Fishing in my dress shoes

I have to pass by my favorite neighborhood lake when driving to Safeway, which makes it hard not to want to stop and fish the last 30 minutes of daylight. As I was returning some out of date food products I had bought, my mind began to wander over to the lake. I knew I had my light action rod, which has been ready for action in my car pretty much every day I go to work (just in case, you know?), but did I have my line clippers, a hat (its chilly), and the ziploc bag with my favorite soft plastics? I got back to the car and was delighted to find I had stashed those bass essentials in the cargo net of my trunk. But I was sans boots, I was fishing in my dress shoes straight out of work.
Sweet! I walked up to the shore just as the sun was setting and within minutes i had my first bites (which I botched two in a row, including one that yanked my drag pretty good before spitting the lure). I found a spot on a curve of the lake where there was a little school of them and worked the jerkbaits s-l-o-w-l-y. The water had gotten very cold but none the less I caught three in a row off of the same structure, then botched two more subtle bites before calling it. 3 fish, 40 minutes, not bad. I wonder how much longer I can keep catching them before the water is just too darn cold?

A few rock...

Went out with Pat from the Green Leafe last night and pulled in quite a few rockfish. Something like 12 with 6 that were over 19" and one spec that was around 19-20". GREAT night with the moon rise out of the Northeast! The 4th dock up river from mine was the spot...

Back Home, Sample the Local Waters

I strolled over to one of my local lakes after the drive back from my parents house. With my light action rod and my trusty lures I landed 3 largemouths in the last hour before dark, with no short strikes or misses. Sweet! I wonder how long I can keep catching them this way before it gets too cold, its been in the thirties most nights for a few weeks.

I landed the biggest one (respectable little guy almost 12 inches long) on my third cast while answering my cell phone as brad called. I said "hello" and Brad answered "Hey John whatcha up to?" as I felt the subtle pull on the line, I set the hook and said "I'm setting the hook on a neighborhood largmouth". Brad was a little confused, but I explained the situation as I fought the fish, unhooked and released him. Man - although I wanted to talk to Brad I gotta stop fishing and talking on the phone, it really ruins the experience of catching those little guys and I'm sure its only a matter of time before my phone goes for a swim...

It was a beautiful evening and sunset, but sorry no pictures - Rochelle has the camera with her in Arkansas.

What a night...

Well, we *BARELY* got this Thanksgiving trip off the dock due to an engine fuse and a dead battery problem! Luckily, the awesome manufactures at Yamaha put an extra fuse right in the engine for such events! At any rate, once the engine warmed up we were off to 2 spots where we landed some 15-20 fish that included blues, flounder and 2 keeper rockfish (one Guinea keeper). Not a bad Thanksgiving: turkey and fish.

late fall freshwater

mmm, dinner

Bummer way to start the weekend... my striper fishing charter was canceled due to 4-5 ft. seas. I had been looking forward to that trip for 2 months, plus I would be fishing with new buddies from work, I was excited about that too. So what is a man to do? Enter the internet...

Its nice to find another fishing hole not too far from your homestead. I found a VDGIF stocked trout lake within 30 minutes of our place. Its small, 2 acres, but almost three weeks after a stocking its still full of little trout. My first day there spoiled me. Friday seemed like a miserable day; cold, windy, cloudy, threatening rain (always a great day to trout fish) drove out and took a look at the lake, picked the spot I thought looked the best (even though it was on the opposite side of the lake from other two guys fishing). I must have been right, I was amazed to have my first trout in less than 10 minutes at that exact spot. The creel limit was 4, and I was at 3 before I knew it, so I released the next two and kept the 6th fish I caught since it was the biggest yet (not quite 10 inches). I laughed out loud, picked up my trout and went back to the car. I checked the clock - I had been fishing for an hour and twenty minutes. I have never had a day of trout fishing be so successful, esp. at a new spot.

I went back on Sunday for about 2.5 hours and only caught one, but there were already 3 people in my hot spot, I guess I'm not the only one who knows its there. Oh I did land 3 bluegill, which if I wasn't trout fishing, would have been a good thing. They do fight hard on an ultralight rod.

Today I got home about 45 minutes before dark and looked outside; cold, overcast, falling barometer. My light action and ultralight were already in the car with my trout fishing stuff, and I knew my other freshwater tackle bag was in the car.... the wheels started spinning in my head and the next thing I knew I was putting on my boots, 5 minutes later I pulled up to my neighborhood lake (one of 4 actually, but the only one I have fished). I fished for 45 minutes, and spent [part of that time talking to a catfisherman who has been pulling in 1.5-5.5 lb channel cats every night for the last 4 weeks. Hmmm, did you hear that Matt?

I caught a nice .75 lb bass on my second cast (no shit), and before I left I had landed two more, one a little heavier. Three bass, 45 minutes, and I wasn't even planning on fishing today. Huh, life ain't so bad, is it?

Tricky

Trout are tricky man. I left work early for a bit of R an R and hit passage creek in GW National forest, which is an hour away. It was stocked a few weeks ago, and there are trout there, but man, are they tricky. I had a several short strikes that were made so much worse because I watched the fish chase them and miss. Then I had quite a few followers, some where pretty nice trout. Its so exciting to watch them materialize from nowhere and chase it, but your heart drops just as quickly when they stop or turn offI did have a tiny but beautiful chunky bronze smallmouth smash my spinner with a vengeance. No trout, no pictures. Hopefully the wind dies down on the bay before friday - I am supposed to go on a rockfish charter with some guys from work, tomorrow its supposed to be 4-5 ft waves. Keep your fingers crossed.
But the trout have me wanting to go back...

Deck!

So you guys wanna know what I've been up to and why I have put rockfishing on the backburner? Well, here's the answer:

http://miscconstruction.blogspot.com/

I'll be fishing this Thursday though!

-G

Chilly Weather Backpacking and Trout Anyone?

Chilly weather. Back packs (we don't have to hike too far, my recovering lungs can't handle it). Campfires. S'mores from the leftover halloween candy. Warm drinks. A bit meat fishing for dinner (but fishing most of the time). A Monday or Friday off? VA or WV? Who is in? Who is a real man?
(Greg - it is way too early to snowboard, so don't use that excuse)