The 10's Are Out There

[John H]

Until about a week ago I was pretty sure there were not many 10 pound stripers swimming around in the Delta but I am now thinking a few have moved in. The last two times out I have not caught many stripers but I have found some 10's. It takes a lot of casting and stripping to find one but they are hiding out there and they will bite if you get a good fly in front of them. When you do get them to bite they pull way harder than carp or speckled carp for that matter. Good stuff.




Not a 10 but a hard pulling 5.


Big fat 14.


Nice head shot.


Well used fly.

[Tony Buzolich]

Glad you're finding a few good fish. It's about time. They're starting to show up here too.
About your fly, looks like a 3/0-4/0 straight shank. Do you weight these?
Tony

[MThompson]

That 14 is a Stud. Nice job John.

[BS]

Until about a week ago I was pretty sure there were not many 10 pound stripers swimming around in the Delta but I am now thinking a few have moved in. The last two times out I have not caught many stripers but I have found some 10's. It takes a lot of casting and stripping to find one but they are hiding out there and they will bite if you get a good fly in front of them. When you do get them to bite they pull way harder than carp or speckled carp for that matter. Good stuff.

Waaayyyyy cool John.

I knew you'd persevere in your quest for a 10lb+plus'er.

You did the recon, put in the time, and it paid off for you !!!!!!!

And not to mention your beautifully crafted flies (yes, I'm envious) you've been tossing at 'em.

Congratulations to you John.

You deserve it !!!!!!!!!



Sitting in Jeep repair hell yet again,



Bob

[John H]

Tony - that is the gamakatsu SL12S 4/0. I generally don’t add weight but I may have put a little on to help get it started down. I may be wrong but I feel like as long as the fly is pretty good they will bite it. Strip hard and get it in front of them and you have a good chance. I use a few different flies but if I thought a fly would get me more bites I would buy it or tie it. That fly is gray and white slinky flash, firefly on the sides, flashabou in the tail and angel hair on top. Super durable but you need to carry a comb to untangle it occasionally.

Bob - good luck with the Jeep. Car repair can be a hassle.

[Jcolin]

Man your posts and photography are great, very inspiring stuff!!! The fish in the second pic is a tank! I still haven't gotten a striper over 20" but know it will come at some point if i put the time in.

[guido]

Great looking Fish John! Great pics as always!

What are you using for a camera setup? I have a hard time photographing big fish from the kayak. I just don't seem to have enough hands...

[John H]

Guido - Fish photos in the kayak are difficult. I have a wide angle lens on a point and shoot camera so I can hold the camera close to the fish and still get the whole fish in the shot. I put it on spot metering so the fish is exposed correctly even if the rest of the shot is not. You usually can’t expose everything in the shot correctly so get the fish right. If the fish is exposed incorrectly nobody will care that the background looks good. The water often looks very dark which is because the camera is exposing for the fish.

I set the camera on the front of the kayak yesterday while I was holding the fish. It slid off and I caught it as it was falling to the water. It was so close to being gone. The way I handle it I am sure I will drop it in the water someday but that is an unavoidable risk. Phone cameras are good but they are harder to hold, I would not want to drop it in the water and it does not spot meter. I still do use my phone. The fly photo was on the phone.

[guido]

Thanks John! I keep seeing waterproof point and shoots. I may have to get one of those and a tether...