Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Help....I Suck At Fishing!

Paul, I was watching a survival show on TV yesterday. This is one of those where the guy gets dumped in the wild and films his survival techniques. He was in the Colorado Rocky Mtns and got out his fly rod. The interesting thing was his statement that the Colorado fish and game people consider fly fishing gear as being survival gear. They recommend that anyone taking a trip back up into the area take it along in case things get rough.

I believe that was Les Stroud (Survivorman is the show), but I've heard that from other sources as well. Certainly makes sense. It's compact and anywhere where there is water, there is likely to be fish.

Years ago I used to also think that if there was water I could catch a fish---wrong. Now I think maybe there are fish and with that attitude I am able to surprise myself with a catch of small fish.

Gflo,

About 10 years back I was doing road construction, widening the lanes and bank stabilization around the turn adjacent to the powerplant that Rad mentioned. We stayed at Lake Ming which is right above Hart Lake. I was never able to catch anything while I was there. We were working 16 hour days and I simply didn't have much time or energy to try...but we did get robbed while at work one day.

I had noticed a "seedy" group of young men milling around camp, presumabely casing us out the evening before. Sure enough we came back from work the next day to realize that most of our belongings had been taken. I'm not telling you this to scare you but rather to inform you that there is a "healthy" criminal element in Bakersfield. I kick myself in the butt because I was pretty sure those guys were up to no good and I didn't do anything to protect my property. I paid the price. Keep an eye out and trust your intuition but most importantly, have fun.

Rad, since your familiar with the power plant I have to tell this quick story. When I arrived the first day on the job, I got out of my truck and heard a loud distant rumble. I looked up at the peak to the north to see several VW Bug size boulders tumbling down the 1300' drop at what seemed like 100 MPH. One of the boulders stayed pretty much in tact all the way to the bottom. Before reaching the bank it took one last bounce, launching it into the bridge that the plant uses for testing flows and accessing equipment on the other side. The metal bridge pretty much exploded into a hundred splintery pieces while the rock plunged into the river creating the biggest splash I have ever seen. This random act of erosion was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen in my lifetime.

Well,

I went up to lake isabella from 10:00am till around 3:00pm and I caught a sunburn It was fun, but we didn't have much luck at French Gulch.

We then drove down to Hart Park to try our luck from 4:00-5:30pm, but didn't have any luck there either.

Bummer! Oh well!

I have never had much luck in Lake Isabela either, or the river below for that matter, yet both are heavily stocked. But, there is that saying " a day fishing....."

Isabella is a really nice lake for jet skis though.

What do you use to catch them?

Large and I do mean LARGE weighted treble hooks...

Around here Cecil told me that they've caught them on Muskie Plugs.....

Most of the larger tourist areas are plagued with them,plus the parachutes that are drug behind power boats. However, we are blessed, they are two of the few things that are outlawed in my neighborhood.

Noobie Fishing Update.

Went out to Santa Margarita Lake on Friday. The water was really low, and we shore fished not too far away from the marina. No luck, just caught a lot of muck (I'm a poet I know). Probably should have rented a boat. Oh well!

My wife and I went fishing today at Oceano Lagoon (a small little 5 acre pond basically).

The water was really low there as well, but at around 5:00pm I caught my first Monster Bass using a blue fox vibrax spinner (gold/gold) with the ultralight setup.







At about 5:15 my wife caught her first crappie using an identical rig!



A few things I learned....

It is much easier to cast just flicking your wrist. Before I was casting like an idiot who wanted to throw out his back.

When using the spinners, I was reeling in a little faster than I thought I should have when I caught my little bass. I didn't realize how fast fish can move when they are looking for a meal.

I must have been using the spinner lures improperly before by reeling in too slowly. It just wasn't tricking the fish into thinking it was alive before I guess?

Just like all things ponds, "it depends". Sometimes fish like a fast retrieve, sometimes slow. Esperimentation is the key. Sometimes color will make all the difference as well.

Way to go, ya'll. Where there are lil bass and crappie, there must be bigger ones. I still say a worm or shiner 2 ft. under a cork will draw more strikes. But, nothing like cathing them on a lure.

Glad to hear you had a little luck. Fishing is a wonderful activity I think for couples. My girlfriend and I have spent many enjoyable days at little ponds just catching bluegill.

What a monster Gflo!

You'll never stop learning, but you'll continue to get better.

Just out of curiosity...

Have any of you guys tried fishing with pre-killed mice?

You can get them in three sizes pretty much anywhere that they sell reptiles, which is most every pet store. Sizes are... Pinky(small) Hopper/Fuzzy(Medium) and adult(probably too big).



I was wondering what might happen if I got a medium sized pre-killed mouse and injected him with some air to try to make him float...

Or if I didn't try to make him float and let him marinate in some kind of smelly garlic sauce overnight or something and target catfish.

A mouse or two must lose their balance around water and fall in and drown every once in awhile. Something probably eats them? I don't know. I just woke up this morning and it was on my mind.

Apparently I was dreaming about baits / lures...

I tried it when fishing for catfish and turtles with a trotline, but never casting them.

What about a mouse lure?
Mouse lure

I saw some video on youtube of bass pounding a mouse.

I looked at some of the you tube videos. Some of those people in the videos were a little too excited about it... A little creepy.

Esshup,

I will probably order one of those lures instead. Seems a lot more economical, and people will probably not ask me as many questions or give me weird looks.





Do any of you guys ever fish with the roadrunner lures? I've heard a lot of good things about them.

I'm thinking about maybe using a roadrunner with about 1 inch of nightcrawler on it, slow retrieve on the bottom. Basically the BC technique, but with a spinner.

http://ttiblakemore.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=71_24

I'm really not sure which one to get as far as the size or model goes.

I believe that the Roadrunner is one of the very best lures ever developed.
The Spinster fly aka Mrs. G's $Gill was inspired by this lure.

The next best is a lead head jig with a curly tail - or add a earthworm for a"kicker".
With a RR the spinner becomes the "kicker" and you don't need a worm.

I've been a Roadrunner fan for years.

I accidentally killed a young field mouse a few weeks ago when I was moving some lumber that I had piled on my farm. Instead of tossing him aside, I threw him into my small pond which has lots of smallish bass and a few pretty decent sized ones. Within a couple of minutes, something - I'm presuming one of the larger LMB - boiled up on it and sucked it down. Pretty fascinating to watch, but certainly not something you'd want to do all the time when you can get a good artificial lure!

Supposedly, a live mouse is a great bait for larger fish.

Never tried it, but at an old bait store, the clerk was so high on the idea, he wanted to catch a live mouse for me.

I declined.