Back 4 More Action; or, Rather, No Action

Friday, 9/28

There were lots of traffic this morning to the fishing hole.  I was the twelfth car back behind a slew of farm equipment making their way to work on Twin City Road.  Got to the hole at 8:30 AM.  And Lucky just netted a 7 pounder!  That's his TWELFTH for the season!!!  He fouled hook it, so he let it go.

The next three hours, there were 8 fishermen (JU, Lucky, Lethal, Dan, Smooth Operator, 3 kids)!!!  However, not a single bite!!!

Now JU is up to EIGHT DAYS & TWENTY FOUR HOURS of salmon fishing.  I thought muskies were the fish of a thousand casts!  I believe I am way more than a thousand casts by now 😀

Until next time....  God is good!

Thursday, 9/27

Got a chance to go out fishing earlier today.  Fished from 8 AM - 11 AM.  Fished with Lucky and Dan.  Same results: NO FISH.  Seven days, 21 hours, and counting....

Wednesday, 9/26

Decided to try fishing a little earlier today, but it wasn't early enough!  Got to the site around 8:15 AM; Ruben told me a guy came by, fished for 20 minutes, landed a salmon and took off!  Ruben got a striper on the stringer.

I started tossing my line out and...  within TEN minutes...  FISH ON!!!  The first bite after 15 hours of fishing!  It's looking good!  Then my joy quickly faded as the fish spit out the hook 😭  So it was back to the drawing board.  Got it on GoPro though....

Drag screamed for one second!!!!!!!

Five minutes later, brother left of me got a fish on!  He was using Rat-L-Trap!!!  For salmon!!!  Said, that's how he's done it!  He has been fishing for twenty times just to land two salmon.  So I was super excited for him.  However, he was perturbed when he landed the fish!  It was a bass!  Good for me, since he didn't want it; he gave it to me.  It was a legal sized bass!  Not gonna go home empty handed today 😂

Nice bass.

Later on, Damian and Lucky showed up.  Picked up at 11 AM with no further action.

God is good.


Tuesday, 9/2

It's a family union out there today.  Fished with Lethal Fisherman & Son, Lucky, Francis (my son's Godfather), and Doug.  Yes, the same Doug from yesterday.  He said about half and hour after I left, he landed a nice one about 10 pounds!

Before I arrived, Lucky had just hooked into a monster salmon!   It broke his 15-lb test line.  At around 11:30 AM, Lethal hooked into a salmon downstream from the Oak Tree.  As his some was going for the net, the salmon rolled over and broke off his 30-lb test line!!!

Monday, 9/24

Back to the drawing board.  This time I met Lucky who is now up to ELEVEN salmon for the season.  However, today there was nothing coming through.  I eventually fished with Lucky's boss, Allen, and Minh.  At the end of the day, another 3 hours with no salmon.  Just as I left Doug came.

Here's a collection that King Fisherman gave to me last Friday.  Rick said he's thinking about moving out to Cali and no longer has the use for the lures.  Yours Truly was blessed to be there and graciously accepted his gifts.

Putting in da time

Transform!!!

I spent a fantastic Sunday with PRO in the American River.

We tried just about all the tricks to get a stealhead, but they were having none of it.

Then we went back to our favorite hole and tried for a salmon using sardine wrapped kwik fish.  All we saw was a sea lion laughing....

Anytime now....

At least I now got a new introduction video ready for when we catch a 2018 salmon 😂  See the video at the end of this blog.

God is good!

Back 2 the Sac River

Friday, 9/20

Third trip out and same results.  Skunked.

It was a fishermen reunion out there today.  I fished with King Fisherman (Rick), Smooth Operator (Javier), Dan and two other guys.  Not a bite.
 
Thursday, 9/20

Put in my time again today.  Second trip out to the Sac. River.

Fished with Lucky for three hours.  Dan, Lucky's coworker were with us for the first hour.  He got a nice hit around 11 AM.  Unfortunately, the hook did not stick.  Lucky saw a quick silver flash as the fish darted away.  That was the only bite of the day 😞

On the bright side, I did not loose any lures today.  Also, Lucky has so far landed NINE salmon, with the biggest being 21 POUND!  Awesome!

Wednesday, 9/19

By taking me fishing last Sunday at the American River, PRO reminded me how much I miss fishing for salmon!!!  So I sneaked out to put in my time at the Sacramento River.  I leisurely arrived around 10 AM.  I recognized a friendly face right away; it was brother Calvin.  He told me that on Monday, 9/17, he lost one just as the net was lowered!  Darn!  He has been out six times total with just that one that got away.  This was my first time this year throwing my SIREN in the Sac.  I was super rusty because after three hours of fishing, I managed to loose two of my favorite lures: DOUBLE PINKY SQUIDS & DOUBLE BLADED GREEN PIRATES!!!

It was just Calvin and I, and we were skunked.

Yes! It's Salmon Season!

When mild manner John says the magic words: "Fish on!", he is transformed into the super, duper, fun loving, cool, fishing machine known as...  Johnny United!  The Ultimate Fisherman!  Or... J.U.

!?!??!?!  Really?

Wow!  This is my first time out fishing for salmon this year!

I hooked up with PRO-Fisherman in the American River.  We met Knightwing at our usual favorite fishing spot, doing our usual thing....  We were rusty from the long hiatus.  But anyway, what a fantastic feeling - to be out with nature so close to home.

The American River flow or discharge was 1,800 CFS!  PRO paddled Salmon/Steelhead Slammer aka SSS against the American River current several hundred yards upstream!!!  What a stud!!!

We started out using salmon roe behind a jet drive.  Within the first ten minutes, we got our first bite.  Yeah, fish on, baby!!!  The purpose of the jet drive is to resist the current and bring your bait to the bottom of the river where the fish is holding.  The side effect is that it creates a strong resistant and is difficult to reel in with or without fish.  Thus, with a jet drive, it's hard to tell whether you got a monster or a dinky until the fish is visible.  It turned out to be a beauty!  Nicely done, Knightwing.  It was a beautiful "half pounder" hatchery steelhead!

Stinger hook does the trick!

Here's the video:

We must have found a nice hole because the next couple of hours, we got a lot of bites.  JU missed a half pounder near the boat; Knightwing missed a dinky by the boat; and he landed a native steelie for the limit for the day!  What an exciting day.

Then we went downstream for some salmon fishing.  We were pulling sardine wrapped plugs.  Back and forth we went for two loops just to survey the river bottom. It's still early in the season for this spot, so no salmon was to be seen.  River conditions changed a lot since last year.

Until next time...

May God bless your day!

-J.U.

Good Bye Summer

Wow!

I have been busy trying to squeeze all the spare time with my children before school starts.  Boohoo, it started yesterday for us.

I dropped of my second daughter in Minnesota by driving 1,900 miles; and then, flew home.  It was a tiring trip because it was not a sight seeing or fishing trip, but rather a "get me there quick I gotta start working" kinda trip....

I managed to drive through four States and its Capitals: Salt Lake City, Utah; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Lincoln, Nebraska; and, Des Moines, Iowa.

God is Good!

Driving through Laramie, Wyoming, we saw this tribute to President Lincoln, the bronze head weighs over two tons and is 13.5 feet tall. It's perched atop a 30-foot granite pedestal.

Of all places, driving through rural Nebraska, we saw this Cabela's sign!

The state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes."  There are 11,842 Minnesota lakes over 10 acres (4 ha) in size. 

Here is one of those 10,000 lakes down the street from where my daughter lives.

I forgot which State this was, but there was a Walmart with an underground parking garage and an underground main entrance.  I am wondering how customers will get in when snow falls...

Finally, back at home with my best friend from High School, we managed the last "Fishing Friday" of the summer!

May God bless your day!

Is it salmon fishing season yet?😀😁😂

JU & MM - 29 Years

"We can't be poor if we have each other." --JU and Mrs. Miracles.

Blessed to be married 29 years and have six children.  That's more legal fishing limits 😂

God is Good!!!

104 Fish!!!

I got an opportunity to fish with dad, brother, and brother-in-law on Friday in the Delta.  We launched at Eight Miles Road in Stockton.  The launching fee was $15.00.  My objective was to catch a big whopper of a striped bass.  But, first we must catch bait 😀

We left my home at dark thirty (That's 5:30 AM!).  I didn't watch the time after that.  We got to the first fishing spot to catch bait, which was blue gill.  Dad and big bro were at the back of the boat, while myself and bro-in-law were at the bow.  Within a short time, dad and big bro had TEN blue gill in the bucket; at the front of the boat, there was NONE!  We were all using the same setup (hi-lo rig); so "What's up?!!??!"  I decided to use the bait that dad and big bro. were using; then, "Fish on!"  As it turned out, at the front of the boat, we were using dead Canadian crawlers and the blue gill weren't having any of it.  When we switched over to live red worms, we all started getting some.  Big bro. even got himself a cat fish!  Haven't seen one of those in a very long time....

We moved location because dad was impatient that the action was not constant.  At the second location, at one moment, to my surprise, my ultra lite rod went bonkers!  I was struggling to keep the four pound test line from breaking.  It was a good thing the drag on the reel worked to perfection!  Finally, I saw the fish...  and, there were two of 'em.  The cat fish was on the upper hook and a blue gill was on the bottom hook!  I got a two for one!

TWO fish at once

Another short time later (Remember? No time?  Only God's time), I landed a huge blue gill!  It was the biggest blue gill of the day, a 10.5-incher!!!  That's a biggie for me, because most of the blue gill only average 5 inches.

Fattest Blue Gill ever for JU

God is good!

We went on to a third location to try to use the blue gill as bait to catch a big whopper striped bass.  While we were waiting for striped bass action, we loaded up on the blue gill action.  In between, we even got a bass and another cat fish!

At the end of the day, SKUNK on the targeted fish, the striped bass; however, we had four limits of blue gill; three bonuses on the cat fish; and, one extra on the bass.

All in all, it was a very blessed fishing day!

Ultra lite fishing poles are the way to go.

Clay pot cat fish for dinner.

Let's change location.  It's been a minute and no bite yet😂

Can you say: "Fish fry!"

May God bless your day!
-JU signing out