First Bass of 2011!


The little park ponds I frequent have warmed up, if only a teensy bit. Persistence paid off at Ford today, after slowly working a Senko. My other weapon for largemouth, a LiveTarget Bluegill Crankbait, did not secure any tangos. Hey, just feels good to catch one at (1) a tough park and (2) as my first bass for 2011!

12 inches. Maybe 1lb at most. 4lb test monofilament.

Posted by Picasa

San Bernardino National Forest


Went up to the San Bernardino National Forest on MLK Day. Fantastic weather, but horrible water conditions. The creek (I think this segment was called Mill Creek, not entirely sure) was running muddy, muddy and muddy. Did some hiking and sightseeing, but not fishing. Had my ultralight and trout gear all packed up, ready for some backcountry fishing, but didn't even break it out. I guess the melting snow must be making the creek so muddy, right? This was my first attempt at checking out the trout streams in the IE, I'll certainly be back for more.
Posted by Picasa

Hello, 2011


80s in January? Definitely an excuse to go fishing! Unfortunately, it has been a slow season so far. Tried Fairmount, Perris, Ford, and even Diamond Valley Lake, all for nothing. Did see some nice bass at Diamond, cruising the shore and chasing the stocker trout, too bad my Megabait Charlie Trout swimbait didn't interest 'em.
I went to Seccombe Park in San Bernardino today, with some hope of finally breaking the 2011 skunk. It's one of the dingiest ponds in my area, but there is a fair amount of water and some random structure to target (shopping carts and 5-gallon buckets hahaha), but I haven't caught much of anything here before (just sunfish). I started with a simple dropshot rig, working a Berkely worm, hoping for anything to bite. The park was packed-something about the fantastic weather brings out everyone, especially the characters (if you fish city park pond regularly you know what I'm talking about). The water was a little bit cloudy, but nothing like the mud pond at Fairmont. Kept working the dropshot, hoping for something, but no takers.

Ended up on the far east side of the pond, near the bridge. It's slightly cleaner here, not as many shopping bags in the water, heh. Was on the phone, trying to dropshot at the same time when I got hit hard. Didn't pull much drag, but kep my rod bent pretty good. Quickly gathered onlookers, most of which were shocked to see a fish rise from this park pond's water. I was hoping for my first fish of 2011 to be a largemouth, but I got a healthy stocker rainbow trout instead! Fine with me, better than the skunk!

Kept fishing for another 30 minutes without any other fish, but I was pretty satisfied. Best trip to Seccombe so far, hopefully I'll pull in some bass this year from this city park too!

Diamond Valley Lake, Cali-and computer woes...

Happy 2011 and especially Happy 1-1-11!
I'm still alive, despite the lack of updates. Motherboard crashed on my main computer, got to fix it before any serious posting can resume. In the meantime, enjoy the collage from Diamond Valley Lake, Hemet, California. Went with a friend a couple of days before this Thanksgiving. Despite a rainbow trout stocking in the morning, the stripers and largemouth failed to appear for the 50+ anglers (including me!) working it from the shore. I turned my attention to the bluegill and found them still eager to feed despite the crummy cold weather. Farmed loads of them, landed eight chunky guys. Ultralight gear, dropshotting in 15-20 feet of water. Stay tuned!