Home for the Holidays

Fishing Time: Early morning of December 16 and 30

Weather:  Unseasonably warm, T-50s, slight breeze

Moon Phase: New Moon, 80% Moon

Location: Flaming Gorge

Water Temp: 43 degrees

Best Bait: 7-inch tube jig, rainbow pattern - 1 ounce jighead

Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

I was able to sneak out of the house a couple times while home for the holidays.  I made two extreme day trips to Flaming Gorge.  My first trip on December 16, ended up a disaster.  To start, my fish finder was acting up and not showing fish or our jigs deeper than 70 feet.  With most of the lake trout we fish for at 90+ ft this was not good.  We spent about an hour of prime fishing hours messing with my fish finder trying to get it to work.  We finally got it to work okay, but not great.  After a decade my finder may be on its last leg! 

We fished most our areas and were not seeing many fish.  We finally settled on a nice hump and saw a for sure fish right on the bottom.  We dropped our jigs and within seconds I had a good hit and it was fish on.  I started playing the fish as normal, but he started taking a big run and my rod doubled over beneath the boat.  It was a long run and before it was over, my line snapped!  I have never had this happen at Flaming Gorge while fishing for lake trout.  I was devastated to say the least.

Bobber John was able to entice one more bit for the morning, but did not hook up.  I was left with the haunted feeling of losing a good fish all the way home.  If felt like a trip home from Wendover after dropping a $1,000 on gambling.  Not a fun feeling.  It’s still haunting me!

When I arrived home, I researched my fish finder and soon realized that I have never installed any updates since I purchased it in 2009.  Apparently, there are a bunch of updates from Lowrance that need to be installed.  Whoops.  I went ahead and updated everything hoping that was the issue.

We arrived at Flaming Gorge for round 2 on December 30, and the first thing I did was check my fish finder.  Yep good to go.  Yes!  Now on to finding fish.  Uh, where did they all go?  It was the weirdest Flaming Gorge trip I have ever experienced.  We could not find fish anywhere.  I’ve had many trips where you see fish on every hump, but can’t get them to bite, but it’s very rare to have a trip where you don’t see fish.  We fished searched hard, finding a lonesome straggler here and there.  Luckily, I did get one hit and landed a small 8-10 pounder just to avoid the two trip skunk. 

This year is crazy warm and the water temps are much warmer than usual for this time of year.  My only thought is that it has changed their patterns and the fish aren’t where we expect them to be.  It will probably take a cold snap to push them into normal winter patterns.  Either way, it was a disappointing winter at the Gorge.  

New Water Equals Bad Results

Fishing Time:  12-9-2017 and 12-10-2018

Weather: Sunny, calm, T-60s

Moon Phase: 60% Moon

Location:  Lake Murray

Best Bait: Live shiner on a size 2 mosquito hook with a split shot sinker 2 ft above the hook

Who Went: Dunc

I tried a new bait shop this week.  Barnacle Bills Bait shop, ran by none other than Barnacle Bill himself.  I told him I have had success at El Capitan, but was hoping he could point me to some new waters that may produce a trophy bass.  Bill was very nice and even offered to take me out on his boat, but unfortunately our work schedules don’t line up.  He did tell me that I should try Lake Murray and even told me his favorite spot.  With much excitement and anticipation, I bought some live shiners and drove to Lake Murray. 

Lake Murray is a small little reservoir right in the middle of the city with a walking path that surrounds the shoreline.  It’s busy just like everywhere in San Diego, but I found a parking spot and dragged my tube to the closest point near Bills secret hole.  I kicked my way over on my float tube and set up to fish.  After a couple casts I had my first bite and landed a small bass.  I continued to cast to the same area for another hour, but no more bass wanted to play.  I was out of shiners, so I called it a day.

I returned the next day with more advice from Bill and more live shiners.  There were a few boats out and I listened to their complaints about how slow it has been and how the water temps have dropped considerably over the last few weeks.  Apparently, December and January are the toughest bass fishing months in San Diego.  Lucky me. 

I kicked my way back over to Bills spot and fished it for a good 1-2 hours without a bite.  Frustrated, I eves dropped on a couple more boats talking about how many bass they were seeing suspended deep on their fish finders, but were unable to get them to bite.  Knowing I had live shiners in my arsenal versus the plastics the boats were throwing, I got excited again.  Surely if I drop a live shiner on top of these suspended bass they will eat it.  No bass can resist a live shiner stuck right in front of their face.  Well I was wrong.  I spent the entire rest of the day kicking around the deep holes slowly dragging shiners and didn’t get one bite.  It had been a long day and I decided to give up, but kept a minnow close to bottom as I kicked my way back into shore. 

I was literally 50 ft away from shore and about to reel in for the day when it happened.  My first bite of the day, and it was a good one.  I let the fish take some line and then wham! Set the hook.  Line started flying out of my reel and I realized as I set the hook my thumb hit the line release.  I have never done that before and to do it on a potential trophy bass and my only bite of the day was devastating.  The fish was gone and I was stunned.  I made a circle and dropped another minnow to see if I could get another bite, but it wasn’t meant to be.  A frustrating two days on Lake Murray, but I feel that all the other boaters had the same luck.  In two days I didn’t see one boat on Lake Murray land a fish. 

These winter months may be tough, but I will keep trying and maybe get lucky and land the bass of a lifetime.  This was my last outing of the year before I head home for the holidays.  Hopefully the new year will bring better luck in my quest my wall hanger bass!

Another trip to El Capitan Reservoir

Fishing Time: 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM

Weather: Sunny, calm, T-70s

Moon Phase: Full Moon

Location: El Capitan Reservoir

Best Bait: Live shiner on a size 2 mosquito hook with a 1/4-ounce split shot weight 2 ft above the hook.

Who Went: Dunc

Another week and another trip to El Capitan Reservoir.  This trip I decided to try a different type of live bait.  Crawdads!  I know using live bait is a bit of a cheat, but it’s against the law where I live and they work so well!  Plus, it’s really fun!  I’m not into the etiquette of fishing or have to much pride to only use plastics and lures.  I want to catch a big bass while I’m in San Diego and I feel this is my best chance.  Anyway, off my soap box…

The crawdads looked so cool swimming in the water, but to be honest, they didn’t work.  Not on this trip.  It was still all about the live shiners.  I only landed a few on this outing, and I’m still searching for the big bite!  Either way it was a nice day on the water.  So. Cal is heading into the winter slow down, so the bass fishing is starting to slow down, but to even be fishing for bass in December is awesome!  I think it’s time to leave the comfort of El Cap and try some new waters… 

I also found a friend on this trip.  He was looking for a handout and was literally trying to climb onto my flippers.  I knew San Diego was known for beggars, but I didn't know the ducks were in on it as well, haha!

Back in So. Cal

Fishing Time: 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM

Weather:  Warm, slight breeze, T-70s

Moon Phase: New Moon

Location: El Capitan Reservoir

Best Bait:  Live shiner on a size 2 mosquito hook with 1/4-ounce split shot sinker 2 ft above the hook

Who Went: Dunc

More work travel means more new fishing adventures and this time it’s San Diego.  I will be here for the next three months and although I will be working 6 days a week, that leaves one day a week, plus some possible evenings to fish.  My plan is to fish the bay for spotted bay bass and hopefully some other species.  I’m not too familiar with the ocean, so who knows what I may find.  However, my big plans are to hit the inland lakes on my days off, in search of some of the monster largemouth bass that San Diego County offers. 

My boat didn’t make this trip, at least for now, but I may be able to bring it back after Christmas. For now, I’m armed with my float tube and flippers.  On my first day off, I spent the morning getting my bearings, buying a fishing license and live bait at the East County Bait and Tackle shop near El Cajon, California, before making my way to El Capitan Reservoir.  They didn’t accept my debit card at the gate, so it was back to El Cajon to hit the ATM.  I arrived at the lake about 9:30 AM and began setting up my float tube, equipped with my fish finder and live bait bucket.  This took another hour and the day was passing by. 

My plan of attack was to hit an underwater ridge that I fished in my boat last spring that I know holds some big bass, but unfortunately, I couldn’t flip my way over there due to a couple bad circumstances.  First, I had to travel across the large lake in my float tube and the recreational skiers were out in full force, which scared me a bit trying to get across the lake.  The second and most important reason is my float tube was losing air!  It’s a slow leak, but the thought of being in the middle of the lake and sinking was too much to bear.  I don’t think it’s a hole in the tube, and my guess is the leak is coming from the valve where you put air in.  Either way I have some troubleshooting to do.  For now, I was stuck to the closest shoreline where I had easy access to more air reserves. 

I started with a live minnow pinned to a size 2 mosquito hook made by Owner, with a ¼- ounce split shot weight approximately 2 ft above the hook, slowly dragging it along the bottom in 15-25 feet of water trying to keep the minnow close to the bottom, but not too close to avoid snagging.  For the first 200 yards my spirits were running low as it seemed there were no fish in the area, but the next 200 yards looked a bit fishier.  My first bite came along a rocky shoreline with submerged brush in approximately 18 feet of water.  This bass had some fight in him, and I started thinking that I may have caught the monster on the first bite of my trip, but it turned out to be a feisty 2.5-pounder.  Still a nice bass and a fun fight on a halfway deflated float tube! 

I continued fishing the point and it was definitely a fishy area as I landed another 2-pound bass shortly after.  By now I was literally sinking and decided I better hit the shoreline for more air.  So annoying.  This issue has to get fixed!

With fresh air in the tube I made my way back to the rocky point and caught a couple more feisty yet small bass.  I didn’t land any monsters on this trip, but it was a good start with 4 fish landed, a couple more that popped off near my tube, and a few additional bites with no hook ups.  I’m excited to hit this lake again with hopes of making the trek across the lake to the underwater ridge, or pounding that rocky point in search of that double-digit bass.  It should be fun the next few months, so stay tuned…

More Travel and More Fishing

Fishing Time: Evenings of October 1-3, 2017

Weather: Partly Cloudy, calm, T-70s

Moon Phase:  90% Moon

Location:  San Diego Bay (Shelter Island)

Best Bait:  Speckled white grub (1/4 oz jighead)

Who Went:  Dunc

It looks like I’m going to be spending time this fall and winter working in sunny San Diego.  It’s a rough job right on the San Diego Bay.  Try not to feel bad for me.  I had to travel out there for a quick 2-day trip and of course I brought my fishing rod along for the ride.

I spent a couple evenings fishing Shelter Island throwing grubs off the rocks.  I caught quite a few spotted bay bass and may I say… these fish pack a punch!  There not very big, but they make freshwater fish look like pansies.  A half-pound spotted bay bass will actually pull some serious drag.  Gotta love the ocean.  Hopefully if I spend some more time here I can get into a few more species, or better yet, find someone with a boat willing to take me out on the big pond in search of some real ocean fish.

Fall is in the Air

Fishing Time: Evenings of September 14-17, 2017

Weather: Overcast, windy, T-50s

Moon Phase:  8% Moon

Location: Hams Fork River, Wyoming

Best Bait: Blue winged olive (nymphing)

Who Went:  Dunc

I had a job in Kemmerer, Wyoming, so I packed the fly rod and got lost on the Hams Fork River every night after work.  It was extremely tough fishing and the most frustrating part was that the river looked so good!  Every bend looked fishy, the flows were perfect, but the fish didn’t seem to be around.  I talked to locals who tell me it’s been unseasonably warm and they are all packed in deep holes trying to stay cool.  That may be true because I didn’t see any fish and worked extremely hard for only a few bites.  Either way, the river was gorgeous, and it was a great way to spend the evenings while away from my family. 

I also found an awesome deer shed on my job site.  I gave it to a coworker that was stoked to take it home and show his boy. 

Not many fish were caught for my efforts, but I enjoyed getting lost in Wyoming where I seemed to be the only fisherman on the river all week.  You can’t find that many places anymore and I cherished every moment.  

Walleye for Dinner

Fishing Time:  7:30 to 2:00 PM

Weather: Sunny, slight breeze, T-80s

Moon Phase: 68% Moon

Location:  Starvation Reservoir

Water Temp: 69 Degrees

Best Bait: Spinner rig and drifting jig with worm near bottom

Who Went: Bobber John, Dunc

Bobber John and I made a trip up to Starvation Reservoir to see if we could put a few walleyes in my boat.  It’s never an easy task to catch walleye, but if any lake can produce some walleye it's Starvation.  We arrive a little later than we wanted at 7:30, but the wind was calm and the weather was beautiful.

We started in Saleratus Bay running spinner rigs near bottom in 15-25 ft of water.  We didn’t see many fish on the fish finder and within a half hour we decided to move.
  

We fished a rocky bay across from the boat ramp and it produced a few smallies, but nothing big.  After fishing the bay, we moved again over to Rabbit Gulch and put the spinner rigs down around 20-30 ft and started dragging.

After about 20 minutes and a few possible light bites, I saw my rod double over and I did my best to give it the walleye sweep.  It worked out and I had the first walleye of the day on the end of my line.  It was a nice walleye and got us excited to work the same area over again. 

We continued with spinner rigs and felt like we missed a few bites, so we switched techniques to drifting a jig tipped with a worm through the same area trying to keep it right near the bottom.  It worked out well and we put another 8 or so walleye in the boat.  They were small, but they were still walleye, and we were excited to have something to fillet. 

Our three dozen worms went quick with the walleye and smallies biting often.  We headed to the fish cleaning station and did the best we could to fillet the little cigar walleye and one big one.  Bobber John took all the meat from the small walleye and one smallie we kept while I took the fillets from the big walleye.  It made for a yummy Sunday dinner paired with some steamed veggies!

Crawdad Feast

Fishing Time: 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM

Weather: Sunny, clear, breezy, T-90s

Moon Phase: 41% Moon

Location: Strawberry Reservoir

Best Bait: String tied to chicken leg

Who Went: Devin, Dayton, Dunc

My Wife and daughter joined the other females in the family for a “women’s getaway” to the Homestead this weekend, so while the girls were away the boys went and played.  I mentioned to them that it was the right time of year to catch crawdads from the docks at Strawberry and they responded by screaming and jumping around the house.  I took that as a yes, they wanted to go.

 

We left the rods at home to keep it simple.  This is something I have learned as a dad that keeps the boys happy and me out of the looney bin.  Too many options does not work with an 8 and 6 year old.  We stopped at the Heber supermarket on the drive up to buy some chicken (crawdad bait) and get some breakfast, and Devin picked out the biggest donut I have ever seen.  

We arrived to “Da Berry” at about 10:30 AM and first went to the docks by the marina where the boats launch, only to find It’s now posted “no crawdad fishing”.  We walked over to the private docks and sure enough, we found crawdads everywhere. 

I tied some string to a couple chicken legs, handed them to the boys, gave them a bucket and a net, and they were all set!  I pulled out my lawn chair, turned on Pandora, and kicked back while the boys filled the bucket with crawdads.  

After about an hour I noticed the bucket was getting full.  I had the boys bring the bucket over and I took the tails off the crawdads and put them on ice.  Then the boys went back at it for round two.  After another hour, we had more tails on ice.  

We hit the marina store to wash up and get a snack for the ride home.  On our way, we called Papa to let him know we were bringing home a crawdad feast!  As Papa usually does, he told us he would buy some more yummy fixings to go with the crawdads and see us at the house.

 
 Nothing like a good ole fashion Louisiana fish boil.  Ingredients included; crawdads, shrimp, onions, lemon, red potatoes, corn on the cob, and spicy sausage.  All of it boiled up using Zataran’s crawdad, shrimp, and crab boil with some Louisiana hot sauce to season it up just right.  Made for a spicy treat that the whole neighborhood enjoyed!