Author Topic: Where Are You Fishing Now??? (Read 1920 times)

Lawdog · « **on:** July 04, 2004, 10:07:58 AM »

Seeing that it is that time of the year when every lake large enough is full of potential drowning victims(water skiers, jet skiers, hot boaters going nowhere at 100 mph, and just the idiots that sit on the beach and every so often take a dip so they can sun burn better) us poor Bass fishermen have to either fish at night or move somewhere else. I move to the farm ponds. The Bass seem to be bigger and they bite much better as they are not being chased by a bunch of half crazed sun worshipers bent on being a number on a slab at the morgue. So where have you moved to? Tight lines to all. Lawdog

Skipper · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2004, 02:59:43 AM »

If the river would clear up, I'd fish it. It's rained about 20 days in June, and so far, every day in July, so it's pretty muddy.

Bar that, We go to night fishing from the end of May through September. The big advantage is it's cooler plus of course no waterturds at night.

Skipper

1911crazy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2004, 04:08:52 PM »

At one place I fish there are no motors allowed so its row boats only and the other no boats at all. But like skipper said its been rain most of the time here too. Its starting to seem every year the fishing gets tougher here. Maybe its just more of a challange now. Every trip its been zip like nothing there isn't even any baitfish but when there is baitfish I catch bass which only has been a few days. I haven't been out that much either the misses had a bad operation but she is ok now so i'll get out more often. BigBill

Siskiyou · « **Reply #3 on:** July 06, 2004, 06:59:26 PM »

Rain, not here just hot. We sure could use a week or two of rain.

Since school has gotten out the lakes have gone crazy. I have had some luck fishing narrow coves for bass early in the morning. The fish have gone off the points in the main part of the lake. It is to busy out there for me. I head for the ramp before noon.

I know what a jack rabbit feels like out in the sagebrush with a bunch of guys with .22 autoloaders on the main part of the lake. Seems like there are boats coming at me from all directions. There are no rules, just call 911.

Lawdog · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2004, 07:58:01 AM »

Siskiyou,

What lakes are you fishing here in God's country? Lawdog

Siskiyou · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2004, 08:56:21 AM »

Shasta and Oroville on some days. In an effort to keep the crowd down I will not name the others. Even the week day crowds are bad. I am looking forward to the passing of Labor Day so the crowds thin out. I am thinking of getting the old 12 foot Valco out and loading it on top of the 4x4 and heading for a pond that does not offer a good boat launching area. It lacks the comfort of the other boat but it is a good option for small lakes and when the water level drops below the ramps on the larger lakes.

Lawdog · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2004, 09:20:02 AM »

Siskiyou,

We are fishing the same lakes. On top of them I have tried Clear Lake, Lake Sonoma and Spring Lake. Results are the same that is why I switched over to farm ponds. Oh well, only got a few more months before the lakes get empty again. Tight lines to you. Lawdog

1911crazy · « **Reply #7 on:** July 09, 2004, 01:51:38 PM »

There was a post somewhere I read about switching were we fish during the season from lakes/ponds in the early spring to rivers when it gets hot and crowded then back to the lakes and ponds in the fall makes sense right?? We do have some awesome bass fishing rivers here too. BigBill

I try to get out before first light to beat the crowd and I'm out of there at 8am. before they come to fish at around 9am. then its elbow to elbow sometimes. On the larger lakes its the pleasure boaters and forget fishing then. But there are small coves that are hidden and can be hit from shore too. I've seen northern pike in these coves.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #8 on:** July 14, 2004, 07:55:21 AM »

Lawdog:

The last two mornings(Monday-Tuesday) I have been up at 0230 so that I could be on the water before 0600. By 0530 the parking lot is half full at the boat ramp. It is worth getting up early. Otherwise it is a very long walk from the overflow parking area. The mornings are warm and the water temperature is 80 degrees by mid morning. Fishermen have the lake until 1000 :roll: then it gets very busy as the day grows longer.

I am still thinking heading for the small bodies of water with the old Valco.

The worse part has been the waking board boats with there boom boxes. You can hear them from half a mile away. I have a problem with them on a couple of points. The negative effect on boater safety because of the wake action on other boats, and shoreline erosion. It is wearing down the shoreline and filling in the lake.

Lawdog · « **Reply #9 on:** July 14, 2004, 09:37:53 AM »

Siskiyou,

I hear everything you are saying and it is all so true. I am doing a job over by Clear Lake at the moment and the other morning I was on the water before sun-up. At 0715 hrs. I was fishing over by the State Park area, pitching tubes to the holes in the tules, when a hugh pontoon boat comes by loaded with people(more than a dozen). It was towing two hot boats rigged for skiing behind and I could hear their boom box for many minutes before I could ever see the boat. They were within 50 feet of me when they went by and I kept wondering if I could hit that boom box with a 1 oz. bell sinker? :eek: Fishing accident! Lawdog

Siskiyou · « **Reply #10 on:** July 14, 2004, 12:15:20 PM »

Lawdog:

That sinker might work. Last year I was fishing on the Feather River for Salmon. I was in a line of guys who had waded out working a riffle. Normally when a jet boat comes by they slow down because the wake endangers the guys in the line.

On the morning in question the toughest of fishermen came out and joined us. We felt awed, and honored to have him among us. The chap suffered from MS. It is tough for me to walk out there with a five-seven mile per hour current pushing against my legs. Using his cane he made it out to the line and joined us. When a boat would pass by the wake would cause all of us a problem and we would keep an eye on him because it surely created him more discomfort.

Soon a brave jet boater came by us at high speed creating a large wake. We had to hold on to him and we had a wall of water up to our arm pits. :evil: It was clear the operator was not fishing, just running the river.

I found the guys in the line fishing to be an interesting bunch. One crusted guy had the wild look. He was a graying, redheaded fellow who appeared to have seen a lot of life. All he said was that boat will be back.

He went to his pickup and retrieved a second rod. He gave up his place in line and went to a little island down stream from us. He placed the second rod along with his net on the island. Sometime later the "bad" jetboater was observed come down river. He had to slow down in some rough water before he got to us. This gave "old crusty" time to grab his extra pole. On the end of the line was a large round lead sink the size of a small cannon ball. The "bad" guy did his best to drowned everybody but he paid a price. The sound of that sinker hitting the side of the boat was rather loud. He did not come back to complain. I wonder how big of a dent he collected.

Lawdog · « **Reply #11 on:** July 16, 2004, 08:24:06 AM »

Siskiyou,

That place sounds kind of familiar, would be call the Bar down river from Squaw Rock would it? Lawdog

Siskiyou · « **Reply #12 on:** July 16, 2004, 04:19:53 PM »

I doubt it. I am not an expert on the location I was fishing. A friend took me there as a trade-off from fishing off my boat. I do not know the local nicknames along that stretch of river.Unfortunately it is a trashed area. Garbage all over the place. I am sure that it has been left by "bottom feeder" individuals who claim they are fishermen, and great outdoors men.

I used my USGS Topo Map search engine and came up with a Squaw Rock over on the Russian River, located at Lat 38 degrees 54' 45" North, Long 123 degrees 3' 22" W. That is over 100 miles away.

The wife, a granddaughter and I went out scouting small lakes and boat launching this morning. Found one that was a little busy, but the attention getter was how steep it is. I think I will give it a try, but after I engage the 4-wheel drive. It is slightly improved over what it was ten years ago when I was last there. People were not talking fishing. But there was two or three old guys parked there with camptrailers. Looked fishy! I suspect they are there for a reason and it is not sex. They know how to catch fish out of that little hole.

It is a little warm this Friday afternoon. On our return trip we could see a lot of folks headed for the lakes with their boats and house trailers.

Folsom lake is just about shot for the season. They have told six hundred boaters to pull their boats out this weekend or they will be setting in the mud next week. These folks have paid for a full season and will not receive refunds. A friend just returned from Lake Tahoe. They took a pleasure cruise out on the lake. Smoke from the forest fire near Carson City Nevada is spilling into the Lake Tahoe Basin. They have already put a fire team in place at Lake Tahoe in case the fire makes it into the Basin. It will be one hell on an event if the fire spreads into the Basin. Lots on bug kill trees for fuel along with all those movie star homes along the East shore of the lake.

The problem at Folsom will force boater onto other lakes, and if there is a major fire in the Lake Tahoe Basin there will be more pressure on other recreation areas. Hopefully they will get the fire contained. Not much can be done for Folsom at this time except another winter. Folsom is mis-managed to allow for more flood control space for Sacramento. The problem is those folks want cheap flood control and their water at the same time. I have caught some nice bass and hold over trout out of Folsom. It is not worth the drive for me, but it offers a change. Understand there are still a couple of locations one can launch using a 4x4. One for SUV owners.

Bis · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2004, 04:46:18 PM »

Lawdog- Ever try your luck at Blue Lakes?? I use to spend every summer there in my youth (50's and 60's).
Now I just drive my John Deere Gator down to my small lake and pond and have at it. No skiers, jet skies, just peace and quite. Life is wonderful :grin: .

Lawdog · « **Reply #14 on:** July 18, 2004, 07:55:40 AM »

Bis,

Spent many a day fishing and swimming at the Blue Lakes. Good trout fishing in the upper lake and even better Smallmouth Bass fishing in the lower lake although the trout fishing isnt bad either) A friend of mine used to own the Narrows Lodge and my sister still lives in Lake County(K-ville). I still spend many a day visiting her, hunting(great hunting anymore due to hardly anyone hunting the area anymore) and fishing the lakes in the area(Clear Lake, Indian Springs, etc.). Dont know how long its been since you were there but a lot of things have changed there. Lawdog

Bis · « **Reply #15 on:** July 18, 2004, 12:17:32 PM »

Lawdog

My folks and I spent many summers at Carlsons Blue Lake Resort on the Southeast side Upper Blue Lake and as I recall you could see the Narrows Lodge from the Carlsons dock (same side of the lake), at least I think it was called the Narrows. We are talking 40 years here :-) . Sure have a lot of found memories of that place.
We were up in that area in 89 when we stayed at a family friends house on Clear Lake. It was a neat place, on the end of a point sticking out in the lake just North of Lakeport. While everyone was out water skiing I drove off to Blue Lake for some fishing. The place looked about the same except they have moved some old mobile homes in front of the motel where the orchards were, just not the same old place I remembered as a kid. The fishing was still good :grin: .
I was born and raised in S. Ca. but always loved N.Ca. and now I live in Texas, go figure :-) .
After all this reminiscing, I think I will wounder down to my pond and see how the big mouth bass are doing. Have a good day, hope to talk to you later.
Bis

Lawdog · « **Reply #16 on:** July 19, 2004, 08:58:47 AM »

Bis,

You have a great day too. Lawdog

Siskiyou · « **Reply #17 on:** July 23, 2004, 08:30:47 PM »

Lawdog: I tried a small high country lake this week that I was able to trailer my larger boat into. We did not catch a fish nor did we see the few other fishermen catch a fish. This lake is full of rock hazards so I waited until there was light on the lake to launch. Suspect that there is a learning process to be successful on this lake.

There was some fish&game fishery guys who were looking for census information at the landing. I gave them a big zero. The one guy said they had planted some chinooks a few years ago in the lake. I reminded them that was more then five years ago and most likely they spawned out and died. He said they had not planted more since the first planting because of disease at the hatchery.

Mid morning the wind created some problems.

I have been having a problem with my fishfinder freezing up or shuting down on it's own. Went to Huminbirds trouble shooting section and ran a new hot wire directly from the battery. I also re-worked the ground. I wanted to try it again but stayed home. It is Friday, and it is very hot. I'll leave the lakes to the crowds and go out zero-dark-thirty monday morning. I want to sort the problem out before the warranty is up. I am thinking of turning the unit on and then just pull the boat around for a few miles and see if it shuts down.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #18 on:** July 28, 2004, 05:45:41 PM »

As I stated in my earlier post I waited until Monday to go fishing hoping that the weekend rat race was over. I was shocked to find the lake had dropped down over 30 feet since my last visit. In addition there were a lot of vehicles from campers on the boat ramp at 0500. I do not think the water had settled down from the weekend. It was still churning, and had a muddy look to it. As proceeded out from the boat ramp I could see a heavy muddy water look 30 feet out from the shore. I suspect the mud will not settle out of the water for months. I checked the website and found they were dropping the lake at or near one foot a day. The waterline will be below the boat ramp in two to three weeks.

I got in some fishing, normally I can see fish about twenty + feet when I am reeling them in, but on this trip they had to be within three feet of the boat before I could see them.

At about 10 a.m. a number of houseboats and ski boats raced towards the marina. I suspect they wanted to make their rental check in times. The wake-boat folks were having a good time. The surface of the lake was craze with wakes running all directions. One time I was fussing with my gear when I noticed a large wake with a white-cap running at my boat. I did not want to get hit in the side, because of my position I quickly turn my stern to the wake. The wake pushed my boat up, and a bunch of water landed in the splash well. If I had been in old 12-foot Valco I would have been doing some serious bailing.

Normally I catch fish in the 45-70 foot depths when the water tempature reachs 80 degrees. But the story was different on Monday. I believe the water tempature and the very heavy boat traffic caused the fish to go very deep. The fishfinder was finding fish below 100 feet. I caught fish at 90 feet. That is the deepest I have caught a fish in a freshwater lake.

Shasta Lake is very low for this time of year. It appears to be at Mid-October levels. This is reflective on most California lakes, except those S. Cal lakes that are being maintained by N. California water. This is having the unfortunate effect of placing water activity on a smaller surface area. Water quality and water safety are suffering. Within the last week and a half two youngters were kill in a collision of their water craft on Lake Tahoe. For those who do not know the surface elevation of Lake Tahoe is artificial. There is a small dam on the Truckee River outflow. Water flowing down the Truckee River system supplies the Reno Nevada area with water. And that large lake in N. Nevada with the big Cuts.(Pyramid) Just had brain fade and cannot think of the name.

The very dry spring and the long term dought is hitting hard this year. Compound it with a lot of growth and you have a disappointed old guy.

Gun Runner · « **Reply #19 on:** July 28, 2004, 07:32:50 PM »

Tho not a bass fisherman I seem to catch some everytime I go trout fishing. Like siskiyou and lawdog, I try to get on the lake early and off before the idiots get started. 3 1/2 weeks ago spent 4 days at jackson meadows, a lot of shakers, but limited out all 4 days with 3 to 5 lb rainbows and browns. fishing from the dam up towards the inlet on the west side of the lake running 4 colors and a 20 foot leader with a modifiied wedding ring behind my flashers. Gonna go back up next week and ifin its to crowded gonna go to bowman. They cant get their big ski boats and houseboats down the road to it without tearing something up. I got a 14 gregor on a trailor that I can get in and out ifin I take my time. Figger ifin gonna camp for a few days aint in no big hurry. Like you guys will be glad when labor day gets here (it seems to rain in the high sierras that weekend) and everybody goes back to the cities and the kiddie"s have to go back to school. Then I can fish in peace and quiet, and cooler weather.

Gun Runner

Siskiyou · « **Reply #20 on:** July 29, 2004, 10:08:05 AM »

Those blood sucking skeeters up at Jackson Lake have been making those rainbows fat. How are the yellowjackets doing up there? I have enjoyed camping up there, rocking and rolling with the afternoon thunder storms. Where they having any bear problems while you were up there?

Gun Runner · « **Reply #21 on:** July 29, 2004, 07:55:07 PM »

As long as the rainbows get the skeeters afore they get me thats just fine. No bear probs this last trip, but spent most of aug/sept up their last year and the camp host had a icechest sitting out and had one nosing rount my tent. One round from the 41 mag sent him packing. Over at bowman last year had a bear get a icechest I left out ( and I know better), tear up a camp site behind me. Following week same bear challenged a camper, and is now a rug in his cabin. Probably going up next week or the following week for a week or so, but will probably be staying over at bowman.

Gun Runner

Siskiyou · « **Reply #22 on:** July 30, 2004, 10:58:41 AM »

Watch those stumps up there. You might collect some free hardware.

Gun Runner · « **Reply #23 on:** July 30, 2004, 11:35:05 AM »

Some of them are probably mine from years past when I dint have a fish finder and got into the shallow water.

Gun Runner