Giant striped bass caught by Chico angler on Sacramento River
A very large striped bass was caught recently on the Sacramento River near Colusa by veteran Chico angler Andy Joiner. "I was fishing near Colusa, and hadn't caught a thing all day due to the high muddy water", related Joiner. "Around evening time I pulled up on a gravel bar to have dinner, and decided to toss out my line that still had some chewed-up pile worms on the hook. I was using a four-ounce sliding sinker, 3/0 hook, and 20-pound test mono on an Abu-Garcia 6500 baitcasting reel.

"Suddenly I had a huge fish hooked, and I thought it was a sturgeon. We chased it downriver, and were very lucky to get it out of a couple of snags. I finally waded into knee-deep water to measure and release her. She was 47.5 inches long, and 30 inches around, by far my personal best-ever striped bass."

*Editors note- Joiner's big striper was admirably released without weighing, but the length-girth measurements can be applied to several different well-known striped bass weight calculation formulas and charts. Depending on the chart and calculation method used, the big fish would weigh somewhere between 35 and 54 pounds. As an egg-laden female, this whopper would certainly weigh no less than in the mid to high-40's. The official California state record for striped bass is 67 pounds, although a 71-pounder was caught just last year at San Luis Reservoir's O'Neill Forebay near Los Banos.

Sacramento River
Anglers are also catching some more realistically-sized stripers on the Sacramento this week, reported local guide Kevin Brock. "Some school-size stripers are around from Colusa to Tisdale", observed Brock. "The overall numbers have been decent, and our largest fish of the week was 12 pounds. Best results have been on ghost shrimp, live jumbo minnows, and large plastic worms. The best bite has been in the afternoon."
Brock tipped, "The water came up quite a bit on Wednesday of this week, which means we should see some very good numbers of stripers beginning next week."

Lake Oroville
Bass anglers are finding good numbers of fish on Lake Oroville, according to Fil Torres at Oroville Outdoors. "Some anglers are releasing over 30 fish a day", noted Torres. "Nothing too big, but Vern Roberts of Oroville had over 11 pounds [for five bass] on Thursday.

"The fish are ready to move up, and are holding in coves with wood or large rocks that retain some heat. Try near Dark Canyon and the middle fork. Most of the bass are being caught on watermelon-color five-inch Senkos rigged Texas or wacky-style, along with other plastics and jigs; nothing on reaction baits.

"There are quite a few coho salmon being caught, although they are mostly in the 12 to 13-inch class. Trollers are getting fish toplining down to about 30 feet, using nightcrawlers or various lures. Best areas have been Canyon Creek between the bridge and the buoy, along with Foreman Creek."

Torres added, "The boat launching is still good, with the Spillway Launch operating six lanes. Bidwell is also good, but Lime Saddle requires a fairly long walk."

BCFGC meeting
The Butte County Fish and Game Commission will hold its quarterly meeting at 7:00 PM on Monday night at the Paradise Irrigation District offices at 5325 Black Olive Drive in Paradise. Agenda items will include a warden's report, biologists report, and park rangers report. The public is invited.

Ocean salmon fishing season
Anglers will be able to catch salmon in many of California's ocean waters starting tomorrow [Saturday April 3], and running until April 30. The Pacific Fishery Management Council will be meeting on April 10 to decide the fate of the remainder of the season. The PFMC will decide on several different options, including the possibility of completely closing the season for the balance of the year.

The California Fish and Game Commission will wait until the Federal regulations are complete before finalizing this year's inland salmon regulations. Hopefully local anglers will know by mid-May what salmon fishing options will be allowed for river anglers in 2010.

Chico Bass Club
The Chico Bass Club held its monthly meeting on Wednesday night in Chico. The major discussion item was the group's upcoming "Lake Oroville Open" public tournament event on April 24. The event is the largest locally-organized bass tournament of the year on Lake Oroville.

The club's March tournament was held at Stony Gorge Reservoir. Conditions were very windy, and not many fish were caught. The only five-bass limit weighed-in during the entire two-day competition was caught by Toni Corpe. "I caught my fish on Senkos, crankbaits, and tubes, but there was no rhyme, reason, or pattern to what the fish were doing", remarked Corpe.

Final Stony Gorge results: [Day 1]- Toni Corpe- 8.89 pounds total; Butch Maciel- 6.06; Jeff Buckley- 5.09; Big Fish- Cheryl Miller- 2.47. [Day 2] Rich Cavanagh- 6.70; Mike Salca- 4.93; Lee Willis- 3.36; Big Fish- Cavanagh- 3.04.

Department of Fish and Game Q and A [by Carrie Wilson]
Q- What documents are necessary to possess and transfer deer mounts?
A- There is no paperwork required by DFG to possess old taxidermied deer mounts. There are also no restrictions on possession or transport. However, it is illegal to sell, barter, or trade them regardless of their age. It is always best if the tags are attached, but it is not required.