Jackpot Jimmy
01-09-2011, 10:05 PM
Good day everyone, I hope you are all doing well as we get back into the swing of things post-Holiday season. For my third and last week of vacation, I went trout fishing again with my friend Bill, this time at Cucamonga-Guasti Regional Park. They had stocked Calaveras trout, and I ended up with five nicer ones, a day beating out all my other days trout fishing combined (five other days prior to this). No pictures as we were fishing hard the whole time.
On Saturday morning, we drove out from Redlands to Redondo and lined up with everyone else. We shot the breeze with the folks and then Morgon came up and called people down by reservation. At 6am, we rolled off the dock and headed north. Our first order of business would be to load up on sculpin, and then head inside to fish the bass in the afternoon.
The night before, Bill and I powder coated some leadheads. Bill coated his leadheads with a color he mixed, which was a crab color. I mixed it up and I coated mine with watermelon (worked well for me last week), red/brown (worked well during previous structure bass trips), and old reliable chartreuse. For the sculpin, I decided to use a six ounce torpedo sinker with a dropper loop and a leadhead with skirt, in a sort-of Lakers color.
The first stop for sculpin was a little slow. Few legals were coming over the side, but some guys did get some nice sole like this one caught by Ray…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-62.jpg
We moved on further up the line and hit a spot that was every drop on the quality sculpin. I fished a whole squid on my leadhead to weed out some of the shorts, and this technique was effective most of the time. The sculpin weren’t huge, but they were definitely keepers and will make tasty fish tacos later on!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/003-61.jpg
With our quota met, we headed inside to try for some bass. The first spot was pretty dead, so we moved on to another spot and had a nice steady pick at the sculpin (at this point, they were released) and even some sheephead like this one here (which were also released)…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-50.jpg
My friend John was fishing light tackle with a little hook, and ended up catching several exotic species, including this one with we believe is a zebra perch…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-44.jpg
I started out with a mogambo on my leadhead, but it wasn’t doing much yet, so I switched to a plain leadhead and started getting some sculpin every drop. My dad and I got these nice sculpin during this good bite…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-66.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-26.jpg
Then, the first bass was landed on a mogambo, so I switched over. I soon landed a bass and so did a few other guys…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-40.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-33.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-26.jpg
There was a reef right underneath the boat that was producing for a little while, but it died off after a while. Some of the guys then started casting out off the stern and dragging back, and if they casted in the right place, they were rewarded with some nice bass. This reef was pretty jagged, and my friend Bill lost his top shot one cast. Ray filled in his spot on the rail, and almost instantly, he landed this nice sized grumpy which took JP…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-23.jpg
Soon after, with time running out, Steven turned the boat towards Redondo, and we headed on home. Sculpin fishing was excellent, while the bass fishing was just a slow pick…but hey! This fishing is fun anyways, and when you hook up on a bass, it’s pure excitement. Great times, great fishing!
End result on a few of the bass…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-27.jpg
On Saturday morning, we drove out from Redlands to Redondo and lined up with everyone else. We shot the breeze with the folks and then Morgon came up and called people down by reservation. At 6am, we rolled off the dock and headed north. Our first order of business would be to load up on sculpin, and then head inside to fish the bass in the afternoon.
The night before, Bill and I powder coated some leadheads. Bill coated his leadheads with a color he mixed, which was a crab color. I mixed it up and I coated mine with watermelon (worked well for me last week), red/brown (worked well during previous structure bass trips), and old reliable chartreuse. For the sculpin, I decided to use a six ounce torpedo sinker with a dropper loop and a leadhead with skirt, in a sort-of Lakers color.
The first stop for sculpin was a little slow. Few legals were coming over the side, but some guys did get some nice sole like this one caught by Ray…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/001-62.jpg
We moved on further up the line and hit a spot that was every drop on the quality sculpin. I fished a whole squid on my leadhead to weed out some of the shorts, and this technique was effective most of the time. The sculpin weren’t huge, but they were definitely keepers and will make tasty fish tacos later on!
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/003-61.jpg
With our quota met, we headed inside to try for some bass. The first spot was pretty dead, so we moved on to another spot and had a nice steady pick at the sculpin (at this point, they were released) and even some sheephead like this one here (which were also released)…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/004-50.jpg
My friend John was fishing light tackle with a little hook, and ended up catching several exotic species, including this one with we believe is a zebra perch…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/007-44.jpg
I started out with a mogambo on my leadhead, but it wasn’t doing much yet, so I switched to a plain leadhead and started getting some sculpin every drop. My dad and I got these nice sculpin during this good bite…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/005-66.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/011-26.jpg
Then, the first bass was landed on a mogambo, so I switched over. I soon landed a bass and so did a few other guys…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/008-40.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/009-33.jpg
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/012-26.jpg
There was a reef right underneath the boat that was producing for a little while, but it died off after a while. Some of the guys then started casting out off the stern and dragging back, and if they casted in the right place, they were rewarded with some nice bass. This reef was pretty jagged, and my friend Bill lost his top shot one cast. Ray filled in his spot on the rail, and almost instantly, he landed this nice sized grumpy which took JP…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/013-23.jpg
Soon after, with time running out, Steven turned the boat towards Redondo, and we headed on home. Sculpin fishing was excellent, while the bass fishing was just a slow pick…but hey! This fishing is fun anyways, and when you hook up on a bass, it’s pure excitement. Great times, great fishing!
End result on a few of the bass…
http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo358/Jackpot-Jimmy/014-27.jpg