San Luis Reservoir Striper Fishing

I haven't posted in a while because I really haven't been fishing much. My focus has been on other parts of my life. I've only been dabbling with some local large mouth bass fishing here and there.

Anyways, my friend invited me out to go fishing with him and another buddy on his boat this past Saturday. I couldn't pass up on a boat fishing trip, so I got everything geared up and ready to go.

We launched around 7 in the morning, and the first spot we stopped by was a great choice because we started getting hit right off the bat. Lucky Craft Sammy's were the hot bait of the day and the top water bite was on like Donkey Kong! It was only within the first hour or so where we had the flurry of action, and then the bite died. We're so busy catching fishing, I couldn't take pictures during the moment. The only thing I was thinking was to get back out on the water asap. We've caught probably around 10 each and missed many more. There's nothing like a top water bite. The stripers were so aggressive. If it missed the Sammy, it kept jumping at it till it got hooked. Most were 17-21 inchers. They weren't big, but they were very fun to catch on bass rods.

I highly recommend fishing at San Luis Reservoir right now. Catch the early morning bite. That is the key!




























My friend Frank and I doubled up within our first few casts:

Looks like the forebay not San Luis res.

Looks like the forebay not San Luis res.

Actually, yes, you're correct.

Looks like the forebay not San Luis res.

Yes that is definitely is San Luis for-bay (source I live 12 mins for it)

Yeah O'Neil forebay sure is a blast when your blessed with glassy conditions and bitting fish!!! Winter is my favorite time there!

 

good job when its flat calm the fishing is kind of slow. A lot of dinks in the forebay with the occassional big one. There are down deep and pretty big marks on the fish finder.

The big one should be coming out in a month or so 

For action the forebay is the place to be. For a chance of a big one and a possible skunk I would give SLR a try. Just make sure you know the wind condition!! It can be pretty brutal. I find that the wind at the forebay would come without warning!! Since it goes over the hill and hits you hard.

The big lake you can tell when the wind is coming since its wide open so be ready to head in. You don't want to be stuck in the middle when the wind shows up.

I'll be fishing it more in the next couple of months...its hard going back to freshwater when I have been fishing salt since the start of RF season lol

ROUND 2: Veteran's Day Fishing - November 11, 2016

Me and my friend Frank decided to go fish for stripers at O'Neil Forebay again.

I start off with the Sammy 128. This size is bigger than I usually use, but I was attempting to get some bigger stripers by using a bigger bait.

On my first cast I get a blow up. I miss two more blow ups shortly after, but nothing hooked up.

We moved down to another spot, and then my friend Frank starts laying into them. He caught 5 in a short period of time.

I kept getting the craziest blow ups, and one being literally right in front of me a few feet from the boat. I wanted to hook one up, but didn't mind watching the crazy blow up action either.

I ended the day with only two, but caught the biggest and only keeper for the day. A 17 and a 22 incher. My friend Frank caught all shakers - most of them in the 16-17 inch range - but he caught the most numbers with 8 landed in the boat. However, I certainly missed over 10 blow ups and my friend Frank missed many as well.

It didn't matter that the stripers were on the small side. Watching them blow up made up for it, but what's more, even though the stripers were small they still fight way harder than largemouth bass.

There was a lot of boats and kayakers out there today. I guess my reports have gotten attention and more people have been hitting up the Forebay. It didn't really matter though. Despite the massive pressure, we were the only ones catching fish as far as I could see.

The secret was that we were fishing topwater lures.

Topwater lures were king. No other lure got bit. We threw all kinds of hardbaits at them. Jerkbaits, lipless crankbaits, broken back rebels, and even crankbaits.

They only hit our topwaters. Lucky Craft Sammy and Gunfish were the hot baits.

I'm thinking about fishing the larger sized JitterBugs next time and see how it does and maybe even a Whopper Plopper.

Anyways, it was my first time trying out the Lucky Craft Gunfish today, and this is a fantastic lure! I personally like it over the Sammy now. This lure is so much fun to use. It walks even better than the Sammy, and you can make it skip like a rock with a nice jerk. The Gunfish is amazing! I highly recommend you try it.

Here are some pics we took today:









The PumpHouse:



My setups which consisted of..

 - St. Croix Avid 6'6" Medium Fast Casting Rod paired with a Shimano Core 50MG7

 - St. Croix Avid 6'9" Medium Light Spinning Rod paired with a Shimano Stradic CI4+ 2500 Spinning Reel

 - Okuma Helios 7'6" Heavy Casting Rod paired with a Shimano Curado 200E7

 - Powell Diesel 7' Medium Heavy Moderate Casting Rod paired with a Shimano Curado 200E5



My friend Frank with one of his 17 inchers:



Yours truly with the big fish of the day at 22 inches:






Haha, here's a short video of me and friend Frank acting like fools. My first YouTube video ever. I will be bringing a Go Pro next time. I will have to work out a lot of kinks and improve my video editing skills so things are going to look amateur at first, but it will come along with time and experience:



Give O'Neil Forebay a try. Good luck to you out there if you do.

Cheers!

Great write up!  I love Forebay, great place for fly fishing.

Great write up. Way yo go !!!