Sacramento River striper fishing in full swing
Springtime means striped bass fishing on the Sacramento River, and this years' run is currently in full swing. Accordingly, this writer accompanied local guide Kevin Brock and a pair of anglers from Chico on a striper excursion out of Grimes Landing this week.

Departing at 6:00 AM, the group fished upstream from Grimes in the morning, hitting spots like Sandy Beach, Red Sea and Pierce's. The water level had dropped about four inches from the previous day due to agricultural diversions, making the fish somewhat reluctant to bite.

First to hook up in the morning was Dan Valdez of Chico, who nailed a barely legal [18 inch] striper on a live minnow. Shortly after that, Don Hutchinson of Chico hooked what was obviously a much larger fish that ultimately escaped after a rugged battle.

Brock's primary tactic for stripers is either back-bouncing or power-trolling with live jumbo minnows. Back-bouncing has Brock expertly controlling the boat's backward drift in the current, while the anglers lift and drop the rod. Power-trolling sees the boat pointed downstream, dragging the minnows along at a pace a bit faster than the current.

Tackle includes Penn International 965 reels loaded with 50-pound superbraid line, with a sliding sinker setup and a 36-inch leader of 10 pound monofilament. The minnows are pinned on No.2 Owner Mosquito hooks. Sinker weights vary from one-half ounce to 4 ounces, depending on depth and current speed.

The afternoon saw the group head downstream from Grimes, hitting spots like the Peacock Hole and Pump House. Both the wind and the fishing picked up, and there were numerous other boats catching lots of stripers in the four to 10-pound range.

Action aboard Brock's distinctive new 25-foot FishRite boat was good, with the afternoon bite reaching full limits of legal-size fish to seven pounds, mixed in with some slightly undersize 17-inchers that were immediately released.

"We got our first striper limits of the season back on April 2", related Brock. "I expect that the fish will be around for a solid two more weeks, and longer than that if we get some rain and a little cold weather. If things stay warm, the stripers will spawn on the next full moon and it will be tough to find them.

"There appear to be fewer large stripers over 20 pounds this year, probably because they are more spread out along the river. Today we had what has been about an average day for this striper season; we worked hard but got our limits of medium-size fish."

Brock added, "Once the striper run tapers off, we will head up to fish for the abundant wild rainbow trout in the Sacramento River between Redding and Anderson."