Lake Mendocino, Ukiah, CA, May 5-6

As I'm still stuck in CA for the short term, I took the opportunity to hit up Lake Mendocino this weekend for some striper action.  Headed up with Bill from NCKA first thing in the morning on Saturday.  Got some minnows for bait and headed out.  I didn't spot a boil all morning, but did manage a 26" striper in the very back of Crappie cove.  I was in the shallows rigging up my other rod to cast on some structure for LMB's when my bait rod with a minnow went off.  I thought it was a catfish at first, but the way it was fighting.  I also got a nice 18" LMB out of there.  As Bill and I were heading in around 1, I spotted a boil in Barn Cover and we took a right turn and headed towards it.  They went down before we got there so we set up a drift over the spot.  Bill hooked up a 26" which took him in circles before landing it.

A few minutes after Bill lands his, my minnow starts twitching nervously.  The rod starts to load up and I take out of the rod hold and swing for a hookset.  Shiiiii-at, the bail flips open and I get nothing but air.     Flip the bail back in action, and the loads up again and this time I'm on.  The fish is coming in easy and I think it's just a schoolie, but it soon wakes up and takes a long reel-singing run.  About 10 minutes later I put the net to a nice fat 28" striper.

There were easily 15 of us kayak anglers on the lake with most getting at least 1 and some getting their limit of 2.  Had a nice evening telling stories around the campfire before waking up the next morning to hit it again.  Bill got a 28" and I drew a skunk.  We called it a day early as we had a 3 hour drive home ahead of us still.

There's a tournament going on here next weekend.  Looks like I'll be heading back up.

-Allen

Sweet, I'm a striper fan, from my days on the East Coast. I've heard people say that there's a real flavor difference between the ones caught in the salt and ones caught in freshwater. Have you noticed any difference?

I really believe there is a difference between fresh and saltwater stripers.  I'll take a striper from Lake Mendo any day, I find the meat to be much "sweeter" compared to the ones we get in the salt.

-Allen

Wow, that's not what I expected, or heard from others. Then again, several guys mentioned eating stripers out of Lake Powell/Foul.

Thanks for the great report, Allen. 
I also read the write-up on striper fishing on Lake Mendocino over on the NCKA site.  Sounds like fun fishing and good munching.  Being new to any fishing, other than trout and salmon, this all has me wondering if there's any striper fishing in Oregon?

Jim

The Umpqua and the Smith Rivers both hold stripers.

-Allen

The Umpqua and the Smith Rivers both hold stripers.

-Allen

Awesome, didn't know that. I'm down for heading down there for some line side action every now and then. Sure go through Striper withdrawals alot... 

Z