Bassing with Dad 4/24/14

Ran back to my new discovered lake with my Dad to target bass and try to show him the

crappie bite I discovered. Got a late start to the lake and dropped the tin can in just after 1400. Ran back to the area's that were working for me before, but most of them are now 5 ft above the water, water level is dropping fast. Fish were still around though. I started off throwing my jerkbait around and it was still working. Didn't take too long for me to get the skunk off.

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Nothing huge but catching fish is always fun. My dad was looking for a bigger bite as always tossing spinnerbaits and bigger worms trying to find something that was really picture worthy. He was hooking fish fairly consistently, but didn't quite get the bite he was looking for.

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Weather was pretty rough today with the storm moving in. We were battling with the wind all day, but with a nice over cast sky above I put my jerk bait away and started throwing a spook to fill my top water fix.

Even in the choppy weather I was still getting blow ups and having success on the spook.

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After getting a few fish on the spook I put it down and busted out my sissy stick and I threw a popper fly I've been wanting to try for a while. Pre-front conditions were rough to fish in, but the fish were biting and they were hitting hard and they loved the fly.

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Spent the rest of the day going to town on the smaller just barely legal sized fish on the fly.

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When the wind got too rough we trolled Rapala's around and did managed putting 4 crappie in the box up to 14 inches and missed/lost a few others all in about an hour of trolling for them. Weather started drizzling on us and the wind was only getting stronger as the evening progressed so we threw in the towel around 1930 calling it a great day. Always awesome getting on the water with pops.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Crappie Trolling, Camping 4/16-4/17

I got invited on a short over night camping trip with a friend of a friend and had the free time so I said why not lets go. Left Wednesday morning at 0630 to get there just after 0900. Lake was windy as ever so we took our time setting up camp and

play a few rounds of Bocci ball and disc golf to kill some time before the winds calmed down so I could get on the water. I brought the tin can and my friend Dustin told me before I came up it was an electric motor only lake so without my main motor its hard to fight the wind in my boat. Early afternoon the winds calmed down enough to get on the water. Started off trying to troll for trout, dragged flies and powerworms across the surface since I've been seeing what looked like trout jumping for the past couple of hours. Trolled about a half mile without a hit and I started getting closer to an area I wanted to bass fish so we pulled the lines in an switched gears.

This is one of the weirdest lakes I've been to, the entire area has very little trees and the lake it self has no vegetation at all in it and virtually has no cover in it what so ever for bass. With seeing that I figured I would just work points because that's the only thing fish out here can relate to. I started off throwing a shallow diving sexy shad crankbait, figured with the conditions I have covering a lot of water faster would be the way to go until I find something consistent. Adam tossed a custom made senko he put a 1/2 ounce jig head on and a small Colorado blade on the back of it, pretty cool looking bait actually. Second point we hit I was first to strike with a 3lber that I lost boat side. Next point Adam and I hit a short flurry sticking 3 shorts within 2 mins. No more wanted to play hear so we jetted for our next point.

The next point is maybe 100 yards away and I don't have my main motor on me so I could just jet over there real quick. The area is shallow enough while were headed over there we just tossed our lines out and trolled them over, you never know. Sure enough a 1/4 of the way there my crankbait gets hammered. Reeled him in expecting a largemouth I see a fat crappie with my crankbait down its mouth! This guy is about 13 inches long too. One of the biggest crappie I've ever caught. Ok, that was awesome lets keep going. Lines back out get moving again and same rod gets hammered and I pull a 14 inch crappie into the boat. Ok this is insane let's see, one's a fluke, two's a theory, hopefully three will be a pattern? Kept trolling and Adam's senko get nailed and he pulls in a PB crappie for himself. Got to the point I wanted to bass fish and said screw em. Turned around and trolled back through that lane again. Tied a small lipless crank on my trout rod and Adam down sized a smaller crankbait. Made 3 more passes for 3 more crappie landed and several lost with even more HNS. The entire time I though about casting an drifting jigs through em, but I wasn't about to stop a pattern that was working. Made our way back to camp afterwards to relay the news and get some food before I go back out for the evening bite.

Couple hours before sunset my friend Brian joins me in the tin can for this run. I tried running deeper and faster trolling Rapala's and spoons for trout again real quick, but nearly everywhere I tried I was dragging bottom trolling a dodger or my jet diver. I don't think I ever got into more then 15 ft of water. Gave up on that pretty quick and went to what I know was working. Trolled the same area with my crankbait and a pin minnow looking for the crappie again. Same school I was on moved off and wasn't home this time. Kept working the shore line till I found an area with several point and rocky shore different from the sand and mud everywhere else on the lake. Right before we pulled lines in to throw for bass we stuck a crappie on the crankbait. I gave Brian the crankbait hoping that would be my best bait wanting him to catch more fish since he isn't really a fisherman and doesn't do this much. I threw a jerkbait on and we worked the shoreline.

Anywhere with rocks and/or a point we were picking up fish, well I was anyways. The fish were loving the jerkbait and I was consistently getting fish from 1-3lbs. Brian wasn't getting any love on the crankbait but he was persistent to stick with it. Sun got lower and we started hitting shady shorelines and the second I saw that I tied a spook on to get my top water fix in. Seemed like the second I did that and when we got into our low light zones not only did I get plenty of action on the spook, but Brian started getting hits on his crank bait. Reaction baits on rocks or points was my pattern and we were working it good. Brian even managed to stick a 15 inch crappie casting the crankbait while we were working the shore.

Now that the sun is setting and the wind has calmed down I can see all of the fish that I've seen jumping over the past few hours. The whole day something about it didn't seem right to me and then I finally saw it, they are all carp. The lake is literally infested with them, You couldn't tell if it was windy or if its just carp cruising the surface doing their spawning thing. I'm not joking when I say I saw thousands of them, especially after the sun went down.

We stayed out till the very last bit of light slamming bass on points and catching crappie while trolling to each and everyone of them. Caught around 20+ bass and several crappie between the two of us before we headed in.

Next morning woke up nice and early to do it again. To finish the rotation off Dustin, the man who has introduced me to this lake, joined me for the morning session which he was sure to call dibs on. We threw spooks and frogs first thing getting plenty of hits on both. The second the sun hit the water though our top water party was over. I switched back to my jerkbait and Dustin tried working a fluke. Same pattern, same area still produced fish. As far as the bass went we never got anything huge, average size being about 1 1/2-2lbs biggest being about 3 and our crappie still ranged from 12-15 inches. I did see several other boat on the lake running on their main motors jumping up on plain shooting across the lake, Pretty sure I was fed mis information unless everyone out here is just disregarding the law. No matter though I was still doing great with what I had.

Headed back in to make up a feast of fried fish for lunch. On the way back Dustin some how managed to get two catfish trolling a F-7 Rainbow pattern Rapala trolling in the middle of the lake. I thought the crappie was weird, but now catching catfish on the troll? You could say this lake had me baffled. I know channels are aggressive enough to chase bait and hit plugs, but its not something I see everyday.

Our catch we kept for over the two days minus 7 other crappie that got cleaned prior to the photo.

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I don't usually keep bass, but I tend to keep more fish when I'm camping. Really adds to the living off of the land aspect for me and providing for yourself. Plus I've been on a few trips where we either completely forgot to bring food or just don't have a lot and that's where being a decent fisherman saves your ass.

Got everything cleaned up for lunch and sat back and enjoyed the rest of the day.

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Always great to have help with filleting fish out, especially when we have a good haul like this trip.

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I did notice several of these fish has sores on them from lampreys, usually a dead give away that they exist in the lake. Be cool if I could find out how to trap them for sturgeon bait.

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Had a fantastic trip to a new lake I've never been too. I'm sorry I don't normally hold out on any details from you guys, but this is a place I would rather not disclose the location and name of. A beautiful place that I know some people know about but it seemed like not many fisherman know much about. Only explanation to me on how these crappie get are so freaking big, because I didn't see much in the lake as far as bait goes. Besides in the campgrounds I didn't see a single piece of trash or even a foot print along the shoreline of the rest of the lake. Really refreshing change of pace. If your dying to know send me a message and maybe we can go back together some time.

PB crappie all around, good fishing in general, and just a great time with friends, can't ask for more. Sorry I didn't take more pictures I had to make sure my phone didn't die so I didn't have it on me while I was out in the boat.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Poke Poling 101

Poke Poling

-What is it?
Poke poling is a style of fishing where you target various species of fish, usually rock fish or monkey faced eels inside and under rocks during the low tide. This sport can be a lot of fun and is usually very easy so it can be a fun sport for beginners or kids and even the experienced fisherman. Before we get too into this please be cautious while doing this. Depending on where your fishing this is something that is very easy to get your head and vision looking down and not paying attention to what's around you. My dad always told m as a kid, never turn your back on the ocean. All it takes is one good wave to catch you off guard to knock off the rocks and then next thing you know you swimming and at the mercy of the currents there are areas where you don't have to worry about these hazards where you can fish, but it is always something to keep in mind.

-What do you need?
Gear for this is very basic, depending on where you are fishing a different rod may be preferable. For small rocks, and even some small tidal pool areas you can use a medium/light to a medium fishing rod length is whichever you prefer, but I would suggest something between 6'6" and 7'6" for easier manageability. If you're in an area with bigger rocks with deeper hiding hole such as jetty you may want to get into more traditional poke poles. A lot of them are and can be home made. A piece of live bamboo or something as simple as a broom stick can work. The purpose of using this over a fishing rod is you're shoving this rod into holes that can be more than 10ft deep and doing this with your conventional gear can cause broken eyes, snapped rod tips, or even damage to your reel being banged against the rocks. It just saves your other gear, since they're aren't any eyes on

**Internal Linking (Threads)

of bamboo to break and if it breaks they are cheap materials to obtain and easy to come by. A coat hanger wrapped around the end with your steel leader attached to that is the most common way of making your stick into a fishing rod. Extendable rods are sold in many stores as well for this purpose if you don't want to go the home made route.

With your line don't be afraid to go too big. The fish might not be huge and be able to snap your line on their own, but eels especially have a really good grip on the rocks and they will rub your line raw against the rocks. 20+ lb mono would be preferable or a steel leader would probably be best.

Hook size can vary depending on the type of and average size of the fish in your area, this is where you're going to have to do a little homework in the area your planning on fishing on. I personally fish an area where its full of mostly monkey faced eels averaging on the smaller size so I like to use size 6 octopus or bait hooks. Some areas hold bigger eels and even nice sized rockfish so you can upgrade to a size 2 or even up to a 1/0 or a 2/0 hook. Going into a new area though I would try to stay with something on the smaller size like a size 2 or 4 hook.

As for bait, I have seen people try with plastic grubs before, but I have never heard of artificial baits doing well. The most common and probably the best bait to get is squid. Cut off small chunks just big enough to cover the hook and your good to go. Shrimp would also be a good bait to try if you are looking to expand on your bait selections.

-Low Tide is Key
You need to check your charts and know when the low tide in your area is. Look for a day with a minus tide which would be the best, but some areas can still be productive with tides that are at least close to zero. If you look at your tides and the low tide is only going to be 1.68 ft that day, your probably gonna be better off staying at home or fishing somewhere else. You can still catch fish on higher tides but your holes you want to get to are going to be harder to access and fish will be a lot more spread out making them harder to find and getting bites will be much more of a challenge. Obviously this means your only going to have a particular window of time to do this, watch the tide and again watch your back. Mother nature is unforgiving if you don't respect her.

-How To
Now you got everything together and your at the right place at the right time the rest is just simple fun. Look in and around the rocks either at or just above or below the water line and try to find small openings in the rocks. Don't underestimate how small of an opening you might find something in. I have found 18 inch eels hiding in hole that have an opening no bigger then a nickle. If you can get your bait in there give it a shot you never know.

Find your opening, drop your bait in, and if something is there you should get bit immediately, so give it about 30 seconds in a spot or so then move on. Try to make sure your bait gets as far back into the hole as possible though before moving on. Watch your line as much as you can, you can usually see it get tight and move frantically when you get a bite. If your not sure if you have a bite or not just apply some very light tension to the line so you can feel your bait and if he is there you'll feel him munching on the other end. You can give the fish a couple seconds to really swallow the bait to allow a good hook set and then pull back hard they are pretty tough fish and you want to hook them good.

Eels especially are incredibly strong. Never assume after a hookset that your snagged, those eels will use their tail to latch on to the rocks and I've even seen them lifting the rocks up with them as I'm pulling them out. If you've set the hook and you can't pull anymore and you think you have a snag, let off pressure just a little bit and if its a fish you'll feel him pull you back further into the rocks and if that's the case just keep pulling and try to win that game of tug o war. Sometimes if the rocks are small enough to move with your hands you can get a friend to come over and move some rocks around which will free the eels grip and he'll come out. Yes I have seen it take that much before to pull an eel out of the rocks before.

Be persistent and never give up. Everything above is pretty much all you need to know about poke poling. Besides good fun why do we do this? Rockfish most people obviously know are great table fair, but the monkey faced eels are too. Bigger eels can be filleted out and skinned just like any other fish and I personally love cutting the fillets into bite sized chunks and dipping them in beer batter and fried up. I usually do the same with my rock fish and enjoy it all together.

I don't consider myself a poke pole expert so if anyone out there reads this and sees something I'm missing please feel free to let me know and add to. There are many different video's on Youtube of people doing this if you want to see someone doing all of this rather then just reading about it. I hope this helps anyone who didn't exactly know to or what poke poling even was and/or taught something new to someone who has already done this before. One other tip or trick to consider, if the current and ways are causing too much movement in the water for you to control you bait well enough to get it into the particular spot you want you can use a small 1/32 or 1/16th ounce jig head instead of a regular J hook. This is something my girlfriend usually does when the current gets ripping. I'm sure a steel leader will help with that or a split shot right above the hook will do the same as well.

Hope This Helps
Mark

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.