I eased the 12 ½ foot fiberglass boat in the water and tied it to the dock just after dawn. While warming up the outboard several fish crashed the surface near the reeds on the other side of the dock. I contained my excitement and desire to make a cast or two. I untied the dock line and headed down to my favorite slough. As I entered the mouth of the slough, the tide was slowly coming in. As the rain began to come down, I cast my 1/2 ounce Rat-L-Trap over towards the weeds and immediately had a hookup. A nice fighting 2-pound striped bass was securely hooked and putting up quite a fight.
I continued to drift with the tide into the slough, catching many small stripers along the way. A couple of other boats were already in the slough; obviously the word was out that the big ones were in the river. Coming up to a small weedy mud-island, I decided to go between the island and the shore. This was a good choice as another well-placed cast up to a submerged log was more than the 4-pounder could handle. The aggressive eater stopped my Rat-L-Trap dead and ran with the current further into the river. The fish was no match for my favorite striper setup, a 6 1/2 foot Ugly-Stik Lite Pro, an Abu-Garcia light spinning reel spooled with 10-lb test. Much bigger stripers had lost the battle to this setup, the largest being a 35-pounder but that was another day!

With the help of the wind I placed a couple of casts into the reeds. After getting my Rat-L-Trap off of the snag, I quickly retied my line after finding some abrasions. The incoming tide was stronger now as I drifted towards the back part of the slough. Floating around a corner I had to row away from another boat anchored in one of my favorite inlets. Getting past them, I cast over to the shallows. After a couple of turns of the crank, another solid hit. This time the fish was easily landed and was back in the river in no time.

After anchoring for a while and casting around the back part of the slough catching quite a few small stripers, I pulled anchor and headed back to the entrance. Coming up to another of my favorite spots I kicked the outboard to idle and began casting up into the shallows. After two casts and nice hookup and another 2-pounder quickly caught and released. I continued to motor out of the slough. Once at the mouth I could see some large splashes near the shore. I cast several times to the area but caught nothing. Soon I was out of range and had to motor back out to the mouth. A few more casts and once again, the Rat-L-Trap was too much of a temptation; another aggressive striped bass was hooked. Soon after the bite turned off like a light switch.

I anchored back towards the end of the slough and decided to have some lunch. I cast several times while eating but nothing seemed to be going on. The other anglers decided to pack it in and head for home or another spot in the river. Soon I was alone in one of my favorite fishing spots at a slack tide. It was so peaceful and quiet; none of the usual stresses of daily life.

Once the tide began to head out, I started casting my Rat-L-Trap. Many casts later I had a small striper on the line. Continuing to drift out I hooked another small striped bass halfway out of the slough. Coming up to the outlet of the flood-plain, I noticed bait fish ripping the surface way back in the shallows of the flood-plain. As I drifted by the mouth of the flood-plain I fired off a cast as far back as I could but just an empty retrieve. I cranked up the outboard and headed past the mouth of the outlet. This time I anchored and began to cast. I could see the fish crashing around in the shallows but was not having any luck.

Several casts later, I hooked a little schoolie-sized striper. As the little guy came to the surface, I was surprised to see the white side of a 3 to 4 foot striper coming after the one hooked on my line. With the very large fish coming towards the top, the little guy dove with all its might and disappeared into the murky water of the river. Several cranks later, the scared little fish was back near the surface and the big one was not far behind. I was so excited with the thought of catching another 4-footer that I quickly unhooked the one on my line and switched to a 1-ounce Rat-L-Trap.

With the 1-ounce Rat-L-Trap on my line, the first cast I had a very solid hit but lost it after a couple of pulls. Still my heart was racing from the sight of the monster striped bass, I cast as far back into the flood-plain as possible and within the first few cranks I had a solid hookup and the fight was on. The line was peeling off my reel with the drag screaming. The striper swam straight out of the flood-plain, into the depths of the river, and headed out with the tide. I tightened my grasp of the spool to put a little more pressure on the fish; not too much or the 10-pound test would snap under the strain. My heart was racing as I lost line with each run from the fish. After some time, I was able to turn the fish and begin reeling back in my lost line. Halfway back to the boat and still about 30 yards out he decided to make another run taking out as much line as I had reeled back in. This time when he slowed, it was too tired to make any more long runs. I knew I would get this one into the boat but struggled with keeping the line taught and pulling the handle out on the net. After a few more minutes, I had the 12-pounder in the net. I unhooked this one and placed it in the live holding tank.

After checking my line for abrasions, I cut and retied my 1-ounce Rat-L-Trap. Another cast back into the flood-plain and another nice strike. After a short fight I released a 3-pounder. Several more casts with no fish. Another cast and the next fish was on the line. This time it swam straight at my boat anchored outside the flood-plain. I did all I could to keep the fish out of the anchor line but he was too large. This was definitely the largest fish I had hooked so far that day. I tried to put the rod & reel under the anchor line but the back treble-hook caught the line just under the surface. This caused the fish to turn upwards in his struggle to get away with the front-treble hook pulling out of its mouth. I could see a nice 3-foot striper swimming back into the depths.

Oh, the tales of the ones that got away! I decided to release my captive for another day. I love this time of the year in the Napa River!

Tim Mc Daniel