Never Guarantee Fish...

I went fishing with a buddy I met on the sniffer named Nathan. Nathan was a pretty nice guy. I met him at his place in Gold River and we hit the south Fork of the American River. It was some gorgeous country but we may have been there too late in the day. It was about 10:30 when we arrived at the fishing hole and the sun was already blazing. 

We hit the American at Chilis Bar. We hit a couple of holes at the actual park but had no luck. Nathan had one strike but he didn’t swallow the fly. We made our way up the bank which was kind of hard for me but I made it. We fished a few other holes but didn’t have a bit of luck. The area was beautiful but we had absolutely no luck there. What’s funny is that Nathan actually “guaranteed” me trout at this spot. When he said it I kind of chuckled. I thought that was a bold claim when he made it but apparently he hadn’t heard that the superstition is real! You can NEVER guarantee a person fish unless they are store-bought and fishermen don’t buy fish! 

By the time we left fishing hole #1 I was spent so we had some in n out and hit fishing hole #2 which was one of Nathans secret fishing holes for bass. He told me that most of the fish at this hole are small but I was just excited at the prospect of caching some bass!  He ended up catching a handful of bass with an extremely fast stripping technique. For some reason, as much as I tried I could not strip my line as fast as he could which resulted in not catching as many fish. He told me that at this pond, that was the technique that caught the most fish.

A bit later I did get into one small (and I do mean small!) largemouth on a foam bee. I had no poppers because I thought we were only fishing for trout but if I did I’m sure I would have caught some more. It definitely made me want to return to that fishing hole with my spin fishing gear and hopefully get into some of the bigger things that pond had to offer. 

Not the best trip, but its always good to fish! 

Total Fish: 1 Largemouth Bass

OBN and USAL

I have not had a pleasant experience with what is called the “Outdoor Blogger Network.”  For whatever reason both times I have attempted to promote some of my posts, it hasn’t worked.  I was able to create a profile the first time but that was all. I remember waiting for them to promote my post and nothing.

This time around I updated my profile and added myself to the directory and figured maybe that is what I was doing wrong. I was wrong. I added myself to the directory, checked and realized I was nowhere to be found in the directory. 

I tried once again to promote my posts but this time I posted two of them and for whatever reason it just doesn’t happen! I have checked everyday since and nothing. 

Well, considering that it doesn’t seem to work for me, I removed the badge and am leaving this network that shows no evidence of me ever having been there! 

If you have any ideas about what is going on, let me know. Otherwise, I’m perfectly okay with not being part of this network.  Either way, I have all of you and folks that  find my blog through the Kienes  board and The Fish sniffer. 

As for fishing, I haven’t been in a while. With the recent storms and cloudy weather, I’m a bit hesitant to even go out and risk getting rained out. It is supposed to clear up next week so next Wednesday I might try to make my way out to Putah, Boss pond or Butte Pond. I guess I will let you guys know.

 I also have the (now) yearly  trip to Usal  trip with my Chico buddies coming and I am pretty excited about that! If any of you have any tips on crabbing from the beach or surf fishing, please let me know!

That’s it for me. Get your fish on, folks!!

Six Pictures That Add up to 31!

I have the privilege of being blessed with a day off on each and every one of my birthdays. I was born on Veteran's day so I must first off say thank you to all the veterans out there for your service to our amazing country, especially for any veterans who take the time to read this blog!

So this monday was my birthday but I celebrated for the entire weekend. Here are some pictures that speak about one of the best birthdays I have ever had.

1. I came to work on friday to find these on my desk! One of my Co workers and her husband gifted me this vest and Fly reel! Feels good to know people know you this well! I have to drop a few lbs to fit into the vest so I have some work to do before next small stream trout season. Maybe I will try it out later this month next year on dry creek! LOL

2. I had a dinner with one of my best friends and his wife on saturday after spending most of the day edging and mowing my lawn. My Godess of a wife made me a chocolate cake with Chocolate frosting. She knows what I like!!








3. Sunday morning bright and early we were off to the Niner Game! We got there early and got to see the players warming up and going to the locker room. Yes, we were this close to the man, the myth the legend: Patrick Willis!! 









4. We had great seats to a bad loss! How in the world are you going to lose 10-9 to Carolina? Something needs to be done with our offense but that’s another post all together. Either way I had a terrific time with my wife at the Niner Game!

5. We walked around San Francisco Sunday morning but finished the day at Texas Roadhouse! I love that restaurant! And since it was my birthday I had to ride the bull! I was just praying I wasn’t going to break that sucker!

6.Last but not least, a panoramic shot of Candlestick Park. I realize this will be my last time at Candlestick, probably ever. I’m going to miss that old park but on to bigger and better things!

Well that’s in for my 31st birthday! Not sure what’s next considering my fishing schedule usually slows down around this time. I will however try a bit longer for a salmon, sturgeon and steelhead!! Wish me luck on catching at least one of those before this year is over.

And Then There Was Success!

We ventured into my buddy Russell’s “secret pond”  a couple of days ago at around 11am. He had fed me stories about huge bluegill and Bass and so I decided I had to try it.

 

This year has been a slow one for me and largemouth bass. Last year I feel I did fairly well on the buckets, this year being different with only one substantial bass and the rest being dinks. My main desires were two fold: To catch a bass and also to catch a bass on the fly rod!

We arrived at the pond at around 11am. I had a pole rigged up for panfish from the previous trip so I tossed it in and I saw a takedown right away! Always a positive sign. Russell drew first blood with a nice little green sunfish. I was next with a decent sized little bluegill. Panfish are always a good time! I decided to try with the fly rod but no matter what I threw at them (san juan worm, pmd, wooleybuggers, panfish poppers, etc), they were not interested. At one point I got one bite on a white wooleybugger but that was basically it.

Russell loves catfish so much that on the Fish Sniffer his screen name is “Katfish.” He decided that he was going to fish for some kitties and within a few moments he had this nice catfish. Notice it’s dorsal fin.  We wondered if there was something BIG chewing on its fin?

I decided that I would try for catfish as well but all I had on was a small treble hook. I have caught catfish with these hooks in the past but the first cast was unfruitful.  At this point I decided to change my hook. I had a basic slip sinker rig with a ½ oz egg weight on it and about a foot and a half leader. I was able to get it out pretty far. I went back to my fly rod but right away I noticed there was some tension on the line. I picked up my rod, felt tension (not bites, but tension) so I set my hook and sure enough there was a fish on! I tried to power him in but he started to run. That’s when I saw it jump out and I knew it was a largemouth. He took off to the left of us and was gunning it with my line. The darn thing put up a CRAZY fight! I finally got him in and he was smaller than I thought but the fight still made him worth it.He was a nice little 2 lb Largemouth!

We wondered out loud why the bass had fed on a bottom feeding rig and rationalized that it must have caught the worm on the fall. But before the afternoon ended Russell ended up catching two more smaller bass on a bottom feeding rig as well. We started throwing soft plastics, lipless cranks and many topwater lures as well to no avail. For whatever reason, it seemed that they were bottom feeding that day. 

Well, It seemed that Russell had the good spot because he was getting into all the catfish. At one point I ventured out with my fly rod to try and catch me a bass on the fly but they weren’t even checking out my popper. While I was doing that Russell told me I had a cat on so I ran back and got into my first and last kittie of the day. We ended up catching a couple more panfish and russell got into a couple more cats as well. Total fish caught and released  – 3 Bass, 5 Catfish,8 panfish. In all, not a bad day. I guess the season isn’t quite over yet, you just have to adjust with the times! 

Well, that wraps up my summer fishing. I don't feel I did too great this summer but a lot of the time was spent learning about fly fishing. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Oh well, Time to bring on that fall fishing!!

New Fishing Buddy and Hog Hunting!

Once again I will briefly be abandoning my namesake and fishing from a boat!

Like I said yesterday, I now look forward to meeting folks and fishing with them. Recently I met Russell over at the fish sniffer and he said he wanted to fish with me so it’s on!

I will be meeting him over at Sutter Bypass in Yuba City and we will hopefully be getting into some largemouth bass. As I mentioned before I have had a recent craving to catch myself some largemouths .  Ever since I got back from Washington and caught a 3 lber, I have wanted to get back out there and catch some big ones.

My goal when it comes to largemouth this year, as discussed in an older post, is:

8.      Catch a double digit Largemouth

My personal best is a 20” 5 lb Largemouth. I not only want to catch a bigger one but specifically I want to catch a 10+ lber. And don’t worry, I will catch and realease.

This also reminds me that I have to do an update on my fishing goals for the year. I figure I will just start writing a seasonal report since I already dropped the ball on a quarterly report.

So as I hit this new fishing hole that I have only been in once, my hope is not only to catch a new personal best but also to hook into my first double digit Largemouth.  But I won’t focus just on big fish I am also just looking to have a good time with my new buddy Russell, drink some beer and get out on that water!