Bass Fishing Hogan 11/9/14

My brother and I went fishing Hogan today, this was my first tip up to Hogan. But with only a $4 launch fee, I will be coming up more often. Water temp was 62* and stained two-three feet visibility. Had the lake to our self, three other boaters, and two kayakers. We pulled up and with in the first three cast we had our first bite a nice 5lbs bass, and we followed it up with 4 more keepers, we moved along the bank, throwing jigs, gitzits and spybait. We caught 17 fish 2 stripers and 3 small mouth. But one bass that looked a little hybrid like* (Small mouth & Spotted bass).

Stealthy Livetarget Hollow Body Frog Fishing on a Stand Up Paddle Board ...

If I loose a few pounds this could be my next adventure but have to say there is some great footage of bass blowing up on a frog.

Spybait

I have talked a lot about the SpyBait in my blog but I have not got around to making a YouTube video out it yet but want my followers to have a good grasp on the spybait so I created a story line for my followers. I found some footage from my GoPro of me hooking up a bluegill while trolling.

Applying new techniques to kayak fishing

Over the course of the last year 2014 I have really gotten back into bass fishing both from a boat and from a kayak. As a result of this not only have I change how I fish but I'm trying to be better at with multiple techniques. This summer instead of throwing a spinner bait, I have thrown a bladed swim jig. The second change I made was when I would usually use a drop shot I am now using the spybait. Lastly I no longer just target one species of fish (Black bass, largemouth bass, spotted bass, & smallmouth bass) I now fish for multi species.

I am still working with throwing large walking baits from Black Dog Bait Company and Delta Wood Bombers, Alabama rigs, large wait baits from Jackall and Black Dog Bait Company. These baits created a tremendous drag or pull on the kayak when not anchored. 

 

How easily one can forget

I can remember the early days of my childhood fishing with both my parents out of their bass boat. Flipping a black ring tailed worms with chartreuse tail or salt-and-pepper ring worm with chartreuse tail at tuleys on the California Delta.  But looking back at it now I probably haven't done that once in the last12 years and I'm 35 now. In fact I don't even own either one of those worms currently, I would have to dig through some old Plano tackle boxes or ziplock bags to find them in my parents garage.  It is not so much that baits won't work anymore it just some new technique have come along that works.

It's funny how quickly people forget the baits of yesteryears for the new fad bait, I am no exception to this.

I'm thinking about going and digging up some of those worms and giving them a try again. 

Hope you do the same, good luck and tight lines. 

California Delta 10/13/14

Went out Monday to the California Delta launch by Herman & Helens and paddled with the incoming tide, towards disappointed.  The bite is red hot, I caught 25 fish for the day no size but four different species striped bass, black bass, bluegill and carp. The Water Hyacinthis so thick it took me almost 15 minutes to go the last 45' to the ferry boat landing. I threw the Delta wood bomber in the early morning, switched to the donkey rig with white flukes when in sun came up, and trolled a ghost minnow iprop spybait. There's lots of bait in the water so anything you throw that resembles shad should work well. Good luck and tight lines.

Two trips to Rancho Seco

My son and I have gone out to Rancho Seco the last two Sunday.  Both trips I have taken my bass fishing gear and my bluegill fishing gear. We have had on a very good bluegill bite, but the bass fishing has been a little tougher. I have not seen as many bass or bluegill up cruising the shallows they seem to be starting to move a little deeper getting ready for winter.  I've tried some deep diving crank baits some spybaits some jigs but no luck the last few times out for bass. I think my next trip I'll take out a Texas rig plastic warm and and Alabama rig just to see if I can get some big girls to bite. 

3rd Stop for Delta Kayak Bass series

This was the 3rd and final stop for Delta Kayak Bass Series out of Tower Park Marina. Takeoff was at 6:30 and what a great day for kayak bass fishing. With Nick the informative fisherman and his camera man on site I did not hesitate to hook up with two dinks right off the bat. I continue drifting with the current throwing up current with my Spiderbait and I caught a number of dinks one bluegill. As I near the end of the bank I switched over to a chatter bait and caught my first keeper of the day just barely going to 13 inches.

 I paddled across the way and fish the small island to catching five dinks on the spy bait and my Shellcracker G2. I made my way back up the canal towards the highway twelve side of Tower Park. Along the way I caught a second bluegill and three more dinks, as I entered the Terminous I switched to a black with red flake Zoom worm on the texas rig, I caught my second keeper going 13 1/2 inches and two other dinks.

As I was running out of time before the awayin I started fishing the shady side of Docks with both the spybait and Texas rig, I caught a striper on the Spiderbait and two fish on the Texas rig. With less than 10 minutes left in the tournament I pitched into a dock and got a quick nibble I set the hook but only came back with half of the worm, I quickly put a new worm back on  and Pitch back into the same spot, with a quick tick tick tick on the line I set the hook and it immediately ran under the dock. I thought to myself finally I caught that third keeper and he was going to be a good one, but it wasn't meant to be it wrap me around one of the pilings and popped off the line. So I just CPR my two fish for 26.5" and a series total of 40". But with my poor showing I will still be fishing next year in the DKBS.

  

 

Father & Son Overboard

Jack and I took the kayak out for a little evening fishing last Thursday, 8/14/14, all looked good and fine got the boat in the water and started fishing. I hooked in to a nice 13.5" bluegill on a spybait (what can I say other than it works).

 As I'm trying to land the fish with a lot of treble hooks exposed I felt my seat slide out from under me. Splash  went me and my son over the starboard side of the boat. As I came up my son was already swimming towards me, I was not worried or panicked while I was submerged but definitely relived he was ok. Now the work and planning had to start I still had the my son, me, rod  and fish in the water and I needed to get my son rod and me back in the boat. So I opened the bail on the reel, kicked off my flip flops and grabed my son I pulled him to the boat and got him in. I put the rod in the rod holder, grabed my shoes, and look to see if any thing else was in the water, thankfully every thing was lashed or stayed in the boat. I did not want to try to climb in myself thinking my son would just fall back in. So got along side and started pulling it to shore got back in and reeled up the bluegill yep still on the line. We paddled back to launch ramp took some pictures and headed home.  As I straped the boat in I relized that the seat strap was losse so made sure to fix it for the next outing. Glad everything turned out for the best but please always wear you PFD's when boating things can happen so fast.

Delta 8-9-14

My brother and I went out looking to find some big fish on California Delta. With a big high to low tide in the morning hours. I had a Black Dog Bait Co. ShellCracker G2, red punching rig, bladed swim jig, and Jackall I Prop tied on. My Brother had a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, red punching rig, Texas rig zoom worm, and a bladed swim jig. We had lots of fish 40-50 fish but only 12 keepers with none over 1.5 lbs. I had two nice fish come off at the boat. The strippers are starting to run, I had 7 on my Iprop, and one on the Shellcracker. We did not take any pictures because there were no big ones.

Rancho Seco 8/3/14

Well made a snap decision to take my son out kayak fishing for pinfish today.  This is something I have never done before, I tend to only bass fish. But as I get more into kayak fishing I realize that it is such a multispecies platform. I rigged up a bobber and live red worms and we had a blast we were able to get catch 5 with ease, and he was so happy we kept them in a clear gallon container until we were done fishing then we put them back.

The lake was busy with two triathlon going on, a kids started at 7am and the adults started at 8am so most of the lake was being used for the swimming portions of the triathlon.

Hi's tackle box

My wife, son and I went on vacation the last few days, knowing I was going to be in San Mateo, I knew I had to make a stop at Hi's Tackle Box in South San Francisco.  My Parents and brother, have been multiple times, and have told me how great this tackle store is. My son was sleeping in the car when we got there so my wife waited in the car for him to wake up. I was in the back of the store when they came in and I heard my son say "WOW" so even my 18 month old was impressed. The owner was behind the counter greeted me as I walked, and walked me around the store helping me with some of the items I was looking for. I was talking to him about what I was trying to do with and Alabama rig, that I can use on my kayak. He got me all set up and gave me some color options. I picked up some Spybait and some soft plastic baits. He even made a phone call to River2Sea to find out about a new bait and when it would be released.  I was impressed with the selection available in the store, from rods to hooks they had just about everything you need for freshwater and saltwater.

Rancho Seco 7/22/14

I went out to Rancho Seco, again today with my son. I was hoping for a good bite, with the overcast but I just could not get them going, until I went to a finesse worm. I got a bite on the first cast after switching up to the worm. I was able to make two more cast and we were able to get our first bass in the boat. My son get so exited when we catch a fish, but so frustrated when we have to let them go. With that said we, released the bass and then paddled to the dock and loaded up the kayak because he was done with fishing.

Rancho Seco 7/18/14

I will be taking my son out in the kayak today, it is more of a fun paddle with a little fishing when possible.  The Rancho Seco gates open when the first employ shows up about  6:30 am on the weekdays. However it is a firm 7:00 am on the weekends. My fishing plan is to throw spybait, wake bait and jigs today. Got three bits all day, I was able to get two bass, the first two were on the spybait, and the last one snapped the line also on a spybait. But the best part of the day was the that I was able to do it with my son.

 This was his 2nd and 3rd bass we have caught together, on the kayak.

I feel that if I had a more corporative son we could have boated much more fish. He get very fussy after releasing the fish back into the water.  Next time will try to a few more fish in the boat.

Second Stop for the Delta Kayak Bass Series

The second stop on the Delta Kayak Bass Series is out of Tiki Lagun. I can not recall ever fishing this area before and did zero pre-fishing in the area leading up to this event. I hope this lack of knowledge will help me because I will have to rely on my instincts on were to go and what to throw.

I just got home from the second event, wow got the bites unfortunately they were dinks. The full moon last night did not help fishing. I personally had to cover lots for water, I paddle about 4 miles total today, I started with bladed jig, but no takers so switched over to the spybait. I was casting and trolling the spybait, around the submerged weeds and that started getting bites, I had 9 bass today, and three stripers the best stripers was about 3 lbs but they do not count for our tournament. I switched back to the bladed jig and got two short bits on the trailer but no hookups. I the big bass of the tournament was 8 lbs lots of 15" and a few 23".

Jackll Iprop in bluegill, on 6lb fluorocarbon 15' leader connected to 50lb braid on Powell extra fast spinning rod

I will be trying work on a YouTube video on how I am using a spybait in my kayak.

Clear Lake

My brother and I went for a two day trip to Clear Lake, CA. for the Fourth of July weekend. We expected the boat traffic but was still hoping to get some good bites. But it became a grind, we fished all day Saturday, to only landed 4 fish but the best was 6 lbs, On Sunday we fished a 1/2 day and were able to get 5 fish.  We were able to pattern our bites from the day before so we were able to get the five fish in the boat by the time that we had our first one in the boat from the day before. We had only one frog fish, and the rest came on finesse worms.

Rancho Seco 7/2/14

Fished out of the Jackson Kayak Bigrig today. I was on the water by 6:30am and my second cast I was able to land my only bass of the day.

I was using a spybait on light spinning tackle. I was trolling the lake trying to move along the outside of the outer weed beds. 8-20 feet of water. While trolling I was able to catch three of the largest crappie I have ever caught along with two sun fish.

I was trying to get one more bass in the boat but I just could not get them going. I had many followers going after the spybait but just no takers. Had a good day on the water may try a different color or size next time to see if that my get the bass on the hook. Until then good luck and tight lines.

 

Delta Kayak Bass Series

June 15, 2014 my first kayak fishing tournament
I entered myself into a Delta Kayak Bass Series three fishing event over three months on the California Delta. Sunday father day was the first event out of Tower Park Marina, I was on the fish by throwing a Chatter bait along the rip-rap. I was only able to land one fish, I has a difficult time getting my other bites to stay on the line for more than a few seconds.

My one fish CPR at 13.5"

P.S. I was able to determine that my hook was not sharp causing me to lose so many fish. I now have added a file to the boat.

Yakattack Blackpak

I had picked up my new yakattak Blackpak from Headwaters kayak shop last Friday. As Dan the owner was finishing putting it together he was about to slap on a decal when I stopped him and said "that will have to wait until I camouflage it". Well after a week of work this is almost the finished with it. I still may add some brown to it.

Bass Fishing Pardee

My Brother and I went to Pardee today 5/18/14 knowing that it would be blow 15-20 on the Delta.  We got on the water just after 6:30, as we idled though the 5 mph, we prepted our rods, with new drop shot leatders and hooks. We pulled up river and fishes a creek bed my brother got a nice 4lbs and one dink.

As we keep moving down the bank we got one more keeper. Then ran back to the creek bed and got another dink. We started working the bank in the other direction and I got my first fish a nice small mouth bass.

We ran out to the main body and fished a wind blown bank and got two more keepers. Went over to the damn and I got one srike on my spy bait and multiple follows. We had to work all day for those five keepers, but we did it. The five went 13 lbs.

I don't know why but my brother did not take a picture with me holding my small mouth but that's just the way it goes some times. But we did not get sun burned, hats, hoods, duffs, long sleeves & sun screen. 

Kayak Fishing on the Water

Wow got a chance to go out kayak fishing Monday April 21, 2014 with a group of two kayak anglers and my coworker.  We fished the California Delta, fishing out of White Slough. For my first time out my personal goal was to not tip over and end up wet, well with in less than 4 seconds that goal was crushed. I went over instantly as I was trying to gets in the boat. The anglers helped me out with the boat and keeping the mood positive. After draining most of the water out of the Jackson Kilroy I got back in sucesfuly and we all began the fishing trip.

The anglers were able to graph a school of stripers with in 1400 yard from the launch.

We were able to get 9 of them and 2 of the biggest went home for dinner.

I did not catch any stripers but I was not discouraged. I was just glad to be there and watch the action. Brian was throwing a top water and he had a big blow up. Derrick and Bam were throwing a swim bait. When the school dissipated, we headed further west to look for some black bass. I got my first kayak bass on a frog, and had two other blow-up but only hooked up on the first one.

This was also my first frog fish for 2014. I then got the drop shot out and started fishing my margareta mutilator Roboworms, the bite was good and I was able to catch 8 more bass no real size.

But my last bite was a different story it was a much better fish, it went to deep water and started pulling and spinning the kayak out to deep water. My drag was giving line as the fish went diving for the weeds. I was able to keep him on the line for 4-6 minutes and just as I saw the leader on the line the fish made one last dive down and broke the line at the knot. Without seeing it I would guess it was somewhere in the 4-6 lbs range. A bad break to ending to the day of fishing however, it was a great day on the water. When we got back to the launch our group loaded up and headed home the end result for the group we caught 25 fish total. I am looking forward to going out again. 

All anglers Please use a PFD when on the water. 

Delta 4/20/2014

Went out Easter Sunday with my brother,  we fished Franks Track all morning. We were hoping for some actions baits bits but it was a no go. We only got bites when we switched over to sinko and drop shots. Boated 20 fish but only five were keepers. My brothers big fish was 4lbs 1oz, mine was 3lbs. Going out tomorrow on my first kayak fishing trip with my co-worker Derrick and a guide. 

Veterinary visit

Had to take Rambo in for a dental exam. 

Looks like he will need oral surgery and cleaning next week. 

Clear Lake 4/12-4/15/2014

My parents are at Clear Lake for a few days. Reports have been the lake is wide-open, they were able to catch twelve fish,  yesterday, Saturday April 12, all weighing between 1lbs to 7lbs. They are throwing chatter baits for pre-spawn fish and drop shot or shaky head jigs for bed fish.

They were able to stay on the fish for the four days even with the presser the lake has seen with multiple bout tournament both Saturday and Sunday. There daily best five fish went 21-27 lbs.