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!