Delta Striper 09-16-07...

Got a late start Sunday but decided to get a little time on the water. Was on the water by 1:00pm made bait really quick with a lot of larger blue gills. End of story fished for about 4 hours for one 23"-24" striper C-P-R'ed, real good looking too. The water was nice but the wind picked up pretty good in the afternoon, still a pretty good time.

Bait: Blue gill - caught mine on a smaller sized one around 3-4" but my big 8" blue gill did get hit a few times ( I am hunting/hoping/looking for something 20+lbs).
Rigs:  Standard 3-way swivel rig and sliding sinker rig with 1oz weight (current was going we could have used 2oz easy). Striper came on the sliding sinker rig - I like a longer 4-5' leader from swivel on the sliding sinker rig.

The fish:

Freedive - Nice bass! Where were you - generally - in the Delta? I wouldn't ask anyone to pin-point their latest success, but, he Delta is a BIG place and any info is always welcome. Thanks, Tom

Cool.  Glad to know the stripers are hitting bluegills.  I caught a bunch with a sabiki at Franks Tract.

I can't wait till the big hog stripers arrive.

Freedive - Nice bass! Where were you - generally - in the Delta? I wouldn't ask anyone to pin-point their latest success, but, he Delta is a BIG place and any info is always welcome. Thanks, Tom

Tom - No worries, when after the stripers I could take you exactly where we fished with the same bait, tackle and everything else and not pick one up the very next day or even hours later. Hell I've had days where I would swear I caught the same fish multiple times minutes apart and ten minutes later can't get a bite at all. Stripers move around to much to target by location and the bigger they are the smarter they seem to be.
I was in a hurry when I posted and forgot to add it. We were fishing in Big Break (even in Big Break there is a lot of water to cover), launched out of Big Break Marina. $10.00 for two kayaks. I like fishing Big Break for learning the rest of the delta. When I first got back into fishing around here I heard a lot of locals say learn to fish Big Break and Sherman Lake and you will know how to fish the rest of the delta. And honestly I think it is starting to pay off - both Big Break and Sherman Lake have all the different types of structure you are likely to encounter in the rest of the delta. I see and hear of a lot of people that don't like fishing Big Break and Sherman Lake and I do see quite a few people fish Big Break unsuccessfully but as I start to better understand the interrelationships of everything going on (tide, wind, river current, how all that effects the bait fish and how the fish feed) I find that it becomes easier to predict likely fish holding locations. Some places that used to look to good to pass up now only get fished if all the right circumstances appear to be coming together. For instance the striper in the photo came just as I was about to suggest we make a move, then I saw some interesting looking water and started drifting through it, just as I am saying if there are striper in the area there should be some right around here the rod loads up. I know sounds like BS to me too and I probably wouldn't believe it if it didn't happen so often.


ChuckE - I hear of some bigger fish being picked up over in the Rio Vista area - maybe Sherman Lake also - so there are some around already but still mostly in the Sac. river and still mostly from the trollers covering a lot of water. As soon as the Sac. cools down a bit or dirties up it should get real hot over here though.

Jeff

Quaility Fish,report and pic!  thanks for the striper actitvity report!  hope to hit them in there, when they get there.