Just wondering if the stripers have been comming around latly?

Stop wishing & lets go fishing!!!

read this report on usafishing.com

Randy Pringle, The Fishing Instructor, has been working the bays on the San Joaquin River for both striped bass and largemouths. He reported solid action for stripers for fish ranging from 4 to 20 pounds. He said the surface bite for stripers has been good with Pencil Poppers, Zara Spooks and Super Spooks. He advises changing the hooks on the Super Spooks to a 4X #2 Daicci red. The red hook has the stripers hone in better as the flash of red excites the striper, according to Pringle. He works the outside edge of the weed line on the incoming tide for stripers. He advises, if a striper is boiling on the lure, continue to move the lures and have your partner follow up with another lure over the top. He said there will always be another fish right behind the first one and this technique will produce a double hookup more times than not. This occurred several times in the past week. He also has been spooning for stripers in water from 12-30 feet with Hopkins Spoons from 3/4 oz. To 2 oz. He will find stripers on the meter and drop down on top of them. The stripers will either be in large pods of smaller fish or small pods of up to ten of larger fish. He tries to match the size of the spoon to the size of the bait. Right now there are lots of small sized shad in the Delta. He advises to maintain the same rhythm each time you jigs to remember the successful cadence. If you don't get bit using this rhythm, change the pattern but remain consistent to remember the cadence. 90% of the time you will get hit on the drop because the falling spoon gives the effect of an injured baitfish. He advises to use the larger jigs for the bigger fish as sometimes you have to make it through the small fish to get to the quality ones. The water temperature has remained fairly consistent, allowing for the largemouth bass to turn on. The larger fish are starting to show up but he is consistently catching between 25-40 fish per day with several fish from 3-5 pounds in the mix. Information (209) 543-6260 or thefishinginstructor.com on the web.

Haven't been there this year, yet. You know how I hate to fish alone. But I plan on getting out there for sure after the TOC. A friend is letting me use his 8' jon boat and I may take that out. But not on weekends as it is a bit too small for some of those monster wakes from those 40' yachts that prowl the main channel. The kickboat will do well for those days.

Get someone to bring you over, and we'll go get those big striped things.

Lzydeus Pisceus