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THE DOCTOR IS IN TOWN
By: Ron Wilson
April 7, 2009.... In the central valley
the
bass fishing is busting wide open and it should just get better
with the
upcoming full moon. I am sure you will be able to find bed fish.
For me
Lake Don Pedro is my lake of choice as the
trout fishing has been fair. All you have to do is top line a
small lure in shad or fire tiger pattern and troll it 75 or so feet
behind the boat in the back of Rogers arm, Big Creek or Hatch Creek and
you should soon be battling one of the many plants that have been
planted by the Department
of Fish and Game this year. I have even found a salmon or two
that has come up from the depths to strike a lure this past week while
fishing with Doctor Quen Young of San Francisco. The windy conditions
were not to our liking but we managed an ice chest full of fish for him
to take home.
We fished Hatch and Raymond Creeks for
bass and trolled the mouth of Hatch Creek for salmon and trout. It was
odd that the salmon came up to just 3 colors of lead core line out to
attack our baits while most salmon troller's are going down 90 to 100
feed to find them.
A lot of male
black bass came up
to make their beds in Ramos and Raymond Creek area of
the lake but even
in the protected areas we could not bed fish. We would toss out Keeper
082 and 1050 6 inch worms and they would just suck them in in 5 to 10
feet of water. Just a week before anglers were reporting to me that the
fish were mostly in 20 to 25 feet of water.
On Monday we had a full day on Lake Don Pedro where trout and
bass fell for our baits and we had a great time.
 On
Tuesday it was more of the same except the wind picked up early
and Quen and I headed to the pond to get away from the wind. We were
surprised to find that the wind up around Angels Camp wasn’t as bad as
the lower elevations like Lake Don Pedro and we had a ball catching pond
bass on a new method some of the members and I have developed.
The system is a money saver. We use a
small hook wacky style placed in the middle of a worm or senko that has
white shrink wrap shrunk in the middle! The hook goes through the shrink
wrap and you would not believe how many fish you can catch on a single
bait. My personal best was over 40 fish and I lost my bait because the
hook broke the next trip out. The small thin hook and weight makes the
baits come through the weeds better than my dart head style that I
usually use. Hope this tip saves you a dollar or two on plastics.
On
Wednesday we started at Pedro again only to be blown off so we
headed to the pond where it was windy as hell there also. We managed 15
fish before calling it a day with wind burned faces.
On Thursday the wind was predicted again. We arrived at the pond
around 8 a.m. to glass calm water. Launched the boat at the pond and I
could see cruisers everywhere. Our bait of choice had been a chartreuse
tail senko but the fish didn’t want it. I tried flukes and worms before
tossing out a Keeper brown and green senko style bait. It was game on
and Quen and I caught 21 bass up to 5 pounds before the wind kicked in a
little after 10 a.m.
Knowing the blow was going to get
stronger and that Quen had made appointments to drop off fish at his
cousins and sister-in-law it was time for us to head back down the
mountain so Quen could make his 3 p.m. fish date with his cousin.
After a shower a good hug and goodbye
another short fishing vacation with Doctor Quen had come to an end way
to quickly. Doc said he is heading to see the many flowers blooming in
the state this time of the year next week but after that he may just
have a few more days to come over to the valley and play some more. I
told him the fishing should just get better and better in the next
couple weeks.
If you have that friend you like to
bass fish with now is the time to get out on the water with
them as the black bass are on the munch and there are some heavy weight
gals just waiting in the depths out there in our lakes and reservoirs
just waiting to stretch your line for you, Good Luck! |
