Well, I decided to fish O'neil yesterday without any help from Jay and am glad that I did. I hit the water at sunrise and shot over to the flats around Medeiros to find stripers busting bait all over the place. Most of the boils were too far away to cast a fly to, at least for me, so I stuck to a small zara spook. The first hour after sunrise was prime-time and I hooked around 10 fish up to five lbs., with many more refusals and intense blow ups. The bite seemed to be on when the fish were busting bait, and when that was over I chased the seagulls to find more stipers.
After the sun was high I headed north to an outlet with some flowing water. There were even more stipers over here and the bait busting was still going on. A buoy line kept me out of the prime water, but the same spook was able to get into the school and I hooked another 10 or so in about an hour, with the biggest about six lbs. The bite shut down around noon and I decided to bag it. Here are a few pics of what went down:
Well it's about time someone found the fish. Too many things to do today so I gave up the day of fishing.
How was the boat traffic? Looks like the water level has come up a little since Wed.
another good thing is the full moon is on the way out. Looks like some quality fish, fat, feisty and strong
Hope the fishing is still the same come this monday/tuesday
I took my son out yesterday and we nailed them. The fish ranged between 3-8 pounds and were very strong. Birds would dive on and off throughout the entire day on boiling fish. Too many fish to count which was a good thing when you are sharing your skiff with your 9 year old son. He caught his largest Striper to date at 7 pounds! What a hoot! He even got to drive the boat from spot to spot all by himself. I don't know who had a better day...his dad or himself.
The fish are there and they loved my Synthetic Clouser...grin...
Take care,
Steve Cali
Last edited by Steve Cali; 11-23-2008 at 11:12 AM.
Good to see you're out fishing. I hit the Forebay at least 3 to 4 times a week. The fog has slowed my driving down but I;m hopeing for some foggy days on the water to keep the fish higher in the water column throughout the morning. This short window of a couple hours is the pits and then in the late afternoon.
Email me
I'm getting out once a week or so now that the duck hunting is a bit slow...We need a few good cold storms to bring those northern birds down to the Los Banos area...
Anyway, I am headed to fish the Delta tomorrow and then up to Goose Lake to my family's Ranch for Thanksgiving. The geese have been in our fields all week...hmmmmm...should be a good hunt...
And another Forebay Report
and am glad that I did. I hit the water at sunrise and shot over to the flats around Medeiros to find stripers busting bait all over the place. Most of the boils were too far away to cast a fly to, at least for me, so I stuck to a small zara spook. The first hour after sunrise was prime-time and I hooked around 10 fish up to five lbs., with many more refusals and intense blow ups. The bite seemed to be on when the fish were busting bait, and when that was over I chased the seagulls to find more stipers.
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