Yuki, in his wanderings, ended up at Weber Point in Stockton a couple weeks ago. He said that he saw a guy catching Striper after Striper and another guy catching Red Ear Sunfish at this particular spot.
My last two Striper adventures were quite interesting so I said yes, let's go. First let me remind you of those two visits. First one was on the American River at Rossmoor Bar. I was throwing a Rattletrap and had one followup that was about a foot long and the second was more than two feet long. Didn't catch any though. The other adventure was with Yuki at New Hogan Reservoir and instead of catching a Striper, I caught a BIG Catfish.
On to today. When we got to where he wanted to go I realized we were at Weber Point in Stockton, California. If you're a follower of KCRA 3 (Local TV station) they show this exact spot every night when they give the weather for Stockton. So here's a look.
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Walkway along Weber Point |
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Toward the end and University Plaza Waterfront Hotel |
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On the left is the Stockton Arena |
Stockton Arena is home to several sports teams like the Stockton Heat (hockey) and formally a soccer team, a couple football teams, and the Stockton Thunder.
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The Sherman |
The white ship above
is The Sherman. The
144-foot ship was once called the General Frank M. Coxe. It was a steam
ferry for the Army built in the 1921. Decades later, it will become a
floating restaurant called The Sherman. From the looks of it today, it'll be a while so don't rush right down with plans for dinner.
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A full shot of the arena. |
We fished from the side opposite the arena. I got a couple drive-bys from a couple small Stripers on a blue/silver Kastmaster, but that was it. I have no idea what to use for Stripers. Yuki struck out on that side of the water. Then we walked over to the side by the arena. Over a period of a couple hours, Yuki got a couple hits and one good miss on a Rattletrap. I fished four or five different lures and plugs, but nothing.
While we were fooling around with plugs and lures, we put in a couple lines with red worms in hopes of enticing some Red Ear Sunfish. The first to come to had was a small Bluegill (I think). I'm not so good at identifying Sunfish. It got to a point that we were having so much fun catching those little Sunfish, we forgot about Stripers.
I really don't have bony legs. It just looks that way.
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Bluegill I think |
Ooops, then I dropped one.
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Sucker flopped under the rail. |
This was what was under the rail.
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From what I can tell, a Redbrest Sunfish |
Then Yuki got his first. A BIG Largemouth (or maybe Smallmouth) Bass.
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Largemouth, I think. Smallmouth? who knows. |
The Yuki added a small Sunfish of some sort (he wouldn't let me take a picture) and then another Bass (even smaller than that one) of which he wouldn't let me take a picture either.
So at the end of the day (about 1:30) I had caught 6 or 7 Sunfish and Yuki had one Sunfish and two Bass, but nothing that looked like a Striper. Then we went to In-N-Out Burger for lunch.
I think we'll do this again. Maybe next time with my little Okuma (2# test) or my 3 wt. fly rod. Could be fun.
The second large mouth bass that I caught was even smaller; the size of my little finger.
ReplyDeleteWell, I must say that catching such a small bass is more difficult than the larger ones. The real seasoned and skilled fishermen go after the smaller fish, I would say.
Mark, that old Army ferry is awesome. I think the bass is a largemouth.
ReplyDeleteA fish is a fish. But the term "drive-bys" carriers double meaning in Stockton. :)
ReplyDelete10-4 Thanks Pat.
DeleteI hope you get out to do some real fishing soon Mark.
ReplyDelete