So, my buddy bought himself a boat that's striper worthy.

He headed out to Antioch last weekend but didnt know the area too well. Ended up by Sherman Lake up the 160/Rio Vista area. He got a few hits, but nothing stuck.

We're going to give it a shot this weekend and figured I'd ask the knowledgeable.

I've never fished for stripes on boat or in that area off the banks, so any help would be appreciated.

I'll probably use lures (4-5" white swimbaits and a few diff cranks), but will soak cut and live bait when we're feeling lazy.

Hoping for a nice stripe to report on!

Tight lines.

FNF

Tough day of fishing yesterday! Ended up not using the boat. Fished from the banks...

Headed out at about 4.30a and hit the water at about 5.30ish. I quickly started to throw lures once we got there, but nothing hit. I then set up my second rod to fish with cut bait.

One big mistake...DO NOT BRING SMALL RODS. From the banks here, it's all rock. Even 40' in. I got like 5 snags and lost the entire setup each time. Once it got light enough to see things, I noticed EVERYONE fishing from the banks were using 10'-15' rods. Actually, seen one guy using a 7-9' rod but he was in a different area which could've been different than just rock?

We had to move. We went down into an area that you have to pay $5, but at least it's all sandy there. Hardly any rock at all. Thing is that it's really shallow there. The deep/er water is about 100' out. Couldn't cast that far with the rods I brought. I walked the banks and lure fished quite a bit through the change in tides, but no takers. Used white swim baits and a couple jointed cranks. Again, it was pretty shallow, maybe 5-7' of water at the deepest, for the rods I was using. Had I known, I would've brought some larger rods and heavier tackle in general.

For cut bait we used: 'chovy (whole & cut), shad (whole), fresh liver, ghost and grass shrimp (frozen - hate frozen bait. just falls off hook) and blood worms. Nothing hit.

There were many boats in the water. I'd say an easy 30 that I could see, so all them boats and people on the banks can't be wrong. Although, I didn't notice anyone having better luck. haha

I think the area is best for boats, though. Unless you have proper tackle and that can get heavy and even then it's expensive because you'll lose some of the rigs. Plenty of ppl with the right tackle were still getting snagged.

There was a bit of a breeze, but not bad at all. A bit cold at first and then the sun came out and it turned into a nice day. Seems like it would probably get REALLY windy there at times.

I saw quite a few smaller aluminum boats in the shallow waters and even some braving the deeper parts. You can camp there in the closed off area and I may bring the kids or the family in the summer and bring my little aluminum boat to mess around with. Seems like a good spot to play around in summer and have the kids get in the water. I hear it gets pretty packed there in warmer weather.

Here's a pic of where we were in case any of you have additional insight:

you went too far down the road

is that right?

what's a better spot? we got there like at 5a and a lot of the first spots were already taken!!!

seems like people stay the night there quite a bit.

also, is the terrain the same by the entrance? meaning will you still get lots of hang-ups/snags?

there were lots of people overall on the banks, so i thought it would be fine to fish from anywhere there. guess i was wrong. haha