Swirling Pike at Yuba

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Weather: Sunny, calm, 60's

Moon Phase: 56% Moon

Location: Yuba

Bait: Swimbaits, Crankbaits, Spinnerbaits, Rapalas

Who Went: Johnny Leach, Me

Got to Yuba and it was still dark, perfect! Launched the boat into glass and felt like it was going to be a great day. We buzzed over to the first rocky point we could see. There is no stick ups this time of year as Yuba is about 20 to 30 feet lower than summer conditions. We started casting swimbaits along the rocky shoreline when I saw a big ole pike come out of the water and say hello. Little did I know this would set the tone for the rest of the morning. We started seeing pike everywhere. Swirling around, jumping, and nosing out of the water, yet we couldn't buy a bite! A boat behind us working the shoreline we just got done casting to, caught a medium sized pike and thats when I really started to get frustrated. We cruised over to another rocky point and just as we are setting up to fish a boat comes flying in and starts casting right in front of us. First cast and he had on what looked to be a nice one. He ended up losing it (karma) but now I was getting very frustrated and mad at the jack ass swooping in front of us! After casting for 3 straight hours we decided to try our luck trolling. Just as we were about to quit trolling, John had a fish on. It was a dink but at least we were on the board!

We went back to casting for about another hour and still couldn't put anything in the boat, so we decided to go home and watch college football. On the way in there were some deer down by the water taking a drink. I love seeing wildlife while out fishing.

Last Trip of the Year to the Gorge

Fishing Time: Friday through Sunday

Weather: Friday: Perfect. Saturday: good morning, rain and wind in afternoon. Sunday: Rain

Moon Phase: New Moon

Location: Flaming Gorge

Bait: Tube Jigs

Who Went: Rick Everson, Dustin Sisam, Me

I promised Rick a trip to the Gorge to show him how to catch a big lake trout, and in return he is going to show me how to catch big browns off the river. We got to the Gorge Friday evening and when we showed up the lake was glass! We hurried to set up Sisam's tent trailer and got on the water with about an hour to fish. There were lake trout all over in Linwood Bay, but none wanted what we had to offer. Once I said ok last drop of the night Rick pulled in what would be the only lake trout of the trip!

Saturday morning we woke up to a slight breeze, but nothing we couldn't deal with. We saw fish everywhere, sometimes stacked up 10 at a time. They wanted nothing to do with us. They would follow our jigs for about 10 feet and then head straight back down to the bottom. We did this for 4 straight hours until the wind came up and pushed us off the water. We hid in a cove where the wind couldn't find us and caught smallmouth after smallmouth and a couple rainbows, but nothing big. Then the storms came in! We got off the water and headed to camp. We tried waiting out the storm, but it never died down so we did what any die hard fisherman would do, we went out anyway. We might as well have just stayed in the trailer and played poker all night cause the wind was so brutal that we couldn't fish effectively. We got up Sunday morning to a monsoon, so we packed up and got out of there! The weather ruined another trip to the Gorge and thats getting old. We had fun though and I got to fish with some new faces. I hope Rick understands that some trips it just doesn't happen, and will still take me to his secret brown trout hole!