Dale was fishing for bass and found reasonable success for bass in clear water along the steep walls of the main channel. They were crowded up into nooks just off the channel where it was calm and a bit warmer. Wind cooled the water and turned off the bass. Calm sheltered water with direct exposure to warming was best.
They rounded the corner and went up Navajo Canyon to the dirty water near the end. Here depth was about 20 feet and visibility was 2 feet. Their timing was just right as they ran into an active striper school. They were casting deep running Norman lures. Bart had a shallower running Norman bait and caught lots of stripers. Dale had the DD22 and was getting down to consistently bigger fish. They caught about 40 and kept 20 of the fat 4 pound fish.
Then the big one hit. Dale had a hard time turning the fish but finally got it in the boat. Unfortunately, his digital scale malfunctioned. He did not get an accurate weight. The big fish measured 36 inches. Looks like we will all have to guess the weight but I think it is at least 18 pounds. We will never know because Dale admired the fish, took a picture and then let it go. He had 20 fish to clean and didn't need to eat the big one. It is still swimming in Navajo Canyon.
