Fishing, 2019

[FishinHank]

Nice! I used to work for the hatchery there in Paxson. Would love to get back there at some point. Not much left in that area anymore.

 

[dipbait]

6.47 lbs caught on a Stanley Ribbit Frog in heavy vegetation .

 

[Ron Sabbagh]

I fly fish with vintage Winston rods and Hardy reels. Nothing like 'em.

Occasionally I'll use a Scott rod if the conditions warrant.

 

[Mark Knapp]

Pike on a fly and spinning gear.

Spent two days on some awesome pike water near Fairbanks. We camped out so we were able to stay on the water late and be out there again early.

We caught about 90 fish total, with 70 of them over 24 inches long, and 30 of them were 37 inches long or longer.

They would hit almost anything. Several times we had two fish on at a time.

This is my buddy Mike with one of the 37inch class fish. I'm the photographer so you won't see much of me.

A 37 1/2 inch fish.

This ones just under 40 inches.

Here I am with my biggest fish of the trip on a fly, this one is 37 1/2 inches long.

This is the biggest one of the trip, a 43 1/2 inch slough shark. What a nice fish.

This is the 43 1/2 fish getting the lure out of his mouth. We let all the fish go except one we kept for eating.

 

[ScottB65]

Red attack

 

[Horsewright]

So the wife MADE me take a day out of the shop. We got all our gear out of storage and realized by checking our last fishing license it had been 16 years since we'd gone fishing. So we thought lets take a little day trip and do some scouting. We didn't catch anything but we never fished any spot more than a few minutes. Did have a great day trip though.

Ever wonder why Merle Haggard said he was never gone swim Kern River again? Cause people drown like every weekend. There's a sign at the mouth of the Kern River Canyon as you're driving up that says stay out, 293 have drown. Another last weekend, gonna have to update the sign. Not too far from Merle's old house.

My son works for the ranching company that owns the north wall of much of the canyon. He told me a funny story one time about gathering and following this cow calf pair down this face for about two hours. He gets down to the bottom and the cow calf pair swims across the river. So he spends more than two hours, much of the time leading his horse cause its played out, getting back up to the top. His boss and him saddle fresh horses, toss em in the trailer and drive 45 minutes around. They pull up just in time to see the pair swim back across the river. Boss says screw it beer thirty and they went home.

So the lower Kern was out of the question just crazy amounts of water. The Sierra had over 120 percent snowpack this year. We drove on up to Kernville on the upper North Fork of the Kern. It was still ripping at the city park just below the bridge:

My wife and our old cowdog Canela. She's 14 now and retired. She enjoyed the day, being the shade near the river as it was pushing triple digits.

Four or five folks fishing there in the park from here where this pic was taken on up to the bridge. They were all nailing nice trout on spinners. Just the time to walk from that tree to the bridge we probably saw 8 to 9 fish landed.

After lunch we drove 20 miles upstream to the Johnsondale bridge. Legendary fly water. Barbless hooks only and all wild trout of its own species, The Kern River Rainbow. I have in the past walked up the trail on the far side and have seen trout, the size of your leg. There's a four mile section here with the trail right along the river. This was the first place we wet a line and were gonna see if we remembered how to cast. We did.

The local fishing report from The Kern River Fly Shop had said to fish a big streamer across the river, allow it to drift down stream close to the bank and then strip it in erratically. Didn't work for me but again we didn't stay very long, we were scouting for places to come back to.

Canela was fascinated by the false casting and she'd sit in the shade in some damp sand and watch.

Also tried a little creek that flowed in there. Dry fly and missed a couple strikes and that was it.

Took the big loop out of the Kern River Valley, out into the Mojave and back up into our Tehachapi mountains. Back into the shop next day and got these profiled, long day:

 

[ScottB65]

So the wife MADE me take a day out of the shop. We got all our gear out of storage and realized by checking our last fishing license it had been 16 years since we'd gone fishing. So we thought lets take a little day trip and do some scouting. We didn't catch anything but we never fished any spot more than a few minutes. Did have a great day trip though.

Ever wonder why Merle Haggard said he was never gone swim Kern River again? Cause people drown like every weekend. There's a sign at the mouth of the Kern River Canyon as you're driving up that says stay out, 293 have drown. Another last weekend, gonna have to update the sign. Not too far from Merle's old house.

My son works for the ranching company that owns the north wall of much of the canyon. He told me a funny story one time about gathering and following this cow calf pair down this face for about two hours. He gets down to the bottom and the cow calf pair swims across the river. So he spends more than two hours, much of the time leading his horse cause its played out, getting back up to the top. His boss and him saddle fresh horses, toss em in the trailer and drive 45 minutes around. They pull up just in time to see the pair swim back across the river. Boss says screw it beer thirty and they went home.

So the lower Kern was out of the question just crazy amounts of water. The Sierra had over 120 percent snowpack this year. We drove on up to Kernville on the upper North Fork of the Kern. It was still ripping at the city park just below the bridge:

My wife and our old cowdog Canela. She's 14 now and retired. She enjoyed the day, being the shade near the river as it was pushing triple digits.

Four or five folks fishing there in the park from here where this pic was taken on up to the bridge. They were all nailing nice trout on spinners. Just the time to walk from that tree to the bridge we probably saw 8 to 9 fish landed.

After lunch we drove 20 miles upstream to the Johnsondale bridge. Legendary fly water. Barbless hooks only and all wild trout of its own species, The Kern River Rainbow. I have in the past walked up the trail on the far side and have seen trout, the size of your leg. There's a four mile section here with the trail right along the river. This was the first place we wet a line and were gonna see if we remembered how to cast. We did.

The local fishing report from The Kern River Fly Shop had said to fish a big streamer across the river, allow it to drift down stream close to the bank and then strip it in erratically. Didn't work for me but again we didn't stay very long, we were scouting for places to come back to.

Canela was fascinated by the false casting and she'd sit in the shade in some damp sand and watch.

Also tried a little creek that flowed in there. Dry fly and missed a couple strikes and that was it.

Took the big loop out of the Kern River Valley, out into the Mojave and back up into our Tehachapi mountains. Back into the shop next day and got these profiled, long day:

Beautiful pictures. That's the best thing about trout, they don't live in ugly places.

 

[Rose and Thistle Custom]

So the wife MADE me take a day out of the shop. We got all our gear out of storage and realized by checking our last fishing license it had been 16 years since we'd gone fishing. So we thought lets take a little day trip and do some scouting. We didn't catch anything but we never fished any spot more than a few minutes. Did have a great day trip though.

Awesome description and pictures, thanks a ton for sharing.

 

[BadtotheBugs]

Red attack

Wow what state are you on with a bag limit like that? LA? Nice haul

 

[ScottB65]

Roger that, Louisiana.

 

[Horsewright]

Beautiful pictures. That's the best thing about trout, they don't live in ugly places.

Thanks and ya know now that I think about it you are right on their abode.

Awesome description and pictures, thanks a ton for sharing.

Thanks. Ya bet!

 

[Rose and Thistle Custom]

Wife is on vacation and got the kayak out on the lake today.

 

[ScottB65]

Wife is on vacation and got the kayak out on the lake today.
View attachment 1166538

What is that?

 

[Rose and Thistle Custom]

Just a rainbow trout.

 

[Mark Knapp]

Smallmouth and sunfish on the fly.

 

[ScottB65]

Just a rainbow trout.

I've never seen one so silver. Here's one I caught

 

[HCrum87hc]

I've never seen one so silver. Here's one I caught

Nice one! I've seen them lose their colors in lakes typically.

 

[Scott Hanson]

Got out fishing out of Port of Racine with a friend of mine this morning and caught a few nice salmon including this 27.9# chinook.

 

[PeaceInOurTime]

Haven't used a Zebco 33 in a long time...

 

[Scott Hanson]

Haven't used a Zebco 33 in a long time...

Nice Bass, I haven't been bass fishing in quit a while.