All Rights Reserved. It was still dark when we slipped the boat into the calm waters of the Napa River and tied it up to the dock. The skies were overcast and the forecast was for rain but the air was still and surprisingly much warmer than two weeks ago when we had been here last.
There was a light glow of orange appearing above the hills on the eastern horizon. As we slowly motored up the main channel of the Napa River, I mentioned my concern to Tim about fishing for stripers up in the slough, a tidal-influenced, muddy offshoot from the main river, in the pre-dawn darkness amongst the guys dressed in camouflage, hiding in the reeds with their guns.
However, the anticipation of catching another thirty five pound Striped Bass, on light line in the shallows as on previous trip overrode any more thoughts for our safety, even though we could hear random gunshots in the distance. It turned out to be a perfect morning for lure fishing the shallow waters of the slough for Stripers. The tide had just turned from a 5. We had the turn of the tide coinciding with sunrise in our favor and in the dim light we could see baitfish behaving skittishly along the shoreline near us.
Water was starting to drain from the floodplains and creeks back into the slough, carrying food and nutrients with it. Occasionally we would see a wake that was caused from the back of a large striper breaking the surface as it chased little schools of frantic baitfish right up to the banks where they sought protection in the shelter of the reeds.
We were fishing from my 19ft BlueWater walk-through in seven feet of water but we would sometimes drift up onto a bank that would halve that depth, so the outdrive was fully raised. Tim was in one corner at the stern and I was standing on the small, plywood cover to the anchor locker, up at the bow.
