Natural Lefty
11-03-2011, 03:38 PM
Due to my schedule and the cold, rainy Friday weather forecast, I decided to go fishing yesterday afternoon. I was going to go to Perris, but my friend Juan reminded me that it is now closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Then I thought of going to Silverwood, but found out that it is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays now, also due to state budget cuts. Well, at least Puddingstone is open and now it's free, so I headed there. As I found out from people there and I think on this site too, Puddingstone has actually been free on weekdays since the start of October. I wish I had gone there in October. Apparently the Crappies were biting then, but they aren't now.
I headed for the high pier on the southeast side of the lake where I fish most often at Puddingstone, and started fishing there around 3:30 p.m. I set up a paternoster type rig with two small worm hooks on the pole I recently respooled with 6 pound line, and fished a jig on my "lucky" pole. Nothing bit on the jig this time, though. I casted my other line with worms on the worm hooks about as far as I could (like 100 feet) out from the end of the pier, and a little to the left, and left it there while I fished the jig. I didn't see any action on the worm pole, but when I reeled it in, there was a small Bass of about 7 inches on the line, which I promptly released.
I also tried fishing worms around the pier or a ways out from the pier to no avail. However, I kept casting the paternoster rig pole to pretty much the same spot around 100 feet from the end of the pier (witihn a few feet) and getting pretty consistent action. I did not get bites every time, but I did often enough to make the fishing pretty good there. When I was paying more attention to this pole, I would notice little taps on the line, and hooked several of these fish when I set the hook. I caught 5 fish in all, all from the same spot. The second one was a decent size Bluegill. The third was what I at first thought was a Redear, but upon closer inspection, I would say it was probably a Redear/Bluegill hybrid (Red on the gills, blue-green sides and yellow belly like a Redear, but shaped like a Bluegill with dark vertical bars like a Bluegill). It bit within a few seconds after I casted. The fourth fish was a definite Redear, nice size at about 8 inches, and the last one was another Bluegill.
Meanwhile, people were telling me how good the Crappie fishing had been last week and the week before. I keep fishing these places a week too late, I guess, because the Crappies had definitely skedaddled since last week. By the way, the water was only a couple of feet below full pool, contrary to all the reports of super low water for dam repair. Apparently, the dam repairs are finished and the water has been brought back up. Perhaps the influx of new water had something to do with the Crappies moving. The weather hasn't been too cold. Several people told me that "the bend over there" between the parking lot and the lake "has a bunch of Crappies," so I tried over there twice, to no avail.
There was a man who was fishing beside most of the time who brought his little son and daughter. He was fishing for Catfish using shrimp dipped in Hog Wild or something like that, on 3 poles, and alternating without any success between Crappie jigs and assorted Bass lures on his fourth pole. Apparently, his children were fishing too, although they could have fooled me with their playing on shore and running up and down the pier, kidding each other and telling kiddie jokes. The son appeared to be about 7-8 years old, and the daughter maybe only 4 years old.
At one point, he hooked a Channel Catfish on his shrimp, got it all the way in, and lifted the fish out of the water, but it fell back in. I know he was using way heavier line than I use, so I thought it merely fell off the hook, but the line was broken. There must have been a bad knot or frayed line. The catfish appeared to be about 2 pounds. I suggested he could walk the fish to shore next time, and I would go down there and secure it for him. One of his lines was bright red and looked as though it was made of wire, although it was not wire. After the breakoff, he had two other bites on his catfish poles, which he tried to set the hook on and missed, so the catfish are definitely around there. His 3 catfish poles were actually the reason that I had to keep casting to the same spot, actually, slightly to the left of the pier out from the end, to avoid crossing his catfish lines.
At one point, he sat down with the kids and told them a children's story in Spanish, except for one point when he said "these are gifts from God." I don't speak Spanish, but aside from that, I was able to gather to the best of my understanding that the story was about a flatulent rabbit and a laughing duck. Maybe it's best I didn't know all the details of the story, but the kids certainly thought it was funny.
After the sun went down, the fish stopped biting even on the worms in "my spot." Around 7 p.m., it was already dark and I decided to go. As I was putting my stuff away, the other man casted one of his catfish poles to "my spot," and lo and behold, he hooked a catfish right away, in "my spot," naturally. I tell you, the fish really like that spot for some reason. This time, he took my advice and walked the fish down the pier to shore. I was going to grab the net and help him land it, but his son beat me to it. The son was a bit inefficient at getting the fish in the net, but got it done. Afterward, the man told me that the fish had just barely been hooked, so even had the line not broken, it probably would have fallen off the hook had he tried to lift it up to the pier. This one was a bit smaller than the first one he hooked, like 1 1/2 pounds by my estimate, but still a nice catch and definitely bigger than the Channel Catfish I have been catching. Given my recent tendency to catch Channel Catfish, I am surprised I didn't catch one, but I guess, given a choice between a redworm and shrimp dipped in Hog Wild, the shrimp definitely wins as far as the catfish is concerned.
After that, I headed home, but not before noticing that my little bag full of bobbers (one of my wife's ideas) was missing. :Confused:I think I left it in the dark at Canyon Lake last Friday. Well, somebody at Canyon Lake probably has a bunch of new, free bobbers. I still have some bobbers though.
My total catch was:
1 small LMB (released), 2 Bluegills (kept), 1 probable Redear-Bluegill hybrid (kept) and 1 nice size Redear (8 inches, about the same as I have been catching at Perris), kept. They were all caught in the same spot on various worms, although my homegrown redworms seemed to work the best.
I headed for the high pier on the southeast side of the lake where I fish most often at Puddingstone, and started fishing there around 3:30 p.m. I set up a paternoster type rig with two small worm hooks on the pole I recently respooled with 6 pound line, and fished a jig on my "lucky" pole. Nothing bit on the jig this time, though. I casted my other line with worms on the worm hooks about as far as I could (like 100 feet) out from the end of the pier, and a little to the left, and left it there while I fished the jig. I didn't see any action on the worm pole, but when I reeled it in, there was a small Bass of about 7 inches on the line, which I promptly released.
I also tried fishing worms around the pier or a ways out from the pier to no avail. However, I kept casting the paternoster rig pole to pretty much the same spot around 100 feet from the end of the pier (witihn a few feet) and getting pretty consistent action. I did not get bites every time, but I did often enough to make the fishing pretty good there. When I was paying more attention to this pole, I would notice little taps on the line, and hooked several of these fish when I set the hook. I caught 5 fish in all, all from the same spot. The second one was a decent size Bluegill. The third was what I at first thought was a Redear, but upon closer inspection, I would say it was probably a Redear/Bluegill hybrid (Red on the gills, blue-green sides and yellow belly like a Redear, but shaped like a Bluegill with dark vertical bars like a Bluegill). It bit within a few seconds after I casted. The fourth fish was a definite Redear, nice size at about 8 inches, and the last one was another Bluegill.
Meanwhile, people were telling me how good the Crappie fishing had been last week and the week before. I keep fishing these places a week too late, I guess, because the Crappies had definitely skedaddled since last week. By the way, the water was only a couple of feet below full pool, contrary to all the reports of super low water for dam repair. Apparently, the dam repairs are finished and the water has been brought back up. Perhaps the influx of new water had something to do with the Crappies moving. The weather hasn't been too cold. Several people told me that "the bend over there" between the parking lot and the lake "has a bunch of Crappies," so I tried over there twice, to no avail.
There was a man who was fishing beside most of the time who brought his little son and daughter. He was fishing for Catfish using shrimp dipped in Hog Wild or something like that, on 3 poles, and alternating without any success between Crappie jigs and assorted Bass lures on his fourth pole. Apparently, his children were fishing too, although they could have fooled me with their playing on shore and running up and down the pier, kidding each other and telling kiddie jokes. The son appeared to be about 7-8 years old, and the daughter maybe only 4 years old.
At one point, he hooked a Channel Catfish on his shrimp, got it all the way in, and lifted the fish out of the water, but it fell back in. I know he was using way heavier line than I use, so I thought it merely fell off the hook, but the line was broken. There must have been a bad knot or frayed line. The catfish appeared to be about 2 pounds. I suggested he could walk the fish to shore next time, and I would go down there and secure it for him. One of his lines was bright red and looked as though it was made of wire, although it was not wire. After the breakoff, he had two other bites on his catfish poles, which he tried to set the hook on and missed, so the catfish are definitely around there. His 3 catfish poles were actually the reason that I had to keep casting to the same spot, actually, slightly to the left of the pier out from the end, to avoid crossing his catfish lines.
At one point, he sat down with the kids and told them a children's story in Spanish, except for one point when he said "these are gifts from God." I don't speak Spanish, but aside from that, I was able to gather to the best of my understanding that the story was about a flatulent rabbit and a laughing duck. Maybe it's best I didn't know all the details of the story, but the kids certainly thought it was funny.
After the sun went down, the fish stopped biting even on the worms in "my spot." Around 7 p.m., it was already dark and I decided to go. As I was putting my stuff away, the other man casted one of his catfish poles to "my spot," and lo and behold, he hooked a catfish right away, in "my spot," naturally. I tell you, the fish really like that spot for some reason. This time, he took my advice and walked the fish down the pier to shore. I was going to grab the net and help him land it, but his son beat me to it. The son was a bit inefficient at getting the fish in the net, but got it done. Afterward, the man told me that the fish had just barely been hooked, so even had the line not broken, it probably would have fallen off the hook had he tried to lift it up to the pier. This one was a bit smaller than the first one he hooked, like 1 1/2 pounds by my estimate, but still a nice catch and definitely bigger than the Channel Catfish I have been catching. Given my recent tendency to catch Channel Catfish, I am surprised I didn't catch one, but I guess, given a choice between a redworm and shrimp dipped in Hog Wild, the shrimp definitely wins as far as the catfish is concerned.
After that, I headed home, but not before noticing that my little bag full of bobbers (one of my wife's ideas) was missing. :Confused:I think I left it in the dark at Canyon Lake last Friday. Well, somebody at Canyon Lake probably has a bunch of new, free bobbers. I still have some bobbers though.
My total catch was:
1 small LMB (released), 2 Bluegills (kept), 1 probable Redear-Bluegill hybrid (kept) and 1 nice size Redear (8 inches, about the same as I have been catching at Perris), kept. They were all caught in the same spot on various worms, although my homegrown redworms seemed to work the best.