When the Drought Hits Home

I got home from work at 7PM Last Tuesday and decided that I was going fishing. The closest fishing hole to me is Cache creek, about a 10 minute drive. I grabbed Excalibur (6wt.) and shot for the creek before the sun went down. 

For those of you that don’t remember, Cache creek is the place where I SLAYED the green sunfish and where I caught my first smallmouth bass on the fly. AS you may recall there is a deeper pond where the big boys hang so that was to be my first spot, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to find.

It was gone! That stretch of Cache creek has been reduced to a 4 foot deep ditch without a big smallie in sight.  And the worst part is that the spot where I caught my first smallie is now bone dry. 

This part of the creek no longer exists.

I took a couple of pictures of where the pond used to be and the little bit that is left. Its very sad. A beaver was still hanging around swimming and I wonder if he sensed that his home would soon become a casualty of the drought.

I went ahead and fished what remained of the pond. There was no interest in the hopper pattern or the popper. With single swings my fly reached across the entire pond. I wondered if the shallowness and narrowness of the pond put the big fish in danger for predators or if they were hiding somewhere in the cattails. 

 

  I tied on a black wooley bugger and after a bit I brought my first green sunfish to hand. I really wanted to try a new fly that I bought at sportsman’s warehouse. I didn’t get a name for it but it has a black body, a pink tail and a tiny propeller on the top.  It did attract the attention of one green sunfish and then I switched back to a popper and finished the day.  

On the walk up to my car a sheriff stopped me, let me know that this was private property and I was trespassing, which is weird because last time I was there the sheriff told me I was fine to fish there. I guess it doesn’t matter because within a couple of months, this creek like many others, will be gone.

Total fish: 2 Green sunfish

I'm Not Here to Get Skunked...!

There was something that Mel over at the Pondstalker said that on my previous post that really sank in:

So even though it was a windy day, I figured it wasn't too warm and I grabbed Excalibur (My sage reel on a Redington Rod) and headed back to cache creek to explore the pond I found downstream.

Now I tied on a few different flies including two sizes of popper and  two different streamers but there were two different flies that produced for me: the Light cahill and of course, the royal humpy. 

The royal humpy is a fly that I have come to love because it appears that panfish love them! It has become one of my go to flies and this trip only solidified that. Second cast of the day produced my first fish, a green sunfish. The pond has tons of these guys and they are fun little fighters! 

Nothing could have prepared me for my second catch of the day. I tossed my RH in a deeper looking direction and something nailed it! It was a much harder fight than the sunfish and as it jumped out of the water, I realized, it was a smallmouth bass! I reeled on in and sure enough I caught my first Smallie on the fly! It wasn't the biggest smallie in that creek but it's enough to meet half of my 2014 goal of catching a Smallie and a largemouth on the fly. I even ended up catching a second smallie a few casts later!   I must tip my hat to Jay over at The Naturalist's Angle who has been giving me pointers on catching my first smallmouth bass on the fly. 

The green sunfish were really killing the Royal humpy, especially after it got too wet to float and sank. I was slaying them with the RH so I decided to tie on some poppers and go after bigger smallies. Even though I could see some looking at them and even bumping them, they wouldn't commit. 

As it was getting darker and the mosquitoes came out I tied on a light cahill because I figured it looked a lot like a mosquito (and didn't have an mosquito patterns on me). I ended up catching a bunch of panfish off of the cahill. At one point my wife called and I continued to slay the Green sunfish while on the phone with her.

A skunk even came next to the creek to hang out (or possibly die?) I guess he didn't get the memo... I wasn't there to get skunked, I was there to catch fish!

 I had to snap a couple of pictures of the sunset and also the mandatory panoramic shot of my fishing holes, kind of a tradition I have this year. I was glad I did some recon and found a new honey hole.

These 14 green sunfish put me at 50 panfish for the year and it's only May. That buys me a little time to try and pursue some other species and try to meet other goals. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to meet my 70 panfish goals this year but now I'm only a couple of good panfish days away from exceeding that goal and I haven't even caught any at the bee hive yet, so when that heats up (probably already has) it will be crazy! I need to try to get into some stripes and trout soon. Summer will belong to the kitties and the buckets!

Break that bank, folks!

Total Fish: 2 Smallmouth bass + 14 green sunfish = 16 fish

Pics or it Didn't Happen!

There are times when determination takes over and there is no turning back. I stepped out of the house armed with nothing but my 8 wt Cabelas RLS+ whom I have decided to name “Bone crusher.” I had bug spray, a bottle of water and my box of larger flies in my back pack and I was out the door. I began the short drive out to Cache Creek on a mission to catch Smallmouth bass with my fly rod. I decided that I would call my buddy to see if he wanted to join me out there and that is when I realized… I forgot my cell phone! 

I am old enough to remember a time without cell phones but I am also young enough to feel naked without it. For a second I panicked but then I felt relieved to have a fishing trip with no interruptions. But then I realized that if I caught a smallie, I would have no proof! After all, “pics or it didn’t happen,” right?! 

I arrived at Cache Creek at around 6:30. I planned on fishing until sundown. I started the day with a grasshopper pattern. I threw it out onto the water and SMASH! I went to tighten my line but it went slack. Apparently they weren’t as interested as I originally thought. The second and third casts were similar but for some reason they weren’t actually biting down on it. After a few more casts I swithched over to a thin mint but no takers. I decided on a frog colored popper since I could hear a lot of frogs around the cattails. First cast I had another strike but once again it didn’t actually bite down. I stuck to this popper for a while and would often see them pursue it or come up to look at it but they soon lost interest. I also tried a streamer pattern and a large yellow popper but I ended up losing that popper in the gold colored weeds after it got stuck without me realizing it. It was kind of a different process swinging the larger poppers but I learned how to do it fairly quickly. 

At one point I went back to the popper and was casting into the cattails. I could see something swimming through and around the cattails and just figured it was a bass or an otter. I continued to cast when all of a sudden I heard one of the loudest splashes into the water that I have ever heard! Now I’m a MAN, but I’m not too proud to say that this splash freaked me the HELL OUT!! I didn’t leave immediately because I was terrified of the splash, I left because I figured the splash scared away all of the fish! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

I made my way downstream because my buddy told me about a different hole that also had smallies in it. As the sun went down, the mosquitoes came out but the top water bite also began! I could see the fish eating something off of the top so I tossed my popper out And immediately got bumps. Unfortunately there were no hook ups so I figured they might be baby bass and switched to a small red panfish popper. Guess what they were? Panfish! And the panfish popper produced my first fish of the day, a small green sunfish. I was happy to beat the skunk but cast out a bit deeper in hopes of a smallie. Nothing but small bites and so I cast out for the panfish which are no match for bonecrusher even though I did end up catching one that was a little bigger and put up a fun little fight. 

With the mosquito action picking up and the sun completely set, I decided to call it a day.  I did catch two fish but unfortunately I will have to try another day for the smallies. This does put me over the halfway mark for my panfish goal for the year. It also puts me over the 50 fish mark for the year.   No pictures of the sunfish because I forgot my phone.

Total fish= 2 Green sunfish

Expectations Vs. Reality

Expectations: The fish are visible in the water so obviously I will slay them.

Reality: Didn’t do as well as I thought!

I took buddy Luis out to Cache creek to try and get into some smallies this past Saturday.

 A little back story on why we chose cache creek. A few weeks ago, prior to some of the coldest weather I have ever felt in our part of Nor Cal, we stopped at a specific bridge that stands over Cache Creek. The water on this stretch of the creek is gin clear and during summer you can see a few large and small mouth bass hanging near some cat tails. I had yet to visit this creek during fall so much to my surprise when we visited, I saw about 40 fish just hanging out. As excited as I was, I didn’t have a fishing rod with me but I vowed to return another day. That day was this past Saturday and the expectations were high!

With the air at a chilly 38 degrees, we made our way out to try to get into some fish. Since we didn’t have much time we got right into some fishing! I had a regular rod and my fly rod. I had worms, lures and flies. I was ready to catch some fish! 

Beat the skunk with this little guy!

Based on a buddies tip, I started off with a spinner. I threw a few casts and nothing. Next thing up was a worm on a bobber. I cast it up stream and let the current take it. I saw my bobber suddenly stand still and then go under.  A minute later I beat the skunk with a little pikeminnow. Not the type of fish I was shooting for but a fish nonetheless. The rest of the day was uneventful. Everything we threw at them they ignored. The water was super clear and you could see the fish staying perfectly still in the water and instead of chasing what we were throwing at them, they sometimes swam away as if afraid. The reality was that for whatever reason the fish were not biting but I still had a good time.

I finished up the sunlight we had left with a short fly lesson with Luis. He has never touched a fly rod and is pretty new to fishing in general. It makes me wonder if he will appreciate the fact that I took the time to teach him about fly fishing or if he will eventually just forget about it? Oh well, I try my best to learn and teach but to each his own. 

Luis with my fly rod

Well that’s it for me right now. I will be out on the water this weekend with Sean taking my last shot at Salmon for the year.  I also have plans to fish with Mark, Russell, and my dad but that won’t be until after Christmas! Don’t worry though, I will keep writing! Thanks for reading, folks!!   

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!