Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Steelhead skunk and some Stripers

Weather has been awesome! Gave it a solid try on the coast for steelhead the other day and never felt like I was with in a mile of a fish. I fished hard, humped my ass up, down and through some beautiful Coastal Redwood forest so it wasn't a loss. Also scoped out some carp water on the way home so a productive day though fishless.  Ive been messing around with the Carp every chance I get since they are less than 5 minutes from home. Tough is all I can say. January is always tough but i'm optimistic with more warm weather in the forecast. They are really keyed in on something small and nothing like the bugs i'm feeding them. Lots of pea size Clams in the mud and I have feeling thats what it is. Got a Clam fly??

Ive had some fantastic shots & dead on presentations for one eat in four or five outings. Unfortunatly the fish came unbuttoned for no damn reason. It wasn't a big fish but I worked hard to get that fish to eat and was heart broken when everything went slack. Carp just DON'T come off..wtf! I'm stoked to get back after them later this week. Barring any major cold snaps and as long as i'm still getting shots, i'm going. Just getting some good shots is a lot of fun and really what it's all about. Lots of life on the urban ponds enjoying the killer weather too.


I was in rod length several times of this fish..couldn't get a clean shot!

Lizards are everywhere!
Stripers conitnue to eat and eat well! Last trip was a lazy late start and on the water around 11am. By noon I had 4 nice keepers and by 4:30 when I called it, I had put 21 Stripers in the boat on fly with 9 of those 20-26" keepers. Temps is in the high 50s and the fish are strong and worthy. Lots of fun! Thats a pretty good good January half day around here. Two guys can really rack up some good numbers right now if they stay on them. Nothing of any great size but steady grabs and 70 degree windless weather made for a great day.




We need rain bad but more importantly we need a decent snow pack in the Sierras. It still hasn't happened. The only up side to dry years is the reserviors are down and the Carp flats fishing will be fantastic all summer fall and with no back cast obstructions. I would rather have water any day but I'm trying to be a glass half full guy this year.

I hiked to the bottom of this gorge for Steelhead. Kicked my ass!

4 comments:

John said...

love that striper photo, the one in the water. such a beautiful fish.

Mark Kautz said...

Seeing, but not catching, a lot of Steelhead in the American up by Sunrise bridge. Maybe rain this month. We're wet this morning,but nothing to get excited about.

Mark

Gregg said...

I have a prototype clam fly developed for my waters (fresh water mussels) where even trout eat the real things. and for John's Columbia. Hope to use it soon, it's the size of a large salmon egg on a 6 hook. If you could tell me your email I can show you what I came up with. Great pictures you always have. (I carry a disposable is all.)

Gregg

David McKenzie said...

Thanks John.. Gregg, heck yeah, shoot me the info on that chowder bug! dpmckenzie@sbcglobal.net. Thanks! The American kicks out some nice fish Mark. I rarely fish it anymore and love the smaller coastal rivers and streams. Not because the fishing is any better but the scenery is increadible. That and I can always hit the beach for surf perch as a back up. Plus it's close to home. I like the Feather allot though!