Friday November 1, 2024 – Someone told me the stripers were going wild in Portuguese Bay all day, so I thought I’d give it a shot on the Friday morning after Halloween. I headed out to the back of Portuguese Bay on San Luis Reservoir, hoping to hook a few big stripers blitzing on shad. When I got there, three boats were already fishing the back end, so I figured I’d start at the mouth and wait for some bird action before rushing in.

Strangely, there weren’t any birds working the shoreline like in past weeks. I found big schools of American Shad along the shore, but the excitement faded fast—couldn’t get a single bite casting into those moving fish. Maybe my fly or presentation was off. Vaughn and Dan Blanton were out too, and when I checked in, they were having a bit more luck, hooking a few.

Finally, around 10:00, I spotted large schools of stripers in 25-30 feet of water in the middle of Lone Oak Bay. With my Livescope, I chased them down and managed to catch six, all over 18 inches. It was a tough bite overall, but landing half a dozen solid fish made it worth the effort. I heard that some other fly fishers were finding more action in the shallows.

By 2:00, the wind was picking up, so I decided to wrap it up early. They’re inspecting for “Chinese Mussels” on the lake and forebay now too. Funny how Trump calls Covid the “China Virus” and gets labeled a racist.-Ridiculous.   All this “racist” is wondering is how good would “China mussels” taste steamed in butter? Does that make me a racist or am I just hungry for asian seafood.

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