The Ol Worm and Bobber

I met up with my buddy Luis this past weekend and decided to fish the bee hive which I haven’t fished at all this year. I went to the store and bought worms but as we drove up we realized that the entire road to the spot was closed for repair so we made our way back to my house. On my way back Jeremy Called and asked if I wanted to fish so we decided to get together. Luis ended up not feeling well and going home so we decided to go to Walters pond and give a try for bass. I had worms and bobbers with me and Jeremy brought some IPA’s along so we decided to have more of a chill fishing day. 

I rigged up my line with the ol worm and bobber while Jeremy went to work with a swim bait. Even though he drew first blood he was utterly intrigued by the bobber set up and was surprised when he first saw the bobber go under. I reeled in and brought a small bass to hand and Jeremy immediately decided that he wanted to give it a try. What Jeremy didn’t know is that nothing goes better with an IPA and a stogie than a worm/ bobber set up!

A little later Walter joined us and he too decided he wanted to fish the bobber rig. Eventually we were all fishing the worm and bobber waiting for fish to strike and eventually they would.

At one point Walter and Jeremy both decided to switch presentations. I continued with the bobber, cast to the shallows, and a bluegill messed with the worm and all of a sudden my bobber went under hard! I set the hook and reeled in a FAT bass, which turned out to be the biggest of the day. For the rest of the day we continued to use the ol worm and bobber pulling in fish after fish. Relaxing and enjoying a warm summer day. 

It was dark and nearly 10 o clock by the time we decided to stop. Nothing like a nice chill evening drinking IPA’s, smoking stogies, chilling with friends and slaying bluegill and bass on the ol worm and bobber!

With this trip I am officially all caught up with fishing trips. I do have Fal and Spring totals to report but aside from that, I'm all set. Hope your summers are starting off with a bang! 

 Total fish: 4 bluegill + 7 Largemouth Bass = 11 fish

Another Bulk Report!

Once Again, in order to catch up, I will be doing this in bulk.

5/16/15 – Ol’ Pops finally picked up his license so we took our river rods out to the Sac. A year ago I was slaying them in this exact spot but this year it was considerably slower. Only two came to hand. One of them being 15 in. or so. My dad ended up catching a shaker as well.

Total: 2 Striper

5/19/15 – We ended up going to check the pits to see how the fishing was. The water was indeed lower and I was able to land my first bass this year out of the pits. Although he was a little guy, he was proof that soon enough the spot will be ready for the crazy action we were having last year.

Afterwards we went to Legendary pond and had another legendary day. We used spinning and fly rods to yank a good number of bass out of there. In addition, Jeremy (along with some fine coaching from yours truly) was able to get into his first bass on the fly! I was pretty proud!

Total: 16 Largemouth Bass

5/25/15 – Bored with the same spot and curious about what else was at Legendary pond, we decided to access another side of Legendary pond. So after a good walk down some hills we went to work on the south bank of Legendary pond. It turned out to be even more legendary that the opther side. Watermelon and Chartreuse worms did the trick with the spinning rod and as it got darker, they weren’t touching anything but purple and white wooley buggers! Needless to say I got some nice ones on the fly!In addition, here is a picture of one bass that I caught which was either deformed or something took a big bite out of him at a younger age!

Total: 27 Largemouth Bass

5/29/15 – I didn’t end up making it out to Ditch pond in March/April when the fishing is best but I made it out on this day and brought moises along. We have caught bass there before and Moises is only into bass fishing. He managed to get into a couple. Meanwhile nothing was biting on my minnows and that was a pity. In fact, most of them ended up dying. I did get into a small bass and as the night wore on I tossed a minnow over to a rocky bank and finally got into a nice size crappie. Bites were scarce after that.

Total: 1 Crappie + 1 Largemouth Bass = 2 Fish

6/2/15 – We hadn’t been to walter pond in a while so we paid it a visit. The moss is getting pretty thick on top in our regular spot so we decided to walk around the pond and explore some different areas. I did manage to hook up with a couple bigger bass that I couldn’t drag across the mats so they got away. Another spot had less mosss so I went to work there. Once again, purple wooley buggers got the job done and I was able to get into 4 bass.

Total: 4 Largemouth Bass

 With this report I am all caught up but I have one trip from this weekend that I will report on soon and it was a fun one! 

Total Fish:  2 Striper + 1 Crappie + 48 Largemouth Bass = 51 Fish!

Nebraska Road Trip

 At the beginning of May we got some bad news. My wifes Great grandmother passed away at the age of 94. It was sad but she lived to be a very good age. She lived in Nebraska.My wife could have flown to Nebraska but we decided to take the road trip out there since it was a MUCH cheaper option. Plus, there is nothing like a road trip with your wife deep into the heartland! 

Now I thought it might be a little insensitive to bring fishing gear so I opted not to make a move for it even though my wife’s uncle and her cousin live right next to a lake. But this is how I know my wife was created by God specifically for me… before leaving, she asks, “are you sure you don’t want to take your fishing stuff? We’re going to be staying at my cousins place, next to the lake.” I love that woman! 

So I grabbed a fly rod and we began the trip. 18 hours of nothing upon nothing! There were some occasional mountains and a cool thing or two but for the most part it was dead. The good thing was visiting different states I had never seen. We drove through Utah, Wyoming and then Nebraska so I got to add those three to the list of states I had yet to visit. 

When we arrived, we ate some lunch and then went for a walk around the lake and of course I brought my fly rod. I tossed it around the main lake to no avail but went to a side pond and quickly hooked into 3 blue gills. Every one made a big deal about the fact that I got into fish, but what they didn’t know is that I’m a pro; I break the bank! 

 

We drove around Nebraska and saw some cool stuff. I got to see chimney rock and a part of the Oregon trail. I saw tons of pronghorns which were amazing to me but everyone else was used to seeing them.

The funeral was sad but I’m glad my wife got to spend time with her family and heal. 

After the funeral, a bunch of us went to visit “Car henge” which is what mid west folk do for a good time; stack cars!  It was very cool to see and while checking out a fish display, I spotted this fly sticker which looked familiar…  In fact I have a couple of can koozies with this logo on it. Cameron, was this you? 

The next day I woke up early and went for a walk around the lake by myself to check out some spots that I had scouted. A bit later Cousin Alex stopped by and fished with me. For whatever reason, the light cahill wasn’t doing as well as the previous day so I switched to a royal humpy. There were some wild little fish with forked tails swimming and splashing around but they wanted nothing to do with my flies. In fact most fish wanted nothing to do with the fly until one fatty bluegill bit into my RH. 

A bit later I went to the same spot I first fished the day before and got into 2 baby gills. Around then my wifes uncle stopped by and recommended I use something purple. All I had was a purple Wooley Bugger so I went to work and a few casts in; I caught my first Nebraska Bass! I was pretty excited! 

Even though we came for sad reasons I was glad my wife was able to come out and spend time with her family and we had a lot of time to talk and process her feelings. Our second to last stop was in Green River, Wyoming where two huge rock formations behind the hotel really impressed me. The best part was that we spent the night in a room with a perfect view of the rock formations. We were also able to stop by the Bonneville Salt Flats which was also striking!   Aside from that it was another boring horrific drive back to Cali, but I enjoyed it because of the company. 

Total Fish: 6 panfish + 1 Largemouth bass = 7 Fish

 

Bulk Reports on Legendary Pond

In order to catch up I need to do this in bulk! If I don’t do this I will never catch up! I have a trip to Nebraska in there as well, but ill post it up later. We are simply slaying them at the pits. Some days are a little better than others but we never get skunked. 

 

4/28 – a little bit slower of the day at the pits. I started with the fly and eventually switched over to the spinning rod. I caught one on a black wooley bugger and then the bite stopped. Its seems that the first few casts will get them on the fly and after a while they stop falling for it. Then I have to cast out further to get them, which is why I am always armed with the spinning rod. Anyway, we had a couple of doubles on throughout the day so Jeremy is really loving the spot. As for the dorky pictures with the buff on my face, that was a running joke that we have with some of my buddies about looking like a “pro fisherman” with the buff on. lol

Total Fish: 7 Largemouth Bass

5/05 – While in Nebraska I purchased some cool looking poppers and a white “cloth” worm. I am not sure what ele to call the thing, but it is essentially a cloth worm on an offset bass hook. When I saw it I loved it and thought it might work great for bass. Sure enough, the worm has a fantastic action to it and looks great swimming in the water. Even better than that, it produces fish! 

Total Fish: 10 Largemouth Bass

 

 

5/8 – 3 days later I went out again with my buddy Art. He isn’t much of a fisher but he was visiting so I figured I would take him out on the water and hoped to get him into some fish. This trip was only a spin fishing day since it was pretty windy. Did happen to catch a nice one, which looked kind of slim hipped so I figure it was a post spawner. Art did happen to get into a couple of fish so we were both happy. 

Total fish: 5 Largemouth Bass

 

5/11 – Another super windy day so I only brought along the spinning rod.  Not a lot of big ones but a good amount of fish. 

Total fish: 12 Largemouth Bass

5/12 – The next day was windy but I brought along the fly rod anyway. We fished off of some steep cliffs and sure enough the bass were very active in this untouched area. I walked around and made my way back to the spot with the cattails to use the fly rod. I managed a couple of quick ones on the Golden Oriole again. Caught them on both the Fly and the spinning rod. 

Total Fish: 14 bass. 

In all some great trips out at Legendary pond. Like I said, much better to cover these trips in bulk so I can catch up! Hope you all enjoyed the pics! Another benefit it makes it look impressive when I finish off like this:

Total fish: 48 Largemouth bass

A Nice One for Brian

4/27/15

Jeremy had the day off so we made a quick afternoon trip out to Legendary ponds. My main intention was to revisit a spot that I had found a few days prior and attack it with the fly rod.

Upon arriving I went to work with a black Wooley bugger and caught my first bass of the day on the fly.  I continued and landed another, but then the bite went dead for a while so I switched to the spinning rod.  I caught a couple more. Jeremy fished and on a couple of occasions we had double hook ups which was pretty great. 

At one point I switched back to the fly rod but they were no longer wanting the WB. I looked through my flies and tossed out some streamers with no success. It was then I found a fly that I had yet to try. 

Last winter Bryan Dale tied me a couple Golden Orioles, his personal creation.  As he often did. The guy tied them for me for no charge, even though I offered repeatedly to pay. It is a heavy fly which is kind of difficult to toss out at first. Once I got a hang of it, I tossed it out and BAM! A nice little bass was on my line, thanks Bryan!! To date this is the largest bass I have caught on the fly. I was excited and as I tossed it out a couple more times I got a couple more strikes. Finally while playing what felt like a good sized bass, he won the fight and swam off with my fly in its mouth. 

 

I had one more but I didn’t want to lose it so I switched back to my spinning rod. I ended up catching a couple more to end the day. Not a bad day at all! 

Total fish: 10 Largemouth Bass