Saturday at the Slough

Saturday Afternoon was a fine day for fishing. Even though there was a bit of wind, I decided to take my buddy luis out and see if we could get into a fish or two over at the "bee hive." As you may recall, Last time I went fishing out there was the first time I had EVER been skunked there. This is why you can NEVER guarantee a person that you will get them into some fish!

Well anyway, I hit the fishing hole at around 3. I could see some small bass in the water so I decided to toss out a couple of lures before I got to the worms. I tossed out a large yellow Hedon Torpedo which has been collecting dust for a while.  As I got close to the small bass I had multiple strikes. I threw it out again and got the same results. I figured I should try a smaller torpedo in a different color but this one had absolutely no draw.

I decided I would try the fly rod and a bass popper but they weren’t having it. Later I tried a white Cahill and even a small mosquito looking pattern under a foam hopper. None of these got any attention. Then my hopper and mosquito got caught on some vegetation and I lost them. I was pretty pissed about that so I stopped fishing since I was a bit limited on time (had a date night afterwards with the Mrs.). 

I switched over to the worm under a bobber and started casting into the mouth of the feeder creek. Two casts later I was into my first baby largemouth. A bit later I got into my first blue gill and then a green sunfish and I realized that the bee hive isn’t dead yet, it was just resting on the specific day when I assured my buddy Jarred I would get him into some fish.

Even though it started getting chilly, I continued to catch green sunfish, small largemouth,  crappie and bluegill. My buddy Luis also got into one bluegill but that was it for the night.

I ended the day with 2 largemouths, 2 green sunfish, one white crappie, one black crappie, and two bluegills; 8 fish total!  This is not bad at all considering that I had to leave early and probably would have gotten into more had I stayed longer. So as it turns out, I was wrong about the bee hive; it is still producing even as the nights are getting colder.

 Fall fishing is going great for me and even largemouth fishing is going great. Nonetheless what I still need to try to do is get into a salmon!  Maybe I will do that soon. Well anyway, that’s it for now. May this fall be as good to you as it is starting off for me!

July 1st report - Cache Creek

I checked out a new fishing hole out on cache creek on Monday. It was SUPER hot so I only fished for a couple of hours at sundown.  The creek itself runs in a small valley so you have to park your car up top and then walk for a bit to get to the fishing hole. By the time I got to the water, I looked up and noticed some flashing lights. The Sheriff! 

I waved at him right away so he knew it was my truck. He asked if anybody was down there shooting and after saying no, I asked if it was okay to par where I was parked. He said it technically wasn’t okay but that he would let me slide.

Anyway, back to the water. The water is very clear so you can see all of the fish swimming around. Most were small, in the 12-15” range or at least that’s what they look like under the water. Lots of top water activity so I tossed out a pooper and sure enough, second cast I got a strike! The problem of course was that it was just a strike. Continued with the popper and a bit later I got another strike but no fish on! 

Later I switched to the hedon torpedo,  a snagproof frog, and a Mepps Aglia and nothing so I switched back to the top water popper. I got a few more strikes but for some reason they weren’t smashing on it. I also saw some pretty good sized carp swimming around. I really want to get a fly rod and fish this area on the fly, looks like a good fly fishing place. 

Finished up the day with no fish. Hopefully next time I will take some soft plastic worms and nightcrawlers and see what bites.  

Sutter Bypass - 6/27 Report

No fishing this weekend. Last Thursday was the latest fishing trip. I did however scout a new location that I will more than likely be trying out soon.

So Let me tell you about last Thursday. Sutter Bypass, Yuba City, CA.  I took the hour drive to meet my new fishing buddy Russell. Russsell is out of Yuba City. He met me out at the boat launch with his boat in his truck. That’s the first time I have ever seen somebody with a boat in back of their truck, but I guess if it works, why not?

Well anyway, first thing is first, we cracked open a beer at 5pm and launched by 520. The area where we were fishing looked very promising; Lots of vegetation and shade. It was still hot when we hit the water so we immediately went looking for shade. I started off with the torpedo. I have it in two different sizes and threw them both out. Not even a strike.

Next I threw a frog for a while, nothing.  Then I tried a spinner bait, nothing. Then a strike king red eye shad, a swim bait, a jig, a torpedo again…. All of that and only two strikes the entire afternoon. Russell through out pretty much everything and also taught me how to use a buzz bait, which I didn’t know how to use before this trip. He says buzz baits usually get them in the bypass but he let me know that this specific day was a strange one, (Lucky for me!) everybody we asked was getting skunked.

Well, it wasn’t a total waste. Russell turned out to be really cool and we had some cold beers on a hot day on the water so I can’t complain.

We were pretty much finished and on our way back to the ramp when a lady started talking to us from shore. She asked if we caught any, we said “none.” She told us she had caught five small catfish. As we cruised by, I saw a dead bass in the water. I pointed it out to Russell. He was ecstatic and decided to go back and check it out. Turns out it was alive… barely. Russell lipped it by hand and after weighing and measuring, it turns out it was an 18” 4.82 lb Largemouth!  The Lady sees it and says, “I told you guys you were in the wrong spot, this is where they are.” We found it pretty funny because we weren’t far from her at all, she didn’t hear a struggle or anything and for some reason she thought we caught the fish ourselves. Russell then lifts it up and asks, “do you want it?” Sure enough the lady says yes. We stuck around long enough to hear her tell her husband that she caught it herself and to hear the jealousy in her husband’s voice as he said, “nice bass… very nice bass.” Sneaky lady!

As for the Torpedo, since  we weren’t getting any strikes on anything and since I still have yet to use it in bass heavy waters, I have to suspend judgment on it yet again. As soon as I find a good area, I will give it a test and let you guys know what’s up.

Well anyway, Saturday I went out for a cruise with my wife and we ended up at a bridge in the outskirts of Wood-town. The bridge runs over Cache Creek, a small creek that eventually drains into the delta south of Davis, CA. Well anyway, I went out and stared at the water for a while and I saw a small fish swimming around. As I stared a bit more intently I noticed another fish, a bit bigger, and then another, and another. They were pretty far down but their behavior told me they were largemouth bass. Whenever I would throw a pebble from up top, they would quickly go investigate like they were hunting for a meal on top of the water. I also saw a couple of turtles and what appeared to be a large sunfish. Well anyway, hopefully I will be checking out that fishing hole later this week and I will let you know what gives. Have a great week, folks!

Update: Largemouths at Lisbon

Does the Hedon Torpedo work? Well I caught one fish with it in Washington State. Does it work at Lisbon, doesn’t seem like it. Then again catching bass at Lisbon seems to be different than other places. The only thing that has worked for catching Bass at Lisbon has been good ol nightcrawlers. Other than that, no dice.

I hit Lisbon on Friday and Saturday. I used the Heddon Torpedo in two sizes on two different days.  Long story Short, both were a failure. I am not sure what this means other than Lisbon is kind of a tough place for Largemouth. I still have to try it out at Boss pond and a few other fishing holes before I give an opinion. 

Anyway, I didn’t take any pictures of the fish I caught because I didn’t hook anything too impressive. Friday I hooked into a small largemouth and three decent sized crappie. I didn’t really feel like gutting and scaling so instead I simply caught and released. 

Sunday I took my dad out to the beehive (name for newest fishing hole). I ended up hooking into two small Largemouths  but once again, nothing too impressive. As much as I love hooking into some small fish, I really want a bigger fight so I need to hit the sac soon. Since Boss pond will be out of question for a while (different reasons) I am on the lookout for a new pond to catch some monster bass.

 
Well, three crappie and three largemouths would be it for this weekend! Not a great first fishing trip of the summer but at least i didn't get skunked!

Washington State Fishing!!

I’m back from Washington! It feels good to be home although I am tired. Nonetheless if somebody asked me to go fishing with them, I would still go no matter how tired I am (somebody please ask me to fish with them!).

Well anyway, on Monday I convinced my brother in law Conrad who we call Coco, to take me fishing.  Coco picked me up around 3 and we took Mike (wifes younger sisters boy friend) with us as well. It was his first time fishing EVER! Between me and Coco we know a good deal about bass fishing so he was in good hands.

Coco knows some FANTASTIC honey holes in Eastern Washington. He took me to one spot where a creek dumps into a large pond. He was talking up the spot so much I was excited. However when we arrived, the spot was taken. Instead we looked around for another spot and found an area where the pond drains out into a small creek. We saw a small largemouth in the water there so we decided to stick around.

We started off with frogs and popping frogs. i had no luck but one of my bro's in law got a few strikes.

My brother in law fishes for bass and nothing else so he has a lot of bass gear. I am often wary of buying gear that is too expensive and doesn’t necessarily work. Fortunately this was not only a time of fishing but of testing his gear!

After a bit i switched up to a red and silver rapala x-rap pop. I got a few pops in and let her sit at one point because my bro in law was talking to me. When i looked back my popper was gone but I felt no tension. i reeled in and then i felt it! I set my hook, adjusted my drag, reeled in and I reeled in this 3 lb 17.5 in washington state bucketmouth!

A bit later I traded rods with mike. His reel had bad line in it, which Coco had warned me about, but I ignored. I stopped getting bites on the popper so I went in Coco’s tacklebox and fished a hedon torpedo. Really i was just testing it because I had never used one before. I found the lure to look a bit dainty  but the small propeller also intrigued me.

On my second cast i was zipping it over my way when all of a sudden I got a smash. I start reeling in and the fish was putting up a nice fight. All of a sudden I heard a pop and the line tip flew at me as the fish swam away. The line had snapped right in the middle. I was pissed! a second later the torpedo floated to the top of the water and was carried away from the current.

At this time it was about 7 and we would have kept on fishing but this storm came and chased us away! We packed up just in time to avoid the huge storm that ensued! 

Washington state seems to be a great place to fish for bass! We en

ded the day with only one fish and although I would have wanted all of us to get at least one, I was happy that I wasn’t skunked! I was also happy that i got to bond a little with my brother in law  and sister in laws boyfriend.