The Other Bass

[John H]

This morning the plan was to try for some striped bass in the kayak. The wind forecast was for just barely fishable conditions. I got up at 4:30 and checked a link that has live wind gauges and the damn wind was way over the model forecast and not fishable for a fly rodder in a kayak. Plan B was to go after the other kinds of bass. They dont get as big but they live in areas where the wind is 1 to 3 mph instead of 10 to 15 mph. The other bass cooperated and it worked out. The bobber went down for a few hours until the sun got on the water. After that I found some schools of shad and got some on the clouser. Pretty good day for Plan B.






This one looks to be stuffed with threadfin shad.




Pike minnow. The original freshwater predator in the valley rivers. They hang around the shad schools just like the bass. They likely lived in Putah Creek and are now in Berryessa.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks John H,

I like that sparce Clouser.







What is that last one? Sometimes they save the day for a newcomer.



A long time ago a guy came into my little fly shop and asked, "Do you fish Puchy Creek over by Lake Berryechy?"

I answered, "I sure do."