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*El Cap, Oct. 5th
Solo me 0
3 pm till 7pm
Water 74, way down, cloudy and sprinkling and some wind at times, quite
and calm at dusk.
Got a blow up in short order by the docks about 5th
cast, and that was it. Fished frogs, buzzer and med. w.Plopper, mostly
around docks, then out to the first cove headed north, then the island,
left side, to dam by dusk.
*Barrett Lake, Sept. 30th
Solo me 7
1 D/s,
4 WP, 2 Sammy bone
9am till 7pm
Water 82 sunny and nice
Went in late as morning bite has been so so,
topwater wise. Met a young man from Escondido, originally from Russia, who
had a boat. Said hop on, told him I could bring my trolling motor, and
did. He got skunked and left at 1, I stayed on, having only got 1 myself,
d/s by docks at 11 or so.
Evening bite was crazy again, and lost an 8 or
larger by the docks as I tried to swing her in, hooks tore out. Did get a
six again, and some 4's on Sammy on the cove to the west of the docks,
along the right side, deep drop off right along the bank, TUL.
*Barrett Lake , Sept.
16th
Mike C. and I- Mike 0 me 15
4 WP, 4 Crawdad Rattletrap, 2 Sammy bone (found, added new hooks) 2 D/s
6am till 7pm
Water 84, overcast and sprinkling till 10 a.m., sunny and nice after that.
Mike had to leave at 1.30 (unless fish biting) and
they were not.
Click photo to enlarge.
Selfie to send to the lovely bride.
Here it's about 9 and we stopped back for a bathroom run, and had fished
the dock area with not a bump on many lures so far.
The gent running the morning rush (five of us took out
boats) reported he'd only caught one so far by 6 a.m.- uh oh! The cold
front had shut them down some what, obviously. Especially top, nada. We
watched one other gent tossing topwater, did not see him getting any
action either. With the drizzle seems like it would be wide open. Not. I
thought we'd better head to different water, and sure enough, as we worked
our way to the middle we saw a little buster action, and some getting them
near shore on flukes and brush hogs.
Nice light on a set of rocks that one
gentleman camped on most of the day, must of produced pretty well for him.
Late in the afternoon he'd left, but within the hour he was back, tied up
and casting to deep water (deep probably being 8').
But after the first 6 hours I'd only hooked into two, but lost them on the
way in, and he none still. The guys all around us were starting to get
them regularly and everyone basically, when asked, had about 10! And we
were using the same lures, for the most part, and fishing some of the same
areas now! When they asked us how many we'd got, well, we unenthusiastic
replied none yet. You really feel like a loser in these situations, a
dramatic change was needed, time to call in the 'higher power'.
So I asked Mike to pray, heck, we needed it. Six hours, times two, was now
720 of minutes of trying hard with nothing to show for it. As always, I
had prayed in the morning, for success, for a fun time, for safety, but as
I recall, Mike had not said 'amen', so I claimed that's why it had not
worked. He disagreed, and said extra prayer was not needed, but I quoted
scripture that says 'where two or more are gathered in my name, there will
I be" (Jesus). I said, "since you did not say amen to my prayer, there
where not 'two or more', so that's why it did not work", kidding, of
course. So he agreed to pray for fish.
At this very second of him agreeing, I noticed a neat possible photo, the
light on some rocks was really nice (Kinda like the one above I made
later) and reached for my cell phone to capture it, while tucking my rod
under my arm after casting, so I could take the picture. He started the
prayer in an interesting way "God, we love you". I gave an 'amen' to that
part but I didn't hear the rest of the prayer for at that very moment my
rod almost gets jerked out of the boat with a fish on it running off!
What's the odds of that, the very first sentence of his prayer. I put the
camera (phone) down, missing the shot as the sun changed when I looked
again little later, but I set the hook and got the fish landed. Whew, TUL!
Click photo to enlarge.
Yeah, stripe off the boat and my back,
we were starting to make fun of ourselves as how many folks leave skunked
at Barrett (we all know it happens once and a while, thankfully not
often), and that was how it was starting to look! Would our misfortune
continue?
After he left, the fishing really picked up, as I joked
with him that it would happen! Here's a couple of the nicer bass I landed.
Click photo to enlarge.
The rattletrap started working for me,
and at one point I'd caught 5,
and landed three of them, in about 15 minutes. Now were talking!
Click photo to enlarge.
Found this Lucky Craft lure, called a Sammy,
one of my favs. Put new hooks on, game on.
Saw something white under the weeds on shore, not a
normal color in the wild, and went and checked it out, ended up being this
'Sammy', hooks rusted. Put new ones on as I always feel it is a sign from
the Lord finding them, and yep, like most Sammy's (which I was out of), it
worked just great. Pic further down.
Note: I did not pay much attention, but after
downloading and adjusting the Sammy pic I noticed the hooks that did not
rust away were not barbless. I figure many of us just don't want to lose
the fish, so we 'chance' what I guess to be a few hundred dollar ticket to
make sure our 'numbers are high', don't we. I know I have a hard time
pinching them down, knowing darn well what that will mean! I lost two
later on with the Sammy, that easily would have gone nine or ten pounds-
heartbreak, but just part of the deal there.
Selfie to send to the lovely bride. Here
it's about 9 and we stopped back for a bathroom run, and had fished
the dock area with not a bump on many lures so far.
The gent running the morning rush (five of us took out boats) reported
he'd only caught one so far by 6 a.m.- uh oh! The cold front had shut
them down some what, obviously. Especially top, nada. We watched one
other gent tossing topwater, did not see him getting any action
either. With the drizzle seems like it would be wide open. Not. I
thought we'd better head to different water, and sure enough, as we
worked our way to the middle we saw a little buster action, and some
getting them near shore on flukes and brush hogs.
On Wed. I went with one of my fishing buddy, Mike Castaneda. He could
only stay till 1.30, but I stayed till closing (6 am till 7 p.m- whew).
On Wed. I went with one of my fishing buddy, Mike Castaneda. He could
only stay till 1.30, but I stayed till closing (6 am till 7 p.m- whew).
On Wed. I went with one of my fishing buddy, Mike Castaneda. He could
only stay till 1.30, but I stayed till closing (6 am till 7 p.m- whew).
On Wed. I went with one of my fishing buddy, Mike Castaneda. He could
only stay till 1.30, but I stayed till closing (6 am till 7 p.m- w
In the afternoon the fishing, topwater
wise, really took off. After 5 p.m. I saw no other boats, nor tubers, and
did not think anyone was left until closing time when two boats came in
from the dam as I pulled in. The were nice enough to take their buddy out
in a wheel chair. Good on ya guys, way to pay it forward.
Click photo to enlarge.
Yep, later afternoon is my favorite
time at Barrett, the big girls come out to play on top.
Click photo to enlarge.
Nice six pounder, and lost two going close to
10 in just a few more casts! Darn those barbless hooks, huh?
The last half hour I must have had 10 blowups, with
about three or four landed. All the last ones on the WP. What a day it
ended up being. TUL.
*Otay Lake , Sept. 9th
Solo- 6, - 2 WP, 2 L.C. Splash Tail (two
dinks)
11am till
7pm- on the Skeeter- 'Answered Prayer'.
Water 84, overcast, super hot and muggy, about 100 degrees.
Ran to the split and worked the attenuator and got a
blow up on the med. W. Plopper, no sticky. Some buster action, but no
takers. Ran to the end of Otay arm and the buster action was cRaZy! But
nobody was getting any. Met Floyd and the old timer I'd met three years
earlier, Chuck.
Worked it for a couple of hours, got one on the Med.
W. Plopper once I went to the tulles and tossed it blind, a nice 2+.
Worked the frog, lot of grass, nada. Then worked the tulles with the frog,
got one blow up.
Went back across, east side, and worked the Plopper
towards the south, and worked a point and got one on the Plopper, a 3+
buster, cool. Tied on a L.C. Splash Tail and got one in short order on a
buster. Ran back to the end, where the action was earlier, but it'd died.
Worked the frog on the west side, headed south, in
the tulles, nada. Tossed the Splash Tail too. Got to first cove and after
nada headed to Harveys. Busters were there, along with three boats, but
only so-so action. Worked the W.P. to the shallow (5'), and then the
Double Bladed Buzzbait, and got a nice blow up, and a follow up blow up 5'
later. Worked the end and no more blow ups, at about 6.45 got a blow up on
the buzzer on a buster, than headed in at 6.58. Lake 'closes' at 7.
*El Capitan, , Sept. 3rd
Solo. 2pm till
7.15pm- Aluminum boat.
6 bass (2 Gunfish, 3 Jackall, 1 Bull Shad 5"
Pretty much worked the ramp cove for
most of the afternoon. Got my new Dobyn's Savage 7' Med.Light/fast tip
spinning rod, micro guides, and it worked well to cast my new Jackall 3"
softbaits. Got one right away on the Jackall, blind casting near a
previous buster, went 3#. In fact, all six fish went 2 or more, one went
4#.
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California Delta and Clear Lake trip:
*California Delta,
Aug. 17th, 19th and 20th.
Solo- 20,- 14' Aluminum boat/ Tower Park
Marina
water 82
(Valerie got a week off, so we went
on this trip together)
Click photo to enlarge.
Some of the frogs baits from River to Sea I won in a
photo contest.
Was blessed to enter and win a photo contest by
River to Sea over on the WesternBass.com
fish boards. So I was ready for the frog bite at either location.
Day one, Aug.
17th- Monday
Solo- 6, alum. boat/ Tower Park, 3
p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
We drove up on Sunday the 16th and stayed the night Modesto. Slept in and
took our time getting to the Delta, stopping at the Bass Pro Shop in
Manteca where I got some items for this trip.
Click photo to enlarge.
Some shots of the Bass Pro Shop.
100 degrees and the tide is starting to come in!
Yeah.
Went towards the north (towards bridge), and worked the med. Plopper for
nada, then ran under the bridge and to the left, to where I'd done well my
last trip there in June, this time w/ the 75cm Lucky Craft Gunfish, where
I started getting them, but dinks. Had a blow up on the Plopper, no
sticky.
Click photo to enlarge.
Is it BIG, or is it just too close to the camera.
Check it out.
Click photo to enlarge.
Got them on everything, here a frog fish and double
bladed buzzbait.
Worked to the poles then back towards the Bridge. So
fishy, but not too much action. Got one on a frog that I tossed right up
near shore. Also, the double bladed buzz bait got response.
Click photo to enlarge.
Sunset from 'farm machinery' cove.
Click photo to enlarge.
Beautiful 8 pounder at sunset, TUL.
Got a nice 8 pounder last 10 minutes (8 p.m.) on the med. W. Plopper at the
curve just past the bridge, right side towards 'farm machinery' cove. TUL.
Delta, day
two, Aug. 18th- Tuesday.
Tower Park, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Solo- 6,
I went out again out of Tower Park, and went right. Worked the deep diving
Rapala 22 and got one dink and one dink+ in short order, just outside the
weed line. Switched to the usual Speed Trap crawdad square bill and got
one at the point under the bridge.
Click photo to enlarge.
Got into the smaller models on crankbaits right off
the bat.
The Speed Trap worked on the corner spot.
Click photo to enlarge.
Got a frog fish right on the rock between tulle
clumps.
I worked my way around to the 'farm
machinery cove' again, but no takers this time- first time that's happened
out of a dozer trips to it. Oh well. Same on the flat on the outside,
nada. Fished till dark.
_____________________________
Click photo to enlarge.
Day off to go see Lake Tahoe
Our friends
Caroline and Jon Z. took us for a day trip around
Lake Tahoe, Valerie's first time there, and one I had
not done since my college days some 40 years ago.
_____________________________
Delta, day
three, Aug. 20th- Thursday.
Tower Park, 6 a.m. to 11 a.m..
Solo- 8,
Up at 4.45 a.m. and left from Elk Grove, just outside
Sacramento, where we stayed with Valerie's high school girlfriends house,
and after grabbing breakfast at the truck stop on Hwy 12 I got to Tower
park just before sunrise and headed opposite the bridge this time. Got on
them on the frog and the double bladed buzzbait in short order.
Click photo to enlarge.
Beautiful sunset headed south-east, TUL. Tower Park
Marina.
Click photo to enlarge.
Happiness is expectations of landing lunker bass at
the Delta.Tower Park Marina.
Click photo to enlarge.
Got some nice topwater, six on med. Plopper (one
shown w/ buzzer), and one frog fish. TUL.
Worked the shed 'corner' and got a
nice frog fish, just outside the hyacinths. Went across to the opposite
point, on an island, and saw a buster and tossed a Gunfish on it, getting
a striper. Got six on the Plopper after that, along the opposite levy and
on various spots headed to the 'three islands'.
One blow up at middle island at
'three island honey hole' but no 'sticky', and after that headed back as
we were going to Clear Lake that afternoon.
Click photo to enlarge.
Got a striper on a topwater, was a buster.
__________________________________
*Clear Lake, Aug. 20th - 23rd.
Solo- 30 bass on 2.5 days of fishing-
14' Aluminum boat/
water 82
Part two of our recent vacation to Northern
California. This part we went to Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in
California, and we stayed at Konocti Vista Casino Hotel and Marina ($80
after Auto Club discount). It has a launch ramp and a hundred docks to tie
up to, all with electricity so you can recharge your batteries overnight
if needed.
The bite was awesome without ever having to leave the marina. Got them on
the frog, buzzbaits, 'gunfish' (topwater bait fish imitators) and punching
(heavy 'jigs', lures that imitate crawdads- down through the floating
vegetation that they hide under). A fire started at the end of day three
for us, not far away. Thus the shots of that too.
Day one,
Thurs., Aug 20th:
Just a half hour or so fishing around the docks at dark.
Arrived on Thursday night the 20th after fishing the Delta that
morning and driving up from Sacramento in the afternoon. I got the boat
checked for dryness (must be dry if coming from San Diego, due to Quagga
Mussel invasion in certain lakes), passed, paid for the permit and then
rested for an hour. Went out at dusk and threw the frog around the docks,
walking, as did a few other folks. Nada.
Click photo to enlarge.
The front of my 14' aluminum boat headed out of the
marina.
Day two, Fri.,
Aug. 21st:
From noon till dark. About 8 bass, almost all on the frog, one
nice 'punch' fish at 5 or so.
Started this day late, as I was dead tired from day before. Valerie
and I had a nice breakfast at the casino, and I went out around noon.
Fished the harbor and one guy fishing solo, and filming product lures for
a company, said he'd done well on the jig the day before and was doing
well again.
Click photo to enlarge.
Valerie and long time friend Janine.
I tossed the frog and the med. Plopper when no one was
around. Did not get anything, and ran out to my honey hole to check depth
towards Lakeport town, it was too shallow. Tried for about an hour,
including hundreds of yards out as there were a lot of grass areas to
fish.
Went back and worked the harbor, and started to get
them on the frog. Also got one about 5 lbs on the black/blue jig, punching
the Primrose, on the left corner weeds as you'd head out of the marina.
Click photo to enlarge.
My largest punch fish to date, a sixer, and only my
second ever landed on this pattern TUL.
I got a lot of hits on this bait, but I swung many times and nada, must
have been smaller fish.
Click photo to enlarge.
The frog in the grasses around the docks was the
ticket. That last one was an easy 5+
How fun, and nice ones too.
Day three, Sat., Aug.
22nd:
Wow, got 15 on the Gunfish between 7 and 9 a.m.
Started by driving to Clearlake town, stopping at Walmart and getting
a motorcycle battery and running lights, front and back, and installed
them in the shade at the park first. Took a couple of hours and got on the
water by noon.
Click photo to enlarge.
Tried some favorite spots near Clearlake Redbud
launch ramp area, all too shallow.
Here the north part of the 'island', near Cache Creek entrance.
After three hours of nada, all too shallow, decided to go
back to Konocti where the bite was pretty good,
Click photo to enlarge.
One the way back came across another fire nearby,
this one only a couple of miles from Kelseyville, and about 8 from our
hotel.
Click photo to enlarge.
A panoramic of the marina
Click photo to enlarge.
Sunset over Lakeport was more dramatic due to fires
nearby.
Click photo to enlarge.
Saw another fisherman just fishing a jig on the
outside of the floating vegitation.
Monkey see, monkey do. Worked out.
Click photo to enlarge.
Almost dark lunker bass!
Now we are cooking with oil, a seven pounder hit this
so hard everyone in the Marina heard it and watched
the fight, as well as the one that hit next cast, but got off.
Day four,
Sunday Aug. 23rd:
Wow, got 15 on the Gunfish by 10 a.m.
Up at 6 a.m. and out
and fishing the docks, but nada for the first hour, no busters.
Click photo to enlarge.
Early morning light, before all heck broke loose.
Then all
heck broke loose in the marina exit, and I got the Gunfish working. Lots of
dinks, but some two and threes thrown in. The plant along the edge is a
non-native one called Primrose, originally from So. America:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/weeds/waterPrimrose.html
Click photo to enlarge.
One of the better models I got on the Gunfish.
Left for San Diego after breakfast, which since the Casino was crazy
busy, and so was the one downtown Lakeport, which took us an hour there,
we got a late start.
Click photo to enlarge.
Late start headed home, here we are to cross Oakland
Bridge, headed home.
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*El Capitan,
Friday, Aug. 15th
With Greg Seewald. Me 9, Greg 1- 2pm till
7.45pm- Answered Prayer (Skeeter).
Partly Cloudy, water 80.5
Me (W. Plopper med, Gunfish, missed frog fish), 1
Greg (buzzbait).
We met at Keno’s, breakfasted (split a #8), fixed the
Answered Prayer trolling motor electrical, got to lake at 2. Saw Vince, he
reported C/R and crankbait bite. (Saw him at dusk, he’d gotten 19, was
very surprised I got all mine on top).
Click photo to enlarge.
Had a great afternoon.
We fished boat cove, I got one first cast on Plopper,
got another working around back after nada on frog in corner. Got third on
Gunfish on buster by boat, that was three in an hour and a half. Worked to
first point, got two more, one on smaller side, other a 3, both on point
near shore. 5 now by 4 p.m.. Continued to flat around corner, Greg lost
buzzbait and I tied on a double, in line, buzz and he got one but it got
off. A few casts later he got his first. Continued around to back of first
big cove, lost one on a frog due to drag forgot to set, worked the flat
and then to point, nada.
Ran to shade at island, still a peninsula, and worked
points, nada. Went to big point past island working to dam, nada, now
7:15. Worked to next point and got another on Plopper, making 8 fish, and
then to sunken rock and got #9 as brought over rock/grass spot. Worked to
major rock pile, usual ending spot, nada there.
*El Capitan, Monday, Aug. 11th
With Matt bartender. Me 2, Matt 1- 6 a.m. till
2 pm- Aluminum boat.
Sunny, water 81
Noticed all the points were covered on way in, oh oh,
tournament. El Cajon two day was on, so it would be tough with so many
boats out. Sure enough. We started by going a little north just outside
dock cove to first point and then to the flat around the corner, nada.
Noticed busters after working second point and went to deep water after
them. Tied on a S. Spook and got third busters I saw, figured easy money,
but none it it again. Matt tried the gunfish, me the Spook, and the
Plopper, for nada. Other boats came to them and after awhile we had 6 or 7
circling and working, only saw a couple get them.
Click photo to enlarge.
Thought I'd figured it out- nope, only one on the
Super Spook.
We went to the back of the cove and I had Matt slow
down the Gunfish and he got a nice one, about 1.5 lbs. It was so hot and
he was getting worn out. We went back to dock cove as we'd not fished it
and I got a nice Plopper fish about 1 p.m.. Bama and Derek came by and
Derek got a buster in short order (They ended up doing well at Otay the
next day, and won the tourney).
We called it a day at about 1.45, a little earlier
than planned but not much.
*El Capitan, Monday, Aug. 3rd
Solo 3 p.m.. till 8 pm- Aluminum boat.
Water 79.
 
Click photo to enlarge.
Though
Got on them good, working dock cove, and points
north, then island. Whopper Plopper main bait, buzzbait got one or two,
*Ocean,
Thursday, July 30th
With Billy on his 18'. Me 2, Matt 1- 6 a.m. till
2 pm- Water 72/ We went on his 16' Sea
Ray runabout
Billy, from our men's group at NCCC, mentioned he
inherited a boat from his father in law. He'd taken it our but not for
ocean fishing, just boated. He had the thing fairly ship shape, except we
could not get the VHF radio working right, a bit dangerous.
We would go for tuna, yellowfin or bluefin, or
yellowtail or dorado (mahi-mahi, aka dolfin fish) . We went out of
Oceanside for a 1/2 day. The folks at the ramp had lots of dorado and
yellows, and YFT, so we were excited. One guy gave us his dead sardines,
and said they actually wanted that cut up on paddies.
But on leaving the harbor we hit big waves and his
two poles went over, his pole holder was not put on right and it fell
over.
Click photo to enlarge.
Billy driving, Billy driving with phone, sunset at 8
p.m..
We went, trolling, about 6 miles out, and trolled
from San Onofre to Carlsbad power plant, working paddies with other boats,
they were how we found them. They did not get them, nor could we.
Metered a lot of fish, especially near floating kelp
paddies, but could not get any to bite. Oh well, that's why they call it
fishing, not catching! We had electric problems at the ramp, and took
about 2 hours to get them semi-working. Billy's wife Violet had to run to
Wal-Mart and get fuses for us, which kept popping.
*El Capitan, East San Diego county
Friday., July 10th
With Mike C. Me 5, Mike 0, 1.30pm till 8pm-
Aluminum boat.
Partly Cloudy, water 78
Met Mike at the ramp, he had out tickets. Launched and
worked the grasses, with me getting hits on the frog in short order on the
end batch of it, in deeper water. Lots of hits and then got one after
bringing it off the grass. Got some on the 3" white Senko too.
Click photo to enlarge.
Getting them on the Spro popper frog,
bluegill pattern.
Got another on the frog an hour later, from the outside
fishing it over the slop and stopping the frog in semi-open water (5'
away). Continued to the far back and worked the grasses, some explosions
back there. Got one on the Senko again on a bunch of busters that finally
went crazy, it'd been slow with them.
Worked the 'long point' just left of the island, got a
blow up on the Plopper and lost one on the Senko. Continued towards the
dam, alternating casts with Mike, when I realized he was skunked let him
have two casts to my one, and I got one as soon as we started that. He
said, rightly, if we'd continued without alternating it'd of been his
fish. True, and funny. It was my 5th for the day.
* El Capitan, East San Diego county
Mon., July 6th
Solo, 3pm till 8pm- solo, 3 bass. Aluminum
boat
I started at 3, around the ramp, and got one on the
med. Plop in short order, cool. Worked the grasses, getting a lot of
blow ups on the bluegill Spro frog, none stuck. Got one on the larger kick
tail fluke along the grasses and then switched to a 3" light green Senko
(need smoke, that's what one gentleman in the gray alum boat got so many
on- he lives in Lakeside but stores boat in El Cajon, fishes once per week
but seen him last three times out- he fished all day for 26!).
Click photo to enlarge.
First came on the med. Plop.
Click photo to enlarge.
This one, my second, came on the fluke.
Got one on the Senko letting it fall on some busters,
then headed to island, right side towards 'the corner' and worked the med.
plopper to the island, then the island, then past the shallow cove to the
big point, around it and to the rock piles towards the dam, all for nada.
Click photo to enlarge.
Sunset
* El Capitan, East San Diego county
Thurs., July 2nd
Solo, 3pm till 8pm- solo, 3 bass. Aluminum
boat
Worked the ramp cove, then worked
shore to and around points headed north, the around the island, and
towards the rock pile near dam. Took it down into the grasses in short
order, and that's all I ended up pulling in.
Click photo to enlarge.
This one came on a med. Plop, a buzzbait type lure.
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