Well, the Alabama Rig is nothing if not controversial these days! Who knows how long it will be legal, but here’s a look at what the hype’s all about from the fish’s perspective. Watch for the bite towards the end!
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stripers
So, we had a little family camping trip down near Santa Cruz last week, so, of course I had to bring a rod (or 10). A quick call to my pal Mike Baxter, all-around S.C. ocean fishing guru and host of the Let’s Go Fishing Radio Show told me that there was a pretty good shot at getting a striper or two…and maybe a halibut…off the area beaches.
I’ve caught stripers in the rivers, bay, inland lakes and even in the surf from a partyboat, but never while standing on the sand…so the whole concept sounded cool to me! I grabbed a box of poppers and swimbaits and the closest thing I have to a surf rod and headed to the beach.
Well, you know the story of best laid plans and all. It was a family vacation with boo-koo kids running around, so fishing time was very limited. [click to continue…]
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Just how hungry are the stripers in the Delta? Just ask trusty sidekick Reilly, who got this double-header on one plug while fishing Sunday evening.
“We found ‘em on a flat we’d never tried before and the fish were there — and going crazy,” he says. “For the last few minutes before dark, they were eating our Pencil Poppers as fast as we could cast them back in…it was crazy!”
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Hey JD, do you have any input regarding a theory that the non-indigenous Stripers may have a contribution to the current downturn in several indigenous species (i.e. Pacific Coast Salmon, Delta Smelt) populations?
–Don B.
Don, while stripers do dine juvenile salmon, there’s no evidence that suggests that they have big impact on salmon populations. Though non-native, stripers have been coexisting with salmon for 150+ years. In surveys of predators conducted in the Delta recently, Delta smelt have not been found in the stomachs of striped bass and in fact, stripers may actually help Delta smelt by preying on fish that like to eat smelt.
Nope, stripers are not the cause of all this. The main problem with the smelt is poor water quality in the Delta. caused mainly by epic water diversions. Back when we had big numbers of salmon and smelt, the striper numbers were also high…everything has collapsed since record water exports started a few years ago. The salmon are influenced by poor water quality though the major cause in their decline has been lousy ocean conditions.
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