Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3911 May 2020 | Page 15

15 May 2020 VOL.39 • ISS. 11 Gone Fishing continued from page 14 slow your speed to about 3 miles per hour. Stripers will still hit a fast-moving plug in deep water, but the large lip and action of deep divers doesn’t allow them to run well at higher speeds. well to running at higher speeds. Anytime you can catch stripers while trolling shallow water along the bank, plugging becomes a viable option. During the daylight hours, the best strategy is to go with subsurface lures. Proven favorites are Rat-L-Traps, bucktail jigs like P-Line Pulse Raisers and small swimbaits like Berkley Pogys. These baits can be thrown with either spinning tackle or bait casting gear spooled with braid. With these subsurface lures, you want make casts toward the bank, exploring features such as pockets in tules or weeds, fallen trees, rip rap points and irrigation pipes that are discharging water. When retrieving these lures don’t do anything fancy just cast them out and reel them in. When plugging with a Rat-L-Trap, the strike will usually be hard. When using bucktails or small plastic swimbaits the typical bite starts with a series of grabs and taps. When you feel that just keep the lure moving and let the bass load the rod before hammering the hook home. I believe the most exciting fishing available to Norcal freshwater anglers comes in the form of tempting stripers with surface lures. This shallow water action takes place during the low light periods of dawn and dusk as well as on overcast days. Big swimbaits like River2Sea King Kongs, walking baits like River2Sea Rovers and Zara Spooks and Pencil Poppers will all draw savage surface explosions from hunting stripers. When working the surface, you’ve got to stay focused. Strikes might not come right away, but since the bass that hit on top are generally large you want to be ready. Stripers very often miss the first time they come up and slash at a surface plug. You never want to set the hook on the splash. KEEP WORKING THE PLUG UNTIL YOU FEEL THE FISH! This point can’t be over stressed. When a big bass erupts behind your plug, the reaction of most anglers is to either rare back and set the hook before the bass has the bait or to freeze and stop the bait dead in the water. Both of these reactions will result in a missed opportunity. If you focus on keeping the bait moving no matter what you see, you’ll feel the strike and you’ll set the hook instinctively. Well I’ve just barely scratched the surface of the fabulous sport of tempting stripers with lures and I’m already out of space. You’ve got enough information to get started. The rest of your instruction needs to come out in the classroom that we call the California Delta! Expert Trolling Advice From Capt. David Hammond, Delta Pro Fishing Spring has arrived and with it the spring striper bite is heating up throughout the California Delta. After spending the winter lounging in chilly backwater sloughs, the bass are on the move with spawning on their minds. This puts the fish on a collision course with Delta trollers. “The single most important information when setting up a day of trolling on the Delta is the tide,” relates Captain David Hammond of Delta Pro Fishing. “I use a TideLog tide book because it has pictures of the tides, which makes it easy to see how the Limits and smiles all around! That’s what spring striper fishing is all about. day lays out. Photo courtesy of DELTA PRO FISHING, Elk Grove. Look for smaller tides of 3 feet, or less, water movement and look for the flood tide for Hammond patterns are chartreuse/silver, red/white, the day. A smaller and flood tide typically “When it comes to lures, you might and rainbow. Remember to always replace has a larger “bite window”, and the water be surprised how few lures I use on an the hooks and split rings. I prefer Owner tends to be clearer. The “bite window” is average day. Most all advertised striper 4X trebles (ST-66TN) and split rings from the part of the tide when the fish are most lures will catch fish, but what I look Worth in size no. 5,” said Hammond. actively feeding. This is typically the last for in a lure is whether it is durable and If you’d like to learn Captain and first hour of the tide, but it can be the consistent. That’s why I use Yo-Zuri and Hammond’s striper trolling secrets first whole tide when both a small tide and a Bomber lures for all my trolling. The hand, while catching a mess of Delta flood tide are in combination.” specific Yo-Zuri is the 5.25” floating in stripers, give him a call at (916) 479-3492. “When trolling for stripers in deeper both shallow (6’-8’) and deep diving Don’t delay as the spring bite promises to water (12’ to 18’), use your sonar and look (12’-16’), for the Bomber it’s the Long be great and Hammond tends to book up for fish at or near the bottom. These are A-16A for shallow (6’ to 8’) and the B25A quickly. You can find Delta Pro Fishing on the fish that are FEEDING. Typically, the for deep (16’ to 18’). The best colors Facebook. fish you see suspended are just traveling, not at all interested in biting your lure. Run the lures as close to bottom as possible without snagging up,” advises Hammond. “Targeting stripers in the shallow waters, between 6 and 8 feet, involves a whole new level of attention and skill. When trolling at speeds between 4 and 5 MPH, things happen fast. When locating fish, the sonar many times, is worthless. With a cone angle (sonar) of 30 degrees you just can’t see that much in shallow water. This means you must really work these areas over. Make several passes, in both directions, while trying to keep your lures in the strike zone of 6 to 8 feet,” tipped NO VIRUS ! ! ! 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