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California Striper Report

17K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  Maverickrod 
#1 ·
Hello once again from California.

I've been fishing out on the ocean quite a bit lately (it has been VERY SLOW and VERY WINDY) but I finally managed to get back to the aqueduct a few times in the last few days.

Having limited daylight hours to fish (6 pm - 8:30 pm) the report is not as great as I would like, but...

Monday
6 striper (2 legals - 19 and 21", 4 ranging from 14 - 17 1/2")
Tuesday
4 striper (2 legals - 18 and 19", 2 shorties)
Wednesday
SKUNKED!

All things considered, not bad for the spot I hit for a total of 7.5 hours!

Having hit the aqueduct about 20 times this year, I now have a good feel for the secret to success.

Even if you haven't fished an aqueduct for striper or have never fished the west coast, I would appreciate a "perspective" on this theory:
When the pumps are moving water, the bite is on.
*When the water is not moving, the only thing biting are the skeeters.

2 - 3 oz weight with either chicken liver, shad, anchovie, lugworm, or night crawlers work well.
*Chicken liver seems to work best.

Chicken liver is king because striper seem to "short bite" and liver has nothing firm to tug on... et voila, da' hook ends up on da' lip!
*The shad and chovies are too easy to pull from the hook... but I have still managed a few nice fish with these.

The locations I have fished which point East-West are more productive than North-South locations... could be a fluke.

The wall of the aqueduct at depths of 10 - 20 ft down produce more fish than out in the middle at the bottom (approx 35 ft)

mY FINAL observation has generated the most curiosity for me... about an hour before dark the fish start boiling and jumping when the current is fairly light... but I have yet to try any topwater lures.

So, my next adventure will include going for some topwater action... would that be foolish? Or do the fish I continue to see, not only boiling but actually jumping completely out of the water, not want food? :shock:

I am hoping for some advice on surface fishing. I picked up a couple bucktails and will try them... but I'm also thinking I could try a small topwater spook lure or something... what do you guys think?

Saba
 
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#2 ·
Welcome aboard Saturday! I miss Cally so much. I lived in Modesto, CA about two years ago, you know the place with the whole Scott Peterson issue. When I graduate, in a week, I'm hoping to go on a little road trip with my friends this summer to hit up my old fishing spots and to hit up the streets of Ventura and San Franciso with my bike. Anyways back to the subject. I've never used a top water lure to catch a striper since I'm always fishing from the banks and can't cast to the boiling points. Some guys use the Creek Chub Striper Strike and Atom Striper Swiper for top water fishing. I'm 100% sure that you will catch a fish when you cast to where they are feeding without a doubt. But I gotta tell you Saturday, chicken liver was my number one striper and catfish bait when fishing in California. Over here in Jersey, chicken liver gets me stripers, catfish, hybrids, white bass, perch, sunnies, and eels. You should aslo try fishing San Luis Reservoir, I went here every weekend. When you go night fishing around this time of the year monster sized stripers constantly jump out of the water. At first I thought it was little kids throwing boulders into the water. Soon I saw and realized it was stripers. It got to the point where it was so aggrevating because they kept jumping out of the water from 8:00 p.m all the way to 7:00 a.m. It sucked cause all boats have to be in before dark so you cant get out there to catch the cows. Oh yea, best time to go is when they are letting the water in.

Here is a pic of the World Freshwater Striped Bass Record caught in ONeil Forebay, San Luis Reservoir California by Hank Ferguson 67-8 plounds
O?Neill Forebay Merced County
5/7/92

Jeans Sky Fish Fisherman Recreation

Here is a LINK to a post on San Luis reservoir.
 
#3 ·
Went to the aqueduct last night after catfish, in a popular catfish area, because I've been tired of getting skunked chasing the striped ones. Well, about 8:30 PM, the stripers started jumping like popcorn all around us. :eek: We tried everything we had; chicken liver, squid, various swimbaits, shad rat-l-trap, and still skunk-a-rola! :wall: It was incredibly frustrating because they were right there, and we only got a couple short bites on slow-retrieved squid strips. We stayed 5 hours longer than we planned, because it's so hard to tear yourself away when the fish are jumping around like a bunch of 3 year olds in a kiddy-pool! The rat-l-trap was SUPPOSED to be the hot ticket for this situation, and nada. :shrug:
 
#4 · (Edited)
my friends and i fish every weekend in Suisun city in the sloughs. we got one striper this weekend 32 in. beautiful fish...... the weather has been pretty bad so i didn't even expect to catch that one, this weekend is supposed to clear up a bit so i am hoping for more.....:bbq2:

the pic is of me with the fish. yeah im a big guy i know......but i love striper fishing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt from the striperhuntercrew
 

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