I was able to get him by the lip and take his picture. Hooking big fish in a kayak can be a wild ride. They can easily drag you around and because you have both hands on the rod you have no control and are going wherever they take you.

Stripers really do kick ass. Especially when the get up over ten pounds. It was great to be back home.