We've decided to hit the Napa River before work today and fish for Stripers. My plan was to troll a customized Wild Thing lure, then Lucky Craft LV500. Austin used rattle trap lures and swim bait from our Striper Kit. We've also got ourselves a dozen of X-Large Minnows at the shop to fish the inlets.
We started with trolling rattle traps 50-80ft behind the boat. I had 3 hookups, but all were under 18" shakers. Still, since I used a light action rod strung with an 8lb test line it was fun fighting fish against the current. I've decided I will continue to use my St. Croix trout setup for stripers. It's just silly fun to fight fish on an underdog setup. It's my kinda jam and I bet I can put up a good fight with anything up to 15 lbs on this thing. Time will tell. Once we found an inlet we liked we anchored and I used my live bait rig to deliver the 'Striper Candy' minnow right where I thought they would be. Sure enough, the first bite was almost instant. Austin tried just about every lure we had in our possession, but this wasn't his day. It happens. Right before heading back one of us, not saying who exactly, decided to cast my $17 Lucky Craft LV 500 lure toward the bank. The lure sailed past the waterline and got stuck on a gnarly twisted-up bramble. I did my best to try to free it, while Austin was backing the boat toward the snag. It got too shallow and our depth finder was sounding an alarm. Getting desperate, I yanked so hard that I eventually freed the lure, which shot out like a bullet toward me and hit the boat so hard, that it disintegrated into pieces on impact. After some reflection, I've decided that next time, it's probably safer to cut your line and avoid a hard plastic lure full of metal balls and sharp hooks potentially hitting my face at what seemed like an ultrasonic speed. Yep. That was my big takeaway from today's trip.
Turnkey Fishing Kits and Guided Services for Beginners: https://www.catchhappy.co/
Alex