What a fantastic way to wind down 2017 by getting a visit from Kayaks with Beavers (KWB)!!! He traveled all the way from Rhodes Island to California with his camper. More than a decade ago, I designed the side of our home for a camper; but it was never put to use for that purpose until KWB brought his camper. I am ecstatic that it fits! And KWB parked the camper perfectly the first try. That was amazing to witness.
About forty years ago, KWB took me (a young JU) to my first camping trip in the US! Yes, it involved fishing; and, yes, it involved catching! I caught a bunch of trout in Yosemite. That was the beginning of my love for camping and fishing. Thank you, brother.
Whoa.... Where's JU?!?!
While he was here, I had to take him to the American River 😁 We didn't fish, but we watched a cool dude taught fly fishing.
Had a great opportunity to take da boys out fishing again today. We fished from 10 AM to Noon.
We tried the same successful techniques from last night by throwing lures for the first half an hour. However, today is another day! We didn't get one hit! Again, we saw the same brother from yesterday landing a fish, but this time he was using bottom rig. So bottom rig it is.... I didn't want to disappoint da boys and get skunk; thus, I used a lot of different presentations: night crawlers on top and bottom and floating mice tails of different colors and at different depths from the bottom. Soon after, the white and pink tail 12 inches from the bottom got a hit!!! Unfortunately, we were not quick on the draw with the hook set and we missed it 😏 Before the end of the fishing trip, we would have several more "take downs." The Conqueror managed to land one 😀
Another time, da boys were all congregating at one location; and, only the Conqueror was fishing!?!? The other three were watching?!?! At about twenty five feet away, I saw the fishing pole with the orange and natural tail 12 inches from the bottom fell off the holder and into the pond! "Ahem.... Boys, I think you got a fish on," I yelled. The boys decided that Fishing Ninja would get to do the honors and set the hook. And... yes... he landed the fish.
We were getting hungry by noon. And since we didn't catch enough fish for lunch, I gave the boys a choice of Burger King or In-N-Out: decisions, decisions....
How many boys does it take to use one fishing pole?
The answer is FOUR cool looking boys....
Here's the proof.
Maybe, it's a good thing we didn't catch enough fish for lunch 😁
Four boys, no video games, just fishing... and eating 😂
It was a cold and cloudy day in SacTown today, when I received a message from my godson's mom. "Hey, are you going fishing today?"
I was not certain when the message was sent, but I checked my cell past noon time. My replied was: "Let's go fishing at 2 PM. Just dressed warm."
By 2:30 PM, I got my two sons & my godson fishing at the nearby pond. The first half hour, we used two rigs; 1) night crawlers on the bottom and 2) beneath a bobber. It was hard for me to believe, but we did not get any bites! Seeing the guy next to us landed a trout on a spinner, I switched over to hardware, such as spinners, spoons, and wobblers. Lo, and behold!!! Got my godson on his first fish!!! On the Z!!! By the end of our session, at 4 PM, we were able to bring home a limit for my godson aka "The Conqueror!!!"
I am happy to report that by the end of tonight, our home will be full again. The last of the Mohicans is scheduled to arrived later.
Meanwhile, Ms. Mystic came back from the Dakotas last Saturday, 12/16. We (Mrs. Miracles, Ms. Mystic, and I) went fishing at the nearby pond. There were two fishermen there when we arrived. According to the fishermen, fishing was "super slow." Well, the tides changed when JU and company arrived. Dude to the left caught two within half an hour span. Within the same time span, we got three take downs and Ms. Mystic landed one. It was a hold over from the Thanksgiving weekend plant. We gave it away to the fisherman that was there....
12/19/2017
I also managed some random fishing trips earlier in the month....
Fishing with dad and brothers in the delta for blue gills.
12/8/2017
Fishing with Web Fisherman from S.F. He traveled all the way to the American River to fish for steelhead with JU. We didn't catch anything, but I am grateful for another friend....
12/14/2017
Make sure to order your fishing license for 2018!!! Mrs. Miracles and I already got ours. You know I am ready!!!
It's been an awesome year!!! Since my lovely wife Mrs. Miracles retired earlier in the year, I was able to do more fishing 👍 As most of you know, I have way too many things to be thankful and grateful for, among which, your friendship and love top the list!!!
HAVE A BLESSED THANKSGIVING!!!
Here are more 2017 fish pictures for your enjoyment:
This will be the last entry for salmon news from the Sac. River and the American River for me.
It has been an incredible long and hard salmon fishing season in Walnut Grove by the shore. I considered myself extremely blessed to take home EIGHT for the season. I had a great opportunity to test out my lures and they worked great! Thanks be to God!
On the other hand, I took two trips to the American River to fish for salmon. The first trip, I did a solo with the Ave Maria at 3,500 cubic feet per second water released from Nimbus Dam. I won't be trying that anytime soon. The Ave Maria barely made it back to base with the 50 lb. thrust Minn Kota. I got motion sickness in the process and had walk the Ave Maria back to base.
The second trip out to the American River was with PRO, and I already blog that for you all. Limit out in less than an hour!!! Can't get better than that.
Monday through Friday, I was blessed to be fishing 3 hours each day. THAT'S FIFTEEN HOURS OF FISHING!!! Yesterday, was the only bite I got and I "missed it by that much!"
I was reeling in the SIREN for a recast, when it happened. The fish startled me by yanking the SIREN down. I set the hook and was about to pick up the net because the fish was practically by my feet!!! Then the fish pulled away and I saw the fish's head waggled back and forth!!! It was about a ten pounder. It spit the hook out and darted away as if it was laughing at me!!! I missed it by that much 😀
Throughout the week, I decided to soak some JU's homemade cured salmon roe; there were no takers. Darn!
Raining season just started here in SacTown. I saw a fantastic double rainbow. Here's a picture of just the one rainbow that GoPro captured:
JU put in another 2 hours this morning. The water conditions were beautiful; unfortunately, the salmon all had locked jaws 😕 And, JU donated another Green Pirate Squid to the river. Darn!
Summary of the week in pictures:
THURSDAY - ALL SOULS DAY
Fished at the dock today for 1.5 hours; still ZERO after ten trips!!! Six fishermen were there. The Dock Patrol had just left when JU arrived. It is interesting that whenever JU fished with the Dock Patrol, no fish was caught. But when JU left, shortly after, Dock Patrol would catch a salmon! So JU said, "You will be renamed the Dock Master Fisherman when you can catch a salmon in JU's presence. LOL. 😂 "
Those of you who have been following this blog, know that the Captain & JU have never caught a salmon trolling the Sac. River. At the dock today, JU met a guy who had success trolling the Sac. River and he gave JU the low down.
Watch the video:
WEDNESDAY - ALL SAINTS DAY
All the Saints in Heaven must be praying for JU today because after FIFTY TIMES out in the Sac River this season, fishing for almost 130 hours, loosing 8 lures, traveling over 2,000 miles, casting over 2,000 casts, JU finally limited out!!! The first salmon was on board at 8 AM and the second at 8:30 AM. Both were caught on the Green Pirate Squid SIREN: Green Pirate rules....
Thank you Saints! Thank the Good Lord! GOD IS GOOD!!!
Total length of the following video is around 3 minutes. The first fish took around a minute to land, so the video speed was normal; however, the second fish took SIX MINUTES to land, so the video speed was sped up by 4 times.
TUESDAY - ALL HALLOWS' EVE
Today, Johnny was by himself at the Oak Tree. So, he decided to soak a Sardine Wrapped Kwikfish on one rod while he used the SIREN on the other rod. As he was picking up around 10 AM, Roger and Dave came by. They said there were four guys at the Dock, but no one hooked up.
Another scoreless day :-) MONDAY
Met three nice fishermen who came all the way from Hayward to try to nab a salmon. Unfortunately, this is not a great salmon fishing year at this location. They were throwing Flying C's, while Johnny was throwing the SIREN. They were all scoreless today.
At one point, Johnny was throwing out his SIREN, and out of the water flew this bird/duck?!?!! Pretty cool video:
During this past week, I had the pleasure of fishing three hours each day. As my constant companion every morning was my reliable JU tumbler, given to me by my sister Rischel. Thanks, Sis! It contained black coffee to keep me perked up as if I was not excited enough 😀
Also, with me was my reliable salmon destroyer fishing rod & reel from the shore. I mentioned this because the salmon destroyer fishing rod & reel from the SSS (Salmon/Steelhead Slammer) is different!
Blessed to get this rod on clearance at Walmart for $15.00
Reel: $10.99 & 20 lb braided line $2.00
Get the reel here when it's back in stock: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Outdoor-Angler-Spinning-Reel-30/30655482. This rod/reel combo has bagged me 5 salmon so far....
This morning, Lucky and I fished at the Oak Tree for three hours with no hits. However, I witnessed for the first time in my three years of fishing at this location, dare I say, a salmon rolled!!! I was ecstatic because for the past three years, my fishing brothers have been asking me regarding, "Have you seen a salmon roll yet?"
"Sure, in the American River, but not here," came the reply. Here's a short video for the day:
Now, I can up my Sacramento River salmon fisherman rank to the next level. I have experienced loosing a fish after it had been hooked, loosing a fish by the net, landing a fish by hand as the hook fell off, landing a fish in the net, then the hook fell off, etc.... God is Good!!!
Meanwhile, I sent my brothers to the American River and this is the result:
20 lb American River Salmon
THURSDAY - MISS
Put in 3 hours today at the dock with Princesa. There were ten total fishermen. No fish at the end of the period.
WEDNESDAY - HIT
Today, I am all by my lonesome again. First big hit was a snag! Had to donate the Green Pirate Squid SIREN to the river. At 7:55 AM, bam! Fish on! The excitement was short lived as the fish came off after fifteen seconds 😢 Just as the three-hour fishing time was up, another bam! Fish on! This would have been the third fish lost by the Pink Squid SIREN. But God is good! This time I was able to land the fish: Yeah!
TUESDAY - MISS
Wayne came by and fished with me for an hour, then he said: "This is boring, there's no fish. You wanna go fish at a different spot?"
I just smiled and waved, baby.
Saw a fly struggling on the water. I should have pointed my GoPro towards that direction because instantly, a bass jump out above the water in the process to swallow the fly! Looked like a scene from a nature movie!
No takers today for the entire three hours and one hundred and twenty casts!
God is good!
MONDAY - And Then Some...
Started fishing at 7 AM. Casted continuously until around 9:30 AM to get a first hit! THAT'S A HUNDRED CASTS!!! The Pink Squid SIREN was way out in the river, when it got the first hit! The salmon missed the mark, so I slowed down the retrieve speed. A few seconds later, the fish bit again and was hooked!!!
STATS: So far, it's been a rough year in Sac River.
JU in Sac River: $52.41 / lb. of salmon JU in American River with PRO: $6.81 / lb. of salmon Other fishermen in Sac River at the same time as JU: $1,234.76 / lb. salmon
Summary for the week:
Including JU, there were 18 fishermen, fishing for a total of 50 hours. JU was the only one blessed with a fish yesterday, Wednesday, 10/18/2017.
I have been fishing with PRO for almost a decade! I am forever grateful for all the fishing tips and tricks that he has taught me over the years, especially about pulling plugs for salmon and steelhead. He introduced me to one of my favorite steelhead plugs called the Green Pirate Brads Wee Wiggler.
Now, I am honoring my brother PRO by naming one my SIREN the Green Pirate Squid!!! You better believe the SIREN works! This is my fifth salmon of the reason! God is good!
Two out of three hooks in the mouth ain't bad.
Wild Jack: 26-inch, 7 lbs.
Drag Screaming:
Stealth fish on, no screaming allowed, except for the drag system. If you know JU, you would know it is super duper tough to keep quiet with a fish on the line and the drag is screaming! 😀
Got a text from da PRO: "Hey John, can you go fishing?"
Does a hungry infant wants his mama's milk? Can a kid go to sleep before Christmas, knowing that there's a boat load of toys under the Christmas tree? 😂😂😂
"Meet me out there at 6:15 AM," said da PRO.
Dude, I was out there at 5:30 AM!!! Believe it or not, just as I arrived, there was a boat trailer being pulled out of the water. This meant that there was already a boat in the water!
PRO told me that I will be fishing with another friend of his. Any friend of PRO is a friend of mine. I met up with this new fisherman and told him that anyone fishing with JU has to have a nickname. So now I dubbed him: Knightwing Fisherman. He reminds me of one of my Knight brothers.
Any how, we got in the water and was approaching one of our favorite honey holes in the American River and there were FIVE bank fishermen working the shore with hardware (most likely, Flying C's). Avoiding them and trolling with a drift boat purely on human power is an amazing feat to witness. PRO, you da man!!!
First pass, 6:50 AM, nothing, although we saw fishing rolling all over the place. We were about to go downstream to the next honey hole, but PRO decided to give it another go; this time, pulling plugs through the same waters, except going against the current or going upstream.
Past the three bank fishermen we went, when PRO said "John, did you see that?"
"See what? I was checking to see if my GoPro was on."
As I looked up, the fishing pole went BENDO!!! Oh yeah, baby, it was fish on! I believed it was the early morning adrenaline kicking in, because I set the hook HARD! The ensuring fight was fantastic and I was nervous that we would loose the fish by the boat. PRO told me to take my time with the fish. But the fish started charging the boat! I had to crank fast to keep pressure on the fish. We had a little technical difficulty with the net when the fish was ready to be boated. The net got tangled with the metal oarlock. So the fishing was on the outside under the net! PRO then flipped the net around to scoop up the fish just as the line broke off.... The fish was safely netted!!! Hurray! She was an awesome 35-inch, 18 pound, wild fish. And it was only around 7:20 AM.
Since we landed the fish passed the first three fishermen, but before the fourth and fifth fishermen, we were in the middle of a run. We continued onward upstream trolling to finish the run. At the end of the run, PRO commanded: "Reel 'em up boys." This is when we reeled in the plugs and get ready to troll back downstream. PRO had always told us that there's a chance of 1 in 50 for hooking a fish on the reel in. Guess what? It was JU's day. On the reel in, I hooked another fish!!! After a short fight, I looked down the fishing line and saw Knightwing's plug wrapped around it, so I assumed it was just our plugs crossed. I released the pressure on my line, but I still felt the pull!!! Then, it was determined that I got a fish on AND a line cross. This is hilarious to watch the confusion in the video. PRO rushed up to the bow and grabbed Knightwing's plug and cut it off. That's why he's PRO!!! He was so smooth and calm in resolving the line cross problem. What line cross problem? Then I was free to try and land the fish. And once again, PRO netted the fish. It was a bright 25-inch, 6 pound, wild Jack! It was not even 7:45 AM yet!
With great success earlier on like that, I thought for sure we would all be limited out before noon. However, that was not the case. PRO worked hard at the oars, and we trolled back and forth all the way until noon. We got more than half a dozen take-downs, but nothing stuck. We ended up with the two fish for the day.
