The 3 little piggies at Casitas - 2-28-10

[McFingers]

Went to Casitas today. Worked the Pier newr coyote creek for a while. No Luck

Walked North, fishing the shoreline, till I hit a spot that I had never been past. Saw something big jump. Then it jumped again, and for sure I knew it was a bass (Looked 5lbs plus). Fished there for a bit....nothing.

Walked north more, saw some guy with a stringer of like 3 BARELY legal bass all dead in the water. It really pissed me off that he would keep and eat those fish, especially so close to spawning time. Douche bag.

Anyway, I digress.

Walked past him, then I hit a spot where I couldn't go further. So I walked up the hill to get a good viewpoint.

Saw wayyy up ahead some logs and brushes and points.
I said "I am fishing there if I have to swim to it!"

Walked and met some dudes, they showed me a path to where I wanted to go.

Now for the goods.


PIGGIE # 1

Drop Shotting 6" Oxblood, about 12-16" off the weight. Hooked up on one about the 3rd cast. Looked to be about 4 lbs (again, I guess since I have no scale)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh192/McFingers2003/Lake%20Casitas%202-28-10/DSC00911.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh192/McFingers2003/Lake%20Casitas%202-28-10/DSC00912.jpg


PIGGIE #2

Hit another one about 5 mins after the first. Some guy that was fishing near me asked me if I wanted it weighed. I of course, said yes lol. It tipped the scales between 4 and 4.25 (analog scale)

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh192/McFingers2003/Lake%20Casitas%202-28-10/DSC00913.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh192/McFingers2003/Lake%20Casitas%202-28-10/DSC00914.jpg

Then the lake patrol hosed 2 of the 4 guys near me for not having their licenses on them. Poor guys, that's a hefty fine I heard. Their boat scared the fish, so I stopped and ate a little food for about 1/2 hour.

Back to fishing...and I caught one more. Looked to be about 2 lbs

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh192/McFingers2003/Lake%20Casitas%202-28-10/DSC00916.jpg

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh192/McFingers2003/Lake%20Casitas%202-28-10/DSC00918-1.jpg

PIGGIE #3
Hooked up another one about 15 mins later. It was a beast I'm sure. I felt a lot of slack in my line, so I reeled it in. BAM BAM TUGGG!! Set the hook and it was fighting hard. Felt like the other 2. Got a glimpse of it, and it was about the same size. It took off and got wrapped up on a bush under the water. Couldn't work it out. Man was I pissed. Oh well, dems the breaks.

Good Weekend for me. 8 Fish in 2 days. 2 1lbers, 3 2lbers, 1 3lber, and 2 4lbers.

Huzzah.

Thanks for all the tips to those who gave them to me.

[old pudd fisher]

Very nice post with great photos....It was injoyed.

[Fishbones]

Nice job McFingers....your on a roll....i would go to vegas bro....

[Fire Ball]

Nice bass. It sucks that the one broke you off! Casitas looks like an awesome lake.

[Ray Lopez]

congrats those were some very healthy fish there.

[HOGMASTER]

Nice Fish! Just a suggestion, I did the same thing until I read about this.
Let's Hold and Release Bass RIGHT!
Last year, David Campbell, of TP&WD's Tyler Hatchery, announced anglers were breaking the jaws of lunker bass brought to him under the Lone Star Lunker Program. Since then, Honey Hole, In-Fisherman, and many other fishing magazines have reported his comments. By now, most bassers who occasionally read fishing magazines have heard about jaw damage. But this doesn't mean they understand it.

We, and I mean just about everybody who ever unhooked a bass or held one in one hand for a photograph, have been torquing the jaws of bass. A jaw, whether human or fish, is only meant to open so wide and no more. Forcing it wider does damage.

A few weeks ago I watched a popular television fisherman mention this jaw damage and claim it only applies to lunkers. He said lip-landing was the best way to land and handle bass up to six pounds. If this expert thinks carelessly lip-holding small bass is harmless, it's likely many other bassers think so too.

The TV angler was partially right. Lip-landing does the least damage to small bass, and is often harmless IF their jaws aren't distorted. Only the jaws of mishandled super-lunkers are likely to actually break and cause a bass to starve. But he was wrong if he thinks anglers should continue to hold smaller bass as we have in the past.

By using jaws as levers to rotate hanging bass away from vertical to a "more natural" horizontal position with one hand; TV anglers, outdoor writers, and average fishermen have unnecessarily strained jaw tissues. Tissue damage occurs long before bones break. It may take 13 or more pounds to break a bass jaw completely, but strain occurs anytime the jaw is distorted beyond the full-open position naturally used by bass. We don't need to carelessly give every released bass a "jaw ache."

My files and likely those of most TV fishermen, advertisers, and other outdoor writers contain many pictures that show improper handling techniques. As we all have a moral responsibility to display good handling, these old videos, slides, and prints are obsolete and should not be used, except to illustrate bad procedure. Anglers should no longer see distorted jaws and other bad examples.

We can do better. From now on, all published bass videos and photographs should show lip landings in which bass stay vertical, hanging from jaws that aren't forced wide open. If a bass is rotated any amount toward the horizontal, the lucky angler's other hand must support the weight of the body, not the bass' jaw.

It will take time and effort to learn better lipping and holding procedures. Anglers need to experiment with alternate grips. One technique that seems to help is to keep fingers straight while lip-landing and lip-holding bass. This grip doesn't feel as firm and secure as the old method and is awkward at first. But straight fingers don't push in under the jaw and force it open as much as the harmful grip with fingers rolled in toward the thumb.

Another option is to grip the bass' jaw from the side without a lure and hooks rather than from the front. This grip is also less apt to force a jaw too wide open.

At least one bass angler I've seen in a video didn't land bass by the lip at all. Instead, he put his hand under tired bass and lifted them straight up. They seemed docile and didn't flip away. However, he still had the problem of how to hold the fish while unhooking it. For unhooking, it's hard to beat a lip lock that doesn't force the jaw open too far.

Proper release techniques also don't include swishing a bass back and forth to "re-oxygenate" its gills. Gill filaments are attached at only one end and are meant to stream like a flag in a flow from only one direction. Backward current can bend, bruise, or break fragile gill filaments. In addition, too much forward movement can force excess water into the fish's stomach. Although fresh bass naturally jump and splash, fish that are tired and stressed from battle don't need more stress. Place them in the water rather than dropping or throwing them back. If a fish is healthy enough to swim slowly away, just let it go gently.

Let's hold and release bass right from now on.

Ralph Manns

[Agro]

Great job on the bass! Those are nice ones!

Just a heads up, the carp are thick on the lake right now and jumping around all over.

[McFingers]

Thanks Everyone. I'm glad I killed it this weekend after getting 2.5 skunks (The mini-bass was a gimme I guess).

FIREBALL - Yeah Casitas is a cool looking lake. If you ever want to split a boat up there, let me know and I'll be happy to fish with you. Its $85 for a full day. The marina opens at 6.

HOGMASTER - Wow. Never thought of that. If I knew that I wouldn't have lipped all those bass over the years. I'll give holding them in abother position a try, I'll have to put my camera on a rock with a timer to get a picture where I'm not mouth-fisting the fish.

I think I am going to head to the goon today after work. I should be getting there around 4 depending on traffic.

Maybe I'll see some of you there!

[Fire Ball]

Thanks Everyone. I'm glad I killed it this weekend after getting 2.5 skunks (The mini-bass was a gimme I guess).

FIREBALL - Yeah Casitas is a cool looking lake. If you ever want to split a boat up there, let me know and I'll be happy to fish with you. Its $85 for a full day. The marina opens at 6.

HOGMASTER - Wow. Never thought of that. If I knew that I wouldn't have lipped all those bass over the years. I'll give holding them in abother position a try, I'll have to put my camera on a rock with a timer to get a picture where I'm not mouth-fisting the fish.

I think I am going to head to the goon today after work. I should be getting there around 4 depending on traffic.

Maybe I'll see some of you there!

Casitas is pretty far away for me. Make sure to post a report if you go to the Goon! I want to see how people do today compared to yesterday.

[bassinnut]

It looks like you figured on the drop shot. - Nice Job. I will be there this weekend id doesn't rain

FYI Casitas always spwans and warms up before Castaic.

[ToadsToadsOnly]

Nice bass from shore bro.

[SC400DUDE]

I'm glad your persistence paid off. My buddy got 3 fish in a matter of minutes off Oxblood. It's heating up rapidly at Casitas. Good job dude.

[ghetto fisherman]

nice bass bro keep them coming.........

[McFingers]

Thanks guys. Its good to be finally catching fish like I used to.

I wish it wasn't so damp and windy this weekend, I would be out there (OR THE GOON).

SIDE NOTE: Anyone want to split the cost on a boat rental at Castiac in a couple weeks? Saturday's only.