Delta stripers 12-06

Met up with HobieBlue and Jedmo to chase the elusive stripers.  We launched at 6:00 into foggy and cool conditions with light winds and slight chop on the surface.  The first hour of travel and plugging was slow until we reached an intersection with good current flow and birds working the water.  I got a 20"er on the spook and Jedmo nailed a nice largemouth, his first delta fish.  I got a couple more in there before a couple of sealions cruised through and shut the bite off. 

Further down the cut we got into them in a similar spot.  I got a couple small guys and Hobie got a few and broke off a pig on the pencil popper.  Further travels brought us to more points, one of which produced a thick 27"er, and a 24"er both on the spook.  Those were a blast and are currently my biggest tw stripers. 

The fog lifted slightly in the afternoon, leaving a hazy grey sky, perfect for more topwater.  Bryan stuck with the popper and was rewarded with a very nice 26" striper that thrashed his offering right next to me.  Good stuff,  bendo was captured.  I ended the day with 9 stripers and one tore up looking largemouth.  Nice meeting you Jed, hope you had a good time.

It was certainly a great day...despite the sealions.  I know I had a blast as always, and Jed I hope you didn't mind the scenic Tour de Delta.  It was a perfect topwater day out there, I hardly even trolled.  I got a few pics to share of XSquid's bendo and striper and one of Jedmo on his way in...

See you guys next time.

Bryan

Great day guys!  Thanks for the report and pics.

Hell yes!  NCKA on the Delta, kicking ass and taking names!  Love this report.  WTG, guys, and way to get Jedmo on his first Delta fish.   

Oh, and nice look-away shot, Bryan!   

Good job, guys! Another great report. 

I like the pose Bryan, it should on a monument or some thing. Great catch as usual.

Abking/shifty: I attempted a Hydrospider look away (impossible to actually pull it off) but it turned into looking more like a thank you to the MAN above for the last minute fatty. 

I went back today (12/7) for some revenge on the fish that busted my line yesterday.  Same spot and they were still hungry.  I had to tease them (or were they teasing me?) for 20-30 feet each before they stopped slapping my popper and clamped down.  They were nice fish: the first was 24.5 inches (pic 1) and the second was 27 inches (pic 2).  Both fish put up the sorriest excuse for I fight I have seen for stripers.  Basically they swam around a bit and did a lot of that twisting stuff at the yak...hmmm...I was expecting more.

Later in the day I got another nice fish who at least had some spunk in him...a chunky 25.5 inch linesider (pic 3).  This fish hit the popper full airborn and aggressive: one strike and it was on!  Put a good bendo in the rod for several minutes. 

Ended up with a better day today: 9 stripers, six keeper sized (all-released).  Missed at least a dozen more on the topwater plug.  Fun weekend again.

Have a great week everyone.

Bryan

Hell yeah, that is looking solid!  I have to thank you for convincing me that the recent striper drought wasn't the end of the action.  A couple of days at work will let the bass thumb heal, then it's back at it again...................

Looks like this here old bait fisherman is gonna haf ta lern some of that plug throw'n stuff,  Looks like you all had a great weekend of fishing

Good looking fish for sure

Thanks for an awesome day Bryan and Kevin. Congrats on you both on the striper
action. Top water lures are so much fun to use. I love that big splash then rod
bendo action. No wonder you guys are willing to go quite a distance to find the
spot, fish it, and then move on to another. Talk about a distance, my butt is still
sore from yesterday. Don't even go there with my legs, they feel like they are about to fall off. Beware newbies if you guys are planning to fish with XSquid and HobieBlue. Make sure to stretch and all that kind of good stuff because you are
in for a long journey. Here are some picture for you folks to enjoy.

Jedmo

Sorry Kevin on the last picture. I don't know why it came out blurry. Nice to have
met you and Bryan. Thanks again for the tips on how to fish the deltas. I hope I
didn't slow you guys too much.

Jed

Thanks for taking some cool shots Jed.  Sorry that we wound up traveling so far!  Bryan and I always seem to log in some major miles on the delta.  I usually feel it a bit in some of the back muscles the next day, two days in a row are a killer.  No worries, you didn't slow us down a bit........

You guys are animals!! You sure have this Delta striper fishing thing dialed in. I was ready to throw the towel in on stiper lure fishing for a few months and soak some bait until I read this report. You guys really know how to motivate a person.

Jed -  I got a chuckle when you mentioned how far you went. My arms were sore last week for a few days after my stiper expedition with Bryan. He definitely works hard for those fish and it looks like he was once again hansomely rewarded.

HobieBlue and XSquid the striper dynamic duo!!

Man I hope Santa puts one of those poppers in my stocking this year    I would really like to catch a striper on topwater and it looks like they are deadly!!

Hey Bryan, I can't believe you went back the following day for more striper fishing.
I am still beat from Saturday. Congrats on catching more stripers. Thanks again
for being patient with the newbie. You and Kevin both are super cool.

See you guys again soon, but not too soon. I need time to recover.

Jedmo

I'MsoCONFUSSED!!...Good Job fellas.You make it look&sound so easy!

congrads' to you Jed! soon you'll be loosing that newbie tag and you'll have your own FanClub to deal with.