Took a ride up to Bear River Reservoir to see what shape it's in. Made my usual stop at Cook's Station for coffee and then proceeded up Highway 88. There is still a bunch of snow at 6000' on the side of the road. On the road to the lake, there is about 2' on the sides. I took a side drive on the road toward the resort, which is still closed, to get a larger view of the lake. I was pleasantly surprised to see open water.
Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I secured my tackle box, rods, and net to my home made carrier and proceeded to walk down to the lake. I took a trail that seemed to have been made by snowmobiles and wasn't too steep. Also made pulling my equipment a little easier. Two things I noted when I got to the lake. First, there is still a lot of snow, but it's melting fast and two, where there isn't snow, it's all mud.
I like to fish by the dam, but there was still ice about 100' out. Still ice on the lake in places where the sun doesn't hit out about 50' or so. So I set up shop where there was some open water and gave it a shot. Slip sinker rig with Power Bait in Orange Pulp, Chartreuse, and Rainbow Candy with no results. Slip Bobber rig with the big meal worms. Nothing. I think the temperature killed the meal worm as soon as it hit the water. The wind picked up about 10:00am and made bobber fishing impossible. I also tried the usual lures and nothing.
I think that the water level is still too low. I think the water temperature also still too cold. When the wind picked up I swear I saw icebergs floating by. OK, so maybe they were just small chunks of ice. I also think that since this area (about 500 yards from the dam) was just iced out and it being so shallow, it was probably frozen most of the winter so the fish haven't moved into the area yet. That or the fish were just thumbing their noses at me. I'm not sure.
The future doesn't look good either. Remember in my post from January 23rd, this is one of the lakes that the DFG isn't going to stock. The only good thing is that there are two tournament's here. One in the Spring (May-June or there abouts) and one in the Fall (Mid-September) and they should be stocking for those.
When I talked about Bear River Reservoir back in January, I didn't mention I fished the tournament last September. I've got to tell you, I'll never do that again. The sign up was 4:00pm the Friday before the Saturday/Sunday derby. I got there at 3:15 pm and since they wouldn't sign me up till 4:00, I went over to the dam and threw a couple of lures. Right at 4:00 I was second in line to sign up. The guy in front of me was number 13 and I was number 14. There was no one else there. Who were 1 thru 12 if you couldn't sign up until 4:00? The next morning I went to the resort and got a cup of coffee and told the guy at the desk I wanted to fish down by the boat launch. $5.00 to park. I said "I just paid you $44.00 to fish this tournament and you want $5.00 more just to park here? Yup. I went over to the dam and fished. I came back to the resort at 10:00 for a soda and there was discussion about the three top fish already recorded. The conversation I heard is that the guy that had the biggest fish always wins, when he fishes this tournament. Sounded too professional for me. I went home and won't fish the tournament again, but the previous year, the fish from that years tournament in September were the 3 big ones I lost and the 2 big ones I caught. So, fish when the tournament is on and don't enter.
That's it for today. Until next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work".
Shoreman
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
A Warming Thursday Morning
I discovered a few things yesterday regarding fishing. One, I can't go away and leave the cats access to the computer. Caught them with their paws on the key board again. Just so everyone can see the "kids", here are pictures. Like Jasper says, he likes to watch animals on TV. Smudge, on the other hand likes to hang out on his Dads lap.
The second thing I found out is that last year after checking my catch log is, I really didn't start catching fish until April. That might have to do with surgeries in December and recovering for a few months. Also keep in mind it was a lot drier and warmer last year and the upper lakes iced out earlier.
The third thing is that you can not rely on information given by some park employees. The post from March 16th is all wrong. Yesterday I got my copy of The Fish Sniffer and there was a lot more trout caught over the weekend than I was told about that Monday. I won't go into all the sizes, but the winning fish was 6.23 lbs in the adult division, 7.72 lbs in the youth division, and 5.06 lbs in the kid division. The one Courtney Black caught ranked 5th in the adult division. Sunday there was a 5 lb Rainbow caught, but he wasn't entered in the contest and the biggest fish caught (7.9 lbs) was caught by a young lady, over 16, without a fishing license and couldn't be entered. Just goes to show you have to be legal and entered if you want to win. Thanks to The Fish Sniffer for the update.
I have personal experience with the not entered thing. I was fishing on a cattle boat off the Southern California Coast and wasn't entered into the pot. I caught the biggest Sheepshead. A lesson learned.
Well, I'm off to Lowes for more remodeling stuff. It's going to be in the low to mid 70's for the next 10 days, so I think I'll take a stroll up to Bear River in the next couple of days and see if there is any water as opposed to ice.
Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work".
Shoreman
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Cat Humor
Hey, Dad’s gone fishing again and we just discovered this place. Me and my brother are trying to figure out how to make words appear on the screen. My name is Jasper. I’m a black and white cat. I’m long and lanky. My brother is Smudge. He’s all gray and FAT. “Get off me you big cow. I’m doing the work here”.
Last week my Dad got a box from a place called Cabela’s. People don’t think a cat can read or understand what they are saying, but we do. “Move over Smudge and quit crowding me”. Brothers, what a pain in the butt. Anyway, in this box was a bunch of stuff for fishing. We like fish, after all we are cats. So in this box were some bottles of stuff called Pro-Cure Super Gel. Dad opened one called Trophy Trout and let us sniff it. Wow, I could smell that stuff all day. A couple of days ago, Dad put a drop on a piece of paper for us. Not as much fun as just sniffing the bottle. Hope we can smell the other bottles too. Kind of like cat drugs. Better than catnip. The only problem is that Dad keeps all his tackle in the truck, that way we can’t get into it as much as we would like to.
Can’t wait for dad to get home so we can sniff his pants and shoes. Smell all the places he’s been today. “Smudge, move over. No you can’t make the words”. Two big cats on one chair just doesn’t work. My brother is like a defensive linebacker. I, on the other hand am like a wide receiver. Yeh, we watch football with Dad too. I personally like the shows with animals on them better, but we lay in Dad’s lap and watch the games just to make him feel loved. My brother doesn’t really care about what’s on TV, he’ll watch anything and he’s happy just laying on Dad’s lap.
Better get out of here before Dad comes home. Don’t tell anyone we were on here. We saw something on TV that said, “My cat has his own blog”. Maybe Dad will let us have one. “What’s a blog”? “OK Smudge, let’s go. You can do the words next time”.
Jasper and Smudge
Last week my Dad got a box from a place called Cabela’s. People don’t think a cat can read or understand what they are saying, but we do. “Move over Smudge and quit crowding me”. Brothers, what a pain in the butt. Anyway, in this box was a bunch of stuff for fishing. We like fish, after all we are cats. So in this box were some bottles of stuff called Pro-Cure Super Gel. Dad opened one called Trophy Trout and let us sniff it. Wow, I could smell that stuff all day. A couple of days ago, Dad put a drop on a piece of paper for us. Not as much fun as just sniffing the bottle. Hope we can smell the other bottles too. Kind of like cat drugs. Better than catnip. The only problem is that Dad keeps all his tackle in the truck, that way we can’t get into it as much as we would like to.
Can’t wait for dad to get home so we can sniff his pants and shoes. Smell all the places he’s been today. “Smudge, move over. No you can’t make the words”. Two big cats on one chair just doesn’t work. My brother is like a defensive linebacker. I, on the other hand am like a wide receiver. Yeh, we watch football with Dad too. I personally like the shows with animals on them better, but we lay in Dad’s lap and watch the games just to make him feel loved. My brother doesn’t really care about what’s on TV, he’ll watch anything and he’s happy just laying on Dad’s lap.
Better get out of here before Dad comes home. Don’t tell anyone we were on here. We saw something on TV that said, “My cat has his own blog”. Maybe Dad will let us have one. “What’s a blog”? “OK Smudge, let’s go. You can do the words next time”.
Jasper and Smudge
Monday, March 16, 2009
Rancho Seco Lake
Had to take a run to Sacramento this morning and thought I'd stop by Rancho Seco Lake and check things out. Over the weekend was SMUD's Spring Trout Derby and the lake was stocked with approximately 2000 lbs of catchable trout. Some 500 pounds or more in trophy sized trout. During the Saturday Morning telecast on Channel 3 Sharokina Shams was at the lake interviewing Courtney Black with a five pound 14 ounce trout she had caught that morning using Power Bait.
I talked to the young man at the gate when I checked in and inquired how the derby went. He said that it was slow and the fish that Courtney caught was the winner. He didn't see many fish caught either day even though a lot of trout were stocked.
So, I wandered around at the boat launch area and asked a few of the guys fishing today if they had caught anything and the response was much the same as over the weekend. Few and far between. The ones that caught anything today caught them early in the morning and they only got one or two. So I drove over to the other side and asked the same question and got the same answer. So the perplexing question is: "If they stocked 1000 lbs on Saturday and 1000 lbs on Sunday why aren't any being caught". It's been my experience, and I mentioned it in an earlier post, that once a stock has been done you have at least three days where you can get several if not a limit. There were a lot of people fishing out there this morning and no one, and I mean no one, was catching anything. They figured the same thing I did. Derby over the weekend and today should have been a good fishing day. Beats the hell out of me.
By the way, I did throw out a couple of lures. The usual Panther Martins, and Kastmasters in gold, silver and silver/blue along with Little Cleo in burgandy/bronze and blue/nickle. Obviously nothing.
Oh yeh, one other thing, contrary to belief, the trout from Rancho Seco Lake (it's a non-active nuclear power plant) do not glow in the dark. Just kidding...............
All right, till next time: "A bad day fishing, and we've had a lot of them lately, is still better than any day at work".
Shoreman
I talked to the young man at the gate when I checked in and inquired how the derby went. He said that it was slow and the fish that Courtney caught was the winner. He didn't see many fish caught either day even though a lot of trout were stocked.
So, I wandered around at the boat launch area and asked a few of the guys fishing today if they had caught anything and the response was much the same as over the weekend. Few and far between. The ones that caught anything today caught them early in the morning and they only got one or two. So I drove over to the other side and asked the same question and got the same answer. So the perplexing question is: "If they stocked 1000 lbs on Saturday and 1000 lbs on Sunday why aren't any being caught". It's been my experience, and I mentioned it in an earlier post, that once a stock has been done you have at least three days where you can get several if not a limit. There were a lot of people fishing out there this morning and no one, and I mean no one, was catching anything. They figured the same thing I did. Derby over the weekend and today should have been a good fishing day. Beats the hell out of me.
By the way, I did throw out a couple of lures. The usual Panther Martins, and Kastmasters in gold, silver and silver/blue along with Little Cleo in burgandy/bronze and blue/nickle. Obviously nothing.
Oh yeh, one other thing, contrary to belief, the trout from Rancho Seco Lake (it's a non-active nuclear power plant) do not glow in the dark. Just kidding...............
All right, till next time: "A bad day fishing, and we've had a lot of them lately, is still better than any day at work".
Shoreman
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Lake Pardee Today
Had to go to Jackson again, so I decided to cruise out to Lake Pardee and drown a couple of worms. Small problem, I left the worms at home and I wasn't going to buy more when I already had nightcrawlers in the fridge and meal worms on top of the fridge. Oh well, next time. I parked in the lot at Rainbow Point and walked down to the lake. The water had risen considerably since I was there on February 11th and the outlook was good.
I put out a slip sinker rig with Chunky Chartruese Berkley Gulp Trout Dough. On my 7' rod I tried the usual Panther Martin's in gold and silver. Little Cleo in burgandy/bronze, blue/nickle, and firetiger colors. Kastmasters in silver, gold, silver/orange, solid orange, and silver/blue. I also tried something I found at Lake Amador that looked like a Roostertail in an orange with black spots. Nothing produced a follow up or hit. In between I changed the slip sinker rig to Berkely Gulp Trout Dough in Orange Pulp and then Rainbow Candy. Still nothing.
I didn't see anyone catching anything in the 3 or so hours I was there until the guy next to me caught one on Power Bait Nuggets in an orange color. A nice 13"-14" Rainbow. That was it. As I was leaving, the guy parked next to me was leaving at the same time, I asked if he had any luck and he said he caught a couple of small ones, but not worth keeping. I didn't ask what he was using, he seemed to be in a hurry.
Well, that's it for Thursday at Pardee. That make it 0 for 2 this season and zero for all the times I've fished there. One of these days, though, there will be a break through.
Thanks to Wandering Owl for stopping by. Welcome aboard.
Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work".
Shoreman
I put out a slip sinker rig with Chunky Chartruese Berkley Gulp Trout Dough. On my 7' rod I tried the usual Panther Martin's in gold and silver. Little Cleo in burgandy/bronze, blue/nickle, and firetiger colors. Kastmasters in silver, gold, silver/orange, solid orange, and silver/blue. I also tried something I found at Lake Amador that looked like a Roostertail in an orange with black spots. Nothing produced a follow up or hit. In between I changed the slip sinker rig to Berkely Gulp Trout Dough in Orange Pulp and then Rainbow Candy. Still nothing.
I didn't see anyone catching anything in the 3 or so hours I was there until the guy next to me caught one on Power Bait Nuggets in an orange color. A nice 13"-14" Rainbow. That was it. As I was leaving, the guy parked next to me was leaving at the same time, I asked if he had any luck and he said he caught a couple of small ones, but not worth keeping. I didn't ask what he was using, he seemed to be in a hurry.
Well, that's it for Thursday at Pardee. That make it 0 for 2 this season and zero for all the times I've fished there. One of these days, though, there will be a break through.
Thanks to Wandering Owl for stopping by. Welcome aboard.
Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work".
Shoreman
Friday, March 6, 2009
Mather Lake Thursday
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I could only stay at the lake for about an hour and a half. But, here are some of the things I found. Looks like DFG planted early in the week since there weren't many fish caught while I was there. In fact, I only saw one caught.
The weed problem was slightly less, but still there. One fisherman said that he was using a slip sinker rig with about 18" of leader and the Power Bait was barely above the top of the weeds. I fished to the left of the dock with a floating bobber rig using meal worms and nightcrawlers with no results. I also tried the usual Panter Martins (gold and silver) and Little Cleo (burgandy/bronze) with no results.
I moved over to the right side of the lake and fished two locations, with the same set ups above, with no results. I know that Panther Martin's and Little Cleo's will produce fish in this lake, because the have in the past, but not this time. As the weather warms, the weed problem in this lake is only going to get worse. I also noticed that the screen that covers the outlet was pushed down in one corner. Makes one wonder if any of the trout went down the creek on the other side of the dam. Might explore that sometime in the near future. I'll have to look at a map to see where that creek goes.
The one good thing that happened yesterday, was a delivery from Fisherman's Warehouse. I stocked up on Pro-Cure Super Gel in flavors I didn't have, some backup Panther Martin's, and colors in Little Cleo I didn't have. The blue/silver color I got was the one that caught a trout at Lake Amador when I was there, Friday 2/27. I got a couple of other colors to try too and I'm waiting for some from Cabela's. I'll report results as I try them.
I now stand at fish 7, Shoreman zip. This year is not starting out very well, but that will change.
Till the next time I can get out, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work". I keep reminding myself of that.
Shoreman
The weed problem was slightly less, but still there. One fisherman said that he was using a slip sinker rig with about 18" of leader and the Power Bait was barely above the top of the weeds. I fished to the left of the dock with a floating bobber rig using meal worms and nightcrawlers with no results. I also tried the usual Panter Martins (gold and silver) and Little Cleo (burgandy/bronze) with no results.
I moved over to the right side of the lake and fished two locations, with the same set ups above, with no results. I know that Panther Martin's and Little Cleo's will produce fish in this lake, because the have in the past, but not this time. As the weather warms, the weed problem in this lake is only going to get worse. I also noticed that the screen that covers the outlet was pushed down in one corner. Makes one wonder if any of the trout went down the creek on the other side of the dam. Might explore that sometime in the near future. I'll have to look at a map to see where that creek goes.
The one good thing that happened yesterday, was a delivery from Fisherman's Warehouse. I stocked up on Pro-Cure Super Gel in flavors I didn't have, some backup Panther Martin's, and colors in Little Cleo I didn't have. The blue/silver color I got was the one that caught a trout at Lake Amador when I was there, Friday 2/27. I got a couple of other colors to try too and I'm waiting for some from Cabela's. I'll report results as I try them.
I now stand at fish 7, Shoreman zip. This year is not starting out very well, but that will change.
Till the next time I can get out, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work". I keep reminding myself of that.
Shoreman
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
How it all started
Good Morning, Fisherdink. Welcome aboard. We have a lot of friends out there.
I'm writing this because we have snow on the ground again and I can't get out to do any fishing, so I thought I'd take up some time throwing out some history here.
The first eight years of my life were spent in Wisconsin. My Dad introduced me to fishing when I was about 6 or 7. We used to fish off the pier at Southport Beach for Perch and Cisco. Occasionally my Dad would take me out to one of the inland lakes to fish for Crappie & Bluegill. I can remember nights, after fishing, cleaning buckets of Bluegill in the basement. One particular occasion I vividly remember was the time when My Dad, Uncle Gil, my Cousin Mark (believe it or not, he had the same name as me) went out to some lake. I don't remember the name since it was a couple of years ago. Like 50 something years ago. My Cousin and I thought it was cool to use a stick as an oar, since there were only two in the boat, and ran across this field to get one from the pile we saw in the distance. The Dad's yelled for us to stop. My Cousin did, I didn't until I hit the barbed wire fence. To this day, I have dents in my face, one on the left side next to my left eye, and the other on the right side on my jaw. Like I said, I vividly remember this day. Well, I got patched up and we went fishing. I'm sure we caught something, but I only remember bouncing off the fence.
In October of 1955 we moved to Florida. My uncle, who lived next door to us in Wisconsin, told my Dad about the jungle climate in Florida and how nice it was. When we first arrived, we lived in a rented house 300 yards from the ocean. That close, and I was hooked on ocean fishing. Just down the beach was the fishing pier where I spent most of my life from age 8 until I moved to California at 16. When I wasn't chasing girls, skin diving, or going to school, I fished day and night from the pier. We caught everything. Red Snapper, Grunt (yeh, that's what they were called), Needlefish, Mackerel, Goggle Eye (Yup, real name too), Pilchards, and I could go on and on.
Deerfield Beach, the town we lived in was a small town, so most of the kids hung out at the pier too. In fact, it was such a small town that when they said the blond haired kid did it, the police came to my house. At night, during the Summer, we would fish for sharks off the pier. Hey, we swam in the ocean all the time and we thought nothing of swimming a chunk of bloody Bonita, attached to a shark rod, out a couple of hundred yards and dropping it. How smart are 14-15 year olds. We caught several in the nine to eleven foot range. The town was even so small that we could call the cops and they would come down to the pier and would shoot the shark for us.
That brings us to the one I caught bare handed. Well, I'm not sure if I caught it, or it caught me. Anyway, I was skindiving and I grabbed it by the tail. It grabbed me by the arm. After all, it was only about 18" long. I saw Marlin Perkins on Wild Kingdom do it, so why couldn't I. Someone forgot to tell me they don't have any bones and can bend in half. Grabbed me half way between my hand and my elbow. After I got back to shore with this thing hanging on my arm and got it off, I took off in the direction of home. My diving buddy was nice enough to call ahead and tell my Mother that I'd just got bitten by a shark and was on my way home. Then hung up the phone. No wonder my Mother's hair was gray. Five stitches.
OH yeh, the jungle climate. Hot, humid, and full of bugs. Back then we didn't have air conditioning anywhere. House, car, none. But as a kid, didn't matter because we spent most of the summer in a bathing suit at the pier or on the beach.
Occasionally we would fish in the Intercoastal Waterway too. A couple of good catches were off the bridge that crossed the Intercoastal on Hillsboro Blvd and Boca Raton inlet. I hooked a small mullet just behind the head and let it swim in circles about the middle of the bridge. Caught a 12 pound Snook. The other one, I did the same thing at Boca Raton Inlet and caught a 12 pound Amberjack. As I recall, the Fall produced a nice run of Bluefish off the shore, using Mullet chunks for bait.
Well, that's it for today. Got to get back to my painting (one thing you can do when it snows). Think I'll run down to Sacramento tomorrow and drop in on Mather Lake. DFG says they are planting it this week. Want to see if some of the weeds are gone. I'll let you know what I find out.
Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work, painting, or blowing snow off your driveway".
Shoreman
I'm writing this because we have snow on the ground again and I can't get out to do any fishing, so I thought I'd take up some time throwing out some history here.
The first eight years of my life were spent in Wisconsin. My Dad introduced me to fishing when I was about 6 or 7. We used to fish off the pier at Southport Beach for Perch and Cisco. Occasionally my Dad would take me out to one of the inland lakes to fish for Crappie & Bluegill. I can remember nights, after fishing, cleaning buckets of Bluegill in the basement. One particular occasion I vividly remember was the time when My Dad, Uncle Gil, my Cousin Mark (believe it or not, he had the same name as me) went out to some lake. I don't remember the name since it was a couple of years ago. Like 50 something years ago. My Cousin and I thought it was cool to use a stick as an oar, since there were only two in the boat, and ran across this field to get one from the pile we saw in the distance. The Dad's yelled for us to stop. My Cousin did, I didn't until I hit the barbed wire fence. To this day, I have dents in my face, one on the left side next to my left eye, and the other on the right side on my jaw. Like I said, I vividly remember this day. Well, I got patched up and we went fishing. I'm sure we caught something, but I only remember bouncing off the fence.
In October of 1955 we moved to Florida. My uncle, who lived next door to us in Wisconsin, told my Dad about the jungle climate in Florida and how nice it was. When we first arrived, we lived in a rented house 300 yards from the ocean. That close, and I was hooked on ocean fishing. Just down the beach was the fishing pier where I spent most of my life from age 8 until I moved to California at 16. When I wasn't chasing girls, skin diving, or going to school, I fished day and night from the pier. We caught everything. Red Snapper, Grunt (yeh, that's what they were called), Needlefish, Mackerel, Goggle Eye (Yup, real name too), Pilchards, and I could go on and on.
Deerfield Beach, the town we lived in was a small town, so most of the kids hung out at the pier too. In fact, it was such a small town that when they said the blond haired kid did it, the police came to my house. At night, during the Summer, we would fish for sharks off the pier. Hey, we swam in the ocean all the time and we thought nothing of swimming a chunk of bloody Bonita, attached to a shark rod, out a couple of hundred yards and dropping it. How smart are 14-15 year olds. We caught several in the nine to eleven foot range. The town was even so small that we could call the cops and they would come down to the pier and would shoot the shark for us.
That brings us to the one I caught bare handed. Well, I'm not sure if I caught it, or it caught me. Anyway, I was skindiving and I grabbed it by the tail. It grabbed me by the arm. After all, it was only about 18" long. I saw Marlin Perkins on Wild Kingdom do it, so why couldn't I. Someone forgot to tell me they don't have any bones and can bend in half. Grabbed me half way between my hand and my elbow. After I got back to shore with this thing hanging on my arm and got it off, I took off in the direction of home. My diving buddy was nice enough to call ahead and tell my Mother that I'd just got bitten by a shark and was on my way home. Then hung up the phone. No wonder my Mother's hair was gray. Five stitches.
OH yeh, the jungle climate. Hot, humid, and full of bugs. Back then we didn't have air conditioning anywhere. House, car, none. But as a kid, didn't matter because we spent most of the summer in a bathing suit at the pier or on the beach.
Occasionally we would fish in the Intercoastal Waterway too. A couple of good catches were off the bridge that crossed the Intercoastal on Hillsboro Blvd and Boca Raton inlet. I hooked a small mullet just behind the head and let it swim in circles about the middle of the bridge. Caught a 12 pound Snook. The other one, I did the same thing at Boca Raton Inlet and caught a 12 pound Amberjack. As I recall, the Fall produced a nice run of Bluefish off the shore, using Mullet chunks for bait.
Well, that's it for today. Got to get back to my painting (one thing you can do when it snows). Think I'll run down to Sacramento tomorrow and drop in on Mather Lake. DFG says they are planting it this week. Want to see if some of the weeds are gone. I'll let you know what I find out.
Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work, painting, or blowing snow off your driveway".
Shoreman
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