I took 4 striper trips in the Bay out of San Rafael, and fished one evening at San Luis...

1st Trip - San Rafael
High Tide was at 1:45. We launched 1:00 and fished all of our favorite spots for nothing. At 5:00 the wind started and as we were running to a new spot, a wave came over the bow and got inside my coat. By 5:30 I was ready to call it a day, but my partner said, "Let's try this protected water at the Marin Islands." It was the only place where we weren't getting badly pushed around by the wind. Between 5:30 and 7:00 we caught 10 fish. I lost two solid fish and landed a 10lber and an 8lber on a Yo-Zuri Mag Minnow.



2nd Trip - San Rafael
Slow trip... only caught 2 small keepers on the Mag Minnow... not topwater bite.

San Luis
Three of us fished at Check 12. It was during the heat wave and we launched at 3:00. It was hot, and there wasn't a breeze. Right as the sun went over the hill the fish started busting everywhere. Between 5:00 and 6:30 we caught 20 between three of us. Most were small keepers with a few dinks. I caught all my fish on a Super Spook. It had to be thrown directly over their heads when the were busting, no more than 18 inches in either direction or they wouldn't hit it. I did lose one solid fish that felt between 7 - 10 lbs. AWESOME TOPWATER NIGHT.

3rd Trip - San Rafael

We planned to go out on Sunday morning. The forecast was for 30 mph winds, .5 inches of rain, but it was calm on Saturday night! We got out in the dark and the water was flat calm with low clouds... PERFECT for TOPWATER!!!! In the first 2 hours I caught two fish on a Spook and one on a swimbait. At 8:00 we found the school that wasn't breaking the surface, and caught & released fish as quickly as we could get our lines in the water; losing the school at 9:00. My friend was getting consistently larger fish on the Mag Minnow, but I couldn't put down the Spook!!!! A few hours later we got into 'em again in 4 ft. of water, and they were breaking the surface! It was NUTS!!! The wind kicked up and we caught 6 - 7 more marauders before calling it a day. We probably caught 40 fish that day... by far the best striper trip of my life.

4th Trip - San Rafael

10 fish, nothing huge. Nothing landed on the Spook.

I might go out on Sunday to San Luis or the Delta, depending on the conditions.

Also, I was in Dallas Mon.-Wed. for business, staying directly across the street from the BassPro Shop in Grapevine. They had every color of every plug know to man. I picked up 4 Super Spooks, a Rapala Super Shad Rap and Saltwater Skitter Pop. Those Rapalas are HUGE but should work for similarly sized stripers & largemouth.}(

Mike F

Attachment #1, (.txt file)
Attachment #2, (.txt file)
Attachment #3, (.txt file)