Boldfin
05-20-2012, 10:55 PM
Had a rare opportunity to fish Castaic in the afternoon to closing time today. After the paltry winter and spring so far as stripers are concerned, I had low expectations. I was hoping to just find a few green bass that wanted to play. After three hours of fly chucking, I'd only managed a couple small LMB. I started my tour of the lake, checking all the normally-reliable striper areas and didn't meter much. Hard to believe it's late May, and they aren't showing well.
As the sun started to set, I caught the beginning of the annular eclipse in the corner of my eye. The effect on the sunlight was mild, but definitely noticable. I was enjoying my final lap of the lake, still not seeing much in the way of fish at every spot I checked. Then just as the eclipse was reaching its peak I ran over the mother load of what could only be stripers. It had been so long since I'd seen a school like that on my meter, I started to to doubt that it was real. But instinct soon took over, and I was setting up on the spot.
First cast, I let my fly sink almost a full minute. They were hugging the bottom, and I knew I needed to keep the fly in the zone. Three strips and I felt that familiar stop of a striper climbing on my fly. I set the hook, and after a couple nice head shakes, he took off for deeper water. It was no monster, but I knew I had my first Castaic striper of 2012. He gave me a quite a good fight on my 7wt. He was dead tired by the time I had him boatside, and he just rolled. The boga said a hair over 4lbs. He was good and chunky, so I decided to take him home for dinner.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/Boldfin/Castaic/P5201570.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/Boldfin/Castaic/P5201572.jpg
I made a couple more casts, and got one more hookup. Again, very deep. This one came up fast, but it felt much heavier. I was stripping line in like a madman, and missing my bucket. Line was strewn all over the place, when he changed directions and made a run. I had a loop of line catch the rear cleat and ping - it was all over. I hate when that happens. That was the end of my day, but I was plenty happy with my one take-home fish. I wondered if the eclipse had anything to do with it? I sure hope not, since the next one won't occur until 2023. I wouldn't want to go striperless on Castaic for nine more years.
As the sun started to set, I caught the beginning of the annular eclipse in the corner of my eye. The effect on the sunlight was mild, but definitely noticable. I was enjoying my final lap of the lake, still not seeing much in the way of fish at every spot I checked. Then just as the eclipse was reaching its peak I ran over the mother load of what could only be stripers. It had been so long since I'd seen a school like that on my meter, I started to to doubt that it was real. But instinct soon took over, and I was setting up on the spot.
First cast, I let my fly sink almost a full minute. They were hugging the bottom, and I knew I needed to keep the fly in the zone. Three strips and I felt that familiar stop of a striper climbing on my fly. I set the hook, and after a couple nice head shakes, he took off for deeper water. It was no monster, but I knew I had my first Castaic striper of 2012. He gave me a quite a good fight on my 7wt. He was dead tired by the time I had him boatside, and he just rolled. The boga said a hair over 4lbs. He was good and chunky, so I decided to take him home for dinner.
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/Boldfin/Castaic/P5201570.jpg
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s163/Boldfin/Castaic/P5201572.jpg
I made a couple more casts, and got one more hookup. Again, very deep. This one came up fast, but it felt much heavier. I was stripping line in like a madman, and missing my bucket. Line was strewn all over the place, when he changed directions and made a run. I had a loop of line catch the rear cleat and ping - it was all over. I hate when that happens. That was the end of my day, but I was plenty happy with my one take-home fish. I wondered if the eclipse had anything to do with it? I sure hope not, since the next one won't occur until 2023. I wouldn't want to go striperless on Castaic for nine more years.