Flyfishing 101 course.
New dates in June and July - click here for a flyer. This popular introduction to fly fishing course fills up quickly - taught by fly department manager Carlo Bongio, this will get you casting effectively and teach the basics of fly tackle, knots and etymology. Perfect for the new or intermediate fly angler.
Bass/Panfish Warmwater flyfishing clinic
Sessions in July and August - click here for a flyer. Join Carlo Bongio at a private pond in Sonoma for an intermediate to advanced session focusing on the specific techniques for fishing for these dynamic species.
Other Clinics
As of the weekend, only a couple places left for the Kid's Flyfishing Weekend.
Bluewater/San Diego Fishing Seminar/Alan Tani Reel Repair Seminar
Mark your calendar for Saturday, July 16 - it will be a great day for learning about the electrifying fishing down in San Diego (and more about our 5 day trip this September), as well as an opportunity for you to get down and dirty - digging into your conventional fishing reels and learning how to clean and maintain them under the tutelage of reel repair icon Alan Tani - look for updates soon, but make sure you don't miss this day!
California Hunting Licenses, draw tags and bird validations have been available since last month - the new computerized system can be a little confusing, but we've been helping folks untangle their questions. The important date is coming up - the tag applications are due Thursday June 2nd.
These are now transmitted electronically through the DFG Automated License System. If you have not done so, you must bring in proof of Hunter's Safety (either a validated Hunter Safety card or previous Hunting License) in order to apply. If you are joining an existing hunting party, you will also need the ID number for that party. You will need to know exactly which zone you are applying for (or if you plan on applying for preference points). We have DFG Big Game information booklets and a larger scale map of zones at the shop.
Again - the deadline for drawing applications is Thursday, June 2nd.
(Please note - this is for lottery draw deer or other big game tags. If you are hunting in a non-lottery area, you may purchase tags up to the point the zone closes - pending availability of the tags).
Showing posts with label bass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bass. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Austin's Nice Bass
San Rafael Customer Austin checks in with a fine looking bass he caught in a Marin lake - as he puts it, "Looking forward to more this weekend..."
So, what are you doing reading this on a Saturday? Get out and get fishing!
Goofy Weather, and What To Do About It
Well it's May already, but if you put a blind fold on me, spun me around and then took it off, I would have no idea what time of year it was. Is this spring? Is it winter? How about summer?
And if you think we're confused I can assure the fish are too.
It seems like every week we get good weather with any kind of regularity, Boom! we get a cold front. I mean it's just about the middle of May, and the bass spawn isn't even half over in most places, and Clear Lake hasn't even really started at all. In fact if this keeps up I think we will see a lot of females that look like they might explode if they don't drop those growing eggs soon.
The last time this happened was in 2006 and the result was several fish over 20lbs including a foul hooked toad caught at Dixon Lake weighing in at a jaw dropping 25.11lbs.
Right now, the Marin lakes have both pre-spawn, spawning, and spawned out fish so everyone can fish to their strengths and do equally well.
When weather is unsettled, and the fish are following such a wide variety of behaviors, the best strategy is to start your fishing session by searching out shallow water spawning areas and beds that hold fish. Then, try to get them to bite with baits like white jigs with no trailer, white tubes, white lizards, white beavers and white craws. These baits can be either texas rigged with oversized hooks, or fished on a Shakey Head.
If the beds are empty or the fish are not "locked" on their beds I try to tempt the big females with threatening baits that are a size too big for a small male to attack. Baits like Castaic Platinum Bluegill swim baits, giant sized tora tubes, big bulky jig 'n pig combos, and wake baits like the 6" floating BBZ1's from SPRO.
After targeting these shallowest waters. Begin to work your way out to deeper waters starting with the first drop off away from the spawning flats. These areas can hold both pre-spawn females that are staging to spawn and post spawn females trying to recuperate from the spawn before heading out to deep summer time feeding areas.
In these "transition" areas there are very few tactics that will come anywhere near the effectiveness of a 5" or 6" Yamamoto Senko Worm "dead-sticked" through these areas. If brush or grass lines exist in these transition areas then try a Zoom Super Fluke rigged weightless and twitched tight against the brush or grass.
As you continue to work your way out from shore, start looking for structure elements instead of cover -- pay extra attention to rocks, boulders, break lines and main lake points. Target these areas by fan casting with baits like deep diving crank baits, big c-rigged worms and lizards, football head jigs, and the always-effective drop shot.
These tactics should help you to stick fish no matter where they are in the spawn, and no matter what the weather. That said, this type of transitional pattern will also set you up for the beginning of the summer feeding patterns so you can hit the ground running when summer does arrive.
Good Luck!
And if you think we're confused I can assure the fish are too.
It seems like every week we get good weather with any kind of regularity, Boom! we get a cold front. I mean it's just about the middle of May, and the bass spawn isn't even half over in most places, and Clear Lake hasn't even really started at all. In fact if this keeps up I think we will see a lot of females that look like they might explode if they don't drop those growing eggs soon.
The last time this happened was in 2006 and the result was several fish over 20lbs including a foul hooked toad caught at Dixon Lake weighing in at a jaw dropping 25.11lbs.
Right now, the Marin lakes have both pre-spawn, spawning, and spawned out fish so everyone can fish to their strengths and do equally well.
When weather is unsettled, and the fish are following such a wide variety of behaviors, the best strategy is to start your fishing session by searching out shallow water spawning areas and beds that hold fish. Then, try to get them to bite with baits like white jigs with no trailer, white tubes, white lizards, white beavers and white craws. These baits can be either texas rigged with oversized hooks, or fished on a Shakey Head.
If the beds are empty or the fish are not "locked" on their beds I try to tempt the big females with threatening baits that are a size too big for a small male to attack. Baits like Castaic Platinum Bluegill swim baits, giant sized tora tubes, big bulky jig 'n pig combos, and wake baits like the 6" floating BBZ1's from SPRO.
After targeting these shallowest waters. Begin to work your way out to deeper waters starting with the first drop off away from the spawning flats. These areas can hold both pre-spawn females that are staging to spawn and post spawn females trying to recuperate from the spawn before heading out to deep summer time feeding areas.
In these "transition" areas there are very few tactics that will come anywhere near the effectiveness of a 5" or 6" Yamamoto Senko Worm "dead-sticked" through these areas. If brush or grass lines exist in these transition areas then try a Zoom Super Fluke rigged weightless and twitched tight against the brush or grass.
As you continue to work your way out from shore, start looking for structure elements instead of cover -- pay extra attention to rocks, boulders, break lines and main lake points. Target these areas by fan casting with baits like deep diving crank baits, big c-rigged worms and lizards, football head jigs, and the always-effective drop shot.
These tactics should help you to stick fish no matter where they are in the spawn, and no matter what the weather. That said, this type of transitional pattern will also set you up for the beginning of the summer feeding patterns so you can hit the ground running when summer does arrive.
Good Luck!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Waning Days of Summer
It's starting to look like the dog days of summer are winding down, and the fish (in response to shorter days) are begining to enter the summer/fall transition phase of their year. The dominant fish holding in cover like grass, tules, hyacinth, or wood is becoming scarcer as falling water levels leave many areas high and dry. Bass (and most other fish) do need water.
Lakes such as Nicasio, Stafford, and Soulajule have areas of shoreline weeds that hold a lot of bluegill, red-earred, and green sunfish right alongside juvenile bass in the 6-10" range, and bass fry in the 1.5-3" range. They congregate here to stay safe from the bigger bass (2.5lbs-10lbs).
The weed beds are basicly like a cross between a sanctuary and a nursery, with bass fry hanging around the shallow side of the weed bed eating insects and insect larva whilst enjoying relative saftey from predation. On the outer edge (deeper edge) juvenile bass (dinks) in the 3/4lb-2lb use these weed beds as a home base from which to forage and hide from the bigger bass (3-10lbs) which stage raids up from the depths a couple times a day.
When the water levels fall it begins to squeeze these weed beds like a sponge. Lack of safe areas forces all of these smaller fish to play musical chairs in a desperate attempt to secure a safe chunk of the cover for themselves. All this active struggling keys the big bass to leave the depths and patrol back and forth on the outside weed line that is constantly pushing fish out to them. When the smaller fish lose their place in line, they become a larger fish's lunch.
During this period, I have had epic days taking advantage this dramatic struggle with swimjigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, basstrix, super flukes, and shallow crank baits. I select which bait I use based on water clarity, wind, temperature, barometric pressure, and cloud cover (or lack there of).
Two years ago in august I was fishing a strip of soon to be high and dry weedbed with overcast skys and strong but warm wind on the golf course side of Stafford Lake - testing a new spinnerbait design . I noticed a V-wake zip up and down the little weedline so I turned and started throwing the spinnerbait directly into the wind and slow rolled it over the little strip of weedline and - bang - a 5.1oz bass with the tale of a 1/2lb bass sticking out of its throat. The next four casts produced four more fish all in the 4-6lb range until the wind stopped and so did the bite. Because I was testing I did not have much tackle with me so I grabbed a second spinnerbait (the exact same size and color) and cut the arm off of it about an inch above the head and rolled it over so as to create an eye that I could tie to. Other than the blades the bait was identical.
The first cast produced a 4.5 bass. Three more casts? Three more fish! Nothing under 4lbs. Then the wind started up again and I stopped getting bit. I tied on the spinnerbait again and bam, back in action. It went on for about 4 hrs like that and I ended up with my best 5 weighing almost 25lbs! Since Stafford is not known as a big fish lake so I was blown away.
You need to have a different approach for clear lakes like Alpine or Kent. In that type of lake, when the water starts to get really low and the cover is less available, you want to start looking for lay-downs that straddle two depths. In other words, you need to think vertically. My first cast would be to throw senkos or lite jigs.
A little research can be very helpful as well - this is a great time to look at either a topographical map of the lake and the hills around it or a hydrographic map if you can find one. Look for areas where the break line (edge of the old creek channel) swings closer to shore, or where a point reaches out into the creek channel itself .
Bass will still come up shallow and cruise around looking for food and can often times be found sitting in 10" of water right within about a foot from shore at dawn, but for the most part the bulk of fish will remain deep for most of the day. Another thing to remember about this period is that the fish school up. This makes makes it easier to catch them once found, because feeding bass are very compettive - even though they may not like the bait you are throwing when they are alone, they sure aren't going to stand by while some other fish gets it!
The baits to throw during this period are finesse stuff like drop shots, split shot rigs, shaky heads and wacky jig heads. Use Roboworms for these baits primarily but the slim Senko is great too.
These are the rigs that catch numbers of fish especially during daytime hours when the bite is tough. For the better quality fish, you can't beat a 5" watermelon w/black flake Senko rigged with a weighted wacky jig head, a Texas-rigged weightless 6" Senko, and my favorite the 1/2 oz-3/4 oz Jigmonster Chaos football head jig in P.B.J., or hell hound with either a Trixie Beaver, double tail grub, or chigger craw.
If you get a strong prolonged wind that is not significantly cold, expect fish to move up on the rocky banks where they will blast jerk baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 100, or the Rapala x-rap. The Hildenbrandt blade is a "go-to" spinner bait, because it has much smaller blades then most others and performs great in clear water.
We're also heading into the time to rock the SPRO BBZ-1 slow sink trout for a couple bites a day (big bites). Best bet is to pick it up at dawn, dusk, or (my favorite) during heavy wind and make very long casts either across points, or along the breaklines, and then slow roll the bait just above your depth of vision, and every time you pass a potential ambush point rip the rod hard like a jerk bait and then go back to slowrolling. Stay focused! If the fish blasts right when you rip the bait, you need to set the hook hard and manage your line ( if no ambush points exist rip the bait about every 10').
Lakes such as Nicasio, Stafford, and Soulajule have areas of shoreline weeds that hold a lot of bluegill, red-earred, and green sunfish right alongside juvenile bass in the 6-10" range, and bass fry in the 1.5-3" range. They congregate here to stay safe from the bigger bass (2.5lbs-10lbs).
The weed beds are basicly like a cross between a sanctuary and a nursery, with bass fry hanging around the shallow side of the weed bed eating insects and insect larva whilst enjoying relative saftey from predation. On the outer edge (deeper edge) juvenile bass (dinks) in the 3/4lb-2lb use these weed beds as a home base from which to forage and hide from the bigger bass (3-10lbs) which stage raids up from the depths a couple times a day.
When the water levels fall it begins to squeeze these weed beds like a sponge. Lack of safe areas forces all of these smaller fish to play musical chairs in a desperate attempt to secure a safe chunk of the cover for themselves. All this active struggling keys the big bass to leave the depths and patrol back and forth on the outside weed line that is constantly pushing fish out to them. When the smaller fish lose their place in line, they become a larger fish's lunch.
During this period, I have had epic days taking advantage this dramatic struggle with swimjigs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, basstrix, super flukes, and shallow crank baits. I select which bait I use based on water clarity, wind, temperature, barometric pressure, and cloud cover (or lack there of).
Two years ago in august I was fishing a strip of soon to be high and dry weedbed with overcast skys and strong but warm wind on the golf course side of Stafford Lake - testing a new spinnerbait design . I noticed a V-wake zip up and down the little weedline so I turned and started throwing the spinnerbait directly into the wind and slow rolled it over the little strip of weedline and - bang - a 5.1oz bass with the tale of a 1/2lb bass sticking out of its throat. The next four casts produced four more fish all in the 4-6lb range until the wind stopped and so did the bite. Because I was testing I did not have much tackle with me so I grabbed a second spinnerbait (the exact same size and color) and cut the arm off of it about an inch above the head and rolled it over so as to create an eye that I could tie to. Other than the blades the bait was identical.
The first cast produced a 4.5 bass. Three more casts? Three more fish! Nothing under 4lbs. Then the wind started up again and I stopped getting bit. I tied on the spinnerbait again and bam, back in action. It went on for about 4 hrs like that and I ended up with my best 5 weighing almost 25lbs! Since Stafford is not known as a big fish lake so I was blown away.
You need to have a different approach for clear lakes like Alpine or Kent. In that type of lake, when the water starts to get really low and the cover is less available, you want to start looking for lay-downs that straddle two depths. In other words, you need to think vertically. My first cast would be to throw senkos or lite jigs.
A little research can be very helpful as well - this is a great time to look at either a topographical map of the lake and the hills around it or a hydrographic map if you can find one. Look for areas where the break line (edge of the old creek channel) swings closer to shore, or where a point reaches out into the creek channel itself .
Bass will still come up shallow and cruise around looking for food and can often times be found sitting in 10" of water right within about a foot from shore at dawn, but for the most part the bulk of fish will remain deep for most of the day. Another thing to remember about this period is that the fish school up. This makes makes it easier to catch them once found, because feeding bass are very compettive - even though they may not like the bait you are throwing when they are alone, they sure aren't going to stand by while some other fish gets it!
The baits to throw during this period are finesse stuff like drop shots, split shot rigs, shaky heads and wacky jig heads. Use Roboworms for these baits primarily but the slim Senko is great too.
These are the rigs that catch numbers of fish especially during daytime hours when the bite is tough. For the better quality fish, you can't beat a 5" watermelon w/black flake Senko rigged with a weighted wacky jig head, a Texas-rigged weightless 6" Senko, and my favorite the 1/2 oz-3/4 oz Jigmonster Chaos football head jig in P.B.J., or hell hound with either a Trixie Beaver, double tail grub, or chigger craw.
If you get a strong prolonged wind that is not significantly cold, expect fish to move up on the rocky banks where they will blast jerk baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 100, or the Rapala x-rap. The Hildenbrandt blade is a "go-to" spinner bait, because it has much smaller blades then most others and performs great in clear water.
We're also heading into the time to rock the SPRO BBZ-1 slow sink trout for a couple bites a day (big bites). Best bet is to pick it up at dawn, dusk, or (my favorite) during heavy wind and make very long casts either across points, or along the breaklines, and then slow roll the bait just above your depth of vision, and every time you pass a potential ambush point rip the rod hard like a jerk bait and then go back to slowrolling. Stay focused! If the fish blasts right when you rip the bait, you need to set the hook hard and manage your line ( if no ambush points exist rip the bait about every 10').
Monday, August 3, 2009
Nicasio Reservoir - Marin Bass Club Results
On Sunday 7/26 six two-man teams competed for prize money and bragging rights at the 4th Marin County Bass Club Event of the season held on Lake Nicasio.
Of the anglers that showed we had grown men like Joe Hargreaves from jigmonster.com and Western Sport Shop and Randy Kid from the Sonoma County Belly Boat Club. Randy was coming in with the momentum of having just won his last tournament on the California Delta in dominant fashion with a 24lb bag that included a 10.3 lb and a 9.4 lb fish. A number of cagey locals who knew the lake very well showed up too - even one former east coast tournament angler who had won events on Lake Champlain before moving west.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, a couple of "kids" showed up as well; 16 year old Jeff Russell, who has acted as a stand-in whenever I've had to pull out of a team tourney in the past, and 16 year old Eduardo Li of Hi's tackle - another stand-in during the Team tournament season. These two were matched up as a team. We never saw what hit us!
Ok, you're probably laughing already, but these kids beat us - all of us! They posted an 18 pound lead over the second heaviest limit of the day.
Let's just take these facts one at a time -
1 - They clobbered everyone.
2 - Their LEAD was 18 pounts - not their limit.
Not only that - Jeff set a new Marin Bass Club Tournament Record with a single fish of 11lb 3oz. That's a nice fish. Uh... yeah.
For those of you interested, we will be trying a new format at our next event where you will be allowed to fish any publicly accessible lake in Marin County as long as you are back for the weigh in on time. Also, our next tournament will be ope to everyone - so even if you are not a member of the Marin County Bass Club, you'll get to join in the fun.
And here are some photos of the fun:
Click on through to see more photos.
Of the anglers that showed we had grown men like Joe Hargreaves from jigmonster.com and Western Sport Shop and Randy Kid from the Sonoma County Belly Boat Club. Randy was coming in with the momentum of having just won his last tournament on the California Delta in dominant fashion with a 24lb bag that included a 10.3 lb and a 9.4 lb fish. A number of cagey locals who knew the lake very well showed up too - even one former east coast tournament angler who had won events on Lake Champlain before moving west.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, a couple of "kids" showed up as well; 16 year old Jeff Russell, who has acted as a stand-in whenever I've had to pull out of a team tourney in the past, and 16 year old Eduardo Li of Hi's tackle - another stand-in during the Team tournament season. These two were matched up as a team. We never saw what hit us!
Ok, you're probably laughing already, but these kids beat us - all of us! They posted an 18 pound lead over the second heaviest limit of the day.
Let's just take these facts one at a time -
1 - They clobbered everyone.
2 - Their LEAD was 18 pounts - not their limit.
Not only that - Jeff set a new Marin Bass Club Tournament Record with a single fish of 11lb 3oz. That's a nice fish. Uh... yeah.
For those of you interested, we will be trying a new format at our next event where you will be allowed to fish any publicly accessible lake in Marin County as long as you are back for the weigh in on time. Also, our next tournament will be ope to everyone - so even if you are not a member of the Marin County Bass Club, you'll get to join in the fun.
And here are some photos of the fun:
Click on through to see more photos.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Dog Days of Summer...?
So much for that!
If the bites we have going this month are the dog days, then I want a dog house and a big bone to chew on because I have never seen so many crazy bites happening all at once.
July tides have kicked off an epic halibut bite at Point Bonita with anglers reporting fast limits of jumbo flatties up to 45 lbs on live bait, frozen jumbo herring, and jigs. Even with heavy fishing pressure these fish just won't give up.
HALIBUT TECHNIQUES:
I have heard reports of guys throwing live jack smelt from 8 to 10 inches long ( the smelt can be caught on a sz 14 Sabiki rig) and live sardines (which also can be caught using the same Sabiki rig) 6 to 8 inches long with a slip sinker and a 50lb mono leader (about 3-4 ft long) as close to the back of the surf as safely possible and sticking flatties up to 30lbs (and stripers up to 25lbs!) The smaller boat folks who have stayed in the bay are also clobbering the flatties in places like Crissy Field, Angel Island, and Alcatraz. Inside the bay, catch reports are running up to 35lbs with good numbers of fish in the 20lb class. Top technique is drifting live bait, the bigger the better.
Last week local striper guru Tommy Glasser fished with one of our tackle guys here at the San Rafael Shop, Sean Daugherty. They reported fast afternoon action at Bonita and on the North Bar, but found a honey hole at Angel Island when they made a quick stop on their way home with a big concentration of "cookie cutter" 20lb flatties.
Several former commercial fishermen in Bolinas report that they have been able to catch a three fish limit of flatties in less than an hour at dozens of spots from Stinson Beach to Point Reyes and just beyond. These guys use use big frozen herring and live bait when they can catch it but they're doing just as well on jigs and plastics coated with either Pro-cure "'but juice" or Pro-cure sardine oil. They are enjoying a whole lot of water to themselves so if you find yourself starting to get crowded in at point bonita or at the beaches, head north.
Also while Tomales Bay can only handle so many boats before it gets hammered down, the flatties are kicking butt there as well. WSS G.M. Tom Nelson's son Wes Nelson is an expert on Tomales and he and his dad along with "Frank the Tomales Guru" have been catching limits of halibut in the 15-20lb class on almost every trip.
As great as the live bait/frozen bait drift fishing is. The striped bass surf bite is the best I have ever seen. Six or seven big schools of BIG stripers are haunting the coast line from Monterey to Pt. Reyes with Ocean Beach and Half Moon Bay being the epicenter of an incredible natural event.
Picture this - massive schools of sardines in the 5-8 inch size are being pushed up against the beaches and surf by huge stripers, huge halibut that are acting like stripers and chasing bait, a sprinkling of giant white sea bass (up to 52lbs), body surfing sea lions, and get this, DOLPHINS! Well...actually they are porpises, but none the less they are less than 30' from shore!
Even if you don't fish you have to see this, it's like watching a live performance of "Planet Earth"!
The good news is that they are all eating sardines and not stripers and halibut, but the bad news is that the white sea bass are not biting and appear to be just kind of hanging around (maybe preparing to spawn?)
The best bets for gear are Pencil Poppers in chrome with a blue back or white with a red head, silver or silver/blue kastmasters in the 2-4 oz range, hevier Hopkins spoons (~3 oz) in hammered chrome, SPRO hair jigs (2-3 oz sizes) in all white or white with either a black, blue, or green back. My absolute favorite would have to be an 8" Cheasapeake Bay Pencil Popper in pink/white, black scale, and yellow bunker unless it's really windy, in which case I like the River2Sea Dumbbell POP200 in deep blue.
If that is still not enough for you, Albacore in the 25-30lb class are on the bite with reports of fish anywhere from 38 miles out of Sausalito to 15 miles off Fort Bragg and Monterey. Best tactics have been to find albacore with surface trolled unpainted Cedar Plugs (various sizes) and and Tuna Clones in "Mexican Flag." Once you locate the schools, you can then bring them up with live bait, and it's on.
Most boats report that once they bring the fish up it's not just fast action, but the fish are blasting jigs, swimbaits, plastics, and even flies like 6" deceivers or clousers in white/chartreuse, white/green, or white/blue.
But what I think is the coolest thing going on right now, is the appearance of thresher sharks. The same water that brought in the tuna and larger schools of sardines, has also brought us hundreds of threshers. I have heard several reports of large thresher sharks just kind of cruising under the surfcace with their long sickle like tail jutting up into the air, whipping from side to side as they swim by.
These sharks are so prolific at the moment (and again I have lived here my whole life and have only seen two) that some guys have begun to target them. The usual man to thresher shark encounter in this area involves a salmon fisherman trolling big sardine baits and hooking into a juvenile that quickly breaks the line, not by strengh, but by slicing up the line with their big long tail. They use this tail to rip through schools of bait, doing damage to whatever is in front of them with a similar posture to a scorpion, then returning and eating whichever bait fish were stunned or injunred by the whipping tail - not unlike king salmon who use the same basic attck, but use their open toothy mouths.
Some thresher sharks have been landed but this is rare and they are typicaly quite small. Anglers who are targeting them now have found that the best way to get one of these critters is by trolling a big marlin or wahoo type plug or Magnum Rapala on a 5'-8' wire leader made of 90lb sevenstrand on the same kind of high capacity trolling outfit you would use when searching for albacore.
So far, the biggest landed in the bay was 35lbs and it took a jumbo trolled herring just off Alcatraz. The same boat reported losing one that they believed to be over 100lbs just off Yellow Bluff that same day. In the ocean, I know of one fish over 80lbs taken on a Magnum Rapala near Duxbury Reef and another that was released after being measured against the boat. That fish is the largest reported so far, having a body of about 8ft for a total of 14 ft with its tail. These amazing sharks are often described as the best eating of all sharks.
(ed note - fishing for sharks has obvious inherent dangers, both in the catch and handling of these fish. We recommend you fish with an experienced angler or research the topic thoroughly before attempting this.)
If all of this stuff is to intense and you want to take it easy, try fishing with Berkely Gulp Sand Sorms, 2-3 inch Curly Tail Grubs in smoke, rootbeer, motor oil, white, or chartreuse, or simply soak live sand crabs at Stinson Beach for big redtail perch and barred surf perch. Some of these have run so big that they have been caught on 8" striper plugs.
Freshwater fishing is not quite as hot as salt but there are fish to be caught.
Bon Tempe will kick out trout on Power Bait and Power Nuggets or pink Berkley Gulp Worms. The effective tactics have changed since spring, of course - you need to tie leaders that are 3-4 ft long and use a 3/4oz eggsinker so as to get the bait out as far and deep as possible. Try to fish the steepest banks you can find or near the outflow pump when it is activated and pumping water up from Alpine Lake.
Smallmouth Bass are also there but you have to work for them. For best results, target steep shorelines at dawn with topwater baits like the Ima Skimmer or jerk baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in Ghost Minnow. Once the sun is up you either drop shot 4.5" finesse worms, or you fish a 1/2-3/4 oz Jig Monster Chaos football head jig with a double tail grub trailer slowly on deep water points. Best colors are green pumpkin watermelon, P.B.J., bludgeon, hell hound, and cold water craw.
You can take the same approach to Alpine Lake for smallies and largemouth, but also try throwing 5-6 inch senkos rigged wacky in watermelon w/black flake, or green pumpkin w/black flake. Kent Lake can be fished in this same manor as well but the bite should be a whole lot better. At Kent, add swimbaits and crank baits to your arsenal. Look for wood cover that is still submerged especialy if it spans across shallow and deep water.
With all three lakes it pays to keep moving. The harder you have to work to get to the good spots the better those spots will be. While you will find that once the sun is on the water the reaction bite (i.e. - topwater, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and swimbaits) will mostly shut down, and the majority of bites will come on jigs and plastics, there is an exception: wind.
When the afternoon wind gets going and it lasts for more than a few minutes than no matter how much direct sunlight hits the water, the surface chop makes it impossible for birds to hunt fish and the bass go on the bite with confidence. best baits for afternoon wind are spinnerbaits, either 3/8 or 1/2 oz with tandem blades, or double willow blades like the Hildenbrandt blade series or Persuader. Whites or white chartreuse or good but the Hildenbrandt in bluegill, or alewife are even better. Nicasio is pretty tough (and low) right now but after the Marin Bass Club Derby there on Sunday there will be a full report.
Names of Note: I wanted to give some credit here to Jeff Russell who is fishing a junior pro tournament this week, we wish him good luck. Jigmonster pro Chris "Flipper" Franks garnered some serious ink with a big article in the Marin Independant Journal about himself and his pro bass career.
Marin IJ Photo
Finally, a huge thanks and vote of respect goes out to the park rangers who acted when I complained to them about poaching and other abuses reported and encountered at Lake Nicasio - they followed through by reporting to the Marin County Sheriff and vigorously enforcing the law and regulations, ensuring a fair and quality fishing experience for those who follow the rules. Thanks a lot guys! I am proud have such standup rangers out here, we are lucky we have you.
If the bites we have going this month are the dog days, then I want a dog house and a big bone to chew on because I have never seen so many crazy bites happening all at once.
July tides have kicked off an epic halibut bite at Point Bonita with anglers reporting fast limits of jumbo flatties up to 45 lbs on live bait, frozen jumbo herring, and jigs. Even with heavy fishing pressure these fish just won't give up.
HALIBUT TECHNIQUES:
I have heard reports of guys throwing live jack smelt from 8 to 10 inches long ( the smelt can be caught on a sz 14 Sabiki rig) and live sardines (which also can be caught using the same Sabiki rig) 6 to 8 inches long with a slip sinker and a 50lb mono leader (about 3-4 ft long) as close to the back of the surf as safely possible and sticking flatties up to 30lbs (and stripers up to 25lbs!) The smaller boat folks who have stayed in the bay are also clobbering the flatties in places like Crissy Field, Angel Island, and Alcatraz. Inside the bay, catch reports are running up to 35lbs with good numbers of fish in the 20lb class. Top technique is drifting live bait, the bigger the better.
Last week local striper guru Tommy Glasser fished with one of our tackle guys here at the San Rafael Shop, Sean Daugherty. They reported fast afternoon action at Bonita and on the North Bar, but found a honey hole at Angel Island when they made a quick stop on their way home with a big concentration of "cookie cutter" 20lb flatties.
Several former commercial fishermen in Bolinas report that they have been able to catch a three fish limit of flatties in less than an hour at dozens of spots from Stinson Beach to Point Reyes and just beyond. These guys use use big frozen herring and live bait when they can catch it but they're doing just as well on jigs and plastics coated with either Pro-cure "'but juice" or Pro-cure sardine oil. They are enjoying a whole lot of water to themselves so if you find yourself starting to get crowded in at point bonita or at the beaches, head north.
Also while Tomales Bay can only handle so many boats before it gets hammered down, the flatties are kicking butt there as well. WSS G.M. Tom Nelson's son Wes Nelson is an expert on Tomales and he and his dad along with "Frank the Tomales Guru" have been catching limits of halibut in the 15-20lb class on almost every trip.
As great as the live bait/frozen bait drift fishing is. The striped bass surf bite is the best I have ever seen. Six or seven big schools of BIG stripers are haunting the coast line from Monterey to Pt. Reyes with Ocean Beach and Half Moon Bay being the epicenter of an incredible natural event.
Picture this - massive schools of sardines in the 5-8 inch size are being pushed up against the beaches and surf by huge stripers, huge halibut that are acting like stripers and chasing bait, a sprinkling of giant white sea bass (up to 52lbs), body surfing sea lions, and get this, DOLPHINS! Well...actually they are porpises, but none the less they are less than 30' from shore!
Even if you don't fish you have to see this, it's like watching a live performance of "Planet Earth"!
The good news is that they are all eating sardines and not stripers and halibut, but the bad news is that the white sea bass are not biting and appear to be just kind of hanging around (maybe preparing to spawn?)
The best bets for gear are Pencil Poppers in chrome with a blue back or white with a red head, silver or silver/blue kastmasters in the 2-4 oz range, hevier Hopkins spoons (~3 oz) in hammered chrome, SPRO hair jigs (2-3 oz sizes) in all white or white with either a black, blue, or green back. My absolute favorite would have to be an 8" Cheasapeake Bay Pencil Popper in pink/white, black scale, and yellow bunker unless it's really windy, in which case I like the River2Sea Dumbbell POP200 in deep blue.
If that is still not enough for you, Albacore in the 25-30lb class are on the bite with reports of fish anywhere from 38 miles out of Sausalito to 15 miles off Fort Bragg and Monterey. Best tactics have been to find albacore with surface trolled unpainted Cedar Plugs (various sizes) and and Tuna Clones in "Mexican Flag." Once you locate the schools, you can then bring them up with live bait, and it's on.
Most boats report that once they bring the fish up it's not just fast action, but the fish are blasting jigs, swimbaits, plastics, and even flies like 6" deceivers or clousers in white/chartreuse, white/green, or white/blue.
But what I think is the coolest thing going on right now, is the appearance of thresher sharks. The same water that brought in the tuna and larger schools of sardines, has also brought us hundreds of threshers. I have heard several reports of large thresher sharks just kind of cruising under the surfcace with their long sickle like tail jutting up into the air, whipping from side to side as they swim by.
These sharks are so prolific at the moment (and again I have lived here my whole life and have only seen two) that some guys have begun to target them. The usual man to thresher shark encounter in this area involves a salmon fisherman trolling big sardine baits and hooking into a juvenile that quickly breaks the line, not by strengh, but by slicing up the line with their big long tail. They use this tail to rip through schools of bait, doing damage to whatever is in front of them with a similar posture to a scorpion, then returning and eating whichever bait fish were stunned or injunred by the whipping tail - not unlike king salmon who use the same basic attck, but use their open toothy mouths.
Some thresher sharks have been landed but this is rare and they are typicaly quite small. Anglers who are targeting them now have found that the best way to get one of these critters is by trolling a big marlin or wahoo type plug or Magnum Rapala on a 5'-8' wire leader made of 90lb sevenstrand on the same kind of high capacity trolling outfit you would use when searching for albacore.
So far, the biggest landed in the bay was 35lbs and it took a jumbo trolled herring just off Alcatraz. The same boat reported losing one that they believed to be over 100lbs just off Yellow Bluff that same day. In the ocean, I know of one fish over 80lbs taken on a Magnum Rapala near Duxbury Reef and another that was released after being measured against the boat. That fish is the largest reported so far, having a body of about 8ft for a total of 14 ft with its tail. These amazing sharks are often described as the best eating of all sharks.
(ed note - fishing for sharks has obvious inherent dangers, both in the catch and handling of these fish. We recommend you fish with an experienced angler or research the topic thoroughly before attempting this.)
If all of this stuff is to intense and you want to take it easy, try fishing with Berkely Gulp Sand Sorms, 2-3 inch Curly Tail Grubs in smoke, rootbeer, motor oil, white, or chartreuse, or simply soak live sand crabs at Stinson Beach for big redtail perch and barred surf perch. Some of these have run so big that they have been caught on 8" striper plugs.
Freshwater fishing is not quite as hot as salt but there are fish to be caught.
Bon Tempe will kick out trout on Power Bait and Power Nuggets or pink Berkley Gulp Worms. The effective tactics have changed since spring, of course - you need to tie leaders that are 3-4 ft long and use a 3/4oz eggsinker so as to get the bait out as far and deep as possible. Try to fish the steepest banks you can find or near the outflow pump when it is activated and pumping water up from Alpine Lake.
Smallmouth Bass are also there but you have to work for them. For best results, target steep shorelines at dawn with topwater baits like the Ima Skimmer or jerk baits like the Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in Ghost Minnow. Once the sun is up you either drop shot 4.5" finesse worms, or you fish a 1/2-3/4 oz Jig Monster Chaos football head jig with a double tail grub trailer slowly on deep water points. Best colors are green pumpkin watermelon, P.B.J., bludgeon, hell hound, and cold water craw.
You can take the same approach to Alpine Lake for smallies and largemouth, but also try throwing 5-6 inch senkos rigged wacky in watermelon w/black flake, or green pumpkin w/black flake. Kent Lake can be fished in this same manor as well but the bite should be a whole lot better. At Kent, add swimbaits and crank baits to your arsenal. Look for wood cover that is still submerged especialy if it spans across shallow and deep water.
With all three lakes it pays to keep moving. The harder you have to work to get to the good spots the better those spots will be. While you will find that once the sun is on the water the reaction bite (i.e. - topwater, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and swimbaits) will mostly shut down, and the majority of bites will come on jigs and plastics, there is an exception: wind.
When the afternoon wind gets going and it lasts for more than a few minutes than no matter how much direct sunlight hits the water, the surface chop makes it impossible for birds to hunt fish and the bass go on the bite with confidence. best baits for afternoon wind are spinnerbaits, either 3/8 or 1/2 oz with tandem blades, or double willow blades like the Hildenbrandt blade series or Persuader. Whites or white chartreuse or good but the Hildenbrandt in bluegill, or alewife are even better. Nicasio is pretty tough (and low) right now but after the Marin Bass Club Derby there on Sunday there will be a full report.
Names of Note: I wanted to give some credit here to Jeff Russell who is fishing a junior pro tournament this week, we wish him good luck. Jigmonster pro Chris "Flipper" Franks garnered some serious ink with a big article in the Marin Independant Journal about himself and his pro bass career.
Marin IJ Photo
Finally, a huge thanks and vote of respect goes out to the park rangers who acted when I complained to them about poaching and other abuses reported and encountered at Lake Nicasio - they followed through by reporting to the Marin County Sheriff and vigorously enforcing the law and regulations, ensuring a fair and quality fishing experience for those who follow the rules. Thanks a lot guys! I am proud have such standup rangers out here, we are lucky we have you.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Spring Fishing Bonanza!
Bay And Ocean Report
Surf striper action has begun with a bang, as several large schools of big stripers are working their way up the coast starting in Monterey where surf casters report hot action during the low light hours on big surface poppers like the 7" Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper in white with a red head, or 8" Chesapeak Bay Custom Poppers in pink bait fish and black back bait fish. When the sun is out, it's time to break out the iron - 3 to 4oz Kastmasters, Micky Jigs, and Sumo . These fish are on the move too, as reports are beginning to come in to Pacifica and Ocean Beach as well. Also several surf casters are reporting to their amazement that white sea bass are appaerently schooling up with the bass or at least near them and several have been landed.
Striper fishing in the bay has been a different story, with reports of sporadic "hit or miss" fishing from Sausalito to Buck's Landing, but Red Rock has been a bright spot fishing well on the north and south side depending on the tide. Hair raisers, Swimbaits, Rat-L-Traps, Yozuri Crystal Minnows, and Lucky Craft Pointer 128s in Auorora Black or American Shad.
Live bait is still unavailable, but trollers are doing very well for Halibut along South Hampton Shoal, Berkley Flats, Outer Richmond Harbor and off Paradise Park. Best bets are either herring behind a dodger, or herring in a rotary salmon killer rigged to a rotary flasher. If you want to catch jacksmelt on a sabiki rig, or buy shiners, you can drift the Marin Islands and the main bay the same way you drift anchoveys. Another method is the "power drift" (moving the boat just fast enough to make your line enter the water diagonaly) with a hootchie rig over frozen anchoveys or plastic worm tails.
Freshwater Report
One month since the state ban on stocking trout in Bon Tempe was lifted, the lake has been stocked twice and anglers are reporting limits on Power Bait, 1/4oz Kastmasters , and 1/4oz Panther Martin spinners. Bon tempe has yet to produce a big trout eating bass for the guys who throw big trout swimbaits like the Storm BBZ-1 or Hud, but now that the trout are back it's only a matter of time.
Stafford Lake is producing bass in the 3/4 to 2lb range on Senkos, drop-shotted worms, and down sized spinnerbaits, but some of the regulars are getting better quality fish with frogs, flipping jigs, swim jiga, big cranks, big c-rigs and swim baits.
Look for an improving bite on early morning top water as well as an improving bite on windy afternoon spinnerbait, and swim jig fishing aswell.
Kent Lake is still fishing great and the top baits are 6" Senkos, Football head jigs, and Swim jigs. Look for an improving early morning bite on big walking baits and wake baits.
Lake Berryessa is still a play ground for guys who want numbers of bass and a shot for a big one on top. Best baits are the drop shott, the football head jig, the Zara Super Spook, and the 6" Hud.
Last but not least, a quick congratulations for Jeffrey Russel who won a very stingy derby at the Marin County Bass Club Tournament held at Stafford Lake last month. And also to Chris "Flipper" Franks for sticking a monster bass on Lake Berryessa during his last tourney there.
FREE Topwater Techniques and Jig Fishing Clinics -
June 17th and 18th
If you want to reliably catch largemouth bass, you need to be on top of your techniques. It's surprising to meet so many anglers who have great results when their main (or only) technique is producing, but suddenly start catching zip when conditions and seasons change. Of course, one of the things I love to do is share these other ways of fishing with anglers who want to learn. My goal is to have you catching quality fish year round.
Two of the most needed skills you need right now are Effectively Fishing Topwater Baits and Jig Fishing.
On Wednesday, June 17th I will be giving a free Topwater clinic at the Western Sport Shop in San Rafael. The clinic will start at 6:30 and go about an hour.
(Map to location shown below)
View Larger Map
On Thusday June 18th I will be giving a free clinic on jig fishing at Santa Rosa store starting at 6:00pm .
(Map to location shown below)
View Larger Map
Both clinics are free and open to the public. Please try to attend one or the other and your results will benefit!
Surf striper action has begun with a bang, as several large schools of big stripers are working their way up the coast starting in Monterey where surf casters report hot action during the low light hours on big surface poppers like the 7" Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper in white with a red head, or 8" Chesapeak Bay Custom Poppers in pink bait fish and black back bait fish. When the sun is out, it's time to break out the iron - 3 to 4oz Kastmasters, Micky Jigs, and Sumo . These fish are on the move too, as reports are beginning to come in to Pacifica and Ocean Beach as well. Also several surf casters are reporting to their amazement that white sea bass are appaerently schooling up with the bass or at least near them and several have been landed.
Striper fishing in the bay has been a different story, with reports of sporadic "hit or miss" fishing from Sausalito to Buck's Landing, but Red Rock has been a bright spot fishing well on the north and south side depending on the tide. Hair raisers, Swimbaits, Rat-L-Traps, Yozuri Crystal Minnows, and Lucky Craft Pointer 128s in Auorora Black or American Shad.
Live bait is still unavailable, but trollers are doing very well for Halibut along South Hampton Shoal, Berkley Flats, Outer Richmond Harbor and off Paradise Park. Best bets are either herring behind a dodger, or herring in a rotary salmon killer rigged to a rotary flasher. If you want to catch jacksmelt on a sabiki rig, or buy shiners, you can drift the Marin Islands and the main bay the same way you drift anchoveys. Another method is the "power drift" (moving the boat just fast enough to make your line enter the water diagonaly) with a hootchie rig over frozen anchoveys or plastic worm tails.
Freshwater Report
One month since the state ban on stocking trout in Bon Tempe was lifted, the lake has been stocked twice and anglers are reporting limits on Power Bait, 1/4oz Kastmasters , and 1/4oz Panther Martin spinners. Bon tempe has yet to produce a big trout eating bass for the guys who throw big trout swimbaits like the Storm BBZ-1 or Hud, but now that the trout are back it's only a matter of time.
Stafford Lake is producing bass in the 3/4 to 2lb range on Senkos, drop-shotted worms, and down sized spinnerbaits, but some of the regulars are getting better quality fish with frogs, flipping jigs, swim jiga, big cranks, big c-rigs and swim baits.
Look for an improving bite on early morning top water as well as an improving bite on windy afternoon spinnerbait, and swim jig fishing aswell.
Kent Lake is still fishing great and the top baits are 6" Senkos, Football head jigs, and Swim jigs. Look for an improving early morning bite on big walking baits and wake baits.
Lake Berryessa is still a play ground for guys who want numbers of bass and a shot for a big one on top. Best baits are the drop shott, the football head jig, the Zara Super Spook, and the 6" Hud.
Last but not least, a quick congratulations for Jeffrey Russel who won a very stingy derby at the Marin County Bass Club Tournament held at Stafford Lake last month. And also to Chris "Flipper" Franks for sticking a monster bass on Lake Berryessa during his last tourney there.
FREE Topwater Techniques and Jig Fishing Clinics -
June 17th and 18th
If you want to reliably catch largemouth bass, you need to be on top of your techniques. It's surprising to meet so many anglers who have great results when their main (or only) technique is producing, but suddenly start catching zip when conditions and seasons change. Of course, one of the things I love to do is share these other ways of fishing with anglers who want to learn. My goal is to have you catching quality fish year round.
Two of the most needed skills you need right now are Effectively Fishing Topwater Baits and Jig Fishing.
On Wednesday, June 17th I will be giving a free Topwater clinic at the Western Sport Shop in San Rafael. The clinic will start at 6:30 and go about an hour.
(Map to location shown below)
View Larger Map
On Thusday June 18th I will be giving a free clinic on jig fishing at Santa Rosa store starting at 6:00pm .
(Map to location shown below)
View Larger Map
Both clinics are free and open to the public. Please try to attend one or the other and your results will benefit!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Recent Reports
Just a quick report to wrap up the fishing for the past week.
Sturgeon fishing and largemouth bass fishing are top draws right now.
Looks like sturgeon fishing has blown wide open in upper San Pablo Bay, with reports of oversize fish and keepers being caught on ghost shrimp in in and around places like Round Mountain, Black Point and the mouths of both Sonoma Creek and Petaluma Creek. Also, there are reports of fish in the 60-70lb range being caught off China Camp, and Paradise cove. This may begin to taper now that the tides are leveling a bit. (And to get a good idea of tidal ranges in the Bay and ocean, we rely on the Tidelog, which shows an excellent graphic representation of tides, plus gives a good place for notes, etc.)
Bass fishing is still hot with combinations of pre-spawn, post-spawn and spawning fish swarming the shallows in places like Kent Lake, Phoenix lake, Alpine lake and Bon Tempe. Best bets are 3/8 oz flipping jigs in white or yellow jacket with either White Trixie or Green Pumpkin Chigger Craws for those bedding fish, and small swimbaits in bluegill patterns, drop shots, and Senkos for the post-spawners.
Also, look for the topwater bite to blow wide open any day now so long as the weather stays warm and warming. Best bets wil be Zara Spooks, Swayback Spooks and Super Spooks, and Lucky Craft Gunfish in Ghost minnow or other translucent natural bait colors and wake baits like the bbz-1 floater or any shallow running cranks fished just under the surface.
I want to take a moment to congratulate Andy Mercado and Chris Lapointe for their victory at the Marin County Bass Club derby hosted on Lake Alpine. And I would also like to congratulate Jigmonster pro staffer Chris "Flipper" Franks and his partner Aaron Anfinson who won the semi-pro side of the Anglers' Choice Pro Team Series on Lake Berryessa. That would be enough for most anglers, but they also second on the pro side, beating a field of big name talent - missing first place by less than one tenth of a pound! These stellar results were a direct result of them putting on a clinic with the Jigmonster Savage Swim Jig (arriving this week at the shop!) Good job guys.
Sturgeon fishing and largemouth bass fishing are top draws right now.
Looks like sturgeon fishing has blown wide open in upper San Pablo Bay, with reports of oversize fish and keepers being caught on ghost shrimp in in and around places like Round Mountain, Black Point and the mouths of both Sonoma Creek and Petaluma Creek. Also, there are reports of fish in the 60-70lb range being caught off China Camp, and Paradise cove. This may begin to taper now that the tides are leveling a bit. (And to get a good idea of tidal ranges in the Bay and ocean, we rely on the Tidelog, which shows an excellent graphic representation of tides, plus gives a good place for notes, etc.)
Bass fishing is still hot with combinations of pre-spawn, post-spawn and spawning fish swarming the shallows in places like Kent Lake, Phoenix lake, Alpine lake and Bon Tempe. Best bets are 3/8 oz flipping jigs in white or yellow jacket with either White Trixie or Green Pumpkin Chigger Craws for those bedding fish, and small swimbaits in bluegill patterns, drop shots, and Senkos for the post-spawners.
Also, look for the topwater bite to blow wide open any day now so long as the weather stays warm and warming. Best bets wil be Zara Spooks, Swayback Spooks and Super Spooks, and Lucky Craft Gunfish in Ghost minnow or other translucent natural bait colors and wake baits like the bbz-1 floater or any shallow running cranks fished just under the surface.
I want to take a moment to congratulate Andy Mercado and Chris Lapointe for their victory at the Marin County Bass Club derby hosted on Lake Alpine. And I would also like to congratulate Jigmonster pro staffer Chris "Flipper" Franks and his partner Aaron Anfinson who won the semi-pro side of the Anglers' Choice Pro Team Series on Lake Berryessa. That would be enough for most anglers, but they also second on the pro side, beating a field of big name talent - missing first place by less than one tenth of a pound! These stellar results were a direct result of them putting on a clinic with the Jigmonster Savage Swim Jig (arriving this week at the shop!) Good job guys.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Fishing Update
Well, we're about two months into the spring bass bite, and even though things like cold fronts, emerging plant growth, and fishing pressure require us to shift tactics, The bite is still hot.
Look for bass to become more and more skittish due to how close they are to actually spawning. The key to targeting these fish is to use lite line (6-8lb test) and throw small plastics like finesse worms, tubes, beavers, lizards and Senkos either weightless, near weightless, or on a drop shot rig.
Now is the time you need to stalk the bank (and beds) like a hunter keeping both your shadow aswell as your thud thud thud foot steps from the bass' awareness.
If that sounds like Fishing Ninja - Part 5: The Stalking or if you want to leave the fish alone when they are spawning, just remember that these fish spawn in waves based loosely around the full moons of march, april, and may. This time of the year offers you the choice of prespawn, spawn, and post spawn fishing
On another note the first waves of post spawn smallmouth bass are entering their regular summer feeding routines so they can be targeted at both Bon Tempe and lake Alpine using reaction baits like SpeedTraps, Lucky Craft Pointers, and topwater Hula Poppers or Chuggers
For those of you who are ready for a change of pace the striper bite is heating up like I have not seen in quite a while with baits like Rat-L-Traps, Yozuri Crystal Minnows, Swimbaits (new Storm Swimbaits have finally arrived!), and Hair Raisers (leadhead bucktail dressed jigs).
With willing stripers spread from Richardson Bay to Elephant rock, and more at Paradise Park, Mcnear's Pier China Camp and behind Home Depot just to name a few. You can even get some top water fishing on Zara Spooks and Pencil Poppers (if you have a healthy heart) at dusk and dawn in places like Corte Madera Creek and Mcnear's beach
Oh, and before I forget , yes they are getting limits of legal size halibut trolling San Pablo bay with traditional salmon trolling gear with a few small modifications ie speed, weight etc. It's just a quick bit of re-rigging, and we'd be happy to run you through it down at the shop.
Look for bass to become more and more skittish due to how close they are to actually spawning. The key to targeting these fish is to use lite line (6-8lb test) and throw small plastics like finesse worms, tubes, beavers, lizards and Senkos either weightless, near weightless, or on a drop shot rig.
Now is the time you need to stalk the bank (and beds) like a hunter keeping both your shadow aswell as your thud thud thud foot steps from the bass' awareness.
If that sounds like Fishing Ninja - Part 5: The Stalking or if you want to leave the fish alone when they are spawning, just remember that these fish spawn in waves based loosely around the full moons of march, april, and may. This time of the year offers you the choice of prespawn, spawn, and post spawn fishing
On another note the first waves of post spawn smallmouth bass are entering their regular summer feeding routines so they can be targeted at both Bon Tempe and lake Alpine using reaction baits like SpeedTraps, Lucky Craft Pointers, and topwater Hula Poppers or Chuggers
For those of you who are ready for a change of pace the striper bite is heating up like I have not seen in quite a while with baits like Rat-L-Traps, Yozuri Crystal Minnows, Swimbaits (new Storm Swimbaits have finally arrived!), and Hair Raisers (leadhead bucktail dressed jigs).
With willing stripers spread from Richardson Bay to Elephant rock, and more at Paradise Park, Mcnear's Pier China Camp and behind Home Depot just to name a few. You can even get some top water fishing on Zara Spooks and Pencil Poppers (if you have a healthy heart) at dusk and dawn in places like Corte Madera Creek and Mcnear's beach
Oh, and before I forget , yes they are getting limits of legal size halibut trolling San Pablo bay with traditional salmon trolling gear with a few small modifications ie speed, weight etc. It's just a quick bit of re-rigging, and we'd be happy to run you through it down at the shop.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Shifting Tactics for Better Bass Bishing
The last two weeks have been incredible. (And if you haven't been out there yet, why not?) Kent Lake alone kicked out 16 fish over 5 lbs -- and those are just the ones that were reported. (Believe it or not, people don't tell us everything - you have to assume that at least as many have been caught but not reported). Top baits continued to be 3/8 and 1/2 oz flipping jigs in darker colors like green pumpkin/watermelon, pbj, and lava craw along with 5-6" Senkos in watermelon/black flake, green pumpkin/black flake, and baby bass. There have also been some smaller-than-huge swimbaits like the Castaic slow-sinking bluegill and the Maverick Minnow accounting for some big fish.
That said, anglers are begining to notice a change in the bite. When viewed from above (on a hill or up a tree) the number of fish cruising the shallows and loitering in certain small areas has increased dramaticly, along with the skittishness of these fish while in the shallows. It has also been increasingly challenging to "sight" fish for them. This tends to indicate that the first wave of spawners are getting ready to get down to business.
This means you need to stay well off the bank, keep your shadow off the bank and execute every cast and each presentation as cleanly and efficiently as possible. I'm assuming you are using polarized sunglasses (even/especially in low light conditions) and some fluorocarbon line. (Flourocarbon line has the same reflective coefficient as water, so it literally disappears when immersed. Like all fishing line, it does not biodegrade, so you need to pack out so we can all continue to enjoy these areas.) For details on the baits and srategy ascociated with sight fishing try reading the article I wrote called "How to Blink Bedding Bass" in the archives of californiabasscraft.com.
The next Marin County Bass Club meeting will be Wednesday, April 8th. Our guest speaker will be Noah Stevens of the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club. He will be doing a clinic on getting into bass fishing from a float tube for fun or for tournament competition (which, I'll point out, can be more fun). As usual, the meeting is open to the public and free of charge as it is sponsored by Western Sport Shop, Jigmonster.com, and Noah Stevens will be donating his time to drive down and share his knowledge and experience free of charge. So feel free to stop by and take a look as any one with enthusiasm regardless of skill level is always welcome.
That said, anglers are begining to notice a change in the bite. When viewed from above (on a hill or up a tree) the number of fish cruising the shallows and loitering in certain small areas has increased dramaticly, along with the skittishness of these fish while in the shallows. It has also been increasingly challenging to "sight" fish for them. This tends to indicate that the first wave of spawners are getting ready to get down to business.
This means you need to stay well off the bank, keep your shadow off the bank and execute every cast and each presentation as cleanly and efficiently as possible. I'm assuming you are using polarized sunglasses (even/especially in low light conditions) and some fluorocarbon line. (Flourocarbon line has the same reflective coefficient as water, so it literally disappears when immersed. Like all fishing line, it does not biodegrade, so you need to pack out so we can all continue to enjoy these areas.) For details on the baits and srategy ascociated with sight fishing try reading the article I wrote called "How to Blink Bedding Bass" in the archives of californiabasscraft.com.
The next Marin County Bass Club meeting will be Wednesday, April 8th. Our guest speaker will be Noah Stevens of the Sonoma County Belly Boat Bass Club. He will be doing a clinic on getting into bass fishing from a float tube for fun or for tournament competition (which, I'll point out, can be more fun). As usual, the meeting is open to the public and free of charge as it is sponsored by Western Sport Shop, Jigmonster.com, and Noah Stevens will be donating his time to drive down and share his knowledge and experience free of charge. So feel free to stop by and take a look as any one with enthusiasm regardless of skill level is always welcome.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Rivers Update and Class Info
Steelhead season on the Coastal rivers is winding down. However, this past week saw several fresh run steelhead caught on the Russian River.
Steelhead season ends on March 31st. The Russian River is still open to angling, but you cannot harvest a steelhead - even a hatchery fish - after that date.
Look for the middle of April to bring with it the first runs of Shad in the Russian. This hard-running fish is a kick to catch and release. Recent rains have helped to put some good water flow into the river system, and make it a much more exciting spring.
Flyfishing 101 - Space Available in 4/18 Session
If you are looking to learn how to fly cast, or just tune up and shake off the winter of inacivity, give a call to the Santa Rosa store and sign up for my next Flyfishing 101 Course, which will take place on Saturday, April 18th. This is a great way to get ready for serious spring fishing, or to finally learn what all the excitment is about with fly fishing. Class size is limited, and you we can supply equipment if necessary.
Bass and panfish should be in full swing by this time. As the weather warms up, these fish are hungry and moving into the shallower waters, making them perfect for fly fishing.
Go through your tackle and gear, get ready for spring!
- Carlo
Steelhead season ends on March 31st. The Russian River is still open to angling, but you cannot harvest a steelhead - even a hatchery fish - after that date.
Look for the middle of April to bring with it the first runs of Shad in the Russian. This hard-running fish is a kick to catch and release. Recent rains have helped to put some good water flow into the river system, and make it a much more exciting spring.
Flyfishing 101 - Space Available in 4/18 Session
If you are looking to learn how to fly cast, or just tune up and shake off the winter of inacivity, give a call to the Santa Rosa store and sign up for my next Flyfishing 101 Course, which will take place on Saturday, April 18th. This is a great way to get ready for serious spring fishing, or to finally learn what all the excitment is about with fly fishing. Class size is limited, and you we can supply equipment if necessary.
Bass and panfish should be in full swing by this time. As the weather warms up, these fish are hungry and moving into the shallower waters, making them perfect for fly fishing.
Go through your tackle and gear, get ready for spring!
- Carlo
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Stop Wishing - GO Fishing!
"and then it was on!..."
Spring rolls in with a bang!! Almost out of nowhere, everyone is getting hammered with fishing options -- take your pick, but make a choice and GO! It is good. Now.
Striped bass are ripping up bait and artificials like cut anchovey or jigs, rip baits like the Rapalas, Rat-L-traps and soft-bodied Storm and Calcutta swimbaits, at places like China Camp, in the San Rafael area around Home Depot, and further north near Bahia and the Petaluma river just to name a few. It may be early to tell, and it could shut off just as quickly, but folks are catching them similar to the wholesale SLAMMING we were seeing four years ago.
Almost right on schedule, anglers have been nailing the start of the spring halibut in the South Bay and up in San Pablo Bay. Best options have been trolling plugs, jigs, swimbaits, and frozen anchovies, or by drifting live shiners or jack smelt on soft tides. The success hasn't been limited to the boaters either - bank fishing has produced as well with success using with striper lures like Rat-L-Traps, jigs, and swimbaits. These are not huge fish yet, but sticking a limit of keeper size halibut is not uncommon.
Sturgeon to 75" are nailing shrimp and herring from Paradise to Buck's Landing and in the South Bay from Coyote Pt to the Oakland airport.
Whew! let me catch my breath. Ok, thanks!
Trout fishing
Kent Lake and Alpine Lake have continued to kick out monster Rainbow Trout on spinners and live bait. Even Bon Tempe is has been producing with reports of holdovers to 20" and great smallmouth action with best bets being Powerbait and live nightcrawlers.
For those who want to relax and fish for planter trout San Pablo reservoir is kicking out huge brood stock trout up to 12lbs or more on Powerbait fished from the bank. Lafayette reservoir seems to have been given all the planters that were banned elswhere because that lake is brimming with 2-3lb trout and everyone is getting them. The trollers, the bankies... anyone and everyone who can manage to get a hook or lure in the water!
Carp and Panfish
Euro-style carp fishing is off the hook as well with Nicasio reservoir and Clearlake leading the charge. Both areas have been kicking out fish from 5-25 lbs for anglers using corn, meal worms and boilies.
For the more sophisticated approach - fly fishermen interested in stalking these "golden bonefish", Nicasio offers plenty of shots at schools of tailing fish. Nope. I'm serious! We've had a number of excited fly anglers who have rushed back to the store to stock back up on black or olive bead-headed wooly buggers after snapping off some larger fish. We've also seen some home made "bread flys" and attractive white panfish poppers.
Take the KIDS!! If you want to get these little versions of yourselves out and on fish before their micro- attention span falters........what was I saying? oh right... Your kids can have a field day at Phoenix Lake - where after a long winter, the bluegills have moved up and will readily attack a red worm under a bobber for all to see.
Bass Report - Wow, I've never made it this far without talking about bass fishing... But, I can stand it no longer.
Right now, Alpine, Nicasio, and Kent Lakes in Marin County will offer you the best shot of the year to stick a new personal best. Best bets are jigs in darker craw colors, 5-6" Senko plastic worms (watermelon with black flake or green pumpkin with black flake), Chatterbaits like the Boogie Bait in chartreuse, chartreuse white, or natural colors, and the drop-shotted Roboworm in purple or green.
You can find males in the shallows and flats killing everything that moves and the bigger females in the deeper areas closest to males. Swim jigs, spinnerbaits and swimbaits slow-rolled through these staging areas will draw strikes, but if you want a tougher challenge that will produce bigger fish, know that these larger bass will be using wood cover as well. So if you find a flat covered in males look for the nearest tree in deeper water.
Big Congrats to Andy Mercado for winning the first Marin Bass Club derby at Phoenix Lake with 5lb 7oz bass, and to Ryan Gilliflan for "best set" with four good fish from 2-3.5 lbs. I will be posting the date of our next derby shortly and it will be at Lake Alpine.
See ya at the shop!
Spring rolls in with a bang!! Almost out of nowhere, everyone is getting hammered with fishing options -- take your pick, but make a choice and GO! It is good. Now.
Striped bass are ripping up bait and artificials like cut anchovey or jigs, rip baits like the Rapalas, Rat-L-traps and soft-bodied Storm and Calcutta swimbaits, at places like China Camp, in the San Rafael area around Home Depot, and further north near Bahia and the Petaluma river just to name a few. It may be early to tell, and it could shut off just as quickly, but folks are catching them similar to the wholesale SLAMMING we were seeing four years ago.
Almost right on schedule, anglers have been nailing the start of the spring halibut in the South Bay and up in San Pablo Bay. Best options have been trolling plugs, jigs, swimbaits, and frozen anchovies, or by drifting live shiners or jack smelt on soft tides. The success hasn't been limited to the boaters either - bank fishing has produced as well with success using with striper lures like Rat-L-Traps, jigs, and swimbaits. These are not huge fish yet, but sticking a limit of keeper size halibut is not uncommon.
Sturgeon to 75" are nailing shrimp and herring from Paradise to Buck's Landing and in the South Bay from Coyote Pt to the Oakland airport.
Whew! let me catch my breath. Ok, thanks!
Trout fishing
Kent Lake and Alpine Lake have continued to kick out monster Rainbow Trout on spinners and live bait. Even Bon Tempe is has been producing with reports of holdovers to 20" and great smallmouth action with best bets being Powerbait and live nightcrawlers.
For those who want to relax and fish for planter trout San Pablo reservoir is kicking out huge brood stock trout up to 12lbs or more on Powerbait fished from the bank. Lafayette reservoir seems to have been given all the planters that were banned elswhere because that lake is brimming with 2-3lb trout and everyone is getting them. The trollers, the bankies... anyone and everyone who can manage to get a hook or lure in the water!
Carp and Panfish
Euro-style carp fishing is off the hook as well with Nicasio reservoir and Clearlake leading the charge. Both areas have been kicking out fish from 5-25 lbs for anglers using corn, meal worms and boilies.
For the more sophisticated approach - fly fishermen interested in stalking these "golden bonefish", Nicasio offers plenty of shots at schools of tailing fish. Nope. I'm serious! We've had a number of excited fly anglers who have rushed back to the store to stock back up on black or olive bead-headed wooly buggers after snapping off some larger fish. We've also seen some home made "bread flys" and attractive white panfish poppers.
Take the KIDS!! If you want to get these little versions of yourselves out and on fish before their micro- attention span falters........what was I saying? oh right... Your kids can have a field day at Phoenix Lake - where after a long winter, the bluegills have moved up and will readily attack a red worm under a bobber for all to see.
Bass Report - Wow, I've never made it this far without talking about bass fishing... But, I can stand it no longer.
Right now, Alpine, Nicasio, and Kent Lakes in Marin County will offer you the best shot of the year to stick a new personal best. Best bets are jigs in darker craw colors, 5-6" Senko plastic worms (watermelon with black flake or green pumpkin with black flake), Chatterbaits like the Boogie Bait in chartreuse, chartreuse white, or natural colors, and the drop-shotted Roboworm in purple or green.
You can find males in the shallows and flats killing everything that moves and the bigger females in the deeper areas closest to males. Swim jigs, spinnerbaits and swimbaits slow-rolled through these staging areas will draw strikes, but if you want a tougher challenge that will produce bigger fish, know that these larger bass will be using wood cover as well. So if you find a flat covered in males look for the nearest tree in deeper water.
Big Congrats to Andy Mercado for winning the first Marin Bass Club derby at Phoenix Lake with 5lb 7oz bass, and to Ryan Gilliflan for "best set" with four good fish from 2-3.5 lbs. I will be posting the date of our next derby shortly and it will be at Lake Alpine.See ya at the shop!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Joe's Bass Report - Cold Front Tactics
Nicasio Reservoir got pretty darn tough with this post frontal, cold windy weather we are having. But, some anglers got them anyways, by adjusting and targeting areas of rip/rap that are both out of the wind and in receive direct sunshine. The best examples of this are almost always on stretches of road where there is water on both sides.
When the wind blasts any stretch of rip/rap directly the windy side gets blown out, and the protected side develops a windless pocket about as wide as the height of the rip/rap. This lack of wind keeps the water on the lee side much clearer and calmer than on the windy side. This in turn allows for deeper penetration of sunlight and the warmth that comes with it.
As an added bonus, rip/rap rock structure holds warmth very well and is a natural fish magnet especialy in the winter when the big females need to incubate their eggs.
Since the cold winds only chill the water on the surface, and the wind blows the colder water away from the rip/rap, it makes these areas even better, from the fish's perspective.
(Compare this to the windy side which becomes an accumulation point for the cold surface water as it's blown into the rip/rap and trapped.)
Many bass anglers assume that the best baits (due to the poor conditions) are either soft plastics, senkos, or other small finesse baits. Although these baits can work, fishing long stretches of rip rap is almost impossible to do efficiently with finesse-type baits. Since many of the biggest females who move into these warmer areas are not in actively feeding mode, my choice is to use reaction baits - Speed Traps and Chatterbaits like the Boogie Bait to be specific.
Marin County Bass Club - Jig Fishing Demo
Reminder! Tomorrow night is the meeting of the Marin County Bass Club at the San Rafael store. I will be giving an in-depth seminar on jig fishing starting at 7:30pm and lasting till about 8:30 I will cover everything you ever wanted to know about jigs. The talk is free and open to the public, so come on down and learn some serious skills!
When the wind blasts any stretch of rip/rap directly the windy side gets blown out, and the protected side develops a windless pocket about as wide as the height of the rip/rap. This lack of wind keeps the water on the lee side much clearer and calmer than on the windy side. This in turn allows for deeper penetration of sunlight and the warmth that comes with it.
As an added bonus, rip/rap rock structure holds warmth very well and is a natural fish magnet especialy in the winter when the big females need to incubate their eggs.
Since the cold winds only chill the water on the surface, and the wind blows the colder water away from the rip/rap, it makes these areas even better, from the fish's perspective.
(Compare this to the windy side which becomes an accumulation point for the cold surface water as it's blown into the rip/rap and trapped.)
Many bass anglers assume that the best baits (due to the poor conditions) are either soft plastics, senkos, or other small finesse baits. Although these baits can work, fishing long stretches of rip rap is almost impossible to do efficiently with finesse-type baits. Since many of the biggest females who move into these warmer areas are not in actively feeding mode, my choice is to use reaction baits - Speed Traps and Chatterbaits like the Boogie Bait to be specific.
Marin County Bass Club - Jig Fishing Demo
Reminder! Tomorrow night is the meeting of the Marin County Bass Club at the San Rafael store. I will be giving an in-depth seminar on jig fishing starting at 7:30pm and lasting till about 8:30 I will cover everything you ever wanted to know about jigs. The talk is free and open to the public, so come on down and learn some serious skills!
Monday, February 23, 2009
New Arrivals and Items on Sale!
Everyone is getting excited about spring turkey season - We've been loading in lots of new turkey decoys, calls, camo and accessories at both stores. In addition to the Primos calls which many hunters used to advantage last year, we've added Zink's calls, which should be arriving this week.
The first Spring Turkey Clinic in San Rafael took place this last weekend, with a smaller group of dedicated hunters and first-timers polishing their purrs and cuts. The other three clinics (check out the calendar at the bottom of this page) are already filling up, so get your chores done early and call the store to reserve your spot.
I have been scouring through the inventory, finding overstock, older tems and discontinued styles to create some great deals on Early Spring Discount Tables in both stores. We still have the camo bags and clothing on 30% off. A lot of clever anglers have snapped up these padded, heavy-duty gear bags and put them to use for boat bags or tackle bags.
Even though we've been getting pounded by rains recently, the weather had not been laying in the moisture evenly. The storms early last week did nothing up north - one of our local sources reported almost summer water levels on the Smith River. Although the local streams have received so much rain and have been blown out, many of the northern rivers. This weekend's rains should make the northern rivers fishable, so we'll be checking in for reports today and tomorrow. Rivers up north - Smith, Chetco, Elk, should all clear first.
If you are unable to head up, our local rivers will probably remain unfishable due to high flows.
So - you need an alternatives! Here's my list:
Catfishing - Lake Sonoma, Clear Lake, or Nicasio
Black Bass fishing most our local lakes have very little pressure, fish are finckey but they will bite. (See Joe's recent report for details)
Perch fishing Doran Park some local areas as well.
Sturgeon in San Pablo bay, should be awesome with these rains - this week will be good!
Trout in Bon Tempe? Though none have been stocked, fish are there and anglers catching them.
Tom Nelson
General Mgr
The first Spring Turkey Clinic in San Rafael took place this last weekend, with a smaller group of dedicated hunters and first-timers polishing their purrs and cuts. The other three clinics (check out the calendar at the bottom of this page) are already filling up, so get your chores done early and call the store to reserve your spot.
I have been scouring through the inventory, finding overstock, older tems and discontinued styles to create some great deals on Early Spring Discount Tables in both stores. We still have the camo bags and clothing on 30% off. A lot of clever anglers have snapped up these padded, heavy-duty gear bags and put them to use for boat bags or tackle bags.
Even though we've been getting pounded by rains recently, the weather had not been laying in the moisture evenly. The storms early last week did nothing up north - one of our local sources reported almost summer water levels on the Smith River. Although the local streams have received so much rain and have been blown out, many of the northern rivers. This weekend's rains should make the northern rivers fishable, so we'll be checking in for reports today and tomorrow. Rivers up north - Smith, Chetco, Elk, should all clear first.
If you are unable to head up, our local rivers will probably remain unfishable due to high flows.
So - you need an alternatives! Here's my list:
Catfishing - Lake Sonoma, Clear Lake, or Nicasio
Black Bass fishing most our local lakes have very little pressure, fish are finckey but they will bite. (See Joe's recent report for details)
Perch fishing Doran Park some local areas as well.
Sturgeon in San Pablo bay, should be awesome with these rains - this week will be good!
Trout in Bon Tempe? Though none have been stocked, fish are there and anglers catching them.
Tom Nelson
General Mgr
Friday, February 13, 2009
Bassing - Best Bets, Current Conditions and Events
Largemouth bass fishing on our local watershed lakes during the months of February and March offer your best shot at sticking, not just a pig, but your best possibility for catching multiple pigs on the same day.
For example, if you hit lake Phoenix Lake on the 3rd or 4th day of a warm weather pattern, you should start to see schools of fish that had been suspending in some of the deeper holes begin to break up and start cruising the shallows. The majority of these fish will be males in the 1-3lb range. But, the big females in the 3-12lb+ range will stay behind in so called "staging areas" where they await the full moons that light their overnight visits to the shallows where the males have been busy building nests in preparation for their arrival.
These "staging areas" are usually the first deeper water away from the spawning areas. If you are fishing a cove, they will be mid-water-column, at the mouth of the cove. This is one of the only times of the year that big fish will be concentrated in a small area. These fish are also now a little "lure dumb" from having not seen many artificials for the past two months.
The best way to target these bigger fish is to run a reaction bait right through them - something like a Lucky Craft LV Max-500 in the Mad Craw color, or a reddish or craw colored larger Rat-L-Trap. You can also throw double-willow bladed Spinnerbaits as well, but for effective results, you should run a trailer hook because they will be striking short and slow.
If you don't get bit, move along and let those fish relax. After about 40-50 minutes make the same casts. This time however, you might try slow rolling a 6-8" Castaic Trout Swimbait Most importantly - don't change your retrieve if you feel a small tap - keep the slow roll going and don't set until you feel the full weight of a large fish loading up the rod. Another option is to let a 5, 6, or 7" Senko (Watermelon/Black Flake is a good starter color) glide and fall slowly with a horizontal posture right past their noses on a slack line. Watch to see your line either twitch, jump, or (oh boy!) start swimming away before setting the hook
That said, Nicasio Reservoir appears to be happening right now. Yes, it's still pretty cold and the low water conditions are not exactly the stuff of dreams. This larger body of water lacks the cut and dried patterns of Phoenix Lake, but if you have the right baits and are ready to work a little bit, Nicasio can reward you with more 5-pound-plus fish then any other lake in Marin County.
With Nicasio, it's all about spots. Best bet would be to take a baitcasting set up with 15-20lb test line and a brass and glass rigged green pumpkin Brush Hog. If you have another set up or two you can also throw a chartreuse chatter bait, such as the BooYah Boogie Bait, a white/chartreuse spinnerbait, or a 4-5" swimbait like the Storm Chartreuse Shiner, or the River2Sea baby bass. If you want to fish for a big bite, throw the Castaic slow sink platinum series Sunfish or a Berkley 10-11" Power Worm in black/blue or june bug
I wanted to give special mention to Noah Stevens, he is a regular customer of the shop and a highly skilled jig fishermen who is known to prowl Lake Alpine with the Jigmonster Lava Craw Jig and stick some quality smallmouth bass from time to time. Noah is also a member of the Sonoma Belly Boat Bass Club and just won their first event of the year with only two fish, one of them being an astounding 11.94 lbs for a new club record, way to go Noah!
I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out to the 1st open meeting of the Marin County Bass Club which met at the San Rafael store. Special thanks are in order to Chris "Flipper" Franks who gave an excellent seminar on swimbait fishing in our area. Chris is an up-and-coming tournament pro and member of the Jigmonster bass fishing team.
Meetings for the Marin County Bass Club are held the second Wednesday of every month and are open to the public. For more info on the club please visit californiabasscraft.com. Our next meeting will be on March 11th at Western Sport Shop in San Rafael. I will be giving a free seminar on jig fishing both from the bank here in Marin and from the boat on our major tournament waters. This presentation will cover all aspects of jig fishing, including types of jigs and where and when to fish them.
The Marin County Bass Club will also be holding a big fish derby on March 21st at Phoenix Lake. The entry fee for the event is $15 and you must sign up before March 14th. Look for more details here or call me at the San Rafael store - 415-456-5454.
Now get fishing!
For example, if you hit lake Phoenix Lake on the 3rd or 4th day of a warm weather pattern, you should start to see schools of fish that had been suspending in some of the deeper holes begin to break up and start cruising the shallows. The majority of these fish will be males in the 1-3lb range. But, the big females in the 3-12lb+ range will stay behind in so called "staging areas" where they await the full moons that light their overnight visits to the shallows where the males have been busy building nests in preparation for their arrival.
These "staging areas" are usually the first deeper water away from the spawning areas. If you are fishing a cove, they will be mid-water-column, at the mouth of the cove. This is one of the only times of the year that big fish will be concentrated in a small area. These fish are also now a little "lure dumb" from having not seen many artificials for the past two months.
The best way to target these bigger fish is to run a reaction bait right through them - something like a Lucky Craft LV Max-500 in the Mad Craw color, or a reddish or craw colored larger Rat-L-Trap. You can also throw double-willow bladed Spinnerbaits as well, but for effective results, you should run a trailer hook because they will be striking short and slow.
If you don't get bit, move along and let those fish relax. After about 40-50 minutes make the same casts. This time however, you might try slow rolling a 6-8" Castaic Trout Swimbait Most importantly - don't change your retrieve if you feel a small tap - keep the slow roll going and don't set until you feel the full weight of a large fish loading up the rod. Another option is to let a 5, 6, or 7" Senko (Watermelon/Black Flake is a good starter color) glide and fall slowly with a horizontal posture right past their noses on a slack line. Watch to see your line either twitch, jump, or (oh boy!) start swimming away before setting the hook
That said, Nicasio Reservoir appears to be happening right now. Yes, it's still pretty cold and the low water conditions are not exactly the stuff of dreams. This larger body of water lacks the cut and dried patterns of Phoenix Lake, but if you have the right baits and are ready to work a little bit, Nicasio can reward you with more 5-pound-plus fish then any other lake in Marin County.
With Nicasio, it's all about spots. Best bet would be to take a baitcasting set up with 15-20lb test line and a brass and glass rigged green pumpkin Brush Hog. If you have another set up or two you can also throw a chartreuse chatter bait, such as the BooYah Boogie Bait, a white/chartreuse spinnerbait, or a 4-5" swimbait like the Storm Chartreuse Shiner, or the River2Sea baby bass. If you want to fish for a big bite, throw the Castaic slow sink platinum series Sunfish or a Berkley 10-11" Power Worm in black/blue or june bug
I wanted to give special mention to Noah Stevens, he is a regular customer of the shop and a highly skilled jig fishermen who is known to prowl Lake Alpine with the Jigmonster Lava Craw Jig and stick some quality smallmouth bass from time to time. Noah is also a member of the Sonoma Belly Boat Bass Club and just won their first event of the year with only two fish, one of them being an astounding 11.94 lbs for a new club record, way to go Noah!I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out to the 1st open meeting of the Marin County Bass Club which met at the San Rafael store. Special thanks are in order to Chris "Flipper" Franks who gave an excellent seminar on swimbait fishing in our area. Chris is an up-and-coming tournament pro and member of the Jigmonster bass fishing team.
Meetings for the Marin County Bass Club are held the second Wednesday of every month and are open to the public. For more info on the club please visit californiabasscraft.com. Our next meeting will be on March 11th at Western Sport Shop in San Rafael. I will be giving a free seminar on jig fishing both from the bank here in Marin and from the boat on our major tournament waters. This presentation will cover all aspects of jig fishing, including types of jigs and where and when to fish them.
The Marin County Bass Club will also be holding a big fish derby on March 21st at Phoenix Lake. The entry fee for the event is $15 and you must sign up before March 14th. Look for more details here or call me at the San Rafael store - 415-456-5454.
Now get fishing!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Rain Brings the Fish!
Thank Goodness for rain! Best bets right now are sturgeon on San Pablo bay, Russian river steelhead, wild trout up at Kent Lake, and bass at Nicasio reservoir.
As for the sturgeon, I am getting steady reports of guys sticking keeper size diamondsides on ghost shrimp and herring filets at Paradise Park (off Tiburon), the Pumphouse (San Pablo Bay), and Oakland Airport (plus a few unsubstantiated in the South Bay). If you are fishing from the bank, Paradise Park pier is an excellent way to go, espcially if you can get a good out going tide. For all the boaters out there, try fishing the first half of the outgoing tides, west of the Pumphouse, and the second half of the outgoing tide east of the Pumphouse, closer to the shipping channel.
Russian River steelhead - the mouth is open and pods of new fish are entering daily. If the water is clear, it's hard to beat throwing small black beadhead wooly bugers, but if the rain colors the water a little bit then drift roe or throw small 1/3 oz Little Cleos in gold and burgundy. Also, Panther Martins are good in the river as well. It's one of the few bladed spinners that has good action regardless of current direction.
Guys are still getting wild trout up at Kent Lake on night crawlers, kastmasters, and in-line spinners. As for color, if the water is a little murky, go with gold kastmasters and gold bladed spinners, if the water is still gin clear, then nickel
Last but not least, bass fishing is starting to turn on and the best bet is Nicasio Reservoir. Fish rip rap with the allmighty brass and glass rigged green pumpkin Brush Hog, or if the water is fairly clear you can't beat a wacky rigged Yamamoto Senko in darker colors.
Also you can start looking for a reaction bite to improve daily. As this begins, your best bets will be Speed Traps, Chatter Baits such as the Boogiebait, spinnerbaits, and small swimbaits like the Storm Wildeye swim shad in Shiner Chartreuse. To fish this effectively, target the rip-rap by casting paralel to the bank and trying to bump the eadges of the rip-rap with your baits.
Okay - go get fishing!
As for the sturgeon, I am getting steady reports of guys sticking keeper size diamondsides on ghost shrimp and herring filets at Paradise Park (off Tiburon), the Pumphouse (San Pablo Bay), and Oakland Airport (plus a few unsubstantiated in the South Bay). If you are fishing from the bank, Paradise Park pier is an excellent way to go, espcially if you can get a good out going tide. For all the boaters out there, try fishing the first half of the outgoing tides, west of the Pumphouse, and the second half of the outgoing tide east of the Pumphouse, closer to the shipping channel.
Russian River steelhead - the mouth is open and pods of new fish are entering daily. If the water is clear, it's hard to beat throwing small black beadhead wooly bugers, but if the rain colors the water a little bit then drift roe or throw small 1/3 oz Little Cleos in gold and burgundy. Also, Panther Martins are good in the river as well. It's one of the few bladed spinners that has good action regardless of current direction.
Guys are still getting wild trout up at Kent Lake on night crawlers, kastmasters, and in-line spinners. As for color, if the water is a little murky, go with gold kastmasters and gold bladed spinners, if the water is still gin clear, then nickel
Last but not least, bass fishing is starting to turn on and the best bet is Nicasio Reservoir. Fish rip rap with the allmighty brass and glass rigged green pumpkin Brush Hog, or if the water is fairly clear you can't beat a wacky rigged Yamamoto Senko in darker colors.
Also you can start looking for a reaction bite to improve daily. As this begins, your best bets will be Speed Traps, Chatter Baits such as the Boogiebait, spinnerbaits, and small swimbaits like the Storm Wildeye swim shad in Shiner Chartreuse. To fish this effectively, target the rip-rap by casting paralel to the bank and trying to bump the eadges of the rip-rap with your baits.
Okay - go get fishing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)