KNEE DEEP: Yer missin’ out

BY MIKE STEVENS

Even with 1 / 4 century of the sportfishing trade in my rearview, there are nonetheless particular manufacturers of fishing which are proper in entrance of my face that I haven’t tried. Nothing quirky and distinctive, both. I’m not speaking about trout fishing with a Tenkara rod on Scorching Creek right here (moreover, I’ve performed that, it was exhausting), however issues that on a regular basis anglers are doing on a regular basis. I simply haven’t.

Lately, I’ve been making an effort to test a few of these containers off, and a few of them are going to stay within the common rotation.

Owens Valley bass

I’ve identified of the presence of bass all through the Owens Valley and even caught a number of small ones by accident whereas focusing on trout, however I’ve by no means focused them particularly till a pair years in the past. Nick Lara at Mac’s Sporting Items in Bishop is a neighborhood authority on the topic, and once I requested him the place to go he principally stated, “fish the locations you might be already fishing for trout, simply use bass stuff.”

My first hacks got here on the way in which as much as fish Crowley Lake in October, so we hit some spots on the decrease Owens River north of Lone Pine. Lengthy story quick, in about three hours of fishing, me and one other man piled up over 30 every (combination of smallmouth and largemouth) inside a couple of 50-yard stretch. I tipped my brother and his buddy off who had been on their approach up a day later, they usually did the identical factor.

Squarebills, creature baits, lipless cranks, plastic craws, in-line spinners and Hookup Baits all do the trick (primarily the cranks that first time), and now each journey up (3 to five instances a 12 months) begins with a day on the Decrease O. Trout, bluegill and even the occasional catfish are additionally within the combine, however a part of what retains me fired up about it’s considering ultimately a big-ass brown trout goes to chase down considered one of these bass baits and I’ll get to tussle with it on (comparatively) heavy gear.

It’s a low-maintenance, easy-access blast, and whereas it’s not all the time broad open like that first time, we’ve but to get skunked. And you are able to do all of it winter.

Backside grabbin’

Most of you aren’t lacking out on filling sacks with rockfish, however I did for a very long time. Fishing whereas chilly in miles deep water with big gear (Dacron line capability) had zero attraction to me from once I first began saltwater fishing within the early 90s till, actually, about 10 years in the past. Whereas the arrival of braid did the trick, I nonetheless didn’t goal rockfish till I began at WON and internet hosting our charters at which level it was a “when in Rome” factor. So, braid had been out some time, however that was my first style of not solely backside fishing with mild gear, however with the ability to really feel all the things that was happening down there and, dare I say, having enjoyable doing it?

The identical lack of stretch that permits you to really feel each pebble down there in addition to each time a fish breathes in your bait additionally makes each backside
grabber you haul up really feel like a giant one. From the traditional pre-committal tap-tap-tap that takes me again to my PowerBait roots within the Sierra, to haulin’  tasty critters on bass gear and feeling each head shake on the way in which up, I used to be a fast convert and am now on a mission to point out whoever else is hibernating from salt within the winter to get within the recreation.

Surf slinging

Speak about low-maintenance and countless entry, I’ve all the time had an off-and-on relationship with surf fishing, however I’m at the moment on and this time I feel it’s going to stay. A part of the reason being, I’m now masking Southern California surf fishing for WON, and meaning I’ve received a military of sources from the Mexican border up by Santa Barbara and Ventura. Consequently, I’m bombed with intel each day, and I’ve detected a number of issues that appear completely different since I final usually fished from the seaside: far more striped bass are caught within the surf in that zone that many individuals are conscious of, jerkbaits have develop into far more prevalent (and for nearly all surf species) than they ever had been, and with some analysis, a surf angler can discover spots that produce nearly all the things that may be caught on a half-day boat.

None of these gadgets are extraordinary, however I’m discovering out that the extent at which every of these are happening is probably going 50 to 75 % increased than informal anglers assume.

What I’m nonetheless lacking out on

Twilight fishing. It’s actually form of loopy that I’ve by no means been on a twilight journey, particularly given the actual fact I —somebody who as soon as wrote a column declaring the afternoon half-day “the best journey in all of sportfishing”— nonetheless maintain half-days near my coronary heart. So, you’re telling me I can fish a half-day after I go away work? Signal me up!

My pleasure over the prospect of twilight fishing form of went uncontrolled
once I was making an attempt to persuade the in-office WON staffers that we have to do a circuit
of twilight journeys full with a degree system and
in the end, a twilight angler of the 12 months, however I used to be not taken severely.

Think about that.

Source link