Sunday, July 10, 2016

A little bragging

Sometimes you do something that you feel good about, something you're a little proud of yourself about.  The bass I caught yesterday was one of those things.

I spent a few years fishing in a national bass fishing circuit and learned a lot and had a great time.  That knowledge learned about a fish, their habits and tendencies can be the difference in a fun day fishing and a great day fishing.  Yesterday evening I threw my stuff into the Tahoe to spend the evening fly fishing one of the local trout streams.  When I hit the end of my street I changed my mind and decided, since I had some bass fishing gear with me too, I would head to a small dam about 10 minutes from my house and see how the bass fishing was.  I have fished this area many times for both trout and bass with good success on both.

Nice 4 lb. largemouth bass on
10 lb. test and a Senko
When I got there I grabbed my spinning rod and set it up with a 6" Senko without weight.  My plan was to cast it on top of the weeds and lily pads and just work it on top.  Nothing for about 20 minutes.  I moved to a more open piece of water and change technique, swimming the same set up along the front edge of the junk and about 3-4" under the surface.  Good call as my clients would say.  As I was watching the Senko coming back to me I was watching the wake it was pushing and then saw as slight swirl in the wake.  I didn't feel the take so I waited a second or two and set the hook on a tournament quality bass. 

When I got the bass in hand and snapped a couple pictures I did feel pretty good about myself.  Next time I'm gonna try for him with a fly rod.

Hope you enjoy the fishing, where ever you wet a line.

Tight lines

Monday, July 4, 2016

July 4th fishing report

Have fished the local streams here around the Salmon River area and have had good results.  The water is low and temperatures are hovering in upper 60s - low 70s.  Most fishing is early to late evening.  Local trout streams such as the Mad River and the West Branch of the Fish Creek are doing well, with the Fish Creek producing more fish.  I picked up another Atlantic Salmon in Fish Creek my last outing, making 3 consecutive Atlantics in 3 consecutive trips.  These have been nice fish in the 12"-13" range.  Most likely these fish are from the 2010 stocking.  Because of the possibility of catching these in Fish Creek I have gone to and would encourage you also to use barbless hooks, just mash them with your forceps.

I fished the Redfield Reservoir last evening for bass, did ok, not great.  The area I fished was in the bay at the Redfield boat launch and it was busy with holiday boaters so most likely the bass were put down with all the commotion.  The reservoir is close to full pool so plenty of water.  Would be nice to see more of this water in the Salmon River which as I type this is running at 224 cfs with a release at 185 cfs out of the dam at Altmar. 

If you get up this way stop in for a visit.
 Some news from the DEC regarding the Salmon River hatchey.  The project to remove 30+ years of accumulated organic buildup, remove several nonfunctioning valves, and install new valves on the two mile long pipeline that runs from the Lower Salmon River Reservoir to the Salmon River hatchery is under way. The cleaning process (pigging) uses a foam bullet-shaped cleaner called a "pig" that can be sent through the line to remove any accumulated debris. Crews are hard at work replacing old valves and installing new ones and expect to begin pigging sometime after July fourth. The project goal is to double the existing water flow from the reservoir to the hatchery. The increased water flow will help the hatchery meet the fish production needs for our fish management programs.

Hope to see you here.

Tight lines