I thought I would do some scouting today in preparation for taking Steve Sakamaki out tomorrow. The flat, no wind days keep happening and I can barely remember those dangerous windy spring days. Today was almost a perfect day. Perhaps a really big fish would have made it a 10. I was boat number 4 today, launching at Basalt which is getting lower still. When I left at 11:00, there were 30 boats at Basalt. I think most of the traffic in the current low water level, prefers to launch at the secondary Basalt ramp rather than the utility road secondary launch at Dinosaur Point but thats a guess. I started casting to the shoreline at 6:45 and there was not much action until 7:15. As the sun crept up, the surface activity began to increase. I went 3 for 6 popper blow ups in the first 20 minutes aiming at fish–Splashy Minnow Chasing activity. I think casting right at the fish is better odds than leading them. For awhile, birds were diving as well. There were pods of activity in the deep as well as the shallows. I chased and got there late a bunch of times, but when I got there and there was activity, I picked up a fish on a crease fly. About 8:00, I pulled up close to shore and started to hit the weed line. Surprisingly, I picked up half a dozen fish in 6 inches of water right up against the bank fast stripping clousers.. I fished that same bank last week about ten feet further out with less success. The stripers in the morning like to work the very edge of the shoreline. and as the day progresses, they move out and wait for bait to emerge. Where there are birds on the shoreline, there are minnows in the water and I caught fish today under the feet of swimming birds. From 9 – 11, I found fish along the shoreline at every bank I fished between the bait guys on the shore. I left at 11:00 only because I knew I was returning tomorrow and I heard a bank fishermen say under his breadth , “OMYGODTHATFLYMUTHAFUCKACAUGHTANUDDAONE” I lost count at 20 and all the fish were over 20 inches–it was a 20/20 day! The boat ramp had 30 boat trailers parked when I left at 11. Also , a boat fishermen was cleaning 8 stripers that he and his buddies caught on white flukes and anchovies.
A couple months ago I bought a 10 foot 7 wgt helios for the lake. After fishing with it for a couple days, I came to the conclusion that it was a clumsy rod that was way to slow for stripers. I told Mark at the Santana Row Orvis shop about it and he offered to swap it out for a different rod of my choice. In anticipation of Redfishing in New Orleans, I rigged up a 10 and 9 wgt Helios 2 to fish with tomorrow. I don’t want those rods to be virgins before I exercise those Bull Reds in NOLA next week.