We Were Wrong!

Last Wednesday I worked a half day and decided, what better to do than to hit the fishing hole! I called up Russell and we went to the new pond out in Yuba city. I was VERY excited to try out my new fly rod as well. While picking up Russell, I found this at his house; a small children's Mickey Mouse fishing rod. However this is no ordinary kids rod. When I was a kid, this was the exact first rod that my dad bought me!! What a fantastic coincidence!!

Now let me just say this, when I left woodland, it was windy but not too bad. When I got to Yuba City it was way windier  and when we finally arrived a

t the pond, it was terrible! The wind must have been 20-30 miles an hour; simply ferocious. As windy as it was, we were already at the pond and we were going to fish whether or not we caught any.

We cast out, put bells on and drank some beer and didn’t hear any bites. After a bit I decided that it might be a better tactic to actually hold the rod in my hand. So I recast and held the rod and next thing I know I felt a bite, set my hook and reeled in what I thought would be the only fish of the day; a little hand size bluegill.

We cast out our rods and decided to take a walk and see if there were any areas that had some covering for the wind. Russell found an area that was fairly covered and sheltered so he decided to throw the worm and bobber in because he said it looked, “fishy.” Sure enough he pulled up a nice little half pound bass! 

We did end up finding another area that was a bit less windy so I decided to try out my fly rod. Bad mistake! Turns out fly fishing in the wind is not a good thing. Not only did it mess up my casting, and give me my first wind knot, but at one point as I was casting during a particularly strong gust I felt what I thought was a branch fly into me and hit me in the neck. It wasn’t a branch, it was my line and lure clinging to my neck. I thought for sure I was going to gush blood but as it turns out I didn’t even break skin, which is a great thing.

When we got back to the rods I checked my line and there was tension! I reeled in a little half pound bass! Now I am not sure if he had been on for a while but when he came in, I took a quick picture, released him and poor little guy still didn’t make it. I felt pretty bad. 

So at this point we thought this was as good as it would possibly get with all the wind.  Once again, we were wrong. After a bit Russell got into another pan fish. I also got into a nice little one pounder which put up a nice fight. Russell also got into a catfish which he loves and on my last cast I got into an ugly little sucker fish. Nice size but absolutely no fight! 

So on a windy day we ended up getting into three bass, three panfish, one sucker, one catfish. For being as windy as it was, eight fish isn’t bad at all. Looks like my fall is going way better than my summer.

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!!

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!

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!