Fishing in the Central Valley: Two massive stripers at once; must be the lucky stones

This incredible fishing story began about seven years ago when Gary Lindemann of Coarsegold first called me about a guided fishing trip to San Luis Reservoir to catch a trophy striper.

Several days later we’re out fishing when Gary announced that he expected to catch a new personal best striper.

I asked him why he was so sure. He pulled two small round jade stones from his pocket.

This is why, he said. The stones were given to him by a good friend, Rob, during a fishing trip to Alaska a few years before. He told Gary they had been lucky for him and decided to pass them on.

They became Gary’s lucky stones.

Just an hour later, we got a good strike and the fish took off. Gary fought it in close, it was a beautiful 12-pound striper, and a personal best for him.

In late 2024, I received another call from Gary, who was 73 at the time. He wanted to go fishing again, and he still had the stones.

He had not fished in two years and just wanted to catch something. He had had a few health setbacks that kept him off the water. First, there was a liver transplant, then they found a tumor in his heart requiring open heart surgery.

He said the surgery had a big impact on him, including short memory loss. He had gone through hell and back. I felt a heavy burden to produce something good for Gary.

We had already caught six to seven good stripers that day at the San Luis Reservoir. I asked Gary if he had the stones with him.

Grinning, he pulled them out of his pocket.

We moved to a new area, and in just a few minutes, a fish hit on one pole and began powerfully ripping out line. Gary grabbed it, and was hanging on as the huge striper kept running. It looked to be over 25 pounds.

About this time the other pole got a big hit.

I grabbed it, and it felt very heavy as it began to slowly move out, like a submarine. I decided that I would just try to keep this fish away from Gary’s big one. That’s when the striper decided to run toward Gary’s line.

We realized that we had crossing lines. As we furiously untangled them, both fish took off again.

My fish went deep, and I decided to just let it sulk, while Gary slowly worked his fish in. Playing his striper in close to the boat, my only choice was to use my free right hand to net his fish, while holding the other pole with my left hand. It was awkward, but doable.

Gary was screaming, worried I couldn’t net the fish, but I managed. With one in the net, I handed my pole to bring in the other fish.

Gary maneuvered the second striper near the boat, and it was even bigger than the first. We saw that the only thing holding the big striper was a rear treble hook that was barely skin-hooked on one single tine. We worked quickly, measuring and weighing the fish before we released them on the Seaqualizer too. We netted it, and we had both.

The small fish was 41 inches and 29 pounds. The monster was 45 inches and a massive 41 pounds on the electronic tournament scale. Two stripers at once and weighing 70 pounds was incredible.

Gary’s 41-pounder was my new guest record. Of course, he told me he knew he would get a big one.

In my 12 years of guiding, there has never been anything even close to this amazing catch. Was it really those lucky stones?

I have always said that I would rather be lucky than good any day of the week

It was an epic day. Never give up believing.

This story was originally published February 16, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Fishing in the Central Valley: Two massive stripers at once; must be the lucky stones."