3 day report 11/9-11/11

I got 3 days off of work this week and I had a lot of fishing I wanted to do. Day one off, Wednesday 11/9/11 my dad and I had an itch for some crab so we took off for Doran beach to hopefully get on some Dungies. I got Deni to come a long with us too. Got to the Jetty around 1230 and set out on the killer rock hopping journey out to where we decided to set up camp. Got out to the spot and threw our snares out. I got some new crabhawks too that I wanted to try. I normally fish the inside of the Jetty, but today the current was just too much. With 7 ounces on my crabhawk it was still drifting. I had to use 12 ounces to get the trap to hold.



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Had to deal with the kelp all day.

I kept trying and I eventually ended up getting one nice sized Red Crab.



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We kept at it though and none of us were able to bring anything else up. I looked around at other fellow fisherman and I only saw 1 guy out of 10 that had one keeper, so it was slow all around.

Low tide came around though and you know we have to go over and do some poke poling. We pack up shop to move over to our rocks that we can poke pole in. We show up and my dad just throws out some bait for rock fish, I try throwing a white tube, and Deni puts some squid on to poke pole for the eels. I'm still tieing up and Deni walks over with her first eel before I've even gotten in the water.



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Deni is the poke pole queen man 5 mins. go by and she has already landed 3 eels. I finally get in the water and after doing a bit of fan casting I manage to land a nice rock fish.



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My dad was also trying to toss lures for some rock fish too. Throwing a 3 inch white power grub on a 1/8th ounce jig head he hooks into something that peels off about 30 yards of line from him and puts up one hell of a fight. After about a 5 min fight though the fish buries himself into the kelp and my dad's 4lb test line snapped when trying to pull him out of there. Damn the old man is crazy for trying that light line out here around all of these rocks and weeds.

My dad and I kept trying but we never got any more rockfish to bite, so I decided to put some squid on and join Deni in the search for the eels. I get there and she is catching more eels, small rock fish, and even some small crabs left and right.



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I on the other hand though with a half hour of trying I only managed one eel that was about 5 inches long. Not much to brag about. Deni was defiantly winning here.

While all of this was going on I had my crab hawk out to try and get some more crab to take home. I managed a few more red crab and this spider crab.



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Man these things are creepy looking. Everyone tells me you can eat them, but you know I just don't think he looks very appetizing. Back in the water he goes! I eventually try another spot with the crab hawk and I finally get a dungie! He ended up being like an 1/8th of a inch too short though. Damn, but hey! Good sign I know where they are at. I throw the trap back out in hopes of getting a keeper. While I was waiting on that I was bummed because I realized I might have just found the crab and the sun is going down and we have to leave soon.



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Some sunset shots.

Well I better hope I make the last few minutes count. I haul in my trap and pray for some keepers.



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This was all I got though



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Trap is full is dungies, but oh my god they are so small. Every time I brought the trap in it was full of these guys, and no keepers.

Kept trying, but never got a keeper. Guess I have to wait until the bigger guys move in closer before I can start getting them off of the jetty.

Got home and got all of the eels Deni caught out to clean em up.



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You know I absolutely love eating these guys I think they are delicious, but I am over cleaning them. Filleting them out and skinning them is a pain in the ass. Especially because they are so hardy they are usually alive after a 3 hour car ride home in the cooler full of ice, and I'll tell you they are not happy once you lay them down on the cutting board.

Still though great day on the water. Felt good to get some salt back into the system. I'll be looking out for when the crab move closer in until I come back though.

Day two 11/10/11

I had plans to do some moonlight fishing tonight with Deni, but what to do until then? Go fishing of course!!! Deni had school so I called up my friend Adam and asked if he wanted to go and see if the Stripers were biting. He of course said yes, so I packed up the toon and took of for the Sacramento Port.

Got on the water around 1200 and started setting up for my slow swimbait troll. While we were setting up I saw a boat troll right by us and land a 20 incher using a rebel. Good sign, should mean fish are on the chew. We get trolling a long I'm using my usual 5 inch white fish trap and Adam decided to try to troll a white bucktail jig with a 6 inch curly tail grub trailer. We get up to one of my land marks I usually always stick some fish at and Adam's rod doubles over and his drag starts singing. Fish on baby! Fish peels off 20 yards of line, I grab the net Adam gets him probably 10ft away from the boat, just out of sight, and the hook comes loose. Major disappointment. Knew it was a good fish too. Just wish we could have seen it though.

We make a few more passes throughout the same area, but we never get another bite. With Stripers not biting as well as I'd like I decide to head over to another area and try to salvage the afternoon with some black bass.

I get over to a small cove I think looks good. I start off with a texas rigged creature bait, just because thats what has always worked well for me here before, but I had a crank bait tied on another rod just to be ready, because I just had a feeling today might be a cranking day.

I toss the soft bait around for a while without a bite. I can see some weeds and water moving around though so I know there is fish in here. I pick up the crankbait and make a few cast in there. Sure enough second cast in I stick one.



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Adam switches over to a crankbait and we start going to town.



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A nice double we got



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aggressive little guy.

I even managed to get my shaker striper



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I ended up with 5 and one striper and Adam got 3. We ran out of fishable water due to weedy shallow water that crankbaits don't mix well with. I tried a fluke and some top water, but nothing else was working. We trolled back to the ramp for nothing else and called it a day from there.

Stripers weren't biting like I hoped, but man can't complain with the bassin action. Tons of fun.

Day 3 11/11/11 (or night 2 of 11/10/11)

I went to pick up Deni and with the full moon high up in the sky we were off to Amador for some night time fishing. Dropped the toon off at home and picked up the boat. Got on the water at 2200 and headed over towards the north shore. We got over to the shore and we started hearing fish jumping everywhere. Fish were jumping every 5 seconds and as close as 2 ft away from the boat. I was actually able spot light some trout cruising in the surface using my flash light. Very cool being able to see them out there cruising at night.

This time I remembered to get some glow in the dark jigs. Deni and I both were tossing em out at fish splashing close enough for us to cast too. Both of us were getting bites here and there I ended up losing one within the first 30 mins of us being there. With my second rod I decided to throw out some powerbait under a bobber just to increase my chances a little bit. I cast the rod out, put it in the rod holder, pick up my other rod, and once I turn away from my bait rod I hear the drag on it singing. Hot damn I've got a fish on already. Atleast I know powerbait will work.



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Shortly after Deni manages to stick one on the glow jig



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We keep at it missing some here and there. Deni manages one more on the jig and I get one more on power eggs.

0130 rolls around and were both exhausted. I take the boat to the back of the lake we toss out some bait rods and catch some ZZZ's. It drizzled on us a little bit, but other then that it was a beautiful night.

Morning came around and since I had the boat I had to see what jackson looked like. Went back saw the water was even lower then the last time I went. Turned around and took off. I wanted to try some trolling, but with it being a holiday there must have been another 20 boats out on the water and I didn't feel like dealing with them, so I decided to pull the boat out of the water and just fish off of the dam for a little bit.

Saw my friend Jay and his girl friend down there fishing so we decided to join them. They said the had a few on bait, but nothing much yet. Deni took notice to all of the bluegills hanging around the dam and I told her I could set her up to catch them if she wanted. Sure enough she did so I gave here a size 12 hook with a small piece of a power worm on the end of it and she went to town on the blue gills.



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Nothing really big, but she had a blast catching dozens of these guys. I tried throwing jigs and floating some powerbait on the surface. I get a few hits on the powerbait, but I never stuck anything. Kept fishing until about 1200 and decided to head home from there.

Never got any trout in the morning, but going out at night was a blast.

It was a great night on the water and has been a great three days of fishing from sea to lake. Couldn't ask for anything better. Back to work 2maro, will have to push though the next grind till my next day(s) off.

Till next time Guys
Mark

Amador Again 11/1/11

My dad is back from vacation and has been dieing to get back out fishing with all of the pictures I've been sending him from my Amador trips. We slept in and got on our usual late start. On the water at 1430 fishing off of the dam. First cast with my jig I get a chaser and he hits my jig 4 times, but I couldn't stick him. My dad tossed out his J-7 Rapala and ended up getting one on his 3rd cast.

We kept going on and my dad made quick work with his Rapala getting or losing one every 5 or 10 mins. I on the other hand could only get chasers and short strikes. After a few hours I couldn't stick any trout and I just felt like I lost my mojo and it just wasn't my day. I found some mosquito hooks in my tackle bag so I threw one on and went to see if I could find and catch some shad to try for live bait. I couldn't get any shad but bluegills were plentiful.



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I didn't think the trout would hit a bluegill but it was worth a shot, and hey maybe I might get a bass. I saw a school of trout swim by and I tossed the bluegill in the middle of them. The second it hit the water I thought the bluegill was fighting a little harder then usual. I looked in the water and I saw a bass down there munching on my bluegill. I opened up my spool and let em have it. I looked at my dad and said watch this. With my Ultra light rod 2lb test and everything free lining a bluegill and I get this small largemouth



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Not trout but hey I am not skunked and man was it fun.

Sun started going down and I noticed the trout started boiling on the surface instead of their usual jumping. Seeing this I decided to just float some powerbait on the surface and I tossed a glowbug out on my fly rod and just floated it on top. Sure enough the trout were all over it. I was getting rises on either rod every minute. Unfortunatly 80% of all of the rises the trout were missing the bait. Way cool just to watch though. Its just like top water for trout!

I ended up getting 2 on my powerbait. I never connected on my fly rod.

Ended the night there after the fish stopped rising. Got home and cleaned up our catch.



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Will make up a good fish fry.

Not my best day at Amador, but probably had the most fun today with the bluegills, bass, and rising trout. I ended up with 2 missed idk how many hits, my dad caught 3 lost 5 and also missed countless hits. Good to be fishing with my dad again, even though he kicked my ass today . . . . . always good to get on the water.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Late Night at Amador

My buddy Garrett asked me if a doing a night trip out to Amador would be a good idea or not. I told him it would be an amazing idea. He got his dad to take him out and I headed out there after work. Unfortunately when I got off of work my truck wouldn't start due to a dead battery. Absolutely wonderful. I called one of my other friends up and I said hey man I'll make you a deal. Come and jump my truck for me and I'll pay for a day license for you and take you out fishing with me to Lake Amador. Fair deal right? Well he was all over it. He rushed down to help me out we got my truck going grabbed the fishing gear and took off.

I got on the water around 2230 and Garrett was already on his way out. He left with one bluegill and a miss trout on a glow jig. I saw another 5 people out on the dock and all of them had stringers with at least 2 trout on them so it couldn't have been too slow. I set up with some powerbait under a bobber for myself and my friend Dana. I'm setting up a jig on my other rod and as I get it tied on I pick up my powerbait rod just to reel up the slack and as I pick it up I feel my rod bending over. I set the hook and get my first one within the first 5 mins. of the night. Two minutes later I head Dana say "Oh $@!%" He sets the hook and has his first fish. Then by the time I get his fish on the stringer I see my rod going off again. Hot damn were on fire!!!



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Barely 10 mins. into the evening and we already have three. Sure enough though with all of the commotion going on between us four guys come walking over and they cast their bobbers right on top of me. I mean come on man is that really necessary? There are fish jumping everywhere out here. Needless to say after they came over the bite shut down on me. Dana got tired and ran up to the truck to catch some ZZZ's.

A bit later I hear a fish jump fairly close to me so I cast my powerbait towards it and sure enough 30 seconds later I get my third one. I tried jigging under the lights while I was waiting between bites and I ended up getting short striked by some bluegills I'm sure, but never stuck anything. I saw one guy get his limit and some of trout fishing a glow in the dark jig trying for crappie. Need glow jigs next time.

I stuck it out until 0330. Ended up getting one more for a total of 4 fish for me and I missed a couple of others. Around 0300 the wind picked up and man it got cold. I wanted to stick it out for my 5th one, but I decided 4 was a good enough night for me.



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Tonight's line up.

Been a long time since I've done a night trip. Forgot how nice and relaxing it was to be able just sit down catch some fish and do a bit of star gazing. Wish my phone could take a picture of the starts for you guys, but needless to say camera phones aren't that good yet.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Lake Amador 10/24/11

Addicted to slamador right now had to get back out to get my trout fix in. Brought a new fishing partner with me today. Brought a friend of mine Adam. Cool to get to fish with him, we actually were both in the fly fishing club in High School together, where we both learned how to fly fish. Cool to get on the water with him. Adam has never been to Amador before and his biggest trout he has ever caught before was probably around 12 inches. We had to fix that. Walked down and fished the south side of the dam today. Got on the water around 1530 and saw fish jumping everywhere.

I got to the water and stuck my first fish on my second cast.



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Average fish so far this season. I went on to get a fish here and there and missed fish left and right. Lots of fish cruising around that would just short strike my jig. Stuck with the red and white color today.

Adam was trying various Rapala's and getting lots of chasers, but he couldn't get one to commit. He kept switching up lures to get something to work for him. He found a mep's spinner in his box that he tried and stuck his first cut bow on.



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His biggest trout ever too. New PB for Adam.

I eventually convinced him to throw one of my jigs on and try that. He went on to catch a half a dozen bluegills, but no more trout. We fished until Sundown and decided to call it a day from there. I managed to land 4, lose 3 and miss many more.



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Our line up of the day.

Another great day on the water. Can't wait for the next.

Till Next Time
Mark

Solo Run to Amador 10/19/11

Had plans to take some people out with me today, but they all canceled, so I decided to go alone today. On my way up to the lake I saw their planting board was the same as last week. In fear of them not planting I stopped at the top of the dam and just took 5 minutes to look for surface activity. In 5 minutes I must have seen 15 trout jump, so I said good enough. Went and paid for my pass, good to go. I talked to the lady at the cafe and she told me they were planting 1,000lbs of fish everyday this week monday through friday. Definitely promising to hear.

Parked on the Dam and got my first line wet around 1400. Using my usual crappie jigs. Started off with a red one today. I decided to use a 1/16th ounce head instead of my usual 1/32nd just to get added distance so I would have a chance at more fish. I stood up on the dam about 20ft back from the water not to spook fish and to have a higher vantage point to look down on the fish. Found an area where I saw fish constantly cruising and made camp. Tossing at fish after fish hoping one will come by that is willing to bite and wont ignore my jig. As always a lot are still in shock or just flat out have lockjaw. Typical Amador.

After a while I found a few chasers and I finally connected with one.



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Cutbow #1

After a while I thought the fish were just not liking this color as much so I switched to blue. Immediately started getting more attention. After a short period of time I ended up losing two. Both did the same thing. They bumped jig on the same rock on the shore when I went to grab them and knocked my jig with a barbless hook right out of their mouth and the took off to live another day. Bummer

After a while again I felt like the fish were losing interest with my jig so I switched over to a green one. Sure enough I got more attention with this color and then got my second fish.



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Trout in the death grip.

I kept trying and missed hits here and there. I would get a bite and swing for the hookset and the fish would spit the hook before I made contact with it. I walked all up and down the dam looking for more fish that would bite, but the sun was setting the dam was casting shade over the water making it harder for me to see the fish cruising by. I decided to walk over and try off of the dock where I landed one more.

After that it got dark and I decided to call it day.

Ran up to the cleaning station to make sure I didn't make a mess of this at home.



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Today's Line-up

All in all I had to work a lot harder for my fish today, I should have had my limit, but it still felt great to get out on the water. Still waiting for them to start stocking some bigger fish, but these guys are a lot of fun for now.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

West Carson River 10/17/11

Decided to get up to the hill on the hunt for some trout and wanted to go and look at the beautiful fall colors the sierra's has to offer. Went up 50 to 89 to avoid all of the construction thats going on on 88 right now. They are still blasting rocks up there and thats about a 3 hour delay I didn't want to sit in. Made it on the water at 1000 though and got too see some awesome scenery.



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Love this country.

We first stopped at the 89 bridge first to see what was going on. Saw about a school of a dozen fish swimming around the area with a few fisherman casting at them. I asked around and no one could catch anything. We decided to walk up river to see if there were any more fish willing to bite. Walked up and found a few fish here and there. Manged to get one each. I was tossing a powerworm on the Fly rod and Deni was throwing a green crappie jig. Nothing else was happening here though so we took off to the next bridge.

We found fish around the next 88 bridge. Some here and there, but they were really pressured and didn't want to bite much.



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After a while we figured out that the only fish that were willing to bite would be the ones hiding in the protection of the shadows under the bridge. If you had a chaser though they would not chase the lure into the light. Deni called them Vampire fish haha.

After trying for about 2 hours I managed to land 5 here though and Deni got 4.

In search of better action we left for hope valley hoping this area hadn't been pressured as much from the weekenders. We walk up to the water to find this.



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Couple hundred DFG planters all just schooled up in a ball. I tried my power worm for a long time, but they had no interest with it. Mean while Deni was slamming them on her jig.



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Little bendo action.



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Deni with an averaged sized fish of the day.

So with that I put the sissy stick down and grabbed my spinning rod and threw a jig out there. Immediately I started getting hit.



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Decent fish for me.

We continued on to catch fish after fish here on every other cast. Throwing em all back just having a good time. After an hour of throwing jigs, they got into enough of a feeding frenzy I could pick my fly rod back up and get them on the PW. We stayed here for about 4 hours just slaying and having a good time. Some people who were camping there came by and asked us "Whats your secret? Several people have been trying for these fish all day and haven't caught anything." Guess sometimes you just got to have the right lure. They also told me there were some kids there earlier throwing rocks into the water. Sure that didn't help.

We tried all kinds of colors on the jigs, green, black, blue, white, several shades of yellow, every color I had in the box it didn't matter it all worked.

After catching a releasing over 100 fish between the two of us. We decided we had our fun and it was time to go home. Neither of us was keeping count though so we had to declare a winner some how, so I said, "Ok Deni lets keep some, first one to 5 wins." Sounded like a fair challenge and it was on. The race was neck and neck the whole time, but I ended up winning. Close race though and she is catching on fast.

Got home I cooked up a nice fish fry for Deni's family



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Good way to get on her parent's good side

Great day on the water with my girl, caught lots of fish and had a great time. Can't wait for the next.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

First Crack at Lake Amador

With the word out that Amador started stocking their legendary Cutbows I wanted to get out there and get my first few of the season. My good friend Mike is moving to Georgia in a few days, so I had to take him fishing with me one more time before he took off across the country. His first time to Amador, I promised him trout bigger then what he has caught up in sierra's with me before.

We got on the water around 1100, decided to take the boat out. I've still got a free boat use I won in the derby from last season so I put it to good use and saved a bit of $. Got on the water and first things first, I had to go and check out Jackson creek. There is nothing like fishing for those monster Cutbows in a small stream.

We get back there and man this time of year that water is low. Had to park the boat back a lot further then usual and walk in. Didn't see a lot of fish right off the bat, but these guys were everywhere!!!



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I didn't really feel like swimming today or man it would have been easy pickings for a nice crawdad boil.

We keep looking and we find about 4 fish just at the mouth of the stream. They weren't real interested in biting at first, but we were persistent. Mike was trying for one fish that after 20 mins. of trying to get to bite ended up short striking his green crappie jig multiple times, but it never committed to it and Mike could never connect. I found one though that took me 15 mins. of trying for, but I ended up getting em.



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First Cutbow of the season baby! Got him on a white crappie jig.

After that there was nothing else there worth trying for so we took off. We did a short troll out of Jackson to the Spillway area of the lake. I trolled a kastmaster and Mike had a pin minnow on.



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Half way across the lake my rod doubles over and I was thinking alright number 2 on the board for me! Then I get the fish closer and realize its a green carp!



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Not what I wanted, but still a cool catch. This has happened to me so much this year. Catching bass while trolling for trout in the middle of the lake, and it still blows my mind. Never in my life would I be looking for bass on the surface of the lake in 50ft of water, but hey it still puts a bend in the rod get the blood pumping.

We troll the rest of the way for nothing. Once we reach the north bank I pull the trolling rods in and we just scan the banks for cruising fish. I stick with my jig and Mike tries a Gold Kastmaster. I find a cove with fish jumping everywhere in it. I just needed to get within casting distance. Before I knew it I had the boat on top of a school of about 50 fish. I drop my jig right in the middle of them, and not one even takes a second look. Mike throws his Kastmaster through them and gets a few chasers. We keep casting and not to long into it Mike hooks up with his first Amador Cutbow.



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He really didn't want to hold the fish, so I held it for him.

Mike kept getting followers and short strikes here and there, so to fix my problem instead of switching lures I decided to change colors. I switched from white to red and white. A color I normally use when the water is a bit more stained. Sure enough though we get back on the school and I start getting fish.

We continued throughout the day scanning the whole north bank of the lake looking for schools and chasing them when we found them. Mike switched over to a green jig and started getting more bites. Most fish actually had lock jaw on us, but we found the ones that wanted to bite.

Got off of the water by 1730 with our limit.



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The Carnage

Not the biggest fish Amador has to offer, but man it was awesome to get back to that lake and do my UL sight fishing. Hopefully there will be more and bigger fish to come.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark