I'm Back!

I have been away for a long time now. My last post was back in July and back then my fish count was at about 200.... Since then I have caught a LOT of fish, which would probably put me at over 300 for the year. And perhaps one of these days I will count them... but not today. I'm finished counting fish now. That in no way means I'm finished fishing though! In fact, it''s like Doc Holiday said in Tombstone, "I'm in my prime!"

Instead of trying to catch up with my posts, I figured I would post some of the highlights of the past few months.

Minden Success

Back in late July I got together with Russell and we went cat/ carp fishing. he happened to get into a great looking cat and I got into some very hefty carp! ended up having a blast with the buddy russ!

Burney Falls Camping

Back in August my family and I went Camping up at Burney Falls. The Falls themselves were breath-taking and that is an understatement! It it the type of thing you have to experience yourself. It was a 2.5 hour trip but it was WELL worth it. I of course went fishing with ol pops. Didn't get anything on the fly but did end up getting what I believe is my first brook trout on a kastmaster!

Brook trout?

My First King Salmon! 

It finally happened! After a few years chasing the king, I caught her when I least expected! I will dedicate an entire post with full size pictures to this but just thought I would post the update and the teaser pic below!

The First Annual End of the summer fish fry!

 Last year I began collecting fish for an end of summer fish fry but most of it ended up getting frost bite.

This year I collected some catfish, bass and crappie and at the end of the summer I threw a fish fry. I invited some of my best friends over, busted out some delicious craft beer including my last case of Sierra Nevadas summerfest of the season, and had a great time. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough fish for the fry and the only thing that took away that worry was catching the Salmon a few days before. And wouldn't you know it, we not only had enough, but waay too much fish! Everyone ate until they were full and still took fried fish and grilled salmon home! Nothing quite like spending a summer fishing hard and bringing it home to feed the tribe! Looking forward to The 2nd Annual End of Summer Fish Fry which promises to be bigger and better!

Aside from those events I continued to fish! I have been practicing a lot on the fly rod and the bait caster as well. Most of my trips I only take those two rods. Its finally beginning to feel like fall down in the valley and the fishing is about to peak before it slows down and head to the hills for some trout action. Get ready Mark, I'm coming soon! 

Well that's it for me now. Hope all of you are doing well and it is good to be back. 

All Weekend Fishing!

This weekend was a great one as are all weekends in which all three days are fishing days. Friday We took some beers and stogies out to the pits to see how they were hitting. Unfortunately they are still slow. 

I did manage a decent bass on a small crankbait and also another small bass and a panfish. The panfish was interesting because it was the first panfish I have ever caught out there. In all still a great day. The pits aren’t hitting the same way they did in the past but it is slowly but surely getting better out there.

Total: 2 Largemouth bass + 1 green sunfish = 3 Fish

Saturday I went river fishing with Ol Pops and my nephew. My nephew doesn’t have the patience for fishing which really stinks because he has a hot hand and he doesn’t even know it! First blood was him with a 10 inch striper. Second was me with another little striper and pops ended up catching one as well. Biggest was a 16 incher that my nephew ended up catching on my rod while I went to net one up for pops…. And Pops’ fish ended up getting away! So none of us got skunked and my nephew caught the most and biggest fish.

Total: 1 Striper

On Sunday night we decided to hit Walter Pond with IPAs and Stogies in hand. It was hot and fishing was slow. We barely got into 3 fish and that was with a lot of effort on our part. I expected there to be a good topwater bite but that didn’t happen either. Even though the moon was almost full we still didn’t get many bites in general… 

Total: 2 bass

Well, that’s pretty much it for now. Hope summer is going well for my fellow bloggers. 

Grand Total: 6 fish

 

Summer 2014 Totals

Time to take an informal tone while I review the summer of 2014. So welcome to my post fishing buddies, pull up a chair, have a cold one or a hot coffee or whatever makes you happy and let’s rap a bit.


Summer is gone and I want to get this seasonal report out into the “blogosphere,” before I end up sitting on it for the next month and releasing it late. Summer is my favorite season for a reason: I am able to get more fishing done and get er’ done nearby. My spots within a 10 mile radius hit most during the summer. That means a short trip after work while the sun is still out at 5pm, can still be very productive. With fall comes an earlier sundown, colder temperatures and the fish in my area begin to shut down. This is why you often hear me talking about “heading to the hills.” The hills and their lakes are at least 45 minutes away so that means longer fishing trips that I can’t take after work.

Another reason that I love spring and summer is that my favorite fish are a’ feedin’! That will be apparent with my summer numbers which are exciting to me! So, without further adieu,  here is the breakdown:

Carp/ PM = 04

Pan Fish = 25

Catfish = 14

LMB = 41

SMB = 01

Trout = 07

Striper = 28

*Steelhead= 00

*Salmon = 00

*Sturgeon = 00

________________________

Total: 120 Fish

So let me give you some perspective as to why this excites me:

•   Spring time brought me 60 fish and to me that was productive, but summer brought me 120 fish.
•  This summer I caught 120 fish out of the 211 I have caught all year! 
•   Last year I caught a TOTAL of 80 fish! One summer brought me more fish than the entire year of 2013! 

And aside from that here are some observations:

• Only 25 panfish which is a decent number but I also didn’t just pad my numbers with easy catches.
•  41 Largemouth Bass! I had some decent bass days.
• 28 stripers after having so few last year! It felt good to get out there and catch some tuxedo bass again!  

So those are the numbers and that was my season! Now fall will bring trips out to Collins, hopefully some trips to fish with Mark and some trips to Putah creek to catch some fatty trout.

I will continue to search for some Bass this fall and go after some salmon. AND I will post some pictures of my first annual “End of the Summer fish Fry,” after we figure out a date. Well folks, thanks for swinging by and I look forward to sharing my fishing adventures with you this fall!

Cheers!

The End of My Summer

Two trips one fish. A soft chill in the air. An early sunset. These contributed to the realization that summer was coming to a close. As quickly as it came it went and it was a magnificent one. I went fishing more than last year and did fairly well. With the days numbered I called up my dad Last friday and decided to hit the river with him. 

We arrived at the Sacramento river at around 4. Our spot was overgrown with weeds which was a good thing because it shows it isn’t frequented often. I cast one rod out with anchovies and cast some lures with the other. Pops cast out his rod with sardines. We sat and waited with bites being few and far between. Pops drew first blood with a small striper and that ended up being the extent of the action for the day. Always good to get out on the river with pops, just wish we could have gotten into some fish. 

Sundays 49er game left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I went fishing to get rid of it. I went to the bee hive right after the game with 10 minnows and a carton of worms. I have been waiting a long time to try minnows here again. The first time I did the fish were crazy for them. 

I didn’t want to fish the feeder stream for smaller fish; I wanted to fish the main canal hoping for some crappie for the fish fry. I was also hoping for some big bass off of the minnows. I had one take down from what appeared to be a crappie at one point. I didn’t want to go home skunked so I dipped into the feeder stream with a worm and pulled out the first and only fish of the day, a small bluegill. After that I continued fishing minnows and worms in the main canal but nothing. After a couple of hours I went home. That would be the last fish of the summer for me. 

The sun set and I took the long serene walk back to my car. I packed my gear, rolled down my window and let Lynyrd Skynyrd play a goodbye song to the summer of 2014. 

Today marks the official first day of Fall and I am pretty bummed about it. Summer is my favorite season of the year for fishing and now it is gone. Oh well, I hope for a long cold wet fall/ Winter and some floods because nor cal needs them badly.  I will be trying more to get into some salmon and as it gets colder, heading to the hills for some trout. My summer report will be up later this week. Until then, happy 1^st day of fall, folks! 

Total fish : 1 bluegill