Striped Bass with Spots ?

[Tony Buzolich]

This morning Jim and I got out on the water at dark and began our usual drift. The river has been loaded with small stripers, lots of them. But here and there there are a few big ones mixed in the schools along the way.

I use my 8 wt.RPLX for most of my striper fishing but this morning I broke off on a snag almost immediately. Rather than re-rig I grabbed my back-up rod a 7 wt. SAGE One and continued to fish catching several more of these under-size schoolies. Great fun on a lighter rod too.

Making another pass at the same spot I find another snag that won’t let go and break the entire line. The whole head is gone. Okay, so now I have to go back to the 8 wt. and tie on a new leader and fly. Standard striper colors of chartreuse and white with a touch of blue Krystal Flash on top of the 1/0 hook. (this one’s a little chewed up after the fish below)



We’d already made a couple of passes around our favorite spot and fishing was a little slow even with the dinks. “Let’s move to the other side and see what’s over there” Jim says.

The water is deeper here (6’ -8’) but still full of snags. Jim finds the first one and pulls up a sizeable limb. My next cast I feel like I touched the same snag but it came off quickly and I continue to strip my fly in. A second later I get another bump and Jim yells “It’s a SALMON, He chased your fly up and grabbed it a second time!” YAHOO ! and Game On.





What a surprise when you’re expecting a striper and you’ve got a screaming reel with a fish going air-bourne. Several times around the boat and a few more jumps, and he’s finally getting a little tired. After twenty minutes of this, I am too. We get him near the boat for a couple more pictures but keep him in the water as salmon season is closed. A quick jerk with the pliers and I’ve got my fly back. WHEW ! Time to sit down and take a break.

We fished another hour or so and got a few more shakers before calling it a day. When I got home I called Dept. of Fish & Wildlife and spoke with DeAnne about what happened. She laughed and said if we didn’t hurt the fish and only took a few pictures, we didn’t break any law about salmon fishing.
Tony

[JackB]

That's you get for putting your time in Tony, nice bright fish, had to be fun!

[Tony Buzolich]

When the sun hit the fish on it's first jump it was as bright as any I've ever taken. Yes, definitely a lot of fun. Glad I didn't hook it on my 7 wt. At about 25# it was all I could do even with the 8 wt.
Tony

[Rossflyguy]

That’s a good salmon right there.