Eels at Bodega 4/6/2014

Woke up one morning and was craving the salt, felt like a trip to bodega was in order. I knew Mike has been wanting to do the eel thing with me for a while so I picked him up and my friend Robyn who was in town for the weekend. Showed up to Doran just around 0900 in perfect timing just as the rocks got exposed and the tide was still going out. Got everything

set up and Mike caught on to the poke pole concept really quick, but kept catching the wrong species.

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Mike was slamming the small rockfish left and right, but couldn't seem to find an eel. It took Robyn a little longer to get bit, but once she did get one she was tearing the eels up.

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I was able to get one decent picture in. She didn't really want her picture taken.

I swear though every 2 mins she was walking over to me with an eel and she had it dialed in. I kept trying my plastics for rockfish but they were just not around today. I stayed persistent as long as I could and I did miss a few bites and managed to stick a couple of small gophers, but for the most part no one was home. It was either a bad day or I'm afraid people finally found out you could get rockfish here and this spot has become really pressured.

While I'm still trying and hoping the rockfish bite will turn around Mike finds his first eel and probably the biggest of the day.

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Right on, with seeing that and Robyn still bringing the eels in left and right I had to give up and get in on the hot bite. Ran around in the rocks with my squid and managed to get a few eels myself with one decent one to add to the box.

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We stayed here and went to town on the eels till about 1300, I wandered off and pumped a couple of clams and ghost shrimp up to add to the mix as well along with throwing my crabhawk out to bring in a few keeper red crabs. The tide started coming in and we had hit these rocks pretty hard so we took off from there. Went to hit the Jetty for a little while to see if we could bring any more crabs home for dinner. Threw rings and a snare for a couple of hour to add dozen more reds and rocks into the cooler, but no keeper dungies, only short females were caught today. Left Bodega around 1600 to make it home in time to make dinner and watch the premier of Game of Thrones!

Great day on the water, next time I need to bring the boat to drop pots and do some trolling. I did see some boats heading back into the marina cleaning salmon while we were fishing so I don't know if anyone has heard anything about the bite at bodega, but from what I saw there has to be at least a few out there.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

American River Crawdads 3/19/14

Been loving the beautiful weather we've been having recently and I do my best to try and spend as much time in the sun as I can every day. Being outside so much aside from aggravating the hell out of my allergies has got me more and more excited for summer and probably one of my favorite things to do in the summer is dive for crawdads. It's been warm and nice enough to maybe go for a swim so I thought what the heck I'll try my first scouting trip of the year and see how conditions are. I checked the charts online and it said the water temp was 55 F now which shocked me because I am used to seeing it around 49-51 this time of year, but with the low water conditions its no surprise. The low flows actually makes it really nice for this because there is no current and I can access deeper spots much easier so it makes for some easy pickings down there.

Jumped in about 1300 and I've always been really resistant and tolerant against cold, but man when you jump in that water it hurts. The feeling starts by sharp pain throughout your whole body and your really short of breath, then when your breathing finally slows down and you can focus the cold starts to set in and you realize how cold the water actually is. The hardest part is pushing through this stage. Your body gets colder and colder and you hit the point of saying to yourself its too cold I'm getting out, but push past that for just a couple minutes and then the cold eventually turns your whole body numb and you can no longer feel the temperature, then your good to go. That process usually takes me about 5 mins till I can properly function and get some good dives going.

Once it did though I was having a field day. No current and easy water to work in and I was finding dad's under every rock I flipped over. Water was really dirty for the American with only about 5ft visibility, but I made it work. I've got an action camera I'll have to bring with me on one of these dives soon. I didn't bring it today cause I wasn't even sure if I was going to be in the water for more then a couple of minutes. I stuck it out for about an hour though working the rocks bringing em up. After so long depending on the water temp for me after 1-2 hours your numbness goes away and it gets cold again and once you start to feel that cold it doesn't go away. I started getting a chill and I know my girlfriend sitting on shore watching me wasn't exactly having a blast so after an hour in the water I called it. Deni said my skin was starting to turn red when I walked out of the water. The second I got out and hit air I started shivering and couldn't stop for another hour.

Got the catch home and ready for the pot.

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Final count was 61 with sizes ranging from about 4-7 inches long, not too bad for an hours work. I ended up throwing a lot back that had eggs in em. I know plenty of people love eating the eggs and I have had them, but I'm not that Asian to love em so I let them go to keep the population up.

Sorry I didn't get more pictures of the day, hopefully I'll have a video for you guy's next time. Even with the almost unbearably cold water you can bet I'll be back to get more soon.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

First Plugging Trip 3/13/14

My dad called me and said lets go fishing. He didn't care too much to squat and rot for sturgeon with me so we set off for B&W to try for some striper action. Later

start to our day got on the water around 1330. Made or way to the Moke right off the bat just to see how things were. Stopped at my two favorite points and was greeted by some pretty stained water. Visibility was only a few inches at best. I have seen it worse, but it was not good. Tried it anyways but no luck. Made the run down to False river and worked the area here. We hit tules, pumps, rock walls, throwing swimbaits, rattle traps, spoons, and spooks for a whole lot of nothing.

We did start marking fish along rocky points so we stuck to those hoping that we now knew what to look for we just needed biting fish. Made our way further and further down river hopping from point to point and finally I stick one on a jerk bait.

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No monster, but its a start and finally feeling a tug on the line was great. Kept throwing the jerk bait and I missed a couple of other hits and stuck one more shaker.

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After that the tide turned on us and threw off the small bite that we had. Kept looking up and down false river and a few parts into franks tract. Even made the run out to the main river and tried trolling for a while. Marked lots of fish, but way to much debrie to get a good troll. Hit all the points we marked fish on at sun down hoping they would bite now, but they did not. Back to the ramp at dark and ended our day.

Not a lot of action for us, but it was a beautiful day on the water and it felt great to get back out there. I haven't been fishing nearly enough lately and its been pretty depressing. Hope to be back soon.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

First Sturgeon on the Fleet

It's been a while since I've been out and this has been long over due. Ethan and I took the boat out to the Mothball fleet today. Launched out of Monty at a very crowded boat ramp, typical weekend for you. Made it out to the fleet and we were on anchor close to 0830 and immediately saw some good marks on the graph.

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Got the rods out and started the waiting game. We both were throwing eel/grass combo's, and roe ghost combo's. The fabled hot bait and our own personal favorite.

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After that we just started our waiting game to see how long it was going to take before Mr. sturg came out to play. Not maybe 20 minutes after being on anchor Ethan's eel/grass gets hammered by what looks like an aggressive striper hit. Ethan was late to the rod though and missed his chance. No more then maybe 30 seconds later my rod with the same bait goes off and I drill him. At first thought I thought it might have been a shaker sturgeon, got it boat side though an its a 30 inch striper!!!

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Nice bonus and a hell of a by catch. Get him taken care of I drop rod number one back in, then Ethan throws his rod in, I throw my second one, then while Ethan is baiting up his second one my roe rod takes a dip and reach over swing home and I hook into my sturgeon this time.

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Fish came right to the surface and did his tail walk thing to let me know he was my keeper I've been dreaming about for years now. A tough 10+ min fight later and I get the fish boat side. He comes up belly up and I knew he was done. I tell Ethan he is ready and he reaches over with the net. I give it one more pull just to bring the fish within net range and the hook pops out!!! My heart sank, but I trust my net man and he saved the day getting that fish in the net before it came too and we got that thing in the boat and secure.

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Huge sigh of relief and serious excitement I finally did it!!! Have to give some serious credit to my captain Ethan though. I couldn't have done it without him and his amazing netting skills.

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Got my Sturgeon and its only 0900. Flying high on cloud 9 nothing could bring me down. With success and action like that I couldn't for a better day. I was waiting for Ethan to stick his so we could hopefully bring limits home. The tide turned to the outgo though and we stopped graphing fish. Stuck it out for a couple of hours before moving around looking for better waters, but found nothing but mitten crabs stealing out bait. Unfortunately it was one of those days that started off great, but never got any better from there. Fished until 1300 without a single other hit. Weather was getting hot, decided to call it from there. Pretty damn successful half day of fishing, I've got this bad boy getting ready for the smoker and grill tomorrow. Cleaning my first sturgeon was a cool experience and I can't wait to cook one for the first time.

Hopefully there will be many more to come cause I can't wait to do it again.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

 P.S. Just realized I never included the size. 56 inches at the fork weighing in at 46lbs.

Golfing and Fishing at Amador 1/26/14

Didn't know Amador had a course did you? Well maybe not the kind of course you were thinking of. Took Deni out to play a round of disc golf on Lake Amador's new course with the plan of wrapping up the day with some trout on a stringer hopefully.

Got to the lake around 1000 and went straight for the course. It's a hobbie I'm hoping to get a little more into. I know it's not fishing so I won't talk about it too much. If anyone cares to try this some day though. Amador definitely isn't a beginners course. The first 5 holes are a breeze. Nice straight clear shots in open area's.

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but pretty much hole 6 to the end, your climbing up and over hills and trying to throw disc's through BS like this.

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Made for some fun, but very challenging tosses. Wrapped that up just after 1200 or so after making fools out our selfs out there it was time to try and catch some fish.

Made our first stop at the dam. Saw a few people with fish on stringers and a few rising so I thought it would be worth a shot. Deni threw a powerworm out under a bobber and laid down, she was beat after climbing up and down all of those hills. I tossed out a powerbait rod and tossed my jig around. Deni missed a good hit right off the bat not looking at her rod. I stood up above the water looking for any cruisers so I could try my sight fishing thing and just toss jigs at the fish I could see.

Didn't take long for me to see about a dozen fish cruising the banks. Tossed in and hooked up right away and got the skunk off. Kept at it for another hour for several chasers. Switched up colors till I found one they really wanted. Got a second hook up that broke me off after seeing so many fish just chase my jig and not commit to it. Sure enough though I had a kid come over right next to me to practice his casting on the sissy stick and a group of cousin's came over and started tossing there 1 ounce weights and giant water bobbers right in front of me. There goes my shot at any more cruisers.

Got Discouraged from that, so Deni and I packed up shop and took off towards the spillway. Stopped and fished a couple of different spots until we found a cove that fish were consistently holding in. Deni was the first to get one here on her powerworm.

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I was able to stick one on a gold kastmaster shortly after that.

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Kept working our way further back into the cove for more bites here and there. Stuck a few more fish on the powerworms in pink and chartreuse as well as the kastmaster, but a few came unbuttoned as well a couple got stuck in the trees along the shoreline. It was kind of a rough day. Fished until sundown for 4 on the stringer and just as many or more farmed or missed. Kind of a tough bite, but still a fantastic day on the water with my girl.

Can't wait to do it again.

Our catch at the cleaning station.

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Talked to a few boaters at the cleaning station. One boat had their limits, but they said they stopped on a point and soaked powerbait to get it. Beyond that the trolling bite they said was tough, not to mention they said they had their trolling lines cut twice by other boaters coming up behind them and trolling over their lines. Most bankers I saw had fish but only maybe 1-3 per person. I don't know why it seemed like people struggled more today. Maybe it was overcast or just the crowds, it was packed today.

Fishing is good though if you go you will catch fish. Look for risers and don't be afraid to do some searching if your off the bank. Not all of the fish are at the dam despite the amount of people over there fishing it.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

First AR Steelie of 2014

I've made a couple of half ass attempts going out for steelhead this year for maybe 30 mins each time. I see the river and it just looks more and more depressing. My friend Jessi told me she wanted to go fishing. Didn't have too much time or too much extra spending cash to go out to Amador like I wanted to to get her on some decent trout action, but tossing for some steelies on the AR is still fun. We worked a decent area of the Barbless section hoping to find some fish holding somewhere. I gave Jessi and spoon to toss around and I drifted roe. Worked a lot of deep holes and a few riffles looking for em. Talked to and saw a lot of fisherman a long the way and everyone said they had been working the river for the past couple of days without any luck. Tough times for sure.

After a couple of hours of walking a long and working our way down I finally got a little tap on roe and managed to hook into one. Had some pull, but not much weight. May have been small, but I'll tell you these little guys can pull!

Got my half pounder in and got my skunk off for the day and the season.

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Running off a little high Kept working down looking for more biters, but never found anything. Saw hundreds of fish along the river, but they were all dried up dead salmon carcasses. The river reeks of dead salmon just a for warning if your headed out there. Fished from 1000 till about 1300 and called it from there. Nice few hours on the water had a blast, hope to find more time to try and get on more steelies this year.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Squat and Rot 1/13/14

Got the Sturgeon fever hard, and I'm still dying for my keeper. Talked my dad into getting out in the first time in about 6 months. Old man is getting older. We got on the water around 0830 and headed for the powerlines. Graphed the area for a while and really didn't see much on the graph. Finally saw a few marks at the bottom of Decker. Didn't see any bigger marks, but its all we could find so lets try it for now. Dropped the pick and immediately started getting bit on everything, grass, ghost, roe, and shad. Just some aggressive nibbles though. Finally my dad sticks one on grass and takes the skunk off of the boat.

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Never seen a cat caught on grass before that was a new one.

Next thing I got a keeper striper in the boat on shad and another I got my limit of schoolies. Having a great day already. I was looking at the graph the whole time and I kept seeing one or two bigger marks on there so I know Mr. Sturg is down there, but the shaker stripers and cats were tearing up our bait so quick I don't think the sturgeon could get to it in time. After going through about 3/4 of out bait I made the call to move.

Looking for some more promising marks on the screen I graphed all of Sherman, everything in front of chain, up and down all of broad. It wasn't until pitts that I found anything at all on the graph. Its only my third trip out now, but I've never had to search the much to find em yet, maybe most of the fish moved up? Maybe I don't really know.

Dropped the baits in and waited for the big guy. We dropped in on the slack so we waited for the swing and got to fish the begging of the outgo. No shaker bites here, good sign. I get my first pump on roe, swing and a miss. 20 mins later I get a slam on shad, swing and my freaking rod snaps in half. It was an older rod my grandpa's friend passed down to me, no joke I think the rod is probably 40 years old I was probably just time for it. Down to one rod I stuck it out with roe hoping I'll get one more chance. Got my classic sturgeon pump, swung hard and home, felt the weight of the fish, then I took a step back tripped over my seat and feel on my ass and lost the fish in the process. 3rd strike I'm out.

DFW came by shortly after to check us. Really nice actually, checked our gear, tags, and my stripers, and went on their way. Told us we were the first boat they saw to even have a fish on board so that made us feel a little confident. Stuck it out for a while longer, but no more bites. Wind was picking up and we saw a big tanker coming in so we took off and headed for home. Good thing too cause the water was getting sloppy. Off of the water just after 1500. No sturgeon today, but still a great fantastic day on the water. Fish in the box, got to get outside, and I finally got my dad back on the water since the salmon season opener. Can't ask for much more for that. Sorry I didn't take more pictures for you guys. We all know what schoolies look like and there wasn't too much all the picture worthy today. Next trip I think I might venture up river towards cache to try and find some more fish.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark