Castaic Lake 1/10 - First Stripers of 2010

[Fire Ball]

I hit the upper lake today with my dad, grandpa, and brother after getting the boat fixed nearly 100% yesterday. We headed over to the buoy line and baited up and after about 15 minutes, I got my first bite of the day. It was a 2 lb schoolie and it was my first fish of 2010! Not too bad, but look at the picture below. I didn't want to lip this guy because he had some weird thing in his mouth. I don't know what it is called, but it looked disgusting, lol. About 5 minutes after that, my dad got a little 1 lb schoolie and nearly 1 minute later, my grandpa got his first striper, a 1.5 lber. We didn't catch anything for a while so we cruised around and fished Elizabeth Canyon for a little while. Nothing there so we move back to the buoy line. Still nothing, but then all of a sudden my rod starts twitching and BENDO! I reel it up and get a 1.5 lb striper. About 5 minutes later, I get another one!! This one was also 1.5 lb. It was pretty cool to get 2 right after each other. A little while later, BENDO! I reel up another 1.5 lb schoolie. A little while after that we headed in for the day. I ended up with 4, my dad got 1, my grandpa got 1, and my brother caught 0! My brother did more complaining than fishing today... It was a pretty good day on the water and the wind wasn't too bad.

Biggest of the day at 2 lb. What is that thing sticking out of his mouth? LOL
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3293/striper2.jpg

My second fish weighing 1.5 lb.
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/3056/striper3.jpg

My third weighing 1.5 lb.
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/1541/striper4.jpg

Yet another weighing 1.5 lb.
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/8614/striper5.jpg

My dad's wimpy 1 lber! We got a 6 lber last time, haha!
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/3530/dadstriper2.jpg

My grandpa's first striper weighing 1.5 lb. He didn't want to hold it because I told him the teeth are sharp so you have to hold them well so they don't wiggle around.
http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/7886/papastriper1.jpg

[marzocchi]

Nice going there. I was about to head there this afternoon but I slept in. I believe the thing protruding from its mouth is the stomach. You caught him deep and it suffered some barotrauma. Same thing happens to saltwater rockfish when you get them from the deep depths.

[PitchFish]

How ironic...about two weeks ago I took a couple buddies fishing and one caught a striper about the same size 1.5/2.5 poinds, and the same thing happened.....while taking the hook out he noticed that exact same thing in his mouth....funny though, I have caught a few stripers in the past from different lakes and I have never seen that.


Anyways, good job getting the stripers.

[Fire Ball]

Nice going there. I was about to head there this afternoon but I slept in. I believe the thing protruding from its mouth is the stomach. You caught him deep and it suffered some barotrauma. Same thing happens to saltwater rockfish when you get them from the deep depths.

Weird. I have seen it happen to rockfish in pictures before. Not sure if it is the swim bladder, the stomach, or something else.

[Ifishtoolittle]

THe "thing" protruding from the striper's mouth is infact its swim bladder. The air pressure shift must of caused that. It all depends on how deep you caught the jailbird. If it was at 40+ feet than yeah the swim bladder should inflate.

[marzocchi]

THe "thing" protruding from the striper's mouth is infact its swim bladder. The air pressure shift must of caused that. It all depends on how deep you caught the jailbird. If it was at 40+ feet than yeah the swim bladder should inflate.

There is a lot misconception that is the swim bladder. It is the stomach. Don't ever pop that thing if your going to release the fish. Dont even stuff it back down because you risk killing it. If the fish swims back down, the air pressure in its swim bladder will dequalize again when it is back down to near the depth it was at. The stomach will automatically reverse it itself and it will live another day. =)

[CAPT'N]

marzocchi is right. The Swim bladder expanded and PUSHED the stomach out of the fish.

Is has to do with depth, and the rate of ascent.

And NEVER puncture the stomach.................

was looking for you out there marzocchi

Nice to meet you yesterday Fire Ball!


Capt'n

[fishinone]

Nice Catch! I was anchored at the left end of the buoy line in the morning.

Marzocchi and Capt'n are right it's the stomach. When you bring them up from down deep that happens sometimes.

It's not as bad as it is for black bass, striper can control the air in their swim bladder.

If you want to avoid this so that you can release them, give them some time when your reeling them up. On the way up they get to certain point and really start fighting. Keep pressure on them but let them swim around a little at that depth until they come through that depth on their own, then reel them up the rest of the way.

[marzocchi]

marzocchi is right. The Swim bladder expanded and PUSHED the stomach out of the fish.

Is has to do with depth, and the rate of ascent.

And NEVER puncture the stomach.................

was looking for you out there marzocchi

Nice to meet you yesterday Fire Ball!


Capt'n

I dont usually fish Castaic on the weekends. Saturdays I ride my bike in the mountains and Sundays I usually take my pops out saltwater fishing. Unless he does not want to go, I fish Castaic or sleep in. But my pops is getting old, so he is fishing less and less, so your bound to catch me out there sometime.

[gletemfeelsteelgary]

definately the bladder, I had them doing that about 2 weeks ago while catching them at 60-70 feet down, thats from decompression when you reel them up...

Congrats on the feesh...even if theyre all not toads, at least your getting some fish...and thats what its about..

Sometimes you just have to take what "lady lake" gives you, you always gotta be gratefull she's kicking out anything for you....sometimes the big fish bite and other times they don't.. especially stripers....sometimes they switch on and off like a light switch..

Nice work..

stay on em, the bigger units will come in time if you stay on them...

Nice work,
Gary

[fishfinder]

WTG fireball, did you try the owner circle hooks yet? If you go back again try that spot you saw me at last year(dec 28) there were a lot that size in 60' of water.

[Fire Ball]

There is a lot misconception that is the swim bladder. It is the stomach. Don't ever pop that thing if your going to release the fish. Dont even stuff it back down because you risk killing it. If the fish swims back down, the air pressure in its swim bladder will dequalize again when it is back down to near the depth it was at. The stomach will automatically reverse it itself and it will live another day. =)

That makes sense now. I did release them yesterday because I didn't want to fillet them and everything. It is just so much easier to release them.


marzocchi is right. The Swim bladder expanded and PUSHED the stomach out of the fish.

Is has to do with depth, and the rate of ascent.

And NEVER puncture the stomach.................

was looking for you out there marzocchi

Nice to meet you yesterday Fire Ball!


Capt'n

It was nice to meet you and CowPatty too!


Nice Catch! I was anchored at the left end of the buoy line in the morning.

Marzocchi and Capt'n are right it's the stomach. When you bring them up from down deep that happens sometimes.

It's not as bad as it is for black bass, striper can control the air in their swim bladder.

If you want to avoid this so that you can release them, give them some time when your reeling them up. On the way up they get to certain point and really start fighting. Keep pressure on them but let them swim around a little at that depth until they come through that depth on their own, then reel them up the rest of the way.

Cool. How did you guys do? There were quite a few boats over there. Sometimes the striper hiss at me while they are releasing air, lol. I like how they really start fighting at one point. They are more fun to fight than LMB once you get them to that point.


definately the bladder, I had them doing that about 2 weeks ago while catching them at 60-70 feet down, thats from decompression when you reel them up...

Congrats on the feesh...even if theyre all not toads, at least your getting some fish...and thats what its about..

Sometimes you just have to take what "lady lake" gives you, you always gotta be gratefull she's kicking out anything for you....sometimes the big fish bite and other times they don't.. especially stripers....sometimes they switch on and off like a light switch..

Nice work..

stay on em, the bigger units will come in time if you stay on them...

Nice work,
Gary

Thanks Gary!


WTG fireball, did you try the owner circle hooks yet? If you go back again try that spot you saw me at last year(dec 28) there were a lot that size in 60' of water.

I didn't get the Owner circle hooks, but I got some other ones. When I went to Sport Chalet they only had some weird Owner circle hooks (not mosquito or octopus) so I didn't get those and got some Matzuo Up-Eye circle hooks (which look like octopus hooks). I am still on the look out for Owner mosquito circle hooks! The circle hooks worked wonderfully! They were perfectly set in the top lip or side of the lip every time while my rod was in the holder. They fixed the buoy line, so now you can't go back to that area that you guys were fishing! I am probably going to hit the upper lake again this weekend since I got my annual pass finally.

[basscat]

You guys are all wrong about that thing out of the jailbird's mouth, it's the tongue!!

Best tasting part of the fish, hands down.....J/K, lol.... :ROFL:

Great catches there and fun to be out with the pops.

[sansou]

Nice job on the stripers!

That's a STOMACH sticking out, not a bladder. Just to reiterate for the experts that insist it is the bladder.

By the way, don't forget to "fizz" your stripers.........in HOT oil!

[Fire Ball]

Nice job on the stripers!

That's a STOMACH sticking out, not a bladder. Just to reiterate for the experts that insist it is the bladder.

By the way, don't forget to "fizz" your stripers.........in HOT oil!

I would fizz them in hot oil if it wasn't so much work. :ROFL: