The Changing of Times

Even though the morning highs were in the low 90’s, nights are slowly becoming longer and colder. Their reach is expanding, slowly overtaking sunlight and bringing with them frigid days. Colder temperatures bring changing patterns for those of us hunting fish. These last few weeks of summer fish bring a strategic shift in tactic and ultimately an abandonment of all summer tactics and pursuits. The sun now sets at 7:00 PM. Soon five o clock will bring the sun down. 

With all of this said, I wasn’t prepared for what a 2+week lull would bring. I had not stepped foot at the “bee hive” for a few weeks due to car troubles. I was excited to get out there and slay some panfish. I was also excited about getting my buddy Jarred into some fish. 

We arrived at the bee hive at around 5:00. We had plenty of beer and little time to get into fish. Nonetheless I was confident and sure that at least I would get into a fish. 

My buddy Jarred has fished four times in his entire life and has caught two fish. That’s not a bad record but he had not been fishing in years. I was able to convince him to purchase a fishing license so I owe him a few fishing trips.  If any place I figured the bee hive would get him into some fish. The first thing that got my attention was that they had done some work on the feeder canal on the side and there was more dirt and sediment across the bottom. I wondered if it would affect the fish activity. Another thing that I noticed that the vegetation is beginning to die off as it does during winter, providing less hiding for the fish. 

We both got some decent bites but they didn’t seem to be attacking the worms with the same ferociousness as usual. They also seemed to leave it alone after a bite or two which was uncharacteristic. With the sun setting at 7:15, a cold chill completely killed the bite. I even threw a hail mary by attempting to rig up for catfish but not even a bite. 

In all the trip was a complete skunk.  I could blame it on only having two hours of sunlight but honestly it just wasn’t working for us. I still feel like I owe my buddy Jarred some fish so hopefully I will be able to get him into some soon. 

As for right now, I feel a real urgency to do two things:

1.      Get into some Bass before the bite REALLY slows down.
2.    Head into the hills for some trout… especially on the fly!

I will let you all know how it goes.

8/16 Lisbon + Salmon fishing

This is from last weekend,  I have been crazy busy at work so I had forgotten to post it up. Well anyway I went Panfishing with my buddy Luis. He has yet to buy his license but I already he should get it so a fat ticket for him is no longer on my conscience. 

So I was watching a bit of the Niner preseason game and decided to leave a bit late. Weh we hit Lisbon I busted out the fly rod and was ready to go to work. Unfortunately The fish were not hitting the fly. I could see them swimming up to the flies I was throwing but no bites. We call the spot we go to “the bee hive” on account of all the bees there. Unfortunately I don’t have any bee patterns, I’m sure they would work. I threw out different colors of wooley bugger, a grasshopper, a bass popper, a PMD and nothing was working so I decided to put the fly rod away especially since the sun was starting to set. I pulled out the regular rod and went to work. 

Meanwhile luis was working the night crawler and bobber pretty well. It took him a while to get into his first fish but sure enough, he did it. He got into a nice little bass which is fun on light gear. Net fish was a bluegill which he had never caught before so he was pretty excited about it. He finished his day with a small crappie. Three types of fish in one day; it wasn’t bad day for him at all. 

So initially I caught a small picture but I didn’t think it was worth a picture. It was starting to get dark but I checked my hook and I had one small chunk of worm on my line. I figured why not and I threw it out. I saw my bobber disappear instantly. I hoped it was a bass but what I caught was still pretty cool. It was an 11 in crappie; my best so far! Nice size fish and by far my personal best crappie. 

Sunday I went out Salmon fishing with my buddy Sean and although we heard reports of the prior day being a good one, there appeared to be no fish on the sac that day. I really think that this year I will get into my first salmon. Don't worry, WHEN it happens, i will let you guys know!

That’s all folks!

4th of July and FF Day

Went fishing on the 4^th with Ol Pops ( my Dad). IT was 104 degrees that day so we were in absolutely no mood for a lot of walking. So we hit spot #1 with the intention of finding some shade and vegetation and hopefully finding some panfish. My dad was also shooting for some catfish. Well, spot #1 was a complete failure except for finding shade. 

I walked a few yards out and found a spot with more shade and a small runoff dumping into the main canal (Lisbon). We had the bobbers out in the shaded part of the main canal and nothing. After a while I threw the bobber into the small feeder canal and right away it went under! Threw it in again but this time it was a quick snag. After rigging up again, I threw my line in and once again it went down but this time I pulled out a small blue gill. That kept on happening to both me and my dad but in all I only caught 2 small gills. Oh well, I avoided the skunk this time. I didn't get any pictures of them.

So this Saturday was one of two free fishing days in California. I took my buddy Luis out to explore some possible new fishing holes. I went looking for a spot I saw on google maps where there was a slough that dumps into a river. This slough was located out in the middle of nowhere.  Unfortunately google maps didn’t tell me that its on private property and that the guys who live there look a bit unfriendly. As soon as one guy saw us he started running our way which was interesting because I was already turning around. When he saw me turn around, he stopped and turned back. I guess he figured we were just trespassing on purpose. Oh well, funny times!

Anyway, we found an irrigation canal and a nice place to park so we threw in some lines there. Luis ended up catching the first kitty. A small 10 in kitty but the first catch nonetheless.  He also caught the second kitty but I caught the third, fourth and fifth. He caught the sixth and I caught the seventh and 8^th. In all we caught 8 kitties, but nothing too big at all but still a good time. 

I’m pretty happy that we both caught some kitties especially  since I am still attempting to get him hooked on fishing. I think getting him into a few cats is a good solid part of the formula. I will let you know when he gets his license!

Update: Largemouths at Lisbon

Does the Hedon Torpedo work? Well I caught one fish with it in Washington State. Does it work at Lisbon, doesn’t seem like it. Then again catching bass at Lisbon seems to be different than other places. The only thing that has worked for catching Bass at Lisbon has been good ol nightcrawlers. Other than that, no dice.

I hit Lisbon on Friday and Saturday. I used the Heddon Torpedo in two sizes on two different days.  Long story Short, both were a failure. I am not sure what this means other than Lisbon is kind of a tough place for Largemouth. I still have to try it out at Boss pond and a few other fishing holes before I give an opinion. 

Anyway, I didn’t take any pictures of the fish I caught because I didn’t hook anything too impressive. Friday I hooked into a small largemouth and three decent sized crappie. I didn’t really feel like gutting and scaling so instead I simply caught and released. 

Sunday I took my dad out to the beehive (name for newest fishing hole). I ended up hooking into two small Largemouths  but once again, nothing too impressive. As much as I love hooking into some small fish, I really want a bigger fight so I need to hit the sac soon. Since Boss pond will be out of question for a while (different reasons) I am on the lookout for a new pond to catch some monster bass.

 
Well, three crappie and three largemouths would be it for this weekend! Not a great first fishing trip of the summer but at least i didn't get skunked!

6/7/13 - Lisbon Slough

So as I discussed last week I am trying to get my buddy Luis into fishing. Although he is into video games and everything else indoors, he has agreed to go fishing with me two weekends in a row. After Last week’s Largemouth surprise while fishing for panfish I figure he was inching closer to becoming a fisherman. 

 Last week we discovered a spot that we now have deemed as “The bee hive.” We call it the bee hive because there are tons of bees around that area but we don’t mess with them so they don’t mess with us. The ticks are another story!

 We arrived at spot #1 at Lisbon slough at around 5 pm, the temperature was about 100 but we were sitting in the shade so it was no problem. We had nightcrawlers on two different set-ups.  I set up my buddy Luis with a weighted bobber and a 1 ft leader. I had a slip bobber rig, both of us were using night crawlers as bait. 

We hit spot number one and I had a single bite. After an hour and a half of nothing we decided to move to the bee hive. Sure enough I had a few take downs on my first few casts. First fish of the day was a tiny 5 inch bass. Cute at best. Second fish was a small bluegill, a bit bigger than the bass.  

After a while I hooked into my first nice size crappie of the day, my buddy Luis caught the next. After a while we realized we were down to only two worms so I started cutting them in half. I gave my buddy half a worm and decided to use a lipless crank instead. As I was tying that on, I hear him cast and a few seconds later I hear, “oh, man!” and line peeling. I look over and his pole is bent and something is peeling line like crazy. 

  

Well, the lucky sucker reeled the fish in, and I netted it up for him. His first two pound bass, which put up a nice fight for being only two pounds! Nice size fish for only a half a night crawler; quite a surprise! We ran out of bait at around 8:30. 

We ended up with five crappies that day so we decided to have a good ol fish fry!

 

I beer battered those suckers and a catfish that I had in the freezer. Coupled with some Stella Artois and we had ourselves a hell of a meal on Sunday afternoon!

Well that's it for me folks.I will be out of town next weekend, so not sure if I will get any fishing in. If I do I will let you know. Until then, break that bank, folks!!