Foggy delta 11/8

Left the house at 4 am to try to get on the water by 5. I made it at 5 but it was not fun. 5 mph down the levee road, could barely see the road in front of me. I missed my launch spot so had to turn around and drive with my door open at a crawling speed. I figured what the heck, I can do some trolling in the dark and pushed out. 5 minutes out my headlamp decides to die. Crap, no lights. I find my way over to the other side and drag my kayak up on a small beach and wait for the sun to come up. The sun finally starts to come up so I begin my troll. Lost a few tails and had a bunch of short strikes. As I am trolling down a bank a big boil begins in front of me, good thing I had my spook tied onto my other pole. As soon as it hits the water it is hit. Fish on. A barely legal schoolie. Not bad. As the morning went on it was slow. I was working the outside weed bed with a spook and got another schoolie striper. I was off the water about 10 to go get my son. It was nice to meet bassmanben and his friend that I didnt happen to get a name of. As I was driving away I saw bassmanben hold up a nice sized striper on a stringer. I hope they got into them after I left. Pics below.

Jeff

Nice Report,

That's really Kool to have a place like that in your Backyard

Great report and photos as always, Jeff.   

Stripers on top, gotta love it.  Looks like that area is coming back to life after the slow tournament weekend.  Too bad about the light, that must have been an interesting couple of minutes trying to find a safe area to chill.   

Looks good!  Sounds like I'll have to catch up with you guys next time. 

J-20,
          Good job working through the fog......what we do to get some time OTW.

Thanks for the report and the pics...

S.

left home about 6am due to a late wake up and some trouble getting my new kayak on top of the car.

Got to the launch spot at 7am and met up with Jeff.

The trip was mainly a test ride for my new boat, a Cobra Marauder.  I wasn't even sure if she would float.  Luckily she does.

Started off poorly, my vhf fell in the water and sunk.  Luckily, I was able to fish it out with my net and it still works.

Went out with Jeff for a little while plugging and paddling, getting the feel of my new yak and my fishfinder install.

Saw gatorjit heading down the road so I went back to the launch to show him the way.  After that we met back up with Jeff for a little while, with little success.  I took off on my own paddling, exploring and trolling.  Unfortunately no luck.  Anyways, me and Russell (gatorjit) went down towards Whiskey slough, me trolling and him fiddling with his fish finder.  He spotted some marks in a fairly interesting looking cut, so I dropped down a blue/silver kastmaster and BAM! fish on.  She put on a pretty spirited fight, but found her way into my net and onto my stringer.  About 23" and estimating 4-5lbs.

Jeff had to take off, but me and Russell ended up just paddling around with not much success.  Russell later caught a small striper around 16" in a back slough.

Overall a very nice day, beautiful weather until the clouds picked up around noonish.  Headed home happy to have tested out my new boat!  Pics will follow.

Good job pulling in a few stripers Jeff!! You really are a die hard getting out there in those conditions, but sometimes that is exactly what it takes to be rewarded. Glad you made the right choice to pull to the side and think of safety first. Hope to catch up with you again soon.

WTG Bassmanben on the 23" striper and glad to hear your boat worked out for you. Great rescue of the vhf. Most people aren't that fortunate to recover gear from the drink, let alone recover it and have it still working.

Nice work out there guys.  Sounds like a great hook-up and a fun time for all.

Have a safe weekend.

Bryan

My pics:

Jeff coming in to say hello:


My new boat (still in progress):


Looking towards Mt Diablo:


Gatorjit with his tiny striper:

pics of me and my fish:

Nice NCKA Hookup&Report #2,025-b* !!   it takes some good planning or just plain ol'luck to fish the delta when it's not: a.)blowin  b.)fogged in 
c.) windy  or d.) Windy&Blowin.....that's my experience
Way to change my way of thinking(bitchin) Fellas!!