Bako Duct sunday eve

[gletemfeelsteelgary]

Hi Bako Duct Sunday evening for an attempt at some Mo’ slayage !

Jason (Finsmackdown) met me out there.

No flow for the better part of the eve but it slowly flowed late on into the night..

We sorta anticipated a slow bite so we came prepared for some roboworm action for LMB as a backup…


Roboworms and LC pointers did our damage that night !
Jason Nailed a LMB…
Skunkshaka’ !

Hmmmmmm…MY TURN….
Skunkshaka !’

Jason on anotha’ feesh !

(can ya tell it’s a bit brisk out there ?)
Ahhhhhh yes…….nice fat Feesh !
A freaking toad by duct standards…my PB w/o question for the duct but not a PB overall…
Saweeeet drag peela’ !

One real “girthy” customer here !

Before any haters start working the keys overtime, this fish was safely released moments after the pics…sorry bout the sand but try lipping a bass in pitch dark night with hooks in his jaw ! Not an easy task when their all yoked up and flopping !...and I don’t EVER shine the light near the water…
Anyway….
I landed 2 more smaller models that I didn’t bother photographing as well.

My main quest was to nail me some jailbirds…

Hookup !.......Dannk !
Sheesh…..smallest duct striper I ever landed (but at least it’s the right flava’ !)

After much much much more diligent angling…

Hookup !

Yes a respectable model !
Saweeeeeet !

Victory is mine and I can sleep finally..

Off to home I went and I left Jason out there to spend the night and fish Buena Vista in the AM !

The action was slow but there was still action to be had !
Good times…..tough ! but ALWAYS ! Good Times !
Gary

[cutbait]

Dayum Gary, whats that one weigh. 5 lb?

That mini looks like a Pyramid schoolie

I just knew that lay down would produce.

I wanna get a duct DD LMB

BTW, Jasons' pics are dupicates

[Lipripper93561]

.5 is a close contender for my coveted striperfest Trophy. I hear you on lipping those suckers, everytime I reach, I think of those post where the treble draws second blood, better a dirty fish, than a trip to the ER. Enlighten me on not using your headlamp near the water, I think I've heard it before, but give me your take Gary. When I bring friends out there, I always have to tell them to keep the light off, but after hearing them stumble around in the dark, it usually ends up on. I generally user a 3 setting LED headlamp on the lowest setting when I'm tossing around barb wire and fencing, just to avoid lost lures, and haven't notice a problem catching fish. ( But maybe I am just diminishing what I "could" have caught. But generally the light is off. When treking back to the truck and just checking out the banks with full light power, I've notice the sculpin sitting on the edges don't spook with the light, but the fingerling striper near the banks and small minnows spook or agitate when lite up. I've almost always assumed that light attracts baitfish, thus attracting larger game fish, ( squiding, pier lights etc). Would you teach me your theory on this, we can call it Tactics with Gary 101?

[cutbait]

Imagine sitting in your house at night watching T.V. or eating, and you see flashlights moving in your back yard and shinning through the window


Wouldn't you be on high alert?

Lights off at the water.

Full moons, I don't even wear a light

[fishinone]

That mini looks like a Pyramid schoolie

A Pyramid schoolie that length is a little thinner. That one has some meat on him. Gary, do you have any of that beer batter left?

[gletemfeelsteelgary]

.5 is a close contender for my coveted striperfest Trophy. I hear you on lipping those suckers, everytime I reach, I think of those post where the treble draws second blood, better a dirty fish, than a trip to the ER. Enlighten me on not using your headlamp near the water, I think I've heard it before, but give me your take Gary. When I bring friends out there, I always have to tell them to keep the light off, but after hearing them stumble around in the dark, it usually ends up on. I generally user a 3 setting LED headlamp on the lowest setting when I'm tossing around barb wire and fencing, just to avoid lost lures, and haven't notice a problem catching fish. ( But maybe I am just diminishing what I "could" have caught. But generally the light is off. When treking back to the truck and just checking out the banks with full light power, I've notice the sculpin sitting on the edges don't spook with the light, but the fingerling striper near the banks and small minnows spook or agitate when lite up. I've almost always assumed that light attracts baitfish, thus attracting larger game fish, ( squiding, pier lights etc). Would you teach me your theory on this, we can call it Tactics with Gary 101?

Please see the attached post for some info:
http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/sho...014#post416014

Ha ha ha ha

It is my opinion that any intermittent light will spook the fish or at least at minimum put them on “alert” and take them out of their normal element so to speak.

My “theory” does not aplly to any constant light (not that of a lantern !) such as gatehouse lights, dock lights, streetlights or anything in any degree of consitency.

My theory, to go into a greater extent, is that light supercharges the plankton, therefore making them not only very active but to collect in greater numbers than that of a dark zone, more plankton concentrated in 1 area =’s more baitfish, more baitfish =’s more target fish.

Dead water will apply to these theories, in fast current these plankton theories would not apply as the current will cancel out the “collective” theories…

And subsequently cancel out the Baitfish theories not only because of the absence of plankton but more importantly the current will not allow the baitfish to collect in any reasonable manner…

BUT, most importantly these 2 moving water theories mentioned above do not necessarily cancel the entire “baitfish” attractant factors and therefore does not cancel out the overall “target fish” attractant.
(I hope I am not getting too deep here-I don’t want 101 questions to answer regarding these comments after this)

The currents have a tendency to “drag” the bait through the current in certain “eddy’s” unwontedly…basically the bait gets caught up in the current and the stripers know this and hunt in these zones for an easy meal..

NOW, with that said, add any “constant light” and we now have added a whole additional key factor into the equation….Light !......adding more visibility to the stripers, therefore easier to target their food.


To sum up, I wouldn’t make a habit of shinning your light anywhere near the water if you plan on fishing that zone and it’s imperitive to be extremely quiet as all the sound carries through the duct like an amplifier ! (even footsteps).

Well, you and a few others have asked this question, I hope that is clear, I know I went pretty in-depth but if you really want to know how my mind works…that’s it…

I hope this helps !

P.S.
This doesn’t mean you cannot use a light at all…..simply step away from the duct up on the dirt roads and use it and an angle pointing away from the duct instead of at it !

And if you hope to catch more fish in that zone, don’t shine it on it when landing a fish unless absolutely necessary (sometimes U have to though !)

P.P.S.
It is not my opinion that light itself spooks the stripers, it’s sudden influx of light or “moving light”
Constant light can be a great benefit but don’t let your shadows from it fall on the water either, that has the same adverse affects.

Good luck everyone and “let ‘em feel the steel !”
Gary


Oh yeah, I beleive the "fingerling striper" you beleive you are seeing are the silversides (or freshwater smelt if you may), they scatter like crazy with any light deviation....but watch them in the lighted zones up top feeding on the plankton unaffected

[yolo]

The silversides will come and congregate at light as will the perch in the duct. I too think that lights will spook the stripers but the baitfish like it.

[Dalizzy07]

i never knew the duct had LMB, ive seen some catch them in the friant kern canal though

[Lipripper93561]

Thanks for the lesson Gary. Now thinking about it, those probably were the silversides, quite transparent with a silver line running down both sides. I have to agree, anything out of the normal will tend to spook, noise, moving lights, etc. Am I assuming that this leads to some smacked lures on the other side of the duct, I guess that goes with the territory though. I always called the duct the concrete river, but you make me think more in depth, than just the concrete, eddies, flows, gates, slack, etc. You have me thinking more as a fly fishermen, looking for current, eddies, and places that will be condusive to forage. 101 soaked in and analyzed, 201 soon to come.

[gletemfeelsteelgary]

etc. You have me thinking more as a fly fishermen,for current, eddies, and places that will be condusive to forage. .

Precisely !....my younger years as a fly fisherman taught me a whole lot about currents and where fish hold and why....

Thats why I knew I would adjust when I began fishing the duct 1 year ago last month.

Keep thinking that way and it will definately translate into more catches !

Salute,
Gary