Mendo 5/6

Well the epic topwater of the other day was nowhere to be seen.  There were a few small boils here and there, but nothing like the insane canrnage we saw the other day.  Bait was a little tough to make but by 0630 the shad finally came to visit my net, and in one lift I has 30 primo baits.

We baited up and started fishing immediately as we had seen swirls and rolls in tight.  A few minutes into my padlles, I go bendo...then my buddy Dave goes bendo too.  Daves broke off and our double turned into a single..Doh!  A bit later Dave hooks up again and lands fish first fish on a yak.





A little while goes by and Dave goes off again, but is broken off almost immediately.  Time for new line Dave!  A few minutes later me and my buddy Shawnn end up next to a small boil and he gets the only topwater fish of the day.



A bit later me and shawn get a double going as we both hook up while working a huge school of shad.  My fish went freaking nuts and is peeling line and towing my x-factor at a good clip.  I am thinking "this is big mama"  after 15-20 minutes and a ton of runs I see color and there is nothing huge about this fish.  Its nice (29 inches and 11# even) but I was looking for BIG.  The poor thing was just pooped, but I gave this scrappy opponent all of my attention to bring him back to speed.  After a lot of love, he swam of to fight another day.



In the end 8  fish on, 5 landed, everything realesed and off the water by 1100.  Great time!

Nice work fellas!   I'll be prowling the HMB/Pacifica and Montara shores for stripers after work today - hoping to catch my first coastal striper  

The fish seem to be growing up from the thin 6-8 pounders you were catching last fall.  Gotta love fat springtime fish.

-Allen

The 11 pounder I caught today looked to be about 9 pounds of striper, and 2 pounds of shad...get in my belly!

shad finally came to visit my net, and in one lift I has 30 primo baits

Sean - what were you using to draw the bait on your net?

Joel:

When the shad are on the shore they travel in long, flowing schools.  If you stand on the dock at the north launch they generally swim back and forth, and it won't take too long before they pass under you.  This morning they were just staying in one spot.  My buddy Dave finally chased them my way in the yak and ...*poof*  bait-o-plenty.

You can actually see them in the top photo swimming around in the bucket.

Hey Sean- those are some pretty nice stripes. I notice that the water looked nice and flat . What a great day. I remember that striper I had on for some time when I came up with J & J. It seemed like lifting a lead safe out of the water and when I finally got to see him, my dissapointment of his size was instantly replaced by respect of his power. I'm glad he got away. Nice of you to put your fish back. After tasting those guys, I can only hope I have the same strength as you or fill my freezer with some Abs soon(that would help). -Lee

Lee- I was thinking of that fish of yours the whole time I was wrestling my fish.  Generally speaking, I try and let these guys go, its just to fun, and I feel obligated to do what I can to keep it going.  The lake was indeed flat calm, but the weather was all over the map...sunny cloudy, even some rain.

Sean,  what do you net them with?

-Allen

Allen:

You net them off of the dock at the north launch.  You can get them with a dipnet, but it is hard, they are fast little buggers.  I use a Promar umberella net and it slays the little rascals.  I can get 10-30 on a single lift.

The threadfin look like a "perfect" bait.  Small. smooth, and irridesent silver.  Here's a pic I took of some this am.