Tony Buzolich
06-20-2018, 03:12 PM
As most of you know, the biggest part of our spring striped bass run is over in all of our main rivers. But that doesn't mean fishing for them is done . Though the majority of schoolie size fish have left, now and through the rest of summer you can still come across some larger than average fish that are slow to work their way back downstream. This time of year is when we have a better than average chance of hooking a real trophy.
Spawning for the most part is done. These big hens have exhausted themselves scattering their eggs in the rivers as far north as Redding in the Sacramento River and all it's tributaries along the way.
They're tired and hungry and want to rest before making their long journey back downstream to the delta and the bay.
Fortunately, we have another migration happening about this time of year too, shad. Shad have moved into all of the same rivers that the stripers have been using for the last couple of months to spawn as well.
And in so doing have become a food source for the spawning stripers, and those on their way back to the ocean.
This morning Jim May and I hit the Sac again knowing there have been some good fish coming down.
For the last month or more we've been having some really good days with numerous fish in the four to eight and ten pound range, with several in the 15-17lb range, and three counting today's catch in the 25-30+lb range , and even one real trophy at 48 lbs. All taken on flies.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/IMG_0858a%20upload_zpspue8dopp.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/IMG_0858a%20upload_zpspue8dopp.jpg.html)
The river has come up a little and this sometimes moves fish from favored holding areas. Dan likes to call these his HPS's (high percentage spots). And we start our day the same, hitting and drifting through our favorite spots as we work our way downstream too. I hook up first with a small dink and am surprised it was so small. Jim was quick to hook into a nicer 6-8 lb fish but then it seemed to just quit. We'd hit all of our usual spots, sometimes making more than one pass. But nothing seemed to be happening.
Maybe with the rise in water the fish could be dropping down sooner and we decide to move downstream too. Several miles down from our starting point we begin working a rock wall just past a sharp turn in the river. The river is still full of shad and they have a tendency to stay close to the edges and avoid strong currants. The stripers do too.
After a couple of small taps I get a solid heavy stop to my fly. A quick momentary flash goes through my mind asking if I hooked a snag. But just as quickly, I get that wonderful head shake telling me I've got a big fish on. I immediately yell to Jim, “Big Fish, Big Fish” as we get into our routine for fighting and netting better fish.
She takes line at will while Jim works the boat toward mid-river away from possible snags. Several times I thought I had lost her as she shot directly at the boat. Tight again, closer to the boat, we could see her spitting out whole shad she had just eaten. White flies were a good choice here to match the hatch.
Now at the boat, Jim gets the net under her head and quickly into the boat for a few pictures. Big is the only word we can say. Incredible wide head and gaping mouth, easy enough to swallow a shad whole as they do.
Wanting to be as honest as possible Jim quickly gets the boga for a true weight of 29 pounds. ( I would have said over 30# :) ) But,,,,, we're being honest.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/IMG_0852a%20upload_zps4vq96sxg.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/IMG_0852a%20upload_zps4vq96sxg.jpg.html)
And so it was. Another exciting day on the water. And they'll still be here for awhile longer.
Tight lines, Tony
Spawning for the most part is done. These big hens have exhausted themselves scattering their eggs in the rivers as far north as Redding in the Sacramento River and all it's tributaries along the way.
They're tired and hungry and want to rest before making their long journey back downstream to the delta and the bay.
Fortunately, we have another migration happening about this time of year too, shad. Shad have moved into all of the same rivers that the stripers have been using for the last couple of months to spawn as well.
And in so doing have become a food source for the spawning stripers, and those on their way back to the ocean.
This morning Jim May and I hit the Sac again knowing there have been some good fish coming down.
For the last month or more we've been having some really good days with numerous fish in the four to eight and ten pound range, with several in the 15-17lb range, and three counting today's catch in the 25-30+lb range , and even one real trophy at 48 lbs. All taken on flies.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/IMG_0858a%20upload_zpspue8dopp.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/IMG_0858a%20upload_zpspue8dopp.jpg.html)
The river has come up a little and this sometimes moves fish from favored holding areas. Dan likes to call these his HPS's (high percentage spots). And we start our day the same, hitting and drifting through our favorite spots as we work our way downstream too. I hook up first with a small dink and am surprised it was so small. Jim was quick to hook into a nicer 6-8 lb fish but then it seemed to just quit. We'd hit all of our usual spots, sometimes making more than one pass. But nothing seemed to be happening.
Maybe with the rise in water the fish could be dropping down sooner and we decide to move downstream too. Several miles down from our starting point we begin working a rock wall just past a sharp turn in the river. The river is still full of shad and they have a tendency to stay close to the edges and avoid strong currants. The stripers do too.
After a couple of small taps I get a solid heavy stop to my fly. A quick momentary flash goes through my mind asking if I hooked a snag. But just as quickly, I get that wonderful head shake telling me I've got a big fish on. I immediately yell to Jim, “Big Fish, Big Fish” as we get into our routine for fighting and netting better fish.
She takes line at will while Jim works the boat toward mid-river away from possible snags. Several times I thought I had lost her as she shot directly at the boat. Tight again, closer to the boat, we could see her spitting out whole shad she had just eaten. White flies were a good choice here to match the hatch.
Now at the boat, Jim gets the net under her head and quickly into the boat for a few pictures. Big is the only word we can say. Incredible wide head and gaping mouth, easy enough to swallow a shad whole as they do.
Wanting to be as honest as possible Jim quickly gets the boga for a true weight of 29 pounds. ( I would have said over 30# :) ) But,,,,, we're being honest.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/buzolich/IMG_0852a%20upload_zps4vq96sxg.jpg (http://s22.photobucket.com/user/buzolich/media/IMG_0852a%20upload_zps4vq96sxg.jpg.html)
And so it was. Another exciting day on the water. And they'll still be here for awhile longer.
Tight lines, Tony