Striped Bass - Zero; Shad - Four

It's old news that we have had a fantastic wet season!  It's new news that we are having a record heat week here in Sac Town!  So to escape the heat, we go fishing....

Friday, June 23rd

The family and WizTech  were planning to go fish at a lake full of trout, but at the last minute, we found out that there is still 8 inches of snow on the access road....  We abandoned that plan.  Thus, WizTech and I were the only die-hard that went to visit the Carson River instead.

Here are two videos of the two locations that we visited!

Did I mention that we had a wet season?

But what's incredible was that I landed TWO cutthroats using the Z!!!  God is good!!!

Saturday, June 24th

Then, on Saturday, I was blessed to be fishing with PRO on the American River!  Our plan was to catch shad and use as bait to catch a monster striped bass!  But until we caught shad, we used live minnows instead!

Shortly into our trip down river, we hooked into a steelhead!  Yes, a steelhead!  It attacked the minnow viciously.  Unfortunately, it became unbuttoned by the boat.

We eventually landed a bait size shad to use to entice striped bass, but there were no takers for the day.  However, PRO did land TWO striped bass while using grubs for shad?!?!!

Striped bass candy!

One of the two striped bass caught by PRO.

We want you to come back in a few more years...

The battery on the GroPro went dead just as I set the hook on the striped bass trying to steal a minnow!!!  It was landed, but was released to grow bigger!

Here's the video of the biggest fish of the day....

I leave you with pictures of my brother PRO in action:

Fish on, brother!

Whopping 3 pound, 21 inches!!!

In summary, we hooked into a steelhead; we landed and released three "head shaker" striped bass; we also landed four shad.

God is good!!!

Peace out,
-JU

Do NOT Set the Hook!

Ever gone fishing where the weather is perfect and the fish are biting, but you keep on missing fish and loosing your bait?!?!!  That's what happened to me today.

On previous bass fishing trips with GMF, I used Kahle size number 10 hooks.  I have learned not the set the hook, just reel and land the fish.  Unfortunately, I was confused between Octopus size number 8 versus Kahle size number 8 hooks.  With Octopus hooks, you need to set the hook, but with Kahle hooks, DO NOT SET THE HOOK!  Today, I was using Kahle size number 8 hooks and I set the hook every time  I got a fish on....  I missed most of fish and lost my bait in the process...  LOL.

It was a short fishing trip.  Despite all my mistakes, GMF was super patient in teaching me the art of bass fishing.  I was very grateful to bring a few home for dinner and invite the grand parents over to enjoy the catch of the day :-)

I think it's a "Fish on!!!"

As usual, GMF strikes first!

It's JU Time!

After many YouTube videos, I am slowly getting the filleting down :-)

Mrs. Miracles suggested we make soup out of these.

I didn't get to try these panko styled fillets.  They disappeared quickly :-)

I got to devour this delicious soup.  At the end, there was nothing left but bones.

Thank you GMF!!!  We got to invite mom & dad over for dinner.

Video of the day before the battery in the GoPro ran out of juice:

Peace out,
-JU

FIVE Bass in 15 Minutes!

What an incredible fishing experience yesterday!  GMF took my daughter, Princessa, and I out fishing at Folsom Lake.  The water was calm, the wind was calm, and the fish were biting hot!

The first three minutes of fishing, GMF and I got double hookups!  I landed my personal best bass at 3 lbs., 5 oz., and 20.5 inches.  A few minutes later, Princessa landed her first bass ever!  Before the fifteen minutes was up, GMF landed two more!!!  What an epic day of fishing!!!

I am going to let the pictures and the video speak for themselves...

First bass caught by Princessa.

Personal best for Princessa: 1 lb., 8 oz., 17 inches.

JU's personal best: 3 lbs., 5 oz., 20.5 inches.

See, it's easy.

Use bigger hooks for bigger baits.

This is why he's the Grand Master Fisherman.

Happy, happy, happy....

Happy, happy, happy....

Here is the video of the first five bass boated:

Look at the following pictures to know that Young Master Fisherman is not only good at catching fish, but he is also awesome at preparing fish for cooking!  He is truly amazing!

JU's work.  I'm going for abstract art :-)

JU:  Still, it turned out great and tasted delicious!  Thanks, Mrs. Miracles.

Young Master Fisherman's work:  WOW!  Very pretty looking.

YMF: Great presentation too.

Biggest Sand Crab Ever!

It's been a strange year camping and fishing at Sunset Beach during the Memorial Day Weekend.  For starters, the weather was great!  Seventy degrees during the day and low fifties at night, with hardly any wind as compared to previous years.  I had thought that I got the surf perch dialed in.  Unfortunately, the tides didn't cooperate and I got multiple bites, but no hookups :-(  It's a good thing we brought a lot of food.  Two staple things were catching monkeyface eel (prickback fish) and sand crabs!  As a matter of fact, my son caught the biggest sand crab that I have ever seen!

Biggest sand crab ever!

Another staple was that whenever Young Master Fisherman is around, there's bound to be fish caught!  The young man is a tremendous fisherman.  He consistently out fishes all of us.  It's great to see him in action.

Another couple of inches and he will be taller than JU.

My eldest daughter, after many years of being absent from fishing, has returned.  She out fishes JU at Sunset Beach.

Caught at low tide, even.

Then, there were our good friends and family.  It's always a pleasure to have them nearby.

The kids are all taller than us now :-)

We fished and fished and got skunk!  We were schooled by YMF and Princessa :-(

At least the sunset is beautiful :-)

We had nightly visitors come by to check for any food that might be left out :-)

Not this time Mr. Racoon :-)

Then, we all got a great sun tan or sun burn playing and fishing on the beach :-)

There were a lot of fishing and eating!

Lingcod!?!?  How'd you get that?

Camping or "Glamping?"

I fish...  sometimes :-)

Uh....  We better find a better way to cook next time :-)

Finally, introducing....  Extreme Fisherman!  The man fishes chest high in the waves and dives in the water to catch sand crabs.  It's crazeee!  He is the winner of this year's biggest surf perch caught from our group.  Unfortunately, I don't have the picture of the fish.  It is around a pound and a half.  It is the biggest surf perch that I have seen in real life, the ones on YouTube and pictures do not count :-)

Extreme Fisherman in one of his calmer moments :-)

Peace out,
-JU

Updated 6/9/2017

Here are additional pictures sent to me today:

One FAT barred perch!