Updates from the Bank!

-I haven’t been fly fishing in a bit. Lately I have been focusing more on striper fishing with ol Pops but I am really jonesing for a fish on the fly. Aside from my trips with ol Pops I haven’t even been fishing much at all. I have been getting off of work, working out, watching a bit of tv before I go to sleep and repeat. I haven’t gotten to try my hand much at some bigger bass on the fly with my 8 Wt. 

"helmet" buggers

regular beaded bugger

-I haven’t even been back to Putah to try for some bass. As you may recall I found success at Putah with my largemouth on a fly goal but couldn’t get into anything too big and ended up losing my beaded black wooley buggers. I ended up buying some new ones and I realized they weren’t the same as the ones I had success with. In fact, these beaded heads were actual beads as opposed to the “helmet”  beads with which I had success.  I don’t know if there is any difference or if those “helmet” buggers have an actual name but I decided to go on a hunt for the helmet buggers and after striking out at a couple of places, finally realized that I must have purchased them at Sportsmans warehouse in Rocklin. I went out there yesterday and I was right so I ended up buying enough to hold me down for a while. I guess I’ll have to field test both the bead and the helmets to see the difference. 

- I have heard elsewhere that a lot of people use circle hooks for catfishing so I bought some. So I took them on a river fishing trip and found success with circle hooks while striper fishing. These hooks are smaller but I decided to look for larger circle hooks. While at Sportsmans warehouse I also found some size 5 circle hooks so I’m excited to try them out on the stripers.

-As for 2047, I have heard legend of some big bass in there and I plan on going out there with pops and probably Rigo to give it a try. Like I said before we have been fishing there for at least 20 years and never even seen a bass or caught one by accident so if I happen to catch one it will definitely be a milestone. 

-I also have yet to visit the bee hive and butte pond lately which means my Largemouth bass and crappie count hasn’t even begun yet. I purchased some honey bee and yellow jacket looking flies specifically to see if the largemouths will grub them down. I also really want to see if the Sarges crappie fly will slay the crappie at this hole. 

-If I don’t completely break down and head out to putah tonight, my next fishing adventures will be this weekend and then next Wednesday I will be heading out to fish with “Magic Mark” from Northern California Trout (haha you like the new nickname, buddy?).

Braving The Summer Heat

In the heat of a Northern California summer we ventured off to two destinations in hopes of some big fish.  We had two spots in mind, 2047 and The Sac River in Colusa. 

We (Me, pops and rigo) arrived at 2047 at around 3:00 with some chicken livers and nightcrawlers for some big cats. The only problem is that the catfish didn’t get the memo. Not only did we not catch any but they didn’t even bite our baits. An hour went by and nothing!  I got bored and went to a shady area where Ol Pops was fishing. I saw a snake swimming around in the area so I dropped my slip bobber rig in and when I pulled it up, something chased my chicken liver. I realized right away that there must be some sort of panfish in the water. A little history, we have fished 2047 since I was 4 or 5 and NEVER, not even by mistake, have we caught a bass or a panfish.  You would think that in all those years we would have accidentally caught some other species but only c atfish and carp.

 

Well anyway, down goes, my bobber so I put on a smaller hook and after a few tries, out popped the first bluegill we have ever seen in 2047. And not only did I get one but  4 more hand sized panfish.  I have also heard rumors of Largemouth bass being in 2047 and this is only a step in the right direction. 

After about 10 minutes of gilling we stopped by the store for some anchovies and then went to The Sac. I was hoping for another fatty striper to take home. I started the day with a pretty fat pikeminnow that put up a pretty good fight.  I noticed the bite at this hole has slowed down quite a bit but still productive. 

 

Unfortunately the biggest striper it produced for me was a 12 incher. My dad also ended up catching one just as we were running out of bait. Unfortunately nothing of any real size was caught. 

Total Fish:5 Bluegills + 5 stripers + 1 Sacramento Pikeminnow = 11 fish

Kitten time!

After some other fishing plans fell through I decided to call up my dad and my buddy Rigo. We gathered our striper stuff and headed to the Sac. We had sardines, anchovies, nightcrawlers and I also had some lures and we didn’t get a bite! I take that back, My dad had a couple of bites but didn’t get into any fish. 

A couple of hours went by and we decided to take the show on the road. We got to 2047 at around 4:30pm. 2047 is a drainage canal that runs through Colusa county. It is notoriously dirty but also has tons of catfish in it. Any time we want to be guaranteed catfish, we go to 2047. We had our striper poles so we were going for some monster cats but unfortunately all we were getting were mini bites. And we noticed that the bites were a bit slower than they have been in the past. This may be due to heavy pressure as 2047 is one of the most fished areas in all of Colusa County. 

About 30 minutes into our fishing trip, I drew first blood.  It was a tiny little baby cat that I hooked very deep so I cut off the hook and released the cat into the water with the hook still in mouth. I wasn’t quite sure with this fish. It was too small to eat and he was so small I felt like tearing out the hook would have killed him. He seemed to swim away with no problem but who knows if it survived. After that I threw on a smaller hook and a bit later I got into another small cat. I was able to release this one with no problems. My buddy Rigo also caught two small cats and my dad ended up getting skunked. Nonetheless I can’t complain. I had a great day with My dad and my good friend and that is always a blessing.

Total Fish: 2 Catfish

Another Good Panfish Day!

I've  been on a bit of a roll lately. It started with a 12 crappie day and continued with a personal best catfish. With an open opportunity to fish this sunday I rounded up Ol' Pops and my buddy Rigo and we headed out to three different fishing holes.

First we went to Hopkins Slough. This was my third time hitting this hole and my third time getting skunked. Why do I keep returning? because of stories about huge catfish living here. I have never caught one or even got a bite there. Sounds like this was my last time at this hole.

Our second stop was a canal everybody calls 20/47. In a county full of dirty ditches, this is the queen mother. 20/47 is a drainage canal for most of the fields in Colusa County. We have hit this canal in other cities and really slaughtered the catfish. This spot doesn't seem to be as good.

Last but not least we went out to Boss Pond. I was hoping for some panfish and bass action. Ol' Pops and Rigo opted for some catfish action at the creek/ canal that runs besides Boss Pond. While fishing, Rigo spotted a large catfish which appeared to be laying on its side. He thought it was dead but I told him it might be spawning and to cast toward it. He did exactly that and a few minutes he had a nice 1 lb catfish!

With the wind fiercely blowing I chose a spot in the direction of the wind. I tossed out a bobber with a worm and quickly had a takedown but it seemed to have spit up the worm. After that there were no bites. At the second spot I had no takedowns. At spot #3 I tossed in my worm and got into my first fish of the day. it was a nice fat little gill. I took out the fly rod and tied on a San Juan worm, but there didn't seem to be anymore bluegills there.

Finally, I went to spot 4. I happen to know spot #4 is pretty productive and I was hoping it was warm enough for the fish to be in the shallows. Not only did I find bluegills but I also found bass! In fact some of them were probably 1.5-2lb bass. I wasn't sure if they were trying to eat bluegill or hanging in the shallows getting ready to spawn. either way, the bass checked out everything I threw at them but rejected it all. The panfish were another story. I caught my second fish of the day within seconds. I wish I had gotten there earlier, perhaps I would have had more of a chance at catching a bass. I did catch bluegill though, one after the other. At one point I ended up getting into a green sunfish. I had no idea that boss pond had green sunfish in it. Spot #4 although productive, is fairly difficult to fish. It is underneath a trees branches which makes it very difficult to cast. I did try out my fly rod and caught two bluegills on the san Juan worm however they were biting more consistently on the mini crawlers so I switched back.

Since I got a late start on spot #4,  it got dark quickly. By the time I got into my ninth fish, everybody else was ready to go. I emptied out my worm carton and as luck would have it, I had exactly one worm left. I threw it in, waited a while and sure enough I hooked into my 10th and final panfish of the day. It turns out boss pond also has red ears in it, which is what I hooked into. 10 panfish in a day is pretty good, especially because I caught them in the last 25 minutes of fishing. I'm pretty glad I got into 10 more panfish. So far this year I have caught 22 panfish, which only leaves 48 panfish to catch to reach my goal of 70. I think I'm gonna get there!

Total Fish: 8 bluegills+1green sunfish+ 1 redear = 10 Panfish