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swimbait 7247 posts May 14, 2008 Water: 70-74 Clarity: 5-7 Level: Wind: 0-5 Baro:

More Margrita Headed out to the lake today after class, arriving around 2pm. It was hot and calm. The lake continues to look beautiful and healthy. After catching a 5lber last trip off a spot I have never caught a fish on before, I decided to start there today to investigate whether this was a fluke, or if perhaps it was actually a good spot. It took about 4 casts on the spot before I got smashed on mr. swimbait. The fish came up and did a complete backflip out of the water. I was surprised to see how big it was! I wound her up to the side of the boat whereupon she went berserk and did another backflip at boatside - spitting my bait :( I've been hoping for a 10lb northern out of Margarita, and this was probably my shot. The fish was either a high 9 or a low 10. Dammit. I fished around the rest of the afternoon for one bite, a 5.3lber that did not jump, but did decide to come in the boat :) I saw a few nice fish up shallow just cruising which was interesting. I managed to get a cast in front of one 3lber and it went crazy and attacked my bait before I could even turn the handle but I missed the fish. In the evening I gave it my best shot at topwater. I even used a rapala skitter pop, which used to be terrific for 2lbers at Margarita. Not a sniff! I am the world's worst topwater fisherman. Pretty well bummed not to get that big fish, but it was a beautiful day out there none the less. 5.3lbs http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/5_14_08_5.3lbs.jpg

swimbait 7247 posts May 9, 2008 Water: 69-71 Clarity: 5-8' Level: 1,300.39 Wind: 0-7knt Baro:

Post spawn swimcricketing Fished Margarita today by myself in the boat. I didn't get there until 11am, and fished until 7:45pm. The lake looks beautiful. The water is clear, the grass is growing like gangbusters, small bluegill and shad are showing, and it just looks like a bass paradise right now. The first hour or so was slow. I saw some fish swimming around shallow but those fish were all very wary. Instead of wasting time looking I just went and fished. This resulted in a 6.1lber and another one around 5 that I missed. An hour later I got cracked good and got another decent fish that went 6.2lbs. There was that thought that perhaps today would be the day to catch 25 or 30lbs, but instead I ran up the river - and it was lousy. I always go up there and seldom get anything. Guess I'm a main lake guy :) Went back down and tried for topwater. Couldn't get it going. It was chilly out with wind from the ocean. Saw a nice spot where I've never caught a fish before but often tried. Today was the lucky day because I got a nice bite on it and got one more fish at 5.1lbs. Along the way somewhere in there I caught a 2lber on a bed. There was another one that I could have got but didn't feel like spending more than 3 minutes on. Pretty nice day overall. I'm hoping for more topwater next time. 6.2lbs 6.1lbs 5.1lbs release http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/5_9_08_rob_6.1_2.jpg

swimbait 7247 posts May 3, 2008 Water: 63-70 Clarity: 4-8' Level: 759.05 Wind: 0-5 Baro:

WON Team Tourney I practiced Friday for the WON Sunday. I was hoping to find a few bed fish. What is rather amazing is that the lake went from having zero bed fish at the last WON on March 8 to having almost zero bed fish at this tournament May 3rd. In other words, 99.9% of the bass in that lake spawned in less than 2 months. Weird. So the water was 63 in the morning and got up to 70-72 both days in the afternoon. It was hot and calm both days, although Saturday was mid 40's with some fog in the AM. Clarity was decent. Friday had more algae than Saturday due to the brighter sunshine Friday. Friday I checked the whole lake for beds, finding a handful of smallies that were easily catchable, and 7 or 8 largemouth that were relating to spots but not on beds per se. All the largemouth were nice ones though, like 3-5lbers. It was strange. I didn't make any casts on those fish. I ripped one 3.3lb black on a jerkbait Friday and had a few swimbait followers. I can't figure out the right swimbait for that lake though. Everything I throw they chase and don't eat. Very annoying. Saturday I went to a spot where I had seen a 6lb largemouth sitting on top of a rock on Friday. There was a boat on the spot. I fished right next door on a point that had some shad on it. Had two quick bites on jerkbait but neither one stuck, they felt small. Watched the guys on my starting spot catch a nice largemouth. The smallmouth on beds were nearby so I went there. I made a blind cast to a spot where I'd seen a 5lb largemouth the day before. The line swam off. I set and thought life was about to get really good. Instead it was a 2lb smallmouth. Weird? I had seen what I thought was the male there the day before but I guess it was a smallmouth male with a largemouth female. Next fish I made a few casts blind then got closer to take a look. I saw the fish flash once, switched lures and caught it on the next cast. 2.5lb smallie. A bit later I ripped another keeper smallie on a jerkbait. 3 fish in the first 35 minutes seemed like a good start. The rest of the day was not so good though... I checked all the largemouth from the day before and not one single one was still there. That was a weird deal. Then I went back to my starting spot, starting about 200 yards down. I worked my way up to the spot and noticed another boat coming at the spot from the other direction. I got to the spot first and made 2 casts across it. I figured the guys in the other boat would leave or go around. Instead they just started casting right on top of where I was casting. It was in all honesty the most BS move I've ever seen in a tournament. I was pretty ticked. Rather than get in to a shouting match - I left. Not my style to fight with people on the water. 200 feet down the bank I turn around and they stick a 3lber off the spot. Guess I got hosed. I hooked up on a ripbait a few casts later with a largemouth I had seen the day before that was sitting by a bush. Unfortunately my cast was over the bush (it was a long cast and I couldn't see the bush). The fish went straight in to the bush and came off. For my encore I changed spots, hooked a keeper smallmouth on the ripbait and got it fouled up in the net and lost it too. I was on a roll with the retardation.... At the end of the day I went back to my starting spot again. I was hoping like heck to get a crack at it. Of course there was a boat on it again, and I watched them get one that was pushing 5lbs. They were yelling and high fiving like they had just won the Bassmasters Classic. I had a smallmouth blow up on a spook and miss the bait. Weighed 5lbs for 3 fish and came in near to last place. I had the right spot today but just never got to fish it. That's tournament fishing.

swimbait 7247 posts April 26, 2008 Water: 67-69 Clarity: 6-7 Level: 1,300.49 Wind: 0-10 Baro:

Margarita Post Spawn Fishing Headed to Margarita Saturday for some fun fishing. Slept in and didn't get on the water until 9:45am. It was hot and calm. By the time I launched though a 5knt type wind was blowing, which continued on and off for the rest of the day. The water is 6-7 foot vis in most places and whiskey colored. Temps were 67-69 degrees. I thought there would be a lot of bed fish but the lake felt very post spawn. Fry balls were present in most of the coves, and there were a lot of 5-7lb females that were set up on areas that indicated they were on their way back out to the lake. You'd see them, get one cast, and they'd leave - that sort of thing. There was a tournament going, I think Angler's Choice. So the lake was crowded. I fished until about 5pm. Along the way I picked up two small keepers on beds, one 3lb fry guard, one 3lb drop shot fish, one about 7 on a swimbait, and a trout on a drop shot. Missed two 4's on swimbaits as well, they just didn't get their little mouths around the bait and both of them fell off after about 2 cranks. So it was a nice day on the water. The fishing wasn't very solid, but there were some bites to be had at least. There's a lot of shad up now, and the lake looks healthy. I hope to get a few topwater trips in soon :) http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/4_26_08_rob_7lber.jpg

swimbait 7247 posts April 18, 2008 Water: 47 Clarity: 8-10 Level: Wind: 15+ Baro:

3/4 Day Charter On Friday I took a charter group of 23 anglers out on the Stardust for a 3/4 day run to the islands for rockfish. We opted for a late departure of 8am since most folks were coming from San Luis Obispo. The weather was chilly, with a 5-10knt wind in the morning and some lump for the first few miles out of the harbor. The swell calmed down further out, but we had quite a bit of wind during the day. We scoped some areas on the west end of Santa Cruz and got a great look at the island up close before heading across to carrington (I think) to fish. We fished from 95 to 250' of water and had steady action, with the best flurries coming at the beginning and end of the day. The majority of folks on the trip had never fished before, so catching could have been a little higher, but we still put together some nice bags of coppers and reds. There were the occasional gopher cod, blue rockfish, undersize ling, and sand dab brought in as well. Big fish was a just legal ling, with several large reds in the 4-5lb class also making a showing. I had good success with a 4oz jig (copper and orange color). Sardines were also working well. Summer and I came home with limits of nice quality cod. The weather could have been a little smoother, but we had a great group and the fishing was pretty solid. Jason and the crew do such a great job out there, it's hard to have a bad time :) I may have some photos to add later, haven't gotten them yet.

HalfManHalfBass 2 posts April 16, 2008 Water: warming up Clarity: 6 ft. Level: Wind: little to none Baro:

Bass Caught 2 bass just fishing from the bank. One on a pink seinko. I made a bad hookset and he got off. Good sized, probably a couple pounds. Caught the second on a white spinner bait. Probably 2-3 pound football. Its looking good with all the submerged trees!

swimbait 7247 posts April 10, 2008 Water: 55-65 Clarity: 2-12 feet Level: 6.96 Wind: 0-15 Baro:

WON Clear Lake Pro/Am Wednesday afternoon I headed up to Clear Lake for the WON Bass Pro/Am. Mark (SWMB8R) very graciously lent me his Basscat to fish the event. As exciting as it might have been to fish in my 15' jon boat, WON rules don't permit it ... and Clear Lake is kind of big :) So off I went, and 50 miles later I had a flat tire by King City. Kind of had to laugh at that one. 3 hours and a new tire later I was back in action, arriving at State Park by 11:30pm. Crashed out. Woke up before sunrise Thursday and went to Konocti Harbor to launch. Turned out I couldn't get a quagga mussel inspection until 9am so I went to Tackle It in Lakeport and finally got on the water back at Konocti by 8:30am. The first day of practice went well. There was a cold north wind in the morning which laid down to calm conditions by afternoon. I put an 8lber in the boat first thing and shook off two fish that were 6-7lbs on swimbaits. I was doing some testing with the new 7'11" telescoping Okuma swimbait rod. It felt good - watch for this one. Went looking in the afternoon and caught a couple cruising fish, seeing just a handful of males on beds. Friday I explored new places (to me) on Clear Lake. It was hot and calm. Fishing was really tough for me. I tried a variety of techniques for no bites. I did scope out a dozen or so males that were up on beds and looking more catchable, but no females. Most people seemed to think fishing was going to be tough. Tournament day came Saturday. My AAA was Patrick Mateo. This was his first tournament. I figured we made a good team since this was my first Pro/Am. Patrick had a good positive attitude. I told him we would swimbait and sight fish as needed. I was surprised to get on my first spot in the morning, and we got some good casts on it. Then a boat pulled up and the guy moved right on top of what I was casting to. That's tournament fishing. He caught two small ones. We moved around to the outside and Patrick put a keeper in the boat. Good feeling to get that first fish. We changed areas and I had a hit on a swimbait but it seemed small. I pointed and told Patrick to cast right on the spot. The fish ate instantly and we had another 2lber in the boat. Cool. I had some nice follows, and one 10lber that came up and half-way nipped the tail of my bait but didn't eat. The sun came up and it got HOT. So off we went to sight fishing land. More bass had moved up overnight and I proceeded catching them on finesse junk with 10lb test. This was the program for the rest of the day, catching males that were spawning and cruising. I did around a dozen fish like this, culling up to a bag of fish that were all around 3lbs. I did jump off one 4lber but it was on the light line over the top of a tully berm so there was not much that could have been done. We weighed in 15.23lbs and sat in 44th place. I was surprised at the low weights, but pleased to see that I was at least in striking distance of a check. I had no real plan for day 2 other than to stick with my strengths in swimbait and sight fishing and see what the conditions held. My draw for day 2 was Robert (Jerry) Graff. Jerry has done this for a while and told me to just go and do my thing and not worry about him. We started with swimbait stuff, and again I had the followers up to 10lbs but I sensed it was not right and that I was not going to be putting any of these bass in the livewell. We went to my sight fish water and immediately started getting fish, putting 5 in the boat by around 8:30am. I was stunned to see some of the 3lb males that I had seen on Thursday were still there and had not been caught despite boats being all around. I guess people were not fishing for them. Around 11am I decided it was time to gamble and ran to all new water. Fortunately I found good clarity up to 12 feet, and right away started to see some females on beds (finally). Located 3 fish that were 6-9lbs but none were catchable. We moved often and continued to cull. I put a 5lb male in the boat, along with some mid 3lb type fish. In the afternoon I went back to one of the 6's that looked good. A boat was right on it, but amazingly they moved off and left. I pulled in, worked the fish, and caught it on a 5" Big Hammer. It was a bit over 6lbs. That was a nice cull. We had some sketchy moments at the end of the day because I had accidentally kicked on the freshwater in pump with my foot and ran down the cranking battery. Jerry knew boats (thank goodness) and re-wired it so we could get it going. We thought it was cool but had a little more trouble right before heading in. We were 15 miles from the ramp and I was getting nervous with a nice limit in the boat! I hailed a guy who was fishing nearby. He and Jerry talked it over and got it working. Stoked. Thanks Sean Minderman wherever you are. I put the hammer down and we made it back in time, weighing in 19.70lbs. I finished in 23rd place and took a small check. My day one AAA Patrick drew Wayne Breazeale on day two and they had 30lbs. He wound up winning on the AAA side :) Very cool. There was a lot of learning going on for me during these 4 days. I learned how to handle the boat, change a tire on a tandem axle trailer, re-wire a cranking battery, and about 20 other things that will be invaluable later on. Being used to my little boat, it was exhilarating to be able to move around the lake at high speeds and really change gears during the day. I was also fortunate to have great AAA draws both days who put up with all of my sight fishing and really encouraged and supported me. Jerry held the boat for me while I caught the 6lber on day 2, and he put a nice 3lber in the boat by blind casting a nearby bed while I worked a different fish. I'm also fortunate to have a friend like Mark who was willing to lend his boat to a guy who has only driven a bass boat a handful of times before. I owe you one bud. It'll be a while still before I get a bass boat, but I'll be back on the Pro/Am scene when the time comes. It was fun, challenging, and exciting.

swimbait 7247 posts April 5, 2008 Water: 61 Clarity: 3-5' Level: 508.22 Wind: 5-20 Baro:

WON Bass Lopez Mark Rogers and I fished the WON Bass Lopez team tournament on Saturday. It was very windy, blowing offshore in the morning (and cold). This let up mid-day, then switched to on-shore to 15+ in the afternoon. Water temps were in the low 60's. The basic plan for the day was to get a limit on beds and throw swimbait for better fish. I had practiced the day before and seen perhaps 50 fish on beds with many more cruising around. We followed a parade of boats to the back of wittenberg in hopes of bed fishing but it was much too windy. With the wind and stirred up water, we threw swimbaits for nothing for a while, then back to the bank to look. This was the procedure for the rest of the day. Swimbait fishing turned out to be worthless for us, but several of the better size fish I had seen the day before were still around and wanted to be caught. They were hard to see, but we put 5 of those in the boat - foul hooking and releasing one other one on a drop shot. All the fish were males. I also hooked about a 3lb crappie on a bed thinking it was a bass. The fish didn't seem that big going in the boat but in the end we weighed 18.95 for the 5 fish with a big fish at 5.15lbs and took 3rd place :) All of the fish we weighed were caught on 5" Big Hammers in the #40 Invader color. It was a good day in terms of execution because we only hooked those 5 bass and they all came to weigh in. We worked a half dozen other fish that wouldn't bite including one that would have meant 2nd place, but that's OK - you can't catch them all. This will probably be my last Lopez trip for a good long while as we are moving in August and Santa Margarita is closer to the house. Lopez is a fun lake, but definitely a windy one. Thanks Mark for making the drive up to fish. It was a fun day.

Sacto John 880 posts March 1, 2008 Water: Clarity: Level: Wind: Baro:

Folsom Sunday 3-30-08 Went out Sunday to Folsom to fish for a few hours. The plan was to throw swimbaits all day and see if I could get a nice fish. On the water at 7:00, just in time to see all the boats blast off for the ABA tourney. I point jumped as much as I could, the ABA guys were on a lot of the stuff I wanted to fish. At 10:30 or so after breaking off a swimbait and drifting to the back of a cove, I decided I wanted to at least catch a fish. I tied on a c-rig lizard and went a dragg'n. To my defense I have had a pretty crummy year so far, I have been fishing 5 times before this trip and have only caught 5 fish (4 fish came last Monday out on the Delta) none bigger than 3.8. Within minutes of "giving in"I hook up with a nice chunky 2.4 spot, a minute later another 1.3, then a rat, then another rat, then a 2.2. in the period of about 20 minutes I have landed just as many fish as I had all year up tho that point. I moved to the back of the next cove and started dragging again. I am watching the meter trying to keep the boat in 15-20 feet, and I see a nice arch on the graph and I think to myself if that is a fish it is a good one, About a minute later when my bait is over the spot I saw the arch, I get bit, set and its a good one. The fish comes out of the water and I about freak, its at least 8 pounds. I fight the fish all the way to the boat and it jumps one last time surges and POP the line breaks at the swivel. I fished until noon catching a few more spots, although I did not weigh them as none of them were as big as the fish I caught earlier. Lesson learned; when dragging a C-Rig check your knots often. At least I caught a few fish.

Ken A 447 posts March 21, 2008 Water: 57 Clarity: 6' Level: 100% Wind: 10-15 Baro:

Santa Margarita, 3/21 My first Friday off for a while so headed up to Santa Margatita. Lake level it topped off from the winter rains. Water temp was about 57* with a visabliliy of about 6' in some areas. A calm morning but the wind picked up pretty early and blew hard. I caught 4 average sized Margarita fish on a drop shot. Lots of boats and campers with Spring break and Easter weekend.