How NOT to catch fish in January

You know that old saying,"You should have been here last week. The fish were really biting." well that is exactly what happened to me for the entire month of January. I was an hour late at the Campbell Perk Ponds twice. The fish hit anything for the first hour and then disappeared. When I got there two hours after the plant, no one was catching anything. I tried lures , flies, gulp worms in my favorite colour, pink. I managed one small trout, had a great time practicing casting and got a lot of exercise walking the pond. Same thing happened at Sandy Wool, we got there late had about ten short hits and left with our shoes loaded with the stickiest mud known to man. This stuff does not come off. It bonds to your shoes. If you go after a rain, bring a second pair of shoes.

We read about the offer of a 1/2 day boat rental for catching a salmon at Los Vaqueros, so off we went on a beautiful windless day. I even brought the down rigger. Located bait at 80 feet. Salmon do not show up on my fish finder so I look for bait and fish at that depth. Four hours with four poles at four different depths got three people nothing. So back to shore we went. Around 3:00 the trout at Los Vaqueros start coming into shallow water. We got off the boat ,spotted the fish and began casting cast masters with a line counter reel. This is not for the novice. One mistake and you have the worlds worst birds nest. Between tangles we managed ten fish between one and two pounds in about twenty minutes All were released except one trout which swallowed a 1/2 oz. cast master.

But the worst was when Ferne and I went to Quarry Lake in Fremont. We had heard from reliable sources that the fish had finally begun to bite. Most people caught their limits with bait or lures. That was LAST week. We set up on fisherman's row. We did not see any fish caught or any stringers in the water. Bad signs, but we put out two poles with bait and began casting with the other two. The trout on bait would be put in the garden, any on a lure would be let go. I do not like to let go any fish caught on bait . They usually do not survive. Within ten minutes the bait pole showed a hit , then nothing. The line would go out for a few feet and then stop. The fish spit out the bait. Lures were no better, I got short strikes and follow ups but no hook ups. I finally managed to get one on Ferne's pole. She was too busy playing a game on her i pod to reel in the fish. This 2lb. 2 oz. trout was our only fish of the day. It was caught on garlic and cheese flavored power bait. A real gourmet trout.

So do not believe the reports on line or in the paper, they are old reports. The only sure thing has been at Los Vaqueros after 3:00 to the right of the boat dock. They have been there for the whole month of January. But beware February is Super Bowl Sunday!

Remember if you see two people carrying one thousand pounds of fishing gear with one of them playing with their i-pod, go somewhere else. The fish have stopped biting,we arrived too late.


Until the next new moon.... God Bless(for my Dad),

FERNE @ MICHAEL