Happy New Year

Bloody Decks Outdoors  Happy New Year! Link is to Southern Cal charters, but the website as a whole is pretty cool. I'm thinking of southern shores as the winter comes on. In 2026, I plan on driving to Florida, and this time I might make an even better deal on big fish, having time to leisurely figure things out. At any rate, I saw an article on the Keys by Vin Sparano in the pre-version of Federated Sportsmen's News, about really big fish. That got me thinking of expanding my plans to include them. Any of my friends are welcome to meet me down there. I'm planning on driving, but anyone else might find it convenient to fly. Renting a large center console doesn't cost all that much and I have the boater certificate integrated with my driver's license. 

Annual Trout Outing at the Reservoir

By mistake, I set my alarm for P.M., so when I woke at 7:48, I knew I was 34 minutes late, and the possibility of us setting up on the point was threatened.

First, Matt and I went to The Sporting Life in Whitehouse more than half an hour after they had opened. Two dozen shiners, fishing licenses, and maribou jigs. Nice ones for less than I'd have spent online. Those are for the rivers.

We soon got to Round Valley, and Matt hauled stuff towards the point and returned, as I packed more stuff, to tell me there were fishermen on it. 

I figured they wouldn't be there all day.

In the meantime, we did our best to get all the distance we could out of each cast. It doesn't drop steeply there in front. I knew we could pack out and fish further along the shoreline towards the main ramp, where the water does drop off faster, but I wanted us to take the point when it would become available.

In the meantime, Fred had arrived, and conversation flowed. 

A fish jumped right out in front of us almost exactly where either myself or Matt had put a shiner down. About 10 minutes later, line peeled off the spool of my son's Cadence reel. Laker? Brown? No, rainbow. And five or 10 minutes later, Fred caught a smaller one--about 15 inches--on Power Bait. 

A pod of rainbows had come and was gone as fast. Nothing else happened all day but the yellow perch I caught. I didn't expect lakers. The weather was too mild--in the 40's. Yes, I bought shiners, as if to be sure lakers wouldn't hit any, but although the rainbows surprised me, I did come confident in us making catches.

We weren't the only who did. A guy in a kayak came along, telling me about two smallmouths of about two pounds apiece on jerkbaits. I was impressed. He said, "I lost something too big to be a bass. Maybe a laker." Who knows. Maybe it was a monster pickerel. My friend Brenden told me about one over nine pounds hooked back in Ranger Cove. 

Apparently, the guys on the point got skunked. They did leave and give us more than three hours of fishing right there, where water drops off better, but only the yellow perch happened. 

 

Last Year

 

Merry Christmas

Al Ristori Tight Lines  I was searching for a fishing news item with a Christmas message. Not finding any, Al Ristori popped into my head, and I was certain his blog was the place to go. Merry Christmas Everyone.