Random fishing

Lot's going on with family and work but I've been able to get out 2-3 times a week.  Carp are on fire with excellent numbers of quality fish. Huge numbers of small fish that must be weed through though.  Weather is stable and warm and the Pond Smelt spawn has hit the peak season. Right now is some of the best sight fishing for Carp of the year. The water is clear and the fish will suspend and just slowly cruise through areas that are thick with the small baitfish. Small white streamers are the ticket. I will likely start to transition to other fishing here shortly though. As the water starts cooling in November and the bait fish scatter the shallow fish windows become shorter and shorter. A normal day in the winter is 2-5 shots or double that with warm weather. It's been a great season with a couple of 20s and many teener fish so I really can't complain. They will be around all year in lesser numbers and make a nice winter time diversion so the "season" really never ends.

 

Carp fly thief

 

Streamers for bows has been tough with mostly small fish grabi=ng flies. Flows keep chamging and fish either drop down stream or move up so it requires a lot of pick and scratch fishing to get on them from day to day. It's a ton of fun and will keep pestering them!

Later folks!  

Stripers

Fishing is on the tough side right now but will improve once we get on the back side of this moon.  Weather continues to be hot and dry!

Killer day on the bay

San Francisco Bay isn't always calm and pleasant to be on or around but in the Fall it's stunningly beautiful out there. I had a chance to spend the morning wading some really nice flats and back bays. It was one of the funnest mornings fishing I've had in a good while and the fishing itself wasn't all that spectacular!  I have to imagine that the entire bay system was like this a couple of hundred years ago. Except for maybe the Stripers. They didn't come along until the late 1800s.  Fall is definitly in the air. Mornings are a little cooler and the sun not so intense. Days are still a really nice 80 right now though so I cant complain. Carpin is still there and going strong!

Recent fishing..

iv'e been getting out as much as possible. Oct-Dec is my favorite time of year. Fantastic weather, excellent fishing and football has everyone in front of the TV instead of on the water.  Today didn't exactly feel like fall with the temps hovering around 90 by noon. The shorter days and lower sun angle has fish moving around and I stuck a couple of nice bows swinging streamers this morning.  One was a nice 18-19 fish followed by a super hot 20+ chromer..Made my day. After lunch I went and scouted a some reservior flats that are always pretty good in Oct-Nov and only had about a half dozen shots in 3 hours. Stuck two and they were both small fish. Not quit what I was looking for at that lake but the levels are perfect and the bigger fish will come once the shallows start to cool a little.

Till next time!

Carp in a clown suit

 

Where did the summer go?

Damn that was fast! Just like that and were heading toward another new year.  We had a warm front on Saturday that brought us some much needed rain. It was nice to get enough to knock the dust down and cool things down a little. The carp were happy the following day and the fishing was really good. A deep slough I know of with large numbers of difficult fish comes alive after a good rain.  Normally they are  hunkering down on the 4-5ft  bottom only giving you occasional shots at solo cruisers.. Rain will bring them up and they are really susceptible to dries for a short window. This day was no different, and I caught a good number on dries and also large dark streamers. They were schooling in the upper water column and a well placed fly would get chased down. This required you to stay put, and let them come to you.  Schools would come by and over shooting and leading the head of the school, would usually result in an aggressive eat either on top or just below the surface on a fast striped streamer. I enjoyed this for four to five hours before it started to shut down and I lost the good light. 

 

 

I also swung some streamers for Rainbows the last few days. Right now I like larger heavySculpin or crayfish bugs. Something that gets down there and knocks around. Numbers of smaller fish aren't a problem but..I did get and one big grab from a really nice 20" class bow. This big buck made an initial jump, went up stream and then down into the deep tail out. He fought hard but stayed manageable until I tried to climb down a little closer for a better angle, and just what I was afraid of, happened.  he shot down a narrow chute to down stream fast water and that was all she wrote. I tired to put the breaks on and it just came unbuttoned. I was sick! I really wanted that fish! Not ten minutes later another nice fish latches on and I just about have this one beat and starting to feel good but not getting to giddy and it goes under an undercut root bank. F&*^ !  And that was that.

Good fishing!!