The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

We found a side channel that looked good and we started fishing one side of it that had docks and natural structure. I was pretty much in charge of keeping the boat going in the right direction and trying to get a cast in somewhere in between. Well Joey had said he had hooked a fish but if you had ever fished with him before he says that a lot followed by the old Charlie Brown ooooooohhhhh! So I asked him how long he was going to play that weed bed. He said no Dad it's a fish and when he put it on the reel it started to take some line since his drag was set way too loose. Like a good Dad I informed him he was going to get a bird's nest if he didn't tighten his drag. He gave me the look and said I can only do one thing at a time. I was worried he was going to lose the fish since he was using a barbless hook and I know it was because I pinched it down real good.
This fish was having its way with Joey and I had to keep giving him back seat instructions like you better put some heat on that fish to keep him out of those weeds and the dock. Well the fish finally tired and we landed him. It was a pretty darn nice first Striper on a fly. Joey had a take a moment to calm himself after catching that fish. I think he was so excited and was a little tired after the battle. He broke the ice and now we caught the Delta bug.

That was the only fish we boated the entire day. I had one grab on the popper while I was messing with the boat and Joey said a Crappie had jumped on my fly and he tried to set the hook by grapping my line. It was an awesome day out there with some sun, some overcast and looked like rain but never did materialize. Gas was $1.99 in Lodi and with those savings it nearly paid for the boat. Here are a couple pictures from our trip.

tbc