Amador Coming Up 3/23/12

With the recent rains we've been having I've been wanting to check out how Amador is looking with the water level on the rise. All of that water coming into the lake I could only think of one thing, and that was Jackson Creek. On the way I noticed the water clarity is terrible. Only maybe a foot and a half maybe 2ft. On they way to Jackson I tried trolling grubs and a wooly bugger on my fly rod. Deni got one hit on a Fire Tiger grub, but that was it. When we got back into the creek the water cleared up to crystal clear water.

If anyone goes back here be careful there was lots of this around.

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Poison Oak everywhere man. Not fun to deal with.

In the creek I saw several fish swimming around, but man were they skiddish. I tossed a fly around for a while and Deni threw a jig. I had one hit and we both had a few chasers, but fish weren't committing. I knew I could get something to hit, but I needed something else. I decided to try tossing a pink power worm off of the fly rod. Trout just can't resist it man. I tossed it out and before I knew it I just saw a big swirl and my worm was gone. Hooked into my first fish of the day and got the skunk off.

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I ended up losing one more fish here, but that was it. There were fish here, but not very many. With the power worm working I decided to troll that around on my fly rod instead of a fly, with the stained water I figured the brighter the color the better. We made our way to Mountain springs to see how that was doing. On the way my power worm got slammed and I hooked into a pig. After a nice long and fun fight on the fly rod I landed this 9lb beast.

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and he has a tag!!!

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Double score.

We trolled around in mountain springs for one more fish that Deni hooked into on her grub.

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That was it for today. Really slow, but man that one fish made it worth it. Water clarity needs to clear up a bit and once that does I'm sure the trout bite will be back on again.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Lodi Bike Ride 3/19/12

Had some time before work today and with my new bike I got I've been wanting to check out some local water. Local for me though is 8 miles away. I wanted to check out Lodi Lake and parts of the Moke. 40 min bike ride from my house I got to the Woodbridge dam around 1050. I had heard rumors that people catch shad around here when they are in the system.

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The dam

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My bike.

The water seemed really shallow here, I did see a sucker fish swimming around but nothing else that I could go for. I took off from there to go and check out Lodi Lake. I really had no idea what was in here, besides bass. I figured I would just fan cast a swimbait all over the lake and if there were bass I would get at least one. I just really wanted to explore today more then anything.

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Working the shore line for a bit I manage to get a hit and stick my first fish in Lodi!

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That fish made me so happy, I really wasn't planning on catching much of anything today I just wanted to explore. This fish I thought was defiantly a bonus. I keep working the bank and I get another hit and I stuck a fish that had some shoulders on him.



This guy must have been around 4lbs and sure as heck made my day.

I worked as much bank as I could just slow rolling my swimbait around everywhere talking to people as I went. Lots of people here I noticed fishing for carp and steel head which I thought was pretty cool. I saw one kid with a bucket full of some decent sized sucker fish and I saw one guy land a 20lb carp on a night crawler.

I worked more and more water for one more fish.

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Decided to head home around 1400 with the mind set of a successful day. On my way home right as I passed over the Woodbridge dam I noticed my back tire on my bike went flat. Crap, called my dad and had him come and pick me up. Made it home fine and happy I made the trip down to Lodi. Have to get the bike fixed and try it again soon. I want to try the Moke more for stripers and maybe shad when they come around.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Bodega Bay 3/17/12

With all the rain we've been having most places to fish near me have slowed down a bit, I looked at the forecast and it said it was gonna be sunny in bodega so I decided thats where I wanted to spend my day off. Took the girl friend down with me on the long 2 hour + drive. I wanted to try for the whole trick today, Rockfish, eels, crabs, and clams. We arrive to my usual poke pole area around 1300 and man, I know Bodega is known for being windy, but omg today the wind was beyond ridiculous.

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Deni in the wind

The wind made tossing lures extremely difficult and poke poling hard as well. Controlling your line keeping the right amount of sensitivity on it to feel your lure, plugging today just wasn't gonna happen for me. I tried drop shotting and soaking some squid for a while, but never had any luck with it.

Deni pushed through though and ended up getting a few eels.

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I ended up just throwing out my crab hawks and trying for some dungies.

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This is what I got most of the time.

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Red are good too though.

While I was waiting on the crab hawks I thought I would try to dig for some clams. I realized earlier I had forgotten to bring a shovel, so I didn't plan on clamming, but the rock fish wont bite so this is what I'm doing.

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Digging in the sand with my bare hands, but persistence and hard work pays off!!!

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I spent the next two hours digging in the sand looking for clams, and man oh man am I paying for it. The sad is littered with very sharp broken clam shells and between those and the sand itself my hands have cuts and scrapes all over them. Heck me typing and writing this report actually hurts. I do it for you guys though! haha.

Now for any other clammers out there I need to ask for some help and advice, besides bring a shovel next time. My batting average was terrible. I would probably find one clam for every 10 or 15 holes I dug. I would find these guys more often then not.

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If I would have known I was gonna find that many I would have kept them, but I didn't, next time. The only way I knew that there was a clam down there for sure is if I just watched the beach and looked for water shooting out of a hole and that I knew was a clam for sure. Is there another way though to tell if there is a clam down there or not? That way I don't spend as much time wasting energy on too many holes for no rewards.

Second I need a better recipe for cooking these guys, and what parts I can or can't eat. I fried up the ones I got and it was good but really really chewy. Any help with that would be great thanks guys.

With digging for clams and checking my crab hawks every 20 mins or so I stayed busy throughout the afternoon. I ended up getting my limit around 1700 and just in time cause the tide was coming in on my and covering my stomping grounds.

My catch of the day.

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My Clams and 3 dungies I caught.

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4 red crabs for the day

Ended our day there. Fishing could have been better, but if it was I never would have gotten my clams. Had a blast experienced something new today and I can't wait to go back and try it again.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark