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Mittry Lake, California, near Yuma,
12.28.'04
12.31.'04 Colorado River Trip.
Wife and I just got back from Martinez, Fishers, Squaw Lake
and Mittry after six glorious days last night.
The water is the lowest it's been in decades and the sand bars stop you from
going too far north. Launched, barely, at Fishers Landing Christmas day just
after noon and then went and caught a nice 2.5 striper on the second cast on
a crank just outside Martinez Lake, just up the river. Knew I was going to
kill them after that. Met a man that fishes tourneys there an hour later and
he said it had been 'at it' for three days and had caught zero!!! That
was until the one he had just landed, a 3.5, on a black/red jig and pig
there. I told him I was interested in some topwater action and he said don't
bother, wrong time of year. I caught nada (Spanish for zippo ['zippo'
slang for 'nothing'] ) for the rest of the day- ouch.
(Note to self: Confidence is very important, ignore reports of poor
fishing from other fishermen.)
Second day I soloed it and caught a nice 3.5 on a topwater fluke.
(It's a lure that looks like a fish that's is made of soft plastic.
You work it along the top, twitching it making it looked injured, and it's
deadly when bass are around). Working a weed bed on the river
tucked away in a backwash/sandbar north of Martinez. He hit and missed four
times straight. Talk about excitement. Fifth cast was a charm.
Caught a nice fighting smallmouth later on, between some
brush and a rock wall along the bank, on a crank. That was it for that day.
(Second note to self: Notice ignoring advice to not
fish 'top-water baits' good advice to self when you have confidence in what
an area looks like it might hold and do!).
Here is a photo of a 'fluke' style
lure. It does not have the hook in it yet and it's not the exact one I
used, looks or color- that's top secret and if I showed you the real one I'd
have to kill you!!!?
That 3.5 pounder caught after Christmas day, just above
Martinez Lake on the Colorado River on a topwater 'fluke' style lure.
Bled a lot but from hook poking a gill but I'm sure he was fine after I released him. Did not see
any sharks around ;-).
Next day caught the same smallmouth on the same bait to show
the wife that I could. That was it for the day, lost two on black/red jig
working the tulles.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Smallmouth bass action between Martinez Lake and Fishers
Landing. 12.27.'04.
Went back and caught him again the next day on the same crankbait.
Fished Mittry on the Calif. side just 20 miles north of Yuma and zeroed on
day four, but felt I could do better the next day. Very nice lake and I was
the only one with a boat on it for two days straight. Teamed up with Bob La
Londe, a local tourney fisherman there, whom I'd met online through his
visits to my website. He showed me some tricks on that lake the second day.
I ended with one 2.something on a spinner, single blade, blue skirt and he
was zipped after farming one. We fished from 2 till 6, when it gets dark.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Sunset at Mittry Lake, California,
near Yuma. 12.29.'04
Yesterday hit Squaw and the river after getting some tips from Bob. Zeroed
as I got mixed up in the canals and missed his suggestions but had a blast
trying and the wife gave it her best right next to me, which was cool.
(He just reported he and a friend got eight there today- with 5 being
'keepers'- 12" or more in tournaments and the legal minimum size to keep at
some locations.)
Everyone said it's the toughest time of year, so I really took up the
challenge. I also found out I fished too fast there for this time of year.
Can't wait to go back in March when things start to warm up.
Semi-pro fisherman Bob La Londe giving me pointers on Mittry
Lake. 12.29.'04
Happy New Year, May the Lord bless everyone of 'yall.
O.M. (Short for Otay Michael- my name on the 'fish boards').
PS Bob has a shot of me with the bass I caught on the lure he loaned
me. If you see him fishing around the river, winning tournaments, remind him
to send us a file so we can add it here.
Never mind, here it is. Thanks Bob.
Click on photo to enlarge.
12.31.'04 Lake Jennings.
Hit Jennings from 11 till 4 today and taught a friend
(John Olichney and his daughter, Nicole- 10, how to trout fish. She caught
her first fish of her life, and kept us from getting skunked as a group. A
couple of regulars reported seven bass on senko's/cranks.
Click on photo to enlarge.
12.31.'04 10 year old Nicole Olichney with her first
fish ever, a rainbow trout from Lake Jennings. A real trooper,
fishing in the rain and everything, although she would not touch it!!
It hangs way down on the line just above the floor.
Barrett Lake, Sept. 15th, 2004.
Herbert and I hit Barrett for possibly the last time for the season as
it closes Sept. 27th. It was hot but not as bad as our July trip.
We started by getting there with only one minute leeway from getting locked
out of the first group to drive into the lake at 5:30 a.m. Launched
the rental boat (no private boats allowed) and went directly to the far end
of Pine Creek Arm. I got my first bass ever (I think) on a top water
frog and continued to learn how to use it. Ended up with four on
it, one on a small wobbler lure at the dam and one on a senko after loosing
one on a fluke at Becky's cover at sunset. The bass were going off at
that time and I landed four more in 15 minutes working flukes around the
weed beds. We were the last ones off the lake as usual- 7:30 p.m., and
left 'kicking' as the bass were so active we did not want to quit catching
them just to go home!!?
Click on photo to enlarge.
Herbert with a Barrett bass on a fluke style lure.
Click on photos to enlarge.
Here is one of 3 bullfrogs that
bit my imitation frog
lure, then the first bass to do so.
Dixon Lake Sept. 3rd 2004.
Fished in a boat with 'catfish Herbert' and Valerie.
Started at dusk with mackerel and I had two in the boat within the first
hour, the first being about 4 pounds, a real fighter on light tackle.
Ended up with my limit, 5, and Valerie caught one nice 3 pounder. Our
stringer weighed about 20 pounds.
Herbert caught two but lost the first
trying to stringer the second. Lost the stinger too. Now that
makes it two of us that's done that, as I had three or four take the whole
stringer off earlier in the year when I did not tie a good enough knot to
the boat with it. OUCH.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Otay Lake, September 1st, 2004.
I caught and released a small bass the first time out
on our new boat. It was barely bigger than the Heddon 'dying flutter' top water prop-bait I
was tossing. Got lots of action on bass assassins too, but no hook-ups.
Mike Wade (the boasts previous owner) and I Fished Harvey's arm weed beds.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Here is our new boat, 'The Answered Prayer', that
we christened that day.
Otay Lake August 25th,
2004.
All day, me only. One bass (dink) on fluke, r side of Harvey's arm next
to weed bed. Lots of hits on frogs and flukes, all day, especially on both
sides of Bushelow cove, but no other hookups.
Most of these fishing reports were first posted
on the sdfish.com message boards.
They are mostly just copied in total from the sight.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Dixon Lake at midnight, August 13th,
2004.
John and Nicole Olichney (middle) pose with Valerie and Herbert Kellner (Mr.
Catfish), with Herbert's two catches of the evening. We fished the lake for
three hours to no avail, then spent one hour on the docks where Herbert got
these two, the biggest channel cat being 12 pounds. Both caught on
mackerel.
Lake Wohlford bass fishing report.
August 5th, 2004
Well, read all the good reports
so tried my luck (or should I say skill) there Thursday with a friend. Second
boat to launch and last to leave. Got one off Shad Raps in early a.m. and lost
one on drop shot in early p.m. instantly on the hook set. (forgot I had 4#
leader on and set the hook like I had a yellowtail hit- goofy huh?). Well, it's
a new system for me and I don't practice it much (also known as 'do nothing' or
doodlin) but I'm trying to learn it. Finesse banesse. Friend caught 2# channel
at 4 pm on mack and I lost another bass off the Rap around 6.
Evening bite I held high hopes
for but it did not happen- I tossed flukes mostly and some raps. No weeds along
shoreline hindered what good techniques I've been working with at the other
lakes around- not even a single blow-up.
Another gentleman was doing
well on a Carolina rigged lizard, black, just off the boat dock area. I think
that's why I did not do well, stuck to wrong color (light brown) when I'd
noticed he was using black. Water was a bit stained. Other fishermen reported
limited success. One guy got a dink and a 4 off jerk-bait at buoy line.
All in all it's a nice place
and we enjoyed a beautiful day out there but I won't work it again until maybe
late fall or next spring to see what's up at that time of year. Was fairly
quiet, people wise, mid-week.
Poway Lake night fishing for catfish, Aug. 6th, 2004
Click on photo to enlarge.
Valerie hefts our 30#, 10 catfish stringer from our
night fishing efforts at Lake Poway. 8.6.’04
Went out and fished the buoy line with mackerel
fly lining style. In less than two hours we had landed our limit from
shore. We as very busy two hours to say the least. Some good eatin' has
been had recently we must say.
Otay Lake. July 25th, 2004
While enjoying watching and
chasing all of the boiling fish and missing such big fish on such a quite Sunday
day there I couldn't help thinking of all of you just on the other side of
Sweetwater Mountain nailing them at the opener.
Second time in a week, but oh
man do I smell. The wife (Otay Valerie) and I did an all dayer (is that a
word?).
We don't have a regular motor,
just a trolling for now, so we could not get down to either end of Otay or
Harvey's where the weed beds cover the flats in the a.m. as we wanted. (That's
where a ton of bass feed on the shad, which they did readily all day. That's
where we got the action in the evening.)
We launched at 6:30 and got
blessed by some nice soul that agreed to tow us out to the entrance of Otay Arm
-at 10 m.p.h. with his Champion 200 h.p. (when he could have high tailed it
there in 1.2 minutes at 70 mph...God bless this man- that's what fishing is all
about- helping others) and we slowly worked the shoreline from there, headed to
the shallows. Tried flukes along the shore and a variety of cranks into the
occasional boil but as Barro says, 'got no love'.
The good thing is that I
snagged someone else's scampi jig there last week (white with black bottom-
probably Macro's) and figured the design might work better than the 'official
flukes' I'd been throwing. Sure enough that flat front end really throws the
water back up and the tail gives it a great action. It almost floats so it stays
on the top well during the retrieve. I can't wait to get out in the early a.m.
and try it again, as I only tried it in the p.m..
In the p.m. I got some great
top water action on this new fluke setup (4 blow-ups with three of them being
big ones trying to eat it but not succeeding, darn it).
Thought two were on when I tried to set the hook but it's tough to know and the
weeds make you jump on it earlier than you would like. And they will just bury
themselves in it so fast if you don't. Anyone want some nice action it's just
waiting to happen the first three and last two hours of the day-IMHO.
Tried cat fishing from 1 till
5:30 down at the end of Otay Arm but zippo on shrimp and Mack too!? (Harvey's
was working the week before so thought one arm was the same as another- WRONG).
Someone asked if I fished the scampi without a weight. Yes. Also, wanted to know
if it was the saltwater type, yes. How many tails? It had one. Fished on top
just fast enough to keep it on the surface with lots of splashing. Hold onto
your poles. Sorry I did not explain it in detail earlier. These things make a
difference, I know.
Barrett Lake, July 17th.
My friend and I had a blast.
Funny to watch someone with ocean fishing skills try to learn freshwater. We
purchased a slew of lures (jigs, swim baits, crank baits, poppers, senko, etc.)
for him yesterday and today he wanted to try them all. Sometimes I'd turn around
and catch him doing something really funny to me, but only logical for him. Like
once I found him burning in an Excalibur Popper thinking you fished it like a
crank bait. Same with the jigs, burning them in until I told him how they are to
be fished.
Anyway, after taking the second
train in he caught the first fish and had out fished me until about 6 p.m. when
my superior skills took over. (I gave up experimenting and went to work catching
fish). We both lost quite a few on storm swim baits and rattle traps right at
the boat or our numbers would have been doubled, but it was fun watching them
jump. I did not try to keep them down so you know what happens. Ended up with 6
over my friends four. Mostly we got them the last hour. The fish really boiled
in places (early morning and later afternoon) and hit anything shad like thrown
in their direction. As usual was the last boat (8:03 p.m.) and only about six
cars were left. Most had left by 2 p.m.. We stuck it out and the last hour is so
exciting it was well worth the wait. A group of four guys showed up and killed
them on Texas style worms just to the left of the dock in the big cove there at
6. They had six in the boat within 10 minutes.
We took an hour break at 4 p.m.
in the shade of the dam and were ready to go again at 5. A fire near the border
helped keep us entertained with 3 CDF helo's flying in and taking water all day
long. Got blessed with the spray falling back out one time by the dam, and boy
we needed it. Bring lots of water, as usual.
Dixon cat fishing / bass report.
July 9th, 2004
A friend and my wife and I hit
Dixon yesterday. Got there later than we'd planned, 5 ish, but what's new.
Rented a row boat and threw my trolling motor on it. Went to opposite end of dam
and worked the bay on the end right where there was starting to be some shade.
Saw a few bass schooling along the bank but got no action with buzz/ popper or
senko until right at dusk, then one hit the popper but no hook-up. By the time I
remembered to follow up with the senko it was too late.
The wife and friend were
already on catfish before dark so I baited up and continued to toss the popper
(nice having a two pole license- years ago it was illegal). Notice my cat pole
dancing in the bottom of boat below me and pulled in a 1.5 lb channel. My wife
and friend had already one each on their respective stringers, each the same
size. We boated 5 by about 9 there and then decided to go to where the 'real
action was', as we'd heard earlier, the buoy line.
We sped over there at 2 m.p.h.
and along the way queried two guys how they were doing. They reported only one
and were surprised to hear we had five already. They also reported they had
tried the dam the week before with zippo results and had come to where they were
now (to opposite end) and had almost limited out. Started to wonder if it was
worth the time to go there, but continued on at our breakneck speed. It was a
beautiful night out, with the milky way really stood out. Frog's chirping,
falling stars, fish jumping in the dark, the whole nine yards of God's
fingerprints over the whole scene. We are so blessed, but I digress.
We tied up on the buoy and
after 20 minutes with not even a nibble we asked the other boaters how they had
been doing. Got a 'nada darn thing all night' report. Without much thought about
it we untied and 'zoomed' back towards the bay we'd had left earlier, first
stopping at the point just off the left past the fishing docks where we landed
another one. (This was all on shrimp, mind you- free lined, no weights and not
too far off shore, but not deep either- maybe 10 to 20 feet). After 1/2 hour
there we continued over to the same bay as earlier arriving a little after 10.
At 10:30 the ranger came by and said fun was over- we had not gotten bit this
time. Got back to the docks and noticed my personal two had escaped due to a
poorly tied knot on the boat. The wife's ended up with one and my friend three,
enough for his wife and adult daughter and himself. It was his first time cat
fishing and he had a blast.
Saw a few bigger ones when
leaving but most were cookie cutter size of 1.5 lb's like ours. Perfect dinner
size.
Cuyamaca Lake. July 4th, 2004
The lovely bride and I fished
here today (from 3 till 8:30 p.m. closing time ) for a total of six fish. Two
bluegill, three trout and one bullhead- all by me (someone got skunked). All on
night crawlers cut in thirds. The bluegill were so tiny I did not know they were
even on, but then again two of the three trout were in that same category!!? How
come they have 6" trout there. How come we have to keep them? It seems such a
shame they don't keep those in a fishery to grow up a little. The one trout
worth keeping hit at dusk, a giant 1/2 pounder.
I did hook into the lake trout
record until the trout surfaced for the third time closer to the boat and I
noticed it was transformed somewhere during the fight into a bullhead catfish
weighing a good 10 to 15 lbs. I landed it on 4# test and was amazed it did not
break loose during the short fight. While waiting for the lovely wife to get a
picture, and struggling to keep it high enough for the picture, it wrestled
loose and fell back into the large net below. The second time I held it up it
really started kicking and this time it wrestled free and hit the edge of the
net and then went back into the lake. I tried to net him again but it
disappeared faster than my weekly allowance. I lectured the wife on how to take
quicker pictures (she could not get him and me into the same picture, so I
explained how a vertical composition solves this problem). I then lectured
quietly to myself for not first putting him on a stringer and then getting
pictures. Oh well, one of you guys will get him for us next time you are there,
ok?
Powerbait of varying colors
netted 0 trout so we went back to the concession stand and purchased the night
crawlers, which everyone was using and catching them on. Kastmaster's had worked
for others earlier but I tossed them constantly for a total of one bump and 0
hookups.
Barrett Lake, June 29th, 2004.
The wife and I met fishendevil
and his fiancé (nice meeting you two, you make a great couple) at the 7 a.m.
train in (heard they both killed them at the dam in the a.m. afterwards) and
proceeded to try all of the old techniques that worked so well in early May, all
to no avail. I new that the lake had changed a lot from all of your posts, but I
figured the bass would still want some of the top water and jig bite I had
learned. We tried them at Becky's, and further down the arm, with only one
crappie for the wife to show for it in 2 hours 'work'.
Surprisingly, after reading
Mick's post at 12 midnight last night I figured I could depend on that pattern,
which I had already developed on my own just as he had explained. The big NADA
on blue and black with both watermelon and reddish trailers after trying over
50% of the day on them, which blew my mind (one hit was it)!!??
Did learn to use a dying fluke
pattern just outside the weed beds (on some new slug O's) and landed three, one
real nice one (6 pound head with a four pound body) all in Hauser's arm. The
wife got three for the day and I only got 6. One with a maroon 'thing' of some
sort (and loosing a couple) and two on the old standby, the Senko (used as a
last resort to remember what hooking and fighting a bass felt like.
The trolling motor battery
dying in the first hour definitely put a cramp on our style, though because I'd
charged it 6 weeks ago it would be fine- oops.
Again, we could have done more
damage by sticking to senko's, but that is the last 'go to' bait for me, so our
counts are always lower than the average fisherman there, and that's ok. Also, I
use the black electrical tape as someone suggested and I don't loose a single
one, even with 10 landed on a single bait. This will help keep the 'plugged up'
syndrome from hitting many of the bass. I've caught as many as 7 in 10 minutes
on them so I know it works fine and does not stop the bass from hitting them.
In response to a question: We stayed until the guy in the boat came and told us to start heading
back. 8:05 was the 'time to be back' deadline and we got back at 8:06. We really
got our money, and fun, worth.
It was not overly hot compared
to some days back in May, which really surprised me. In fact it started off
totally clouded over and cold. Guess some days had been exceptionally hot for
that month, now that I think about it.
As you say, the evening bite
was, as usual, good. (Good in comparison to the rest of the day, but not good
compared to 6 weeks ago). Saw a few guys come by tossing buzzbaits but believe
they did not have any luck. My popper, which I tried again quite a bit after 7,
produced no hits at all. Very unusual compared to the May bite, where I usually
got quite a few hits and a few hoooksets.
BTW, the 'thing' we got some
action on was a 'hula grub' style bait, but with large ribbing. Fished
weightless, dragged near the bottom while being blown by the wind through wide
open areas between the trees.
How much does the following bass weigh?
This is my new personal best
caught at Barrett last week.
Guess how much he weighed. (Hint: notice my very big hand,
which easily went into his mouth, clinched.)
Was it 3.11, 4.11, 5.11, 6.11,
7.11 or 8.11!
Click on photo to enlarge.
That's right, the head of a six pounder
but the body of a two!
Barrett Lake, May 2nd, 2004.
Total: 18 bass.
Two on Excalibur poppers, both after losing back hook and trailer. First
with nothing tied on and fished like a zara spook, second with a white twin
tail trailer attached.
3 bass in a.m.
on pumpkin, 3 on chartreuse. 3 in afternoon on watermelon and 7 in last 1/2
hour on watermelon. Blue w/ blue flake nada in middle of watermelon fish-on
session after trying 5 casts in same 'secret cove' spot.
Notes: Conditions, very hot, dry and clear.
Water temp.?
Fished solo til afternoon, then with Barry for a couple of hours. He was
really on it at Desolation Rock at 1p.m., crockadile lures. Should have got
little Georges out at bass busting balls of shad and following flukes that
would not sink fast enough. Missed one.
Lake Jennings, April 30th,
2004.
Total: 2 trout.
First time at lake. Fished 1 p.m. till 6,
when we were told to leave. (Lake closes real early, 6:30, and they were
adamant. Caught two trout, lost two (Valerie a 2#, me a 1.5, and we each
lost one). Used Kastmaster's and trolled small rapalas w/ rubber weight to
get it down. Bass fishing: two hits, no fish. One an the rapala set up.
Water 70.
Barrett Lake, Wed., April
21st, 2004.
Total: 6-8-2
Six Poppers
(Excalibur) 8 Senko ( 2-Blue/blue flake, 3-pumpkin w/ black flake, 3-grn.
Watermelon) 2 on jigs.
Fished the dam,
which we heard was good, for an hour with not hits. Poppers and Senko’s.
Figured Becky’s Cove might be good while it was still early. Caught one on
first cast, and it was fish-on for the next hour along the shore, including
the left min-cove.
Fished Pines
Cove for the first time and lost a big one on black/blue jig that was
falling under a floating log/mini cove. Rob caught quite a few on small
Roboworm drop shotted, and some on Senko’s at Pines ending and I tried
popper still but nada. Back to cove across from Desolation Rock but nothing
with jigs after an hour. Fought wind. Tried his lucky spot with sunken
rocks back towards dam but still nada. Went to dam again and caught a nice
3.11 on black/blue jig. T.U.L.
Barrett Lake, April 21st,
2004
WOW, Killed them today compared
to last time. Even though many people I asked reported only getting about 7
each, Rob4Q (Rob Ridge) and I teamed up to get over 25. I tripled my catch ratio
over my first trip, which was last Sunday, with 15. My goal was 30.
For me, the top water bite
worked for six, Senko's for eight, and jigs, which I'm still learning, for two
(again, lost quite a few on jigs). But it did produce my biggest, by the dam,
almost 3# and went 19". All the others went 16 to 17". Man these fish fight and
are healthy. Caught three on Senko's in just 5 minutes a little after 7 p.m. -on
three straight casts in 'my secret cove.' Could have got a bunch more but the
guy came by and kicked me out. Darn, just when they were blowing up on
everything.
Not many people were left at
closing. Was very nice weather and not overly windy, according to some people.
Only got 3.5 hours sleep last night so not to clear on thinking for this post
and it's now 10 p.m.. Probably missing lots of info. Will post some nice
pictures in a day or two.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Responses to questions
posted to me:
Yeah, I also used the purple with blue flake and it worked well for me
too. I saw them at the store and thought they would really attract attention and
sure enough. (How often have we thought that only to get nada on something
though?) I had not heard anyone had used them yet, or that they had worked
either. Funny you fished them too. As far as mid-day blahs, we really hit a wall
after 10 a.m., except for my biggest on a jig at 3. Some guys using small
Senko's
right at the shoreline continued to catch some, but my kind of bite (using
larger baits for bigger fish, did not).
In the p.m. I used the
watermelon/black flake for the first time and that's what I caught the three
fish in a row on. Glad you two had a great time. I let you use the tickets as
you were much more hungry to go than my 'lukewarm' friends, so I knew you would
appreciate them more. That is what life is for, helping others, right?
I used an Excalibur for topwater, but it did not work everywhere. Along the deep drop-offs nada, but the
areas that had gentle slopes did quite well. That's my favorite type of fishing
and I can tell it's yours. We'd rather catch less and have that kind of
excitement than catch four times the amount through dropshotting, etc., right?
Unfortunately I
have to go make art in China for a month and will miss, for me at least, some of
this new found action.
Click on photo to enlarge.
My first Barrett Northern Largemouth Bass.
Photo copyright Valerie Seewald
Barrett Lake, April 18th, 2004.
Totals: Valerie 1/ Me 6
Our first time out. $45
per reservation. $10 permit. 6 a.m. till 7 p.m..
Valerie one on dark red
senko, me 6- 3 on white Senko’s, 2 on white/white jigs and one on
brushhog. Fished Hauser’s
arm.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Click on photo to enlarge.
March '04
We went to Clear Lake and we did real well
for the first visit. Valerie grew up near there, in Ukiah.
Worked it for a couple of days, and it rained or threatened
most of the time.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Here is one of Valeries.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Here is one of the dozen I got that day.
Bass galore at Clear Lake, California. Senko action was non-stop.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Bass fishing on a foggy morning at Clear Lake.
Click on photo to enlarge.
Valerie takes a break from fishing to pose for the hubby.
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