Is There Such A Thing As A Fishing Slump?

Pitchers have a slump, batters have a slump, quarterbacks have a slump. Can a fisherman have a slump?

Apparently so because I'm in one. I've been skunked the last four times out. It's not that I've not thrown everything at them including the kitchen sink (on a side note, the kitchen sick is not attached to the counter any longer and available for throwing at fish).

I planned on fishing Lake Amador today, but when it got time to leave, I almost passed. Just wasn't feeling 100%, but like every die hard fisherman, I  put aside feeling crappy and headed out to the lake.

I knew the water was finally getting toward full and it's almost there.

Filling nicely

It's filling so well that it's even past the buoys at the spillway. It wasn't very long ago that you couldn't even see the water in the picture below.

The spillway

The area between the cement walk on the far left of the picture and the buoys have produced several nice trout and a couple plate sized Crappie in years (seems like many) past.

Yuki and a fishing buddy of his were out here back on the 26th and he caught 2. They were fishing from kayaks. He didn't tell what he was using.

Having replaced the Magic Bullet lure I launched out into Camanche, I put one rod out with rainbow Power Bait and started throwing the lures (Kastmaster in multiple colors and the Magic Bullet) to no avail. With the water so murky I figured that bright would work. Nope.
     

Brown water

After several hundred casts (if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. Maybe 50 or less) with lures I changed one rod to white/red Power Eggs and gave that a try.

About an hour and half into the day I gradually deteriorated into feeling like shit and called it a day. Didn't want to be out in the middle of nowhere if I got (and I won't describe what) sick.

So I'm thinking it might be a good idea to change the name of the blog to Northern California No Trout. Hey, at least I still have a sense of humor.  

Stay tuned.

Juan, Yuki, & Me Yesterday

Juan and I met Yuki at the usual North Shore spot at Lake Camanche yesterday about 9:45. We fished 6 rods between us with a plethora (I love that word) of bait and lures to no avail.

Then disaster struck. I was throwing the Magic bullet lure when there was a loud snap and the Magic Bullet lure landed about 100 feet out in the lake. I immediately noticed that it was no longer attached to my little Okuma (#2). OK, I can get past that, but when I started to restring the rod, I barely (barely) touched the tip and that sucker broke right off. My beloved little Okuma was tipless and therefore useless for casting lures or anything else. 

At Noon we decided to try the Trout Pond since they stocked (see the last post) last Friday.

Between the time we got there and when we left around 2:30 Juan got one hit and I had one on a pink Kastmaster, but that was it. 

So, replacement of my little Okuma was in order. I made the mistake of telling my wife that I broke the tip and would need to get another rod. I was quickly informed that that wasn't going to happen because I already had too many fishing rods. What fisherman has too many fishing rods?

So being the good husband I am the first thing I did this morning was drive to Big 5 Sporting Good (where I got the little Okuma a couple years ago) and see if I could find another one. Those guys have banking hours. I got there at a little after 9:00 and the should have been open, but don't open until 10:00 on Wednesdays. Crap. Over to Walmart to see what they had.  Going to Walmart, be afraid, very afraid. Why? Have you not seen any of those pictures from Walmart. They are enough to scare anyone. 

As I wandered around the sporting goods section looking at $9, $10, $12 rods, well you get the idea, it dawned on me that I have a brand new Shimano Convergence ($69.99 at Cabela's) sitting in the closet. Same reel, Shimano Convergence, a new spool of 4# (You never know what you'll find in the line drawer of your tying bench), and I'm back in business. Total cost of the new "little Okuma" zilch. I know I paid for it some time, but all it was doing was collecting dust.

It's raining again in Northern California. Fishing soon. 

Background Pictures

I was fortunate enough to receive, as have those of you on the joke list, twenty pictures voted the best of 2015 by National Geographic.

I thought it would be nice to use them as background for the blog and change them on, maybe a monthly basis.

The current one and you'll notice it is in the tiled format is called "All the fish in the sea". It was taken at Cabo Pulmo National Park in Mexico.

I hope you enjoy it and the ones I will show you in the future.

The Day Was Perfect

It was a perfect day to be floating in the Trout Pond. Sunshine, blue skies, air temperature around 51, 52, and the water temperature was ???? I didn't bring my thermometer, but it wasn't all that cold.
They stocked yesterday. What more could someone ask?

Trout Pond

More Trout Pond

And more again

What more could someone ask? How about a few fish that bite. I got to the pond just before 9:00 and by the time I got the Float Tube Cumberland aired up and my fly rod strung it was about 9:15 when I launched.

On one hand, I was glad I was tubing because even though all the people don't show in the pictures above (I was lazy and posted old pictures of the pond), the place was PACKED. On the shore, Combat Fishing at it's finest. They must have sent out a bulletin or something because every spot where you could throw a line out was filled and that was at 9:00 am.

OK, so I flippered out along the back side and started with the old reliable Thinmint. To make this shorter than I normally would, let me list the flies I tried.

1. Thinmint
2. Pink/black Woolly Bugger
3. Thinmint (sorry, already said that)
4. Some type of nymph. 
5. Olive Woolly Bugger
6. Black Woolly Bugger
7. Rust colored Crystal Bugger
8. White Woolly Bugger

Then I got desperate and sinking to the depths of fly fishing depravity, I even tried a Mice Tail in orange/chartreuse and red/brown. On the way back toward launch I started to get a cramp in my left thigh, probably because of lack of flippering exercise in the last 6 months, so I called it a day just after Noon.

Now it's not that people weren't catching a fish or two. I saw maybe a half dozen caught among the thousands fishing out there. OK, maybe 75 or so people around the pond.

I talked to a couple while I was rigging up and they managed two on, of all things, Power Bait. I will not sink to those depths and fish Power Bait on a fly rod. I just won't.

So, next Tuesday Juan from "Breaking the Bank" blog and I are going to try to get together and soak some Power Bait out at North Shore. He hasn't been fishing for so long that he's probably forgotten everything I taught him.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there was a guy out there in a float tube just like the Float Tube Cumberland, but there is only one "Float Tube Cumberland".  

So stay tuned.        

Today Is Superbowl 50

So I went fishing.

Got to the lake at 8:45 and put two rods out with the usual rainbow Power Bait. 

Sunshine and blue skies

Waiting for a bite

Yuki showed up a little after 9:00.

There we sat.

Not a bite.

We left at Noon, fishless.

When I checked in they said they planted last Friday. I forgot to ask where. Apparently not where we were. I'm planning to hit the Trout Pond next Saturday in the Float tube Cumberland and a pink/black Wooly Bugger. Guess I'd better tie a couple this week.

I'm home now, the game starts at 3:30 pst.

Stay tuned.