I Have a Feeling...

I have a feeling that this year will be a big one! In fact, I’m going to get cocky for a second like Babe Ruth calling his home run. Or instead some might call it confidence like when zig ziglar said, “when I go fishing, I bring the tartar sauce along with me.” Nothing wrong with some positive thoughts, right? So here I go:

This year, I will catch more fish than I have in any prior year!

There, I said it so now I can’t back down! 

So last year was the first year I actually counted the number of fish I landed but I still have a rough estimate of how many I caught in the past and I plan to surpass all of it.

Enter the new year:

1/15/2014

Left work at 12 and headed to williams to pick up my buddy Rigo and head to one of three spots. Three years ago My buddy Rigo was my main fishing buddy. Then after a slow summer he decided to “take a break from fishing.” That “Break" would last for two years.

Anyway, in the summer of 2011 we headed out to a random field in the middle of nowhere to try our hands at some cat fish. instead we ran into some rather large carp at two different holes. Our intent was to fish both of those carp holes a second time. At the first hole we found bites were scarce so we moved to the second hole. 

One thing we certainly didnt think about was how our current water situation would affect our fishing in the north state. Translation: Our second carp hole was dry!

With Very limited time, we headed to boss pond. I quilkly began fishing for bass and pan fish with a worm floating off of the bottom and a slip-bobber rig, respectively. No interest.

Next i pulled out a jerk bait and worked it slowly in a shallower side of the pond. Sure enough I saw three bass slowly follow it but get spooked as soon as they saw me. That was he extent of the action and yet gave me hopes for spring time at boss pond. I will slay some bass this year... oh yes, I WILL slay some bass!! We ended the night tailgating with our buddy Jaime who showed up later with some beers.

Total fish: 0

1/17/2014

Left work at 12 pm again and the plan was to head to Collins lake as quick as possible.so we can try to get into some trout. 

Something that I am looking into getting is an ultralight combo for trout and pan fish. I also converted one of the rods I used for bass into a trout rod by adding 6 lb mono to it. Not the best set up for trout but it and one of my bass rods definitely got the job done.

We hit the water and we were there to do two things: drink beer and catch fish! Remember when I said my research would pay off in fish this year? Well I was right. As soon as we got there, we had beers popped and rods ready to rock. My left rod had rainbow power bait on the “No leader” set up rig (Or Collins Lake special as I will begin caling it) Russell taught me the last time we were there.The other some power eggs on a foot and a half mono leader. 

While sipping our beers, Russell got the first bite which was about five minutes in. He ended up missing the fish. Five minutes after that I got a bite on the power bait. I ran over and while I reeled in, I had a bite on the power eggs. I was going to try to get them both but instead i focused on the PB rod and ended up missing the second one. Either way, it felt GREAT to shoot the skunk and catch my first fish of the year; a 14 in. Rainbow. A guy and his mom came close and watched me nail my first fish and simply admired my catch. I am a nice guy so I greeted them and asked how their fishing was going. They replied that they had been skunked so far. Man, it feels good not to be the one getting skunked!! lol

We looked like studs on that lake because even though we arrived last, we got into fish quick! Russell started catching fish as well including another nice 13 inch rainbow. My biggest was a fat little 15 incher that had a curved jaw! I should have taken a picture but we had limited time and fish to catch. When it was almost dark, the lake was down to only me, Russell and a guy named Joe. All of a sudden all six poles started bouncing and every man was for himself. I ended up catching one more and Russell caught two. By the end of the day Russell had caught four and I caught three, not bad for 2.5 hours of fishing. It felt good to get the year started with one of two trips being successful!

Total Fish: 3 Rainbow trout