Archive for the ‘Fishing’ Category
Dungeness Crab season is here!
Ready for dissection
I haven’t been posting much lately, because frankly work has been too busy to string together quality fishing time. That said, my favorite busy-time fishery opened November 5th: Dungeness Crab.
Why do I love crab fishing? It certainly isn’t challenging, but I can catch them fairly quick and they are absolutely delicious. I may have been fawning over lobster lately, but crab is still the King of Crustaceans in my book.
The Sierras
The Sierras. tall peaks and trout
When you think of “fishing”, the image most people get is one of a picturesque lake, up in the mountains and surrounded by a forest. While this is only one type of fishing, to most people I’ve met this is what fishing means. The Sierras are literally loaded with waterways that are teeming with fish, and people come from all over the West to live this idyllic fishing experience.
From Mt. Lassen to King’s Canyon, there are dozens of towns whose economies depend solely on the anglers who come to fish in the many streams and lakes of these mountains. In towns like Mono City and Bridgeport, there are more sporting goods stores than groceries, and signs on every other shop saying, “Welcome, Anglers!”
For me, my experience would take place in a stream not far from Bridgeport. There were unique challenges to fishing a narrow, high flow stream with crystal clear waters. First of all, if you can see the fish (and you could), they see you and won’t bite. Luckily my uncle has been fishing the area for more than 20 years and knew their every trick. Most of our trout-hunting involved letting our bait drift downstream and out of sight and dangling it in holes that held fish. I got a couple of bites right away and hauled in a couple of 8 to 9 inch trout.
Tough love for outsiders
Sunrise in Southern CA
It had long been a promise to my little brother Eric that we get some quality fishing time, and being in Santa Barbara he has no shortage of opportunities. With good early-season Rockfish reports from the area, I planned an ambitious weekend without a whole lot of sleep time allotted. Since they had a big online presence with a couple of decent reviews around, I made a reservation with Channel Islands Sportfishing in Oxnard, CA, and headed South with a full tank of gas and plenty of adrenaline..
You’re never guaranteed fish
Dragging out of the icy river
I’ll never forget that. It doesn’t matter who you are or what kind of resources you have, you still have to play by the rules of the fish.
It all started on a long February trip up the Northern coast of California where we would land in Brookings, Oregon. The entire week before I had visions of Steelhead dancing in my head — I was ready to catch my first. We were to meet with Mark’s friend and accomplished guide, Dustin, and for two days ply the wild rivers of Southern Oregon.
This rockfish could’ve been a winner
le pig
I finally got to fish again, this time bringing along a couple of friends Theron and my coworker Mike out to fish on the Queen of Hearts for one of the last trips of the rockfish season. Since I was eager to catch some big ones for my friends, I was swinging for the fences using whole squid to take quality over quantity. Since I’m known as the “fisherman” (all things relative, right?) I had to live up to that name.
Sail(boat) fishing
Note the size difference
Owning a boat is time consuming, expensive, and makes me sick, but I’ll hitch a ride on anything that floats. How else can you get out there where the fishes are? While pier and shore fishing are good for the social aspect, you just don’t have access to the water like in a boat.
Turns out a sailboat is a lot of work – there was almost no time or energy to fish! Eventually we parked outside of Tiburon near Paradise cove. This spot was known to have fish around, so I hooked a sardine through the nose and let it down about 20 feet.
