Stripers and Trout Season Opening

[Don Rotsma]

This time of year (as the general trout season approaches) I look back on striper fishing trips that Bill Kiene and I experiened at the mouth of the Feather near Verona. We used to start fishing at dark and fish into the wee hours of the morning. On one occasion, we had some great fishing after getting into a school of 20lb plus stripers at about midnight the evening before trout season opened. It was pitch black and you had to listen for your fly whistling by in the dark. We were wading the sand bar and had to move occasionaly to keep from sinking. The fish were coming through in great numbers and sometimes hitting your legs under water. It was a scary experience that was frequently puctuated by strong takes by large fish that challenged the old Fenwick 9ft 10wt glass rods we were using. On that particular night fishing was so good that we stayed a little longer than normal and wives and friends were called trying to locate us. We had such a good night that we needed to share the experience and ended up at our friend Bob Gianoni's house at 2:00am. This would not have been so bad if Bob wasn't getting up early the next morning to fish the Truckee for the opener. He didn't even yell and was a good listener. Guess that is what fishing buddies are supposed to do. Don Hey Bill, wasn't that the start of your first divorce?

[David Lee]

Great story , Don .... I can SEE the silly little grin on Bill's face !!!! Thank you for relating that - David

[Adam Grace]

Bob Gianoni is a great guy. I'm not surprised that he did not yell at you guys. Bob is a very nice man and a strong individual.

Don, didn't you and Bill fill the car trunk with large Stripers and show them to Bob? I think that I have heard this story from Bill before.

[Hairstacker]

Don that is a great story. Fishing at night is just an altogether different experience -- the darkness, the night sounds, the wondering what you're about to walk into or step on. . . . Spooky to the point I doubt many guys are willing to go it alone.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

It was around the mid-'70s after I opened my first fly shop in Sacramento, the Fly Hutch @ Fulton & El Camino.

In those days we were not totally into catch and release yet. We had my new 1978 VW bus filled with the limit, 6 stripers that were around 20 pounds.

We went to Bob's on the way home and knocked on the door at like 2:00 am and he came out in his boxers and looked at our catch. He was excited but said something like "you guys are crazy?"

Craig Zeigler and I would take our prams to the mouth and sleep in my VW bus with an alarm clock set for 2:00am. We would get up and fish till sunrise.

Actually my good friend Al Perryman and his band of 'commando' fly fishers where the first guys around Sacramento to really catch Stripers on flies starting in the late '60s.

Galen Geller listened to our storys and one spring put on an attack at the mouth of the Feather River, wading there every night by himself and with other for a month. He was going to hit those Stripers or else.

I guess finally he hit a big night too but said he was almost punch drunk from being up so much.