Neither one of our baits made it to the bottom and we were into a double hook-up on stripers. Both fish were keeper sized, about 22 inches, but we chose to release them in hopes of finding larger fish. We nailed two more fish in the 3 to 4 pound class, then the school scattered and we were off in search of more action.

As we rounded a tule lined point, we both noticed several birds working the back of a large cove just outside of the weedline. "That's where Monica and I caught our fish yesterday evening," said Jody. "The fish have been holding along the weedline in 4 to 8 feet of water."

Because we were now in shallow water, we headed in on the electric motor to avoid scattering the school of fish. It didn't take long to score as we both hit stripers on our first cast. Mine was a small fish, but Jody's made a nice run and continued to peel line off the drag as we chased it on the trolling motor.

"This is definitely the biggest fish I've hooked this year," he said as line continued to scream off his Shimano spinning reel. "This might be my first 20 pounder."

A solid five minutes of chasing the fish in open water and we finally got a glimpse as it made a shallow run only inches below the surface. "Looks like you might have that 20 pounder," I said with the net at the ready. The fish finally begin to tire and finally came along side the boat. I slipped the net under her and gently hoisted it onto the front deck.

A quick check with the Berkley scale revealed Jody was just shy of his first 20 pounder. "19.6 pounds," he groaned. "I can't believe this fish isn't 20 pounds." I snapped a few pictures, then Jody released the fish to fight another day.

Following a few hoops and hollers and high fives, we idled back to the back of the cove and found a red hot bite for the next two hours. Before we headed in for lunch, Jody had a total of 10 fish and I had 7. We were fishing light line, 6 to 8 pound test, on light action 7 foot spinning rods. Our top baits for the day were Zoom Flukes, gitzits and Sassy Shad. We probably could have landed more fish with heavier gear, but there's nothing like hooking into a 5 or 6 pound striper on a light spinning rod. Of course it takes several minutes to land each fish, but the excitement of the fight is well worth it.

After lunch, we headed back out and found more of the same for the next three hours. We landed a couple more quality fish; Jody had one just over 8 pounds and I landed a 9.6 pounder. By day's end, our total count was 36 fish. We kept a couple 6 pounders for fish tacos and released the rest.

Look for similar action over the next month as more stripers pour into the area. The key is to find concentrations of shad in protected waters where the stripers can pin them up against the weed beds. While the typical baits such as Rebels and hair raisers work well, give this light action fishing a try and you'll be amazed at how many more fish you catch.