Saturday, good day if you’re a duck
My Jackie Johnson said “just a 20% chance of a light sprinkle”. That didn’t sound bad so off to Castaic to try again to convince those fish to enjoy bait. Brought two brands of sardines, nightcrawlers, chicken livers, and the new jumbo bloodworms that Steve got in at Gallions.
The launch ramp was down to ˝ of the rental dock so only one boat at a time could launch. The rest of the launch area over to the dam was roped off to hold a giant pile of gunk. They had stocked trout this week but I have no idea where they were hiding under that blanket. After getting my engine clogged last year and paying for a new impeller and flush, I was a little worried but the depth of the gunk was not as bad as last year.
Drove around a lot looking for marks but very scattered results and occasional casts got nothing. Set up early in a favorite spot I wanted to try but didn’t see much on the meter and it was 2 hours before I got my first bite. A 2 lb. striper grabbed a nightcrawler as I was pulling on the anchor rope to reposition.
Moved to another spot where I often see marks and there was a small group there so I broke out the good stuff, the big meaty bloodworms. Wind was very calm and water temp 56.x but by now Jackie’s 20% became 100% drizzle and it went on for hours. With no umbrella I had no choice but to get me and the boat soaked. It’s my fishing day so I’m not going home and everything is already soaked so no other option.
Rather than anchor, I drifted around that area. In the first 10 minutes picked up two more on a half bloodworm and then another casting a fluke. After that I had several bites that I missed on the bloodworms and one more caught. Most places showed as a deserted wasteland on the meter.
Still can’t get a bite with a sardine.
5 stripers is not a banner day but I have some leftover jumbo bloodworms and they are the best thing going right now for bait fishing.
Driving back to the dock I had to go through huge islands of floating mulch-like gunk with trash, branches and tumbleweeds all over the surface. What a mess!
In the upper parking lot a guy who fished from shore all day asked how I did. He told me he got skunked and of all the people he saw on shore fishing he didn’t see anybody with a fish and only saw one guy get a bite all day.
January can be a tough month.
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Originally Posted by fishinone
