Natural Lefty
03-20-2010, 08:51 PM
Since I am home early from my latest fishing adventure due to the early closing time at Perris, I will actually post a same-day fishing report for once.
If it were only about my fishing efforts, there would not be much to post, as I only caught 2 measly 6 inch Bluegills. Whoopdidoo! It's not exacly bragging material, but they actually were my first two Bluegills of the year, and my first two fish from Perris this year, which is way later than usual.
I wasn't sure whether I should go, but something told me to go anyway, although I usually only fish consecutive days while on vacation. After a leisurely morning and lunch, I gathered some homegrown worms, packed up my equipment and headed for Perris. My wife Eunice said she had a lot to do, so she stayed home. I suspect yesteday's misadventures were enough to last her a week -- me too, really. I got there around 2:30, and headed for the docks which should have been our first fishing spot yesterday. (We should have skipped the Salton Sea and gone straight to Perris.) Actually, Greg (Bowler) had mentioned to me that he would be going there with his wife, and would have a Lowe's bucket. When I got there, I settled in on the docks just to the right of the big black gate. I saw no Lowe's buckets, so I figured Greg and his wife had left. But after a few minutes, taking a look at the people right next to me, and listening to their conversation, I heard the wife mention something about a bowling tournament. A light went on in my head, so I asked the man if he was Greg, and indeed he was. The Lowe's bucket was concealed at the time.
The young man they were talking to looked familiar, so next, I asked him if he had been fishing at Puddingstone last Saturday. Indeed, that was him. He later introduced himself as Dave. (That was an uneventful trip last Saturday; I caught one fat 10-11 inch Bass which I put back, and others caught nothing while I was there, but I did see a total of 4 medium size Redears which had been caught earlier.) This was getting surreal. There was an older Asian gentleman near us who also looked familar. According to Dave, he was a literal fish magnet named Steve, who also had been on the same east shore pier at Puddingtone last week.
A while later, it got even better, as a familiar looking young Asian fellow fishing just to my left said something like "Hi, aren't you Robert, the psych prof. at RCC. I'm Tsai, the guy with the long name, and this is my brother Toufu and my father." I had said hello to their father when I had arrived, but hadn't paid much attention to the sons. Both Tsai (whose real name is something like Tsaivaxamerica) and Toufu had been in my classes a few years ago. I asked Toufu how his wife and daughter were, and he said, "Well, we just had another daughter; now we have 4 girls and a boy." I was like, "what? You were in my class only a few years ago. It must be like another kid every year," and he said basically, yes. The Moua family is a Hmong family from Laos; they had told me a lot about their history before. Tsai told me he was just visiting, as he had moved to Fresno, where the most Hmong live. Those were the last people I know that I saw at Perris today, but the amazing thing was that we were all fishing in a row adjacent to each other, and I had plopped myself down right in the middle of them.
It turned out Dave was doing pretty well fishing wise. He had several Redears and a small Bluegill already by the time I got there, and continued to catch fish from time to time. Steve did well, catching two or 3 Redears, including a good size (maybe 3/4 pound) one, and a Bluegill about the same size as his larger Redear. The Moua family pulled in fish Bluegills and Redears here and there, too, including a good size Redear caught by Toufu. At one point, the father had a major bend in his pole, and said he had a big fish on the line, but by the time I saw it, what he had just looked like a snag. I think the fish got into the rocks, and Mr. Moua's line eventually broke. Most others on the pier caught fish from time to time, but not everyone. The two Bluegills I caught both hooked themselves on my four pound setup using small worms dangled straight down. As far as I could see, earthworms were the only baits being used by anyone -- not even any crickets or mealworms.
Eventually, Greg and his wife left without catching any, sadly. A while later, it dawned on me to ask Dave what pound test he was using, and he answered 2 pound, as I expected. I had 4 pound and 6 pound, and the 4 pound was getting all the bites, but people with 2 pound were catching a lot more. Sunfish are not known to be line shy, but these ones definitely have been at Perris. Unfortunately, my wife convinced me to change all my lines to 4 pounds or more because "2 pounds is too weakling" and I assented, given that I didn't want her breaking fishing lines all over the place. I usually have at least one pole with 2 pound line on the reel. I think it's time to do that again. I suspect the lack of catching success of Greg and his wife was probably due to their line being too heavy, although it didn't look particularly heavy. The same probably goes for others who didn't catch fish there.
Around 5 p.m., some guy announced that they would be closing the gate, so everyone had to move shoreward of the black gate. I told Dave exactly what this meant, since this was his first time at Perris, and we soon headed for our new spot. That is when things started to resemble a zoo, fishing wise. I hadn't realized that so many people were fishing on the pier until then. It was a good reminder of why I rarely fish at Perris on a weekend. It was as crowded as I have ever seen a fishing place, but I stayed, if nothing else, to talk to Dave. Despite the crowd, people continued to catch a fair number of fish, including some nice ones. I caught my second Bluegill, actually, in the new spot. Around 5:30, a guy in a boat announced on a loudspeaker that we all had to leave by 6 p.m., due to the budget cuts. Hopefully, the hours will go back to normal at the start of April, and I can go back to my late afternoon/evening fishing trips.
I think all of us made it out of there on time. Dave and I were two of the last to leave, around 5:50. Meanwhile, I gave Dave the box with my remaining several homegrown "bright worms" which actually have a natural orange glowing color on their "head end." They make good bait, so Dave was interested in growing them at his home.
I was surprised by how many Redears were caught, and it still is officially winter, until tomorrow. I was also surprised that I didn't catch any Redears, but at least I caught a couple of smallish Bluegills, which I kept since they were the first of the season. Actually, Eunice yelled at me when I got home, because she said the Bluegills were too small. I guess it's back to our 7 inch minimum size on Bluegills/Redears after this.
In any event, it seems a good time was had be all, most people caught something, and there were some good accumulations of tasty sunfish by some people. It was really good to meet you, Greg and wife.
If it were only about my fishing efforts, there would not be much to post, as I only caught 2 measly 6 inch Bluegills. Whoopdidoo! It's not exacly bragging material, but they actually were my first two Bluegills of the year, and my first two fish from Perris this year, which is way later than usual.
I wasn't sure whether I should go, but something told me to go anyway, although I usually only fish consecutive days while on vacation. After a leisurely morning and lunch, I gathered some homegrown worms, packed up my equipment and headed for Perris. My wife Eunice said she had a lot to do, so she stayed home. I suspect yesteday's misadventures were enough to last her a week -- me too, really. I got there around 2:30, and headed for the docks which should have been our first fishing spot yesterday. (We should have skipped the Salton Sea and gone straight to Perris.) Actually, Greg (Bowler) had mentioned to me that he would be going there with his wife, and would have a Lowe's bucket. When I got there, I settled in on the docks just to the right of the big black gate. I saw no Lowe's buckets, so I figured Greg and his wife had left. But after a few minutes, taking a look at the people right next to me, and listening to their conversation, I heard the wife mention something about a bowling tournament. A light went on in my head, so I asked the man if he was Greg, and indeed he was. The Lowe's bucket was concealed at the time.
The young man they were talking to looked familiar, so next, I asked him if he had been fishing at Puddingstone last Saturday. Indeed, that was him. He later introduced himself as Dave. (That was an uneventful trip last Saturday; I caught one fat 10-11 inch Bass which I put back, and others caught nothing while I was there, but I did see a total of 4 medium size Redears which had been caught earlier.) This was getting surreal. There was an older Asian gentleman near us who also looked familar. According to Dave, he was a literal fish magnet named Steve, who also had been on the same east shore pier at Puddingtone last week.
A while later, it got even better, as a familiar looking young Asian fellow fishing just to my left said something like "Hi, aren't you Robert, the psych prof. at RCC. I'm Tsai, the guy with the long name, and this is my brother Toufu and my father." I had said hello to their father when I had arrived, but hadn't paid much attention to the sons. Both Tsai (whose real name is something like Tsaivaxamerica) and Toufu had been in my classes a few years ago. I asked Toufu how his wife and daughter were, and he said, "Well, we just had another daughter; now we have 4 girls and a boy." I was like, "what? You were in my class only a few years ago. It must be like another kid every year," and he said basically, yes. The Moua family is a Hmong family from Laos; they had told me a lot about their history before. Tsai told me he was just visiting, as he had moved to Fresno, where the most Hmong live. Those were the last people I know that I saw at Perris today, but the amazing thing was that we were all fishing in a row adjacent to each other, and I had plopped myself down right in the middle of them.
It turned out Dave was doing pretty well fishing wise. He had several Redears and a small Bluegill already by the time I got there, and continued to catch fish from time to time. Steve did well, catching two or 3 Redears, including a good size (maybe 3/4 pound) one, and a Bluegill about the same size as his larger Redear. The Moua family pulled in fish Bluegills and Redears here and there, too, including a good size Redear caught by Toufu. At one point, the father had a major bend in his pole, and said he had a big fish on the line, but by the time I saw it, what he had just looked like a snag. I think the fish got into the rocks, and Mr. Moua's line eventually broke. Most others on the pier caught fish from time to time, but not everyone. The two Bluegills I caught both hooked themselves on my four pound setup using small worms dangled straight down. As far as I could see, earthworms were the only baits being used by anyone -- not even any crickets or mealworms.
Eventually, Greg and his wife left without catching any, sadly. A while later, it dawned on me to ask Dave what pound test he was using, and he answered 2 pound, as I expected. I had 4 pound and 6 pound, and the 4 pound was getting all the bites, but people with 2 pound were catching a lot more. Sunfish are not known to be line shy, but these ones definitely have been at Perris. Unfortunately, my wife convinced me to change all my lines to 4 pounds or more because "2 pounds is too weakling" and I assented, given that I didn't want her breaking fishing lines all over the place. I usually have at least one pole with 2 pound line on the reel. I think it's time to do that again. I suspect the lack of catching success of Greg and his wife was probably due to their line being too heavy, although it didn't look particularly heavy. The same probably goes for others who didn't catch fish there.
Around 5 p.m., some guy announced that they would be closing the gate, so everyone had to move shoreward of the black gate. I told Dave exactly what this meant, since this was his first time at Perris, and we soon headed for our new spot. That is when things started to resemble a zoo, fishing wise. I hadn't realized that so many people were fishing on the pier until then. It was a good reminder of why I rarely fish at Perris on a weekend. It was as crowded as I have ever seen a fishing place, but I stayed, if nothing else, to talk to Dave. Despite the crowd, people continued to catch a fair number of fish, including some nice ones. I caught my second Bluegill, actually, in the new spot. Around 5:30, a guy in a boat announced on a loudspeaker that we all had to leave by 6 p.m., due to the budget cuts. Hopefully, the hours will go back to normal at the start of April, and I can go back to my late afternoon/evening fishing trips.
I think all of us made it out of there on time. Dave and I were two of the last to leave, around 5:50. Meanwhile, I gave Dave the box with my remaining several homegrown "bright worms" which actually have a natural orange glowing color on their "head end." They make good bait, so Dave was interested in growing them at his home.
I was surprised by how many Redears were caught, and it still is officially winter, until tomorrow. I was also surprised that I didn't catch any Redears, but at least I caught a couple of smallish Bluegills, which I kept since they were the first of the season. Actually, Eunice yelled at me when I got home, because she said the Bluegills were too small. I guess it's back to our 7 inch minimum size on Bluegills/Redears after this.
In any event, it seems a good time was had be all, most people caught something, and there were some good accumulations of tasty sunfish by some people. It was really good to meet you, Greg and wife.