Natural Lefty
11-10-2011, 03:53 PM
I was going to go fishing today, but my boss (the wife, you know) asked me to stay here today and wait for a registered letter she is sending from Taiwan. With Perris and Silverwood now closed on Wednesdays, it was back to Puddingstone for me.
I was torn between going to the same spot as last week, the "high pier," or trying to find Puddingstone's Crappies, etc. elsewhere in the lake, trying to figure out where Vividfly is catching all those fish, you know. Since it was already mid-afternoon and the sun goes down a lot earlier now, I went back to the high pier. I did get directions on how to go to Sail Cove from a guy in the parking lot, though. Nonetheless, I headed for the high pier and started fishing around 3:30 p.m.
If I hadn't caught a Catfish, this would have been a really mundane trip. There were a couple of interesting catches, though. First, I set up with the paternoster rig on one pole (the 2 hooks on dropper loops), and tossed jigs on the other, hoping the Crappies had shown up. No Crappies were found, although there were big schools of minnows. However, I started gettting those really light bites on my worms cast out to "my spot" right away. I wasn't hooking them for awhile, but eventually, I had what felt like a rug on the line when I started reeling in, although I didn't notice any bites. I figured there was probably a fish or two in whatever was on the line. There is still an awful lot of veggies out there, which I didn't mention last week, as I kept reeling in balls of veggies. It was the same thing yesterday. This time it was so heavy, that I could barely bring the kit-and-kaboodle in. Eventually, I dragged the whole thing to shore, and two Bluegills became visible as I did. The top one was stuck in a huge ball of veggies which extended 7-8 feet behind it, and another Bluegill was free of the veggies but being dragged along with the rig. Both of the Bluegills were decent size too, and they had both hooked themselves in the lip.
After that, I continued missing a few light bites. A couple of other guys showed up, too, and they commenced fishing for Catfish with shrimp for bait, plus casting lures for Bass from time to time. Both were fishing two poles apiece and were conscientious about obeying the 2 pole limit. Later on, I found out that their names were James and Omar, and we talked quite a bit, mostly about fishing. At one point, I managed to hook a bite, a little to the right side from the end this time, but it turned out to be a small 4-5 inch juvenile Bluegill, so I put it back. After that, it started getting dark, and like last time, the sunfish stopped biting.
Eventually, I gave up on casting out to "my spot" as the worms were no longer being touched, unlike earlier. Instead, I decided to set up both poles along the left side of the pier, and just let the weight drop down to the point where it barely reached the bottom, leaving the worms dangling up above. I must confess at this point, I actually was semi-trying to catch a Catfish at this point, unlike all the other Channel Catfish I have caught since my return from Taiwan, but I would have been happy with any fish that came along.
Meanwhile, I was talking with James and Omar, mostly about fishing, passing the time while nothing bit. I was thinking seriously about leaving, and it was already dark, but we were having a good time talking about fish recipes, favorite fish to eat, favorite fishing spots, fishing stories, etc. We must have been talking for about 20 minutes with my worms dangling in the water under the pier, and their shrimp casted out but untouched by the catfish, who appeared not to be around this time, when I heard sounds of my closer pole being slapped against the railing, and saw major bendo of the pole going on. I grabbed the pole, and sure enough, there was a heavy puller on, which was way under the pier. Fortunately, I had the drag buttoned down pretty tight, with 6 pound line, and this fish had no sense of direction. I had a pretty good idea it was another Channel Catfish for me, and I was able to get it out from under the pier after a moment. When I got it near the surface, I could see it was a nice size Channel Catfish indeed, about the size the catfish fisher people have been going for. I walked it to shore, while Omar went down to the water's edge with my net and secured the fish for me. This was around 6 p.m.
James took a couple of photos of me with the fish and emailed one to me later on. I felt kind of badly that these guys were trying to catch catfish on shrimp cast out farther, and here I caught one on a baby nightcrawler right under the pier. Sometimes, a person just gets lucky. I seem to have the luck for Channel Catfish ever since I returned from Taiwan. The other ones were smaller than this one though. I weighed this one at home on my digital scale, and it said 1 pound, 12 ounces. It was 16 3/4 inches long too.
Since I had been lucky with the catfish, I tried casting out my jig a few more times for nothing again, and tried my other pole straight down for awhile, but nothing else bit so I stopped fishing around 6:15 p.m. Meanwhile, the line I caught my fish on was tangled in the net and just about anything else it came in contact with, including my backpack with my equipment. Anyway, I was a happy camper. After getting everything untangled and getting my gear together, I thanked James and Omar, gave them the rest of my worms, and left.
By the way, I have a few questions for Puddingstone regulars.
What time does the lake close now?
How does one get to the north shore?
Can one fish from the structure that looks like an old, unused boathouse to the right of Sail Cove, and if so, how is the fishing there?
Here is James' photo of me, minus my forehead, with my fish.
I was torn between going to the same spot as last week, the "high pier," or trying to find Puddingstone's Crappies, etc. elsewhere in the lake, trying to figure out where Vividfly is catching all those fish, you know. Since it was already mid-afternoon and the sun goes down a lot earlier now, I went back to the high pier. I did get directions on how to go to Sail Cove from a guy in the parking lot, though. Nonetheless, I headed for the high pier and started fishing around 3:30 p.m.
If I hadn't caught a Catfish, this would have been a really mundane trip. There were a couple of interesting catches, though. First, I set up with the paternoster rig on one pole (the 2 hooks on dropper loops), and tossed jigs on the other, hoping the Crappies had shown up. No Crappies were found, although there were big schools of minnows. However, I started gettting those really light bites on my worms cast out to "my spot" right away. I wasn't hooking them for awhile, but eventually, I had what felt like a rug on the line when I started reeling in, although I didn't notice any bites. I figured there was probably a fish or two in whatever was on the line. There is still an awful lot of veggies out there, which I didn't mention last week, as I kept reeling in balls of veggies. It was the same thing yesterday. This time it was so heavy, that I could barely bring the kit-and-kaboodle in. Eventually, I dragged the whole thing to shore, and two Bluegills became visible as I did. The top one was stuck in a huge ball of veggies which extended 7-8 feet behind it, and another Bluegill was free of the veggies but being dragged along with the rig. Both of the Bluegills were decent size too, and they had both hooked themselves in the lip.
After that, I continued missing a few light bites. A couple of other guys showed up, too, and they commenced fishing for Catfish with shrimp for bait, plus casting lures for Bass from time to time. Both were fishing two poles apiece and were conscientious about obeying the 2 pole limit. Later on, I found out that their names were James and Omar, and we talked quite a bit, mostly about fishing. At one point, I managed to hook a bite, a little to the right side from the end this time, but it turned out to be a small 4-5 inch juvenile Bluegill, so I put it back. After that, it started getting dark, and like last time, the sunfish stopped biting.
Eventually, I gave up on casting out to "my spot" as the worms were no longer being touched, unlike earlier. Instead, I decided to set up both poles along the left side of the pier, and just let the weight drop down to the point where it barely reached the bottom, leaving the worms dangling up above. I must confess at this point, I actually was semi-trying to catch a Catfish at this point, unlike all the other Channel Catfish I have caught since my return from Taiwan, but I would have been happy with any fish that came along.
Meanwhile, I was talking with James and Omar, mostly about fishing, passing the time while nothing bit. I was thinking seriously about leaving, and it was already dark, but we were having a good time talking about fish recipes, favorite fish to eat, favorite fishing spots, fishing stories, etc. We must have been talking for about 20 minutes with my worms dangling in the water under the pier, and their shrimp casted out but untouched by the catfish, who appeared not to be around this time, when I heard sounds of my closer pole being slapped against the railing, and saw major bendo of the pole going on. I grabbed the pole, and sure enough, there was a heavy puller on, which was way under the pier. Fortunately, I had the drag buttoned down pretty tight, with 6 pound line, and this fish had no sense of direction. I had a pretty good idea it was another Channel Catfish for me, and I was able to get it out from under the pier after a moment. When I got it near the surface, I could see it was a nice size Channel Catfish indeed, about the size the catfish fisher people have been going for. I walked it to shore, while Omar went down to the water's edge with my net and secured the fish for me. This was around 6 p.m.
James took a couple of photos of me with the fish and emailed one to me later on. I felt kind of badly that these guys were trying to catch catfish on shrimp cast out farther, and here I caught one on a baby nightcrawler right under the pier. Sometimes, a person just gets lucky. I seem to have the luck for Channel Catfish ever since I returned from Taiwan. The other ones were smaller than this one though. I weighed this one at home on my digital scale, and it said 1 pound, 12 ounces. It was 16 3/4 inches long too.
Since I had been lucky with the catfish, I tried casting out my jig a few more times for nothing again, and tried my other pole straight down for awhile, but nothing else bit so I stopped fishing around 6:15 p.m. Meanwhile, the line I caught my fish on was tangled in the net and just about anything else it came in contact with, including my backpack with my equipment. Anyway, I was a happy camper. After getting everything untangled and getting my gear together, I thanked James and Omar, gave them the rest of my worms, and left.
By the way, I have a few questions for Puddingstone regulars.
What time does the lake close now?
How does one get to the north shore?
Can one fish from the structure that looks like an old, unused boathouse to the right of Sail Cove, and if so, how is the fishing there?
Here is James' photo of me, minus my forehead, with my fish.