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

Fishing Goals for 2014

"I dare do all that may become a man" - Macbeth, Shakespeare

Oh man, he's getting poetic! That must mean it's time for some crazy fishing goals!! Here we go folks, time to do it big in 2014!

1. Catch 5 Salmon
This is five times last years goal (just to catch one) I told you I was feeling confident! I have yet to even catch one salmon but this year I WILL catch five!

2. Catch five Steelhead
Similar to my salmon goal, I am not only going to catch my first of these but I will catch multiple fish. Go big or go home!!

3. Catch 50 Trout
Oh man, I debated with this one. Last year I caught 10 trout total! I have never really been a trout fisherman and that is seen in the fact that I have only caught 11 in my entire life! But I am feeling confident today. I’m ready to shoot for the stars here. This definitely means focusing a lot more on trout fishing. I figure I will go a few more times this winter and I will be fly fishing a lot during small stream season so this goal is attainable!

4. Catch a new personal best striper, and then do it again!
I LOVE Striper fishing; It’s in my blood! Last year I slacked on the striper but this year I will be fishing the run, big time! I plan to break my previous personal best and then best that again, all in one year! I could have just tried to break my record once, but what better challenge could there be than beating your record twice in one year?!

5. Catch a 7 lb largemouth
I went huge last year in my largemouth goal. I went for a 10 lber. I figured this year I would lower that goal a bit and shoot for a 10 lber again next year.Who knows, maybe I will get into the 10 lber while pursuing the 7 lber!

6. Find 5 new fly fishing spots.
Who am I kidding, I LOVE fly fishing and I’m addicted. Every time I look at my fly fishing equipment, I want to fish! This year I will force myself to exit my comfort zone and search for new fly fishing spots. As a result I figure I will find some beautiful scenery and take some great pictures.

7. Catch my first fish in the ocean
I have been surf fishing once and did not do well. This year I am going on the Usal trip with my buddies again and this time I intend to spend more time hitting the surf. I figure even if I don’t catch one here, I can always try fishing off of a public pier or something.

8. Take a trip somewhere JUST to fish!
I JUST came up with this one while writing these goals so its new and exciting! Alaska , Montana , Idaho, Oregon? I haven’t thought this one out at all so I guess we will see!!

9. Catch my first Largemouth and Smallmouth bass on the Fly!
I have been wanting to catch a largemouth on the fly for a while. Why not commit it to paper and also add a smallie in there?!

10. Catch 70 Panfish
If you’re not breaking the bank, you’re not living!! It’s time for me to live up to my blog name. This is 10 less fish than I caught in all of 2013! I am going to catch 70 panfish in a year; bluegills, crappie, red ears, green sunfish, etc. If I accomplish this one and the trout one I will have caught more fish in one year than I have in any other year of my life!

As you can see, folks, I mean business this year! I have researched a lot, studied a lot and asked a lot of questions and it’s time to test my limits. Don’t get me wrong I am not trying to be the expert or act like I know it all but it’s time to really challenge myself. It’s time to break the bank, folks!

The Slip-Bobber Rig

So i have not been fishing in a couple of weeks now and Yes, i am having withdrawals! With that said and no fishing trips to write about, I figured I would continue with my "Rigs and setups/ teaching" posts which I quite honestly have been neglecting! As i have said before (many times) that i not only want to learn to fish, but I also want to teach brand new fisherman how to get their feet wet (not literal) as well. With that in mind, I bring you: The Slip-bobber rig! (BTW, please take the time to appreciate my fine artistic abilities in the illustrated diagrams! lol)

 

I had seen slip bobbers before but never paid close attention to them. That is until a night with a new moon out on Black Butte Lake when we got skunked. The next morning a guy approached me and showed me a couple of pretty decent cats he had caught. I asked him how he caught them and he told me he used a slip bobber rig. 

I had never actually seen a slip bobber rig set-up close so I paid attention to how it was rigged up and asked him questions about it. Even though catfish are bottom feeders, he told me that they don’t always eat at the same depth. He told me that at certain times they will be in different depths and at those times, a slip sinker is the way to go.

Both regular bobbers and slip bobbers use the bobber as an indication of bites or strikes. The difference between a slip-bobber and a regular bobber is that a regular bobber stays at one depth and your bait normally stays at the very top of the water column. With a slip bobber, you can access any level of the water column by simply moving your bobber stopper higher up on your line. This allows for your bobber to go further up your line and stop when it meets the bobber stopper, essentially allowing you to reach further depths and still use a bobber as a bite indicator. 

When I first decided to use this rig I went to one of my local fishing stores and found a pack with two weighted slip-bobbers and bobber stoppers. Originally I only used the plastic bobber stoppers included with my pack. It looked like a small thin, skinny strip of plastic with four holes in it. Then you simply take your line, run it through all four holes and you have your bobber stopper. As it turns out, there is also a simple fishing knot you can also tie on to your line that will do the same job. You can find a picture of that knot ::here::

A slip bobber rig isn’t the most complicated rig out there, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t catch fish. The beauty of a bobber stopper is that you can fish different depths with it. This is important because if you aren’t getting bites at one depth, you can and should slide the bobber stopper a few inches up or down until you begin getting bites. I have been in situations where one depth will be dead and after sliding the bobber stopper knot a little higher or lower, fish begin attacking it like crazy. The Slip bobber rig works great for catfish, bluegill, crappie, carp, largemouth bass and even striper. 

So a quick recap:

Step 1. Take your main line and slide on your bobber stopper or tie on your bobber stopper knot.

Step 2. Slide your bobber onto your line.

Step 3. Attach a 1-2 foot leader to your line using a barrel swivel

Step 4. Attatch your hook to the other end of your leader.

Step 5. Adjust your bobber stopper at desired length and you are ready to fish!

Update: Fly Fishing the Yuba River

I must admit, I underestimated the Yuba. This was my first longer trip devoted strictly to fly fishing and when i imagined the trip i figured i would be slaughtering some fish! I had my small box of flies, my new fly fishing rod and even some waders. I was ready to conquer the Yuba river but really, it taught me a lesson in respect for the Yuba and fly fishing in general.

Now first off, we arrived at the camp at around 1pm last Wednesday. Our campground was right on a small peninsula ( I think that’s what it would be called) with small creeks running on both sides of us. Nice little place. Anyway, before even putting up the tent I pulled a beer out of the ice chest (had to get the vacation started right!) and threw in a pole for blue gill. Right away I got into my first blue gill and I was ready to set up camp. 

After camp was set we hit a different blue gill pond and fished some more. As it turns out there were not only bluegill in there but redear sunfish, green sunfish, crappie, and all sorts of hybrid sunfish as if they were all in there having a giant sunfish orgy!  We got into a good number and saved the bigger ones for dinner.

After dinner we drove out to Hammond Grove Park to try our hand at some fly fishing. While we were there we saw some guys from “Yuba River Charters” wading up. They were pretty nice guys. Joked with them a bit and talked a bit about fly fishing. They also witnessed (and screamed) when Russell pulled his fly rod out half way and the tailgate closed right on the tip of his brand new fly rod! We tried to ghetto rig it up with tape and the tip off of one of his spinning rods but (of course) it didn’t work. Russell Sat this one out but he didn’t miss out on anything. Even the pros weren’t having any luck that day. Later on, Russells Dad decided to bring him a new fly fishing Rod so Russell wasn’t as unlucky as he thought he was that day!

The next morning we slept in a bit, got some breakfast and cleaned up camp. Then we went over to the day use area of Sycamore Ranch and waded up! 

We decided to practice a bit before hitting the actual river. We hit the boat launch area which had some ponds around it. Russell hit the side right by the boat launch, and on his first cast he caught what he thought was a small trout. It turned out to be a Sacramento pikeminnow. He was still pretty happy with his catch. 

I went over to the opposite end and tried a bass popper hoping for some largemouth bass. I didn’t get any bass but I was surprised at how much sunfish like bass poppers! They attacked it tons of times but I finally got into a nice one.  I must admit, the feeling you get when a fish hits your fly, the line tightens up and you instinctively pull back on your fly line, bringing the fish in is incomparable! I absolutely LOVE fly fishing!!  Maybe its just the fact that it new and different to me but I find it to be pretty darn fantastic.

We finally hit the main river and I snapped a couple of pictures. I hit a small pond on the southwest end of that stretch of the river first. I had on a crawfish pattern under an indicator and tried fishing close to some trees on the bank. At one point I was getting closer to the bank and stepped right into a hole and went in waist deep which got my pants a little wet. That cold water sure woke me up!

When I met up with Russell again, he told me that he was tossing in a black wooleybugger and had a trout on for a second. Apparently he was unable to keep his line tight and it got away. That was it for our action on the Yuba. The rest of the time we continued to cast but there were no more bites to be had. We wrapped up around 4:30 because I wanted to run home and watch the Niners pre-season opener. Isn’t it crazy how quickly the summer flew by?

At the end of the day I felt a bit defeated. Even though I caught the biggest bluegill I have caught on the fly to date, I really wanted a Yuba river trout! I guess I could have gone out earlier in the day but I guess I will have to wait until next time. I have a new respect for the Yuba and also for fly-fishing. It’s definitely harder than I thought but with enough practice I think I can find the right combination for the Yuba and any other river that I visit in the future.

Well anyway, that’s it for the beautiful Yuba river. Hope you guys enjoyed the report. Hopefully next time I will be able to report some trout or even a bass! So until next time, break that bank, folks!