Fishin' Local Part 1 & 2

Part 1

Miles Driven: 44

Gas: $4 per gallon
Parking: $8

Ariel, Jon, and I departed mid morning sometime in April to a local reservoir to see if we could get in on the early spring bite... of recently stocked rainbows. Trip was successful. Many nice sized hard fighting bows were really willing to take anything. We caught them on the surface and below. A slowly stripped leech made the tug a bit more exciting while some of us, I'm not going to mention who, thought indicator or bobber fishing was the way to go. Both equally fun in my opinion. Who doesn't like to see a bobber go down? The birds nest was a hot fly, with an AP nymph almost as good.

Above you will see one of the many double hook-ups of the day.

Ultimately, the fish were stocked, the fishing was good, and we decided fish tacos sounded pretty good. It was a great day fishin local.

Part 2

Miles Driven: 65

Gas: $4.15 per gallon

There is a creek in the East Bay that supposedly had carp in it. It didn't, but it did hold suckers and bluegill. Exploring is always fun, and it will eventually pay off. Until next time, this is fishin local.The day ended up like any day of fishing does. With good beer, good food, and good company at Ariels place in the heart of the Mission, SF.

The Take takes the Cake: Berryessa Bassin

Miles Driven: 173

Gas: $20
Launch Fee: $21 


There really aren't too many reasons I can think of that will get me out of bed at 4am unless its for fishing... This trip I prepared a lunch the night before and packed the car early so I could get that ever so needed 30 minutes of extra sleep. Everything went to plan for once: left the house at 4:15; picked up Casey at 4:30; met Jim with the jet boat at 5:30 in Sonoma. Things were shaping up in to looking like we were going to hit first light on Lake Berryessa - or so we thought.
  

Things don't always run so smoothly if you ever try to get first light when your 90 miles away from a lake you've never been to. Needless to say, we drove to the wrong body of water. Mistake? Maybe... Maybe not? Maybe we found our next blog post location? Either way we had missed first light and we needed to stick to our original plan so we broke out the map and back tracked our 45 minute detour. 

We pulled up to the boat launch at around 7:30 and started fishing by 8:00. Despite our little directional set back, we basically had the whole Northwest corner of the lake all to ourselves. We cruised the clear shallow water along the edges to spot some bass before we got our lines wet. It wasn't before long until we started spotting bass at all angles of the boat! 

There were bass everywhere ranging from 3 to 15 lb with the majority of them in the 5lb class! It was almost too good to be true, and unfortunately it was... Cast after cast, it was only rejection after rejection. It was almost like looking into a fish tank at the aquarium because all the big fish you dream about catching are right in front of you, but you can't hook them. The excitement of these uncatchable fish soon wore off as I began to blind cast towards shore. Just as hope almost ran out in the heat of the early afternoon, one of my subsurface strips came tight and I pulled out this beatiful hen. 

As time passed,  the Spotted Bass and Smallmouth Bass bite began to turn on. Consistantly we watched nervous water turn to a boil as threadfin shad broken the water's surface to flea the jaws of hungry predatory fish. The speed at which the bass would ambush and smack the baitfish on the surface would send vibratrions into the air that sent ringing in my ears. These hungry fish would practically run the shade out of the water and on to land. The aggressivness of the fish soon turned into some pretty heart stopping takes on the fly.

Spotted Bass Busting on Treadfin Shad

It seemed like the faster you stripped, the better chance you had at triggering a fish to follow and bite - very similar to saltwater fishing. Every time we saw a bass bust on bait, we could cast to it and were almost guaranteed a take. Gorging themselves on shad, each fish we hooked would throw up half digested shad parts as we fought them towards the boat.



Casey's Sex Dungeon Catches Bass Too!

 Bassing really isn't about the size in my opinion, but more about an aggressive take. Granted catching an 8 pound bass doesn't happen too often,  they always make a fishing trip look and sound more exciting - especially if you saw the take. Although there was a big fish on this trip, It was more fun fishing to 3-4 pound spotted bass and smallies busting on shade right on the surface.

They're Heerrreee....

Miles Driven: 150
Gas: $35
 
This past week we finally got some warm weather here in Nor Cal and it has been a while since my last post. I haven't been holding out on you guys, I just haven't been fishing for the past month. As sad as that sounds, there isn't much I can do. Pretty much all of the trout rivers are blown out from all the winter run off, but the drought is officially over for California. All this water will most likely keep me away from any trout water for the next month so I need to find other fish to target.

All work and no fishing makes Jonny a dull boy and this blog was going out of style fast! So you can imagine how big of a relief  it was when good ole Walt gave me a ring last Sunday to go sniff out some American Shad.  It's still pretty early in the season for targeting these anadromous fish that like the warm water temps late Spring brings, but heck - it's fishing and there's only one way to find out when the fishing is good.

Nick from the evenings line-up

I didn't really know what to expect for the evening since it was my first time fishing for shad, so I was a sponge to Walt's experience. On our way up through winding back roads that he insists are faster, Walt gave me the low down on fishing edict and technique on this river. Basically you fish in a line up of 4-14 angler because there aren't many spots on the river where these fish like to hold. Sharing these holes with fly fishermen and spinning gear sounds like a recipe for tangled lines and frustration, but I soon found out that it's quite a pleasant way to fish.

The fly guys use shooting head systems that sink and swing all at the same speed to prevent tangles, and when you fish shoulder to shoulder with complete strangers, you soon find how much you have in common with them. It was good way to share information and make a few friends at the same time.

My last fish of the night

Back to the fishing. Needless to say the fishing turned out to be ON and it was an uplifting feeling to have a bent 7wt and a screaming reel once again. These 2-4 lb fish have more fight in them than one might think and they're not all that easy to land. Their grab on the swing can be a light tap or a violent line pulling rip that can leave you with your jaw dropped. There is no magic to getting these fish to bite, its just finding the school and sinking to the right depth that makes these fish a challenge. When you do get them to bite, their mouths are as thin as a plastic bag so you lose a lot of fish.

Shad are definitely on my radar and the bite should continue to improve as we get more warm weather.  Bassing has also made a blip on the radar this past week so look for the next post coming soon! I promise the fish porn will be worth it...