Delta Blues

My wife's uncle and his family came to town from Minneapolis last week for a little family visit, so it was only right for us to get in some grade A California fishing while he was here. He's a big walleye and muskey guy from the Midwest, and when we were out there this last summer he put me on a huge walleye, so it seemed only right to take him out to the Delta for a little striper action... but that was just it... very LITTLE striper action...

I'll admit, I have no clue how to fish the Delta, let alone how to navigate it. I know how to fish for stripers, but it's a whole different ball game down there. I've been told that the formula for success in the delta goes something like this: The water temp needs to be about right, the bait fish need to be plentiful, the water clarity needs to be reasonable, the tides need to be right, and you just need to know where the fish hold... ya.... we didn't have any of that stuff working for us. The water looked like chocolate milk, the water temps were in the upper 40's, and we didn't mark a single fish on the finder all day.

We launched at Wimpy's around 7 am and motored down to Beaver Slough where we pricked one schoolie right away, but that was it for the entire day. That "right-off-the-bat" fish is always a bad sign... You catch a fish right away thinking that, "Today is gonna' be a good day!...." wrong....

At least we didn't get skunked. I would've rather had my guest catch that fish, but that's just how it happens sometimes. We fished several other sloughs looking for warmer water trying to find the bait fish... We found some warmer water, but not a single bait ball all day... SSSLLLLLOOOOOOWWW.... but that's what everyone was telling me before we even launched, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised...

The AR is always worth a shot.

I've heard from several people that there are stripers in the lower AR all year, just hangin' out chowin' on salmon and steelhead smolts all winter and spring. Although the people I've talked to haven't really fished for them in the dead of winter, they did say that it would be interesting to see if you could catch anything in January, and if you did hook into one, that it would probably be a monster. What the hell..... I'm always up for a challenge.

Mikey was coming down to give a talk to the TU chapter and he had mentioned that he wanted to try chucking some flies for stripers, so I borrowed Dan B.'s drift boat and we had at it.

We put in at Sunrise and fished all the way to Goethe chucking clousers and long striper patterns with maybe a bump or two, but nothing to show for. I was having my doubts when all of a sudden Mikey hooks-up with a fish just above the footbridge at Goethe. The fish came unbuttoned before we could have a look at it, but we did see some flashy silver, so we just guessed that it was striper. Two casts later, Mikey has a solid hook-up and puts a huge bend in his 10 wt. After a good fight and a couple of short runs, the fish came up to the top and... sure as shit... a hatchery steelhead...

Not the striper we were looking for, but still a good fight and a good night. Those stripers are in there, and now I can't wait until summer to really turn the heat on those silent killers, the Boogey Man, as Mikey calls 'em.

A Day on the A.R.

When I talk to people from Sac about fishing in California very few of them know that there's one of the best year-round fisheries in the state right in their backyards, and I mean literally, right in their backyards. I'm talking, of course, about the lower American River. I'm sure you've heard that there's great salmon and steelhead fishing in this river in the Fall and Winter, but did you know that this is one of the state's finest shad fisheries? How about stripers? Lots of people fish throughout the state for stripers: the greater Sacramento River, the wide-open San Joaquin Delta, or even several of the larger reservoirs in the state like New Hogan Reservoir, but some of the biggest striped bass caught in California come out of the river found deep in the heart of Sacramento county, amongst the hustle and bustle of city traffic and stoplights?... I had no idea either until about 5 years ago, and when I found out that you could fish for them on a fly, I had to try it out.

After several years of fly fishing for stripers I'm beginning to think that I've got the hang of it, but like any other new style of fishing, you need to learn from experience, and a few years of here-and-there trips isn't that much exposure. Just when I think I've got it down, a new fly comes around, or a new technique is introduced, or somebody shows me some new gear designed for striper fishing and it's back to square one. Although I may not be the best striper fisherman in the valley, I still catch fish, and that's all that matters.

Today I took a trip out to the AR before work with one of my fishing buddies, Dan. When I said the river was, "right in their backyards," I meant it. When a river is close enough to hit first thing in the morning, and still make it to work on time when you're done, I consider it right in my backyard. Not to mention, is there a better way to start a day of work than by hooking-into a couple of 10 lb stripers?... I guess if you're a guide it's a different story, but for us "other people" I think not... Well... maybe a 20 lb steelhead would top that one, but not much other than that.

We launched at Watt around daybreak which was about 15 minutes too late. As we pulled into the parking lot a couple of the (and I quote) "geezer patrol" guys had already beat us to the water and were motoring down to the honey hole. These guys clearly had done this before... maybe a few thousand times... I had to give it to them though, if I was 87 and retired, I would be doing the exact same thing, health permitting.

The striper fly fishing community here in the valley is pretty tight knit and they all seem to know each other. I've come to know a couple of the "regulars" who have given me some great tips and info on how and when to fish for the big girls, but I, by no means, am qualified to jump in a boat with these guys, even though I'm sure they'd let me. I think to be qualified you're required to have had over 100,000 hours on the water in a small rickety-ol' tin-bottom boat, a 1/0 barbed hook stuck in an appendage at some time, and a 20 plus lb. striper to hand... I have done none of the above... I'm still workin' out the kinks in my game, but I'll be there some day.

We decided to give the geezer patrol a bit a breathing room and motored across the river to the other side of the Watt Ave. riffle as they headed down below the foot bridge. It was a good move because Dan picked up a nice fish just below the riffle in the slack water on a chartreuse and white Clouser.

Not a hog, but still some good "first cast" mojo to get the morning started.

One of the best things about catching stripers is that they fight hard, and when I say hard I mean like a freight train. A hookup with a 2 lb striper feels like a hookup with a 10 lb steelhead.

A person new to striper fishing could easily be tricked into thinking they've just hooked a 30 pounder when the fish is really only about 9 pounds... I'm not saying that I've ever been tricked like that.... or screamed that I've hooked a "monster"... or nearly fallen out of the boat after hooking a smaller striper... I'm just saying that it's easy to think you've got a monster on when in fact it's only a 24 inch fish... So watch out for that...

Anyway... As we drifted down I was able to hook and land what was probably a state record fish, and boy was I glad to have brought the 8 wt. This fish was probably, pound for pound, the hardest fighter I've ever encountered. Thank god Dan was there for moral support. That's saying a lot for a 5 inch striper! I forgot to mention that the state record (if it existed) would have been the smallest striper ever caught on a fly that was bigger than it was... Sorry... no pics of that fish.

The down-time didn't last long though. We got just below the water treatment plant and I hooked and landed this nice fish on the same chartreuse and white Clouser.

Kind of interesting how this fish ended up with my fly in its mouth. I had just casted when Dan had suggested that we pull up the troller and move down the river. As I was reeling my line in this fish wrecked the fly about 30 feet from the boat. I didn't have the line corked, so when the fish took the fly it spooled out about 30 yards of line instantly. Luckily I had the drag on my reel set or this fish would've made a nice rat's nest out of my fly line.

This baby ran down the river a good 30-40 yards, turned and ran right back at the boat, under the boat, behind the motor, around the troller, it was basically using guerrilla tactics to try and disconnect the fly from my leader. It was close, but it turns out I'm actually smarter than the fish. I commended it though for a battle well fought.

A little bit later, along the same "rip rap" wall, Dan and I both hooked-up with a couple of BEEFY fish and lost them. The pull from the fish alone isn't a good indicator of the fish's size, it's the speed of the head shakes that really telegraphs the size of the fish without actually seeing it. Dan said he felt long hard head shakes which means BIG fish. The fight was short before that fish spit the hook. Dan's already got a couple double digit fish this season and he was thinking that this one may have been even bigger. A total bummer, but we'll have another chance tomorrow morning to try again.

As for the one I lost, it was a quick fight too but mine didn't spit the hook. It was a hard take, like if you hooked your fly to the doorknob on an open door and then somebody slammed the door as hard as they could. A hard take followed by several hard runs that pulled the line through my fingers faster than I could manage to untangle it at my feet. A knot formed in the running line and ran right up to the first guide and got stuck... not good... the fish pulled and pulled without taking any line and... snap.... We probably won't see that fish tomorrow, and if we do we'll recognize it by the huge neon green fly stuck in the corner of its mouth.