The small ones

Today went to Quarry Lake to see what is bitting around the East Bay. Fished four hours and caught one fish and had two other bites. Just not in the right spot. They were being caught all around the place, mostly on yellow power eggs and yellow power worms dipped in some scent. The trout would not bite on power bait or hit any of the Fish Pill worms which caught two limits a couple of weeks earlier.I did notice a bad sign with the fish . Most of the trout are around two pounds normally . There were about half of the fish caught under one pound. These are like the Fish and Game plants. If I am going to pay a fishing fee I want bigger fish. I can catch small ones around the South Bay.

Speaking of the South Bay, they will be dumping the bird food [small trout], sometime during the week of Dec. 9th. Usually during the middle of the week. Then the week of Christmas they will be putting in some more small ones and if they hold true to form some jumbos! We can only hope. So stock up on power eggs and worms and finish your holiday shopping so you can spent more time catching the big ones. God bless everyone.

Opening Day in the South Bay

The trout were stocked in the South Bay Wed. Nov. 14th. They are your typical two to a pound. I didn't go until Thursday but the fish were still there. At Cottonwood Lake the trout were along the shore no more than 20 feet out. For the first hour the trout hit a combo of crappie jig and wooly bugger. I caught two and missed twenty others. The fish were hitting short or spitting out the bait in 1\10th of a second. That is too fast for this old man to set the hook. Then the trout changed to hitting small panther martins in gold. They hit hard and got hooked. In a little over two hours the total for two people were 15 trout and two bass, all released so the cormarants would have some food, poor starving birds that they are.



The fish hit any kind of cast except those that caught the fisherperson!



Then I went to the Perk ponds in Campbell. The lake is circled in weeds,and the trout have been chased into the shore. I only stayed about an hour. I walked around the lake and found small schools of trout sitting in about one foot of water. I had to down size my lures to a size 16 bead head and a small split shot. I caught two and missed one . The trout were like fishing in a bath tub, all of five feet of shore. The positive is that they were all big ugly brutes. Those that I caught went over two pounds apiece.

So get out buy some crappie jigs and some panther martins and put away your power bait. The fishing will not last long . Call in sick from work They will be gone by this weekend.

If you want to go fishing this weekend Go to the East Bay.

Signing off to tie some more flies and order some more panther martins God Bless!

Butterfly Carp

The first day of November found me at Almaden Lake fishing for carp. I use a special rig to catch those light biting fish. You start with an ultra light rod and reel filled with 6lb. test line. You attach the line to a #6 3-way swivel. Next you put a split shot above the swivel. Now tie two #14 treble hooks to two short pieces of mono leader. Tie these to the 3-way and your ready to bait up. I use shoe peg corn and small balls of bread. The secret is to pour Carp Spit Oil from Pro-Cure on the corn and bread It really gets the carp biting!

The Butterfly Carp hit the corn bait. I have never heard of let alone catching one .This carp weighed in at 9lbs. Along with the butter fly I caught a Mirror Carp which has huge scales along the middle of its body, and a couple common carp and white suckers. All fought well and took out yards of line in long runs. These fish are a real challenge to catch on ultra-light tackle. It will make you a better fisherperson and you get to see which tackle holds up and which break down. I ruined an Abu Garcia by catching too many carp. The line cut a half inch groove in the bale. ruining the reel. I use Okuma reels and an old antique Daiwa GS-10, all metal and better than any Daiwas today.

Also went to Quarry Lake for some trout. Now I know why they call it fishing and not catching. Fished 4 hours for one three pounder . Which happened to be covered with the scares form the CoCo pods. These are tiny green worm like parasites which attach to the skin of the trout and suck it's blood. It is harmless to humans but who wants to eat a fish attacked by these worms? Not me!

Good news Those wonderful people from fish and game are going to stock the local ponds in about one week, weather permitting. Stay tuned and God Bless .