Saturday, May 31, 2008

Who Knew?

Fishing Time: 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Weather: Sunny, slight breeze, 70's
Water Temp: 57 degrees
Who Went: Phil, Mike, Zenger, Me


I called my cousin Phil to see if he was open this weekend for some fishing. He told me that not only was he open, but also my other cousin Mike, and their friend Zenger! I said, "ok where are we going?" He told me they really wanted to try Yuba for the Pike they keep hearing about. That was good enough reason for me. We got a late start with me making it to Spanish Fork to meet them at 12:00 p.m. From there Zenger hooked on to my boat and we were off! We got to the lake, launched, and started casting around the dam in search of some of these aggressive pike. On Phil and Mike's first cast they both had fish following there lure. They were not sure what kind of fish they were but it got us excited anyway. We worked the rest of the dam with no success so we headed to the other end of the lake toward Painted Rocks. We started casting around some flooded willows but could not entice anything to hit. My cousins were starting to get dissapointed and so we moved and tried an extended rocky point. We started casting and just as our hopes were almost gone, I had one hit on a #5 Mepps firetiger spinner and roll on the surface. It was a pretty large pike and this got all of our excitement back! Zenger was casting an X-Rap Rapala with a blue back and white belly and finally hooked up with one! When he came to the surface we all realized that it was a big pike! We got the net on it and sat there in amazement at the size!
I weighed it and we were all shocked when it came in at only 8 pounds. It looked like it would weigh much more than that! We let him go and continued fishing. We all started getting hits and seeing an occassional follower around the boat! Mike finally landed his first with this dink that looked like he almost became lunch to a bigger pike! If you look close you will see a large laceration on his side from a pike trying to eat him!
Phil and I both had some hits but never could hook up with any! Once we felt we had fished this point out we decided to try our luck trolling for them. We trolled a few different shorelines but didn't even get a bite! We went back to shoreline casting, working points and submerged reeds until Mike hooked up with the big boy of the day! It was 37" long and weighed in at 12 pounds. Again I would have thought that it weighed much more and I now realize just how big a 20 pound pike is! Mike was shaking he was so excited!


We said farewell to this big fella and moved on. We found a cove shortly after where we all started getting hits again and Phil had a good one on but lost it! He redeemed himself shortly after when he hauled in this nice Walleye! Phil catches a Walleye every where I go with him!
Mike ended up landing another nice one, and he seemed to have the hot hand of the day. I was the only one that put up the big goose egg! I had many chances but just couldn't hook up! It was a fun trip with some big fish, and I hope to make it back here soon, as Yuba is a boom and bust type of Lake that is definitely in its boom period right now!

Friday, May 23, 2008

Willamette River Sturgeon

Fishing Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Weather: Rain, Rain, and more Rain, 50's
Water Temp: 48 degrees
Who Went: Hunt, Me
Cari and I had the pleasure of going on a 4 day vacation to Portland, Oregon to stay with our friends, Justin and Stephanie Hunt. We had an unbelievable time while we were there, as it seemed like the good times never stopped. We were going non stop from early morning til midnight everyday trying to fit in as much as we could! One of the days the girls decided to pamper themselves with facials and shopping. This was Hunt and my chance to get in a day of fishing! We woke up and headed towards the Willamette River! The Willamette River is huge, and it runs right through Portland and then meets up with the Columbia River. We launched Hunt's boat literally from downtown. It rained on us all day and this did not help our chances as we planned to bass fish! We tried all morning without a bite. Wondering what we could do to pull something out of this river we saw some guys fishing from the docks. We headed over to see what they were fishing for. They surprised us when they told us Sturgeon! The funny part of the story is that the guy talked with a lisp and continued to tell us that Sturgeon were a dinathor fith over and over! It took some restraint not to laugh and it soon became one of the jokes of the trip! Along with the Mandingo from Tillamook (inside joke)! The guy went on to tell us that he gets bites on average every 20 minutes. That's all it took for us! We were in! Now all we needed was some bait, as they use dead fish or squid to entice these ancient things. We tried to buy some from the guys at the dock, but they were not interested. We then went to some high class seafood restaurant right on the river to see if they would sell us any raw fish! This did not go over to well and we were basically told "this is a restaurant, not a bait shop!" As a last resort we pulled up next to a guided boat just as they were pulling anchor to leave and asked them if they had any bait left they would sell to us. He started throwing coolers full of bait at us! He told us we didn't owe him a thing, but we gave him a 10 spot anyway. It was probably around 30 dollars in bait! Now it was on! We found 75 feet of water just as the guide had informed us to do and then anchored up! We put on a 2 ounce sinker and an octopus hook and loaded it with squid and sardines! Within 3 minutes Hunt had a Sturgeon on! It was quite the fight and I was starting to wonder if our poles were going to hold up against the bend it was giving! After a long fight we had landed our first Sturgeon of our lives! It must have been over 3 feet long and it weighed 10 pounds!
We were pretty pumped to say the least, and couldn't wait to get back in the water to catch another one. No more than 10 minutes later Hunt was on again with another one. This one ended up being the smallest of the trip weighing in at only 5 pounds. Now I was starting to get jealous, as I really wanted to catch one of these prehistoric dinathor fiths! Just as I was starting to get impatient I finally had a Sturgeon on! It fought me just like a 20 pound catfish would fight, and I just hoped that my under powered 10 pound test would be able to haul this beast in from 85 feet down up to the boat! It ran on me several times before it tired out and I was able to get it to the boat. It had to be close to 4 feet long and weighed 11 lbs!
Soon after I was reeling in to do a bait check and told Hunt, I think I might have something on. I pulled in this little catfish that looked just like the bullheads I catch back home in Utah Lake!
We could have stayed and fished for them all night, but the girls probably would have killed us! We headed for the docks and picked the girls up from downtown. We cruised in the boat and did some sight seeing. It is an unbelievable river and an unreal experience I will never forget!

Monday, May 19, 2008

I-80 Ponds

Fishing Time: 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Weather: Warm 80's
Who Went: Johnny Leech, Me

One of my new fishing buddies, John, or Johnny Leech as I call him, had never fished the I-80 Pond before but had heard all my stories about it to the point of nausea! Well today was the day that he could make his own judgement. I warned him that it was still not the best time to fish here til June, but with the warm spell we have been having that we should be okay. He went out and purchased a float tube specifically to fish the pond so I was hoping it would not let him down. I started out throwing a Roboworm in green pumpkin/oxblood, while John put on his newly ordered live leeches (hence the name). I started things off with a nice 3 pounder and proved to Johnny Leech that they are in there! He didn't need me to show him cause soon after he had on a really nice bass that came to the surface and was probably around 4 pounds. He almost had it lipped but the fishing gods gave him the cold shoulder and the big boy threw the hook! He was pretty bummed but I assured him there are many more in there just like it! I ended up catching a few more pushing three pounds and Johnny Leech was left with the worst fishing feeling in the world after losing a nice fish! That's the best part about fishing though, as long as you keep at it, there will always be another big boy in your future!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

May at Pineview

Fishing Time: Saturday all Day, 7 to 12 p.m. Sunday
Weather: Hot 90's
Water Temp: 55-62 degrees
Who Went: JJ, John, Me


After watching another heartbreaking season with the Jazz losing the Western Conference Semi Finals to the L.A. Lakers, I got my mind off of things by spending the night up at Pineview Reservoir with Johnny Leech. We got there early Saturday morning and left Sunday about noon. We stayed at the Anderson Cove Campgrounds. Saturday morning seemed to be promising with warm weather and no wind! John had one on early right off Cemetery Point, but didn't quite make it in the boat. Soon after, I landed my first smallmouth of the trip. We then went to the north side of Cemetery Point where all the submerged brush is at the mouth of Middle Fork. This is where we saw numerous muskies basking in the sun, but they would not hit anything. John made a 20 dollar bet with me that he could get one to hit on his magic leeches and I gladly took the bet as I have never seen a muskie hit while sun bathing! He threw his leech in right on top of one and it instantly started to turn. It went right up to his leech and gave it a sniff. I thought for a moment that I was about to lose, but then it just shrugged it off and turned away! They just don't hit when they are in this mode. I didn't collect on the bet cause that is the closest I have ever seen anyone come to catching one like that. We ended up in the back of Middle Fork where we saw people catching fish. As soon as we started casting John had one on. While he was reeling it in, I also had one on! Then John yelled "Muskie, grab the net," I didn't know what to do cause I was still fighting a smallmouth that I had on. I tried to get mine in quick to run and help but it was to late! The muskie came off right at the boat! It wouldn't have been a big deal but this was John's first Tiger Muskie! Ouch! I felt bad, and continued to take crap about saving my dink smallmouth while letting his first muskie go astray! I deserved it! Shortly after, JJ came up to spend the evening on the water with us to try his luck with the elusive Tiger Musky! He picked a bad time as we didn't put anything else in the boat the entire night! Sunday we woke up and were on the water at 7:00 a.m. We went straight to Middle Fork to try our luck for some early morning Crappie but did not find them. We decided to go back to the sunken trees and muskie hunt. There they were just as the day before, but would not take anything! We did get into some smallmouth and I landed one around 3 pounds. By noon it was 95 degrees and this early in the year we were not used to these kind of temps so we hi tailed it out of there and went home!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

I-80 Pond

Fishing Time: 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Weather: Warm 80's
Who Went: Me

I have been hesitant to fish the I-80 ponds during the month of May since all of my past experiences have told me that it doesn't really turn on until June! The weather has been unbelievably warm in the 90's for the past 4 or 5 days though, so it made me wonder if I could catch them in spawn mode. I have still yet to figure out when the bass at the I-80 ponds spawn. I got there at around 6:00 and the water temp felt somewhat warm to the touch. Another float tuber was on his way in when I launched and gave me the dreaded news before I even started fishing! He got skunked! This disheartened me to say the least, but I was already there so I launched anyway! I started by throwing a sparkle green Senko but had no success. I then threw on one of my favorite new plastics, the Roboworm. I was using a two toned worm with oxblood and green pumpkin. Soon after I started throwing the Roboworm rigged drop shot style, I caught my first Largemouth of the evening weighing 3 pounds. I then casted continuously for about an hour with no bites. I was about to change techniques when I pulled in my second bass of the night weighing 4 pounds. I love this place! This bass showed signs of post spawning, so I am that much closer to dialing in on when they spawn out here. Shortly after I caught one more dink bass and that would be it for the night, or would it?! It was pretty much dark at this point and I should have been off the water a half hour earlier but since I was already there and had to flipper my way back to my launch area anyway, I decided to throw on a topwater spook in perch colors and drag it along as I went! I was just about to reach the shoreline where I load up the tube, in my mind giving up on the topwater, and then Wham! Another 3 pound bass! With a grin on my face I loaded up the tube and went home.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Spring at Otter Creek

Fishing Time: All day Saturday, Sunday - 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Weather: Warm, no wind, 70's
Who Went: Grandma, Ponka, Aunt Dotty, Aunt Sherrie, Adria, Shane, Danny, Becca, Cari, Me
Cari's grandpa has been trying to get us to go down and spend a weekend at Otter Creek for four years now. This was the year we finally fit it in the schedule. We talked my brother in-law and his wife, Danny and Becca into making the trip with us. It was a short lived trip with us driving down Friday after work and leaving Sunday at noon. We fished all day Saturday with many small rainbows being landed. Cari and Becca had a great time catching these feisty little rainbows. Cari's grandpa also had his boat out there and he was fishing with Aunt Sherrie, Adria, and Shane. They also put a hurting on the fish! They primarily trolled with popgear and a flatfish, while we trolled, but also mixed in some jigging. Either technique put fish in the boat! Cari was also the captain on this trip learning and mastering how to drive the boat!This was Becca's first time fishing in many years so she was pretty excited when she started to catch some fish! She was intrigued at how beautiful they were as she is a big animal lover.
By the time Saturday was over between the two boats we had plenty of fish to eat, and Ponka was a proud fisherman as he shows with this smile.
Sunday morning we went out for a few hours and didn't have quite as good of luck as Saturday. We still managed to put a few in the boat and Danny finally got on the board with his first catch of the trip! You can see how excited fishing is to him by his look in this pic!
We also had a newcomer on the boat on Sunday as Danny and Becca's dog Molly came along for the ride! This was the first dog to ride in the Duncan family boat! She was a little worried at first but soon relaxed and enjoyed the excursion.
We loaded up the boat at around 11:00 a.m. and packed up and got out of there. We decided to go home through Antimony so we could see The Big Rock Candy Mountain that Mary'sville is famous for. It was a good trip and everyone had fun! Can't wait to do it again!