Wednesday, October 2, 2024
Today, I had the pleasure of fishing with my good friend Steve. Steve is a retired San Jose police officer and Air Force veteran. He worked on F4 Phantom aircraft, much like my son-in-law Ryan does with transport planes. I’ve been waiting all year for a day like today. It’s been a tough year on the Forebay for me, with no real big fish days. The stunted weed growth due to herbicides and the unusual water flows throughout the year seemed to turn the Forebay into a striper nursery, packed with large schools of juvenile stripers. The Livescope confirmed this—no sign of large fish schools anywhere. Not to say there aren’t any big ones around, but they’ve eluded me all year.
The Forebay, however, now seems to be teeming with small shad up to two inches long. At the launch, if you peer through the weeds, you can spot plenty of Bluegill and Bass. Schools of largemouth bass have been crashing small baits all over the shallow flats. I’ve often wondered how good the bluegill and crappie fishing might be out there, though I’ve never targeted them. I bet it could be amazing.
After weeks of hearing reports of abundant small stripers, I figured it was the perfect time to take a novice Striper fisherman like Steve out for some nonstop action using light gear. About a month ago, I had a blast fishing in the Delta with a guide, catching 20 largemouth bass in the 6-12 inch range. Today, I hoped to recreate that experience for Steve, who had never caught more than 20 fish in one day, regardless of size. I love this time of year when the juvenile stripers get aggressive. You don’t need to cast far, and they’ll hit a fly repeatedly, all the way to the boat. Plus, a 12-inch striper pulls harder than a 12-inch trout.
Driving back from Yosemite last week on 152, I spotted busting fish in the flats around the 152 channel and called my buddy Frank who was scouting the Forebay over the last couple weeks. He went yesterday and confirmed that there were fish busting in schools all over the flats peaking at 9-11am. I loaded the boat with light gear and small flies and called Steve,
Despite the hot weather, Steve and I had a great day. We kept cool with cold drinks, and a light breeze helped take the edge off the heat. The water was calm, making it easy to spot the busting schools of fish in the 8-10 foot flats, from the islands to the 152 bridge. Once Steve caught his first five fish, he found his rhythm and ended up catching 30 stripers by 1:30, before finally saying, “No más.” The strategy that worked today was intermediate lines with type 6 sink tips, and two-inch weighted flies on size 2 hooks. The best depth to find the schools was about 8 feet, right next to the weed edges. Steve skills improved dramatically through the day. There are a myriad of little skills you can only learn by actually fishing and catching dink stripers. Like keeping the line straight and strip setting fish in case you miss the hit so the fly stays in the zone. Things like how fast to strip and how long to pause. Steve was a better fly fisherman by days end. Rumor has it that he went straight to Bass Pro Shop to look at boats.
Im going rebrand this national day as Take a Cop Flyfishing day. Hopefully it will be an annual event for us.
