Quote from: Tim524 on November 07, 2025, 07:23:25 AMBeen dealing with a bad knee for a while and I can't take it anymore. Saw the Surgeon yesterday and he took more X-Rays to confirm my left knee is bone on bone   He said the soonest he could do a full replacement was Christmas Eve    I mentioned I was hoping to have it done between Thanksgiving and Christmas, he looked at his schedule again and said he thinks he can squeeze me in sooner, looks like I'll be spending lots of time with Mongo next month

You really are going to be Colonel Steve Austin! Lee Majors_v2!!!!

Quote from: Tim524 on November 07, 2025, 07:15:52 AMYou are lucky to live so close, that place has served you very well !

I used to mostly refuse to fish them for about 20 years (minus the catfish and carp trips during renting the cabins) until I met some dude that literally gave me a "key" to the lakes.  He said it just randomly in passing, but unlocked the riddle of the puddles and I've been fishing it ever since.

Quote from: sasquatch on November 07, 2025, 06:37:58 AMIf you think getting old sucks now, just wait til you start getting old.

You might be getting your "Senior Citizens Discounts" a bit early, but you don't need to be sounding like one now.  hahaha

I thought I was meeting Jeff (old SCSF guy from the EDC this morning, so I just walked in with a rod and got my permit instead of waiting in line to drive in.  The morning was brisk and the moon was full!



I realized I didn't have his number in my phone and forgot my messenger app wasn't connected to my Latimeria FB page, so there was no way to get a hold of him.

I walked to where I was catching fish first and it was a desert.  I actually saw one being chased by pelicans, but it was so sketched out from trying to be eaten that it was impossible.  I kept casting at a big boil and thought I hooked up!  It was sort of moving....  WTF!?!?

50# braided line someone cut off....



I got a little by little in before I could finally grab the braid and the huge ball of weeds.  Inside was a 2 oz catfish weight and hook, so I at least made up for losing my spoon yesterday.

I tied on one of my spinner flies, a super-secret weapon from the east coast days.  I think Squatch has seen me use them before, but they are super light and making a real cast is near impossible.  Good thing is I only have to cast out about 12 feet to get in the zone.

I found multiple trout now but they were all getting followed and harassed by big bass.  I'm talking 4-6 pound class bass.  The trout were all spooked when out of the blue on one of my blind casts, I think I snag weeds.... Until it starts tearing out line!  Woohoo!  Steelie!



So all is not lost.  I work parts of the next lake for nada and keep looking for Jeff.  I was on my way back when I saw a few trout milling about and made about 20 casts at them.  Out of the blue, one decided it finally wanted to eat it!  This was a nice typical triploid stocker rainbow!



I keep walking and casting when I ran across a lightning trout.  He was boogying, so I couldn't get a real cast at him.  Then as I'm walking, I come across a bunch of people fishing.  I could see a dozen trout swimming in front of them, and they couldn't get them to bite on anything.  Then a saw a decent lightning trout swimming with them and the one guy said "We can't catch them and you got a couple.  See if you could make them bite".

I walked down to the side of them and said I'm sure they won't, but I'll make a few casts for the hell of it...

Well, I was just as surprised as they were when the lightning trout pounced on my spinner fly!  They were pretty confused on what just happened and I landed a decent mid-grade golden ruby!



I had to show them the lure at this point and they all immediately switched to spinners to try and land a few.  I was done and needed to get home to continue the job hunt.  Pinoyfisher was kind enough to send me a position opening in his company, so I'm pretty hopeful something might work out soon.

Well, here is a great picture of the 3 types of trout they stocked for the opener.  I can't believe I got all three in one 2-hour session! (or actually 4 in the last week because of the Cut-bows!)



The most impressive thing about all of it was the quality of meat!  I'm guessing they feed these guys something different because look at the two filets!



Well, I have a Dr appt tomorrow for a previously repaired Sx... getting old sucks.  I still might run out to meet Jeff tomorrow since he actually couldn't make it today.  I have to fast until my appointment at 11:00 so I need to do something so I don't think about food and coffee.

Thanks for reading!

decided to drive in today and see if I could get a whooper or a limit.  The line to get in is still brutal after the stocking.



I played with the idea of trying a new spot, but decided on hitting the recent success spot. I grab my rod with the tiny spoon that I caught the trout on yesterday and my first cast and I'm on!  What a beauty!



It had a huge mouth and then I noticed the cuts!  A Friggin Cut-Bow!  (Rainbow/Cutthroat Hybrid)



I made a few more casts before setting up the worm rods and a small gust of wind caught the spoon on one particular long bomb.  f@cking right into a tree!  Ugh... 2# test snapped and I could see the spoon in the branch for the rest of the morning.  There's no way to get it unless I bring down my 15' shark rod and cast to the branch!

Oh well, I set two inflated crawlers out and started to look around.  I saw plenty of bass, but no trout or lightning trout in particular.  It was quite breezy in the morning and leveled out as the morning went on.

I retied a new penny colored tube jig on to be like one of the trout rats and waited.  Then I saw a beautiful trout slowly swim in front of me.  I stayed up on the walkway and pitched out the tube jig and it gulped it down!  What a stunner!



The fins are just amazing on these last two fish and almost looked wild!   The jaw on this thing was crazy!



If I didn't get another bite today, it would have still been a success. 

About 15 minutes goes by and I'm trying to see what is around the shore.  I then look back and only see one strike indicator dangling from the two rods.  I get back to the rods and my line is slack.  I keep reeling and feel nothing until it was there!  This one was more of the big ugly trout truck type of rainbows!



I kept fishing and had 3 more hits. I was totally hooked up with and screaming drag on TWO fish... and all of a sudden they both spit the hook...  These J-Hooks are starting to annoy me, but I don't have any trebles on me.  I apparently ran out of them and never restocked.  Then I had a big bendo on one of my bait rods, but it never stuck and my worm was MIA.

Just then I saw a Lightning trout swimming back and forth in front of me.  Every time I casted the tube jig, it bolted like lightning out of there.  It was really skittish from the birds and fishermen I would assume.  As I casted to it the 12th time, i saw something shoot from the left and grab the tube!  f@ck, not the lightning trout, but a smaller Cut-Bow!  Another one with red "cuts" on the gills!



I was pretty sure I was going to end up with these 4 since things got awfully quiet.  the only fish I saw were big bass and I started casting my bass gear trying to get one to go.  I was ready to call it after texting Dave and Squatch when I noticed a "tick" in my line as the strike indicator slowly dropped.  Just as I was grabbing the rod, the line was tight and fish on!

Now there were a bunch of people around, so stealth was key (even though I'm sure everyone on the lake saw me and I wasn't as stealthy as I liked to believe)

#5




It was the perfect time to leave as I dropped my stringer on the tailgate for one final parting shot.



I stopped at my good bass spot on the way out, but no one was home or they didn't want to cooperate.

I got home and cleaned/Vacuum Sealed all of the fillets.  I need about 4 more to get a full smoker run going!



Thanks for reading!  I was going to go ocean fishing, but those king tides scared me off.  It's also nice only having to travel a 1/2 miles "to and fro" from a fishing trip.  I might even be back tomorrow!

I ran down for two hours before my scheduled meetings with some recruiters looking to get my Stocker Steelhead and maybe a trophy Lightning Trout.

I decided to just throw the spoon that got hit yesterday a few times, but I modified it.  I added an extra split ring to extend the hook back another 1/4" for those small tail biters.  I saw a bunch of trout this morning on my walk, but nothing really wanted it.  I had two Lightning Trout swimming back and forth and I casted a bunch of times to them.  One was a pretty big female, and the other was a smaller hook jaw male.  Finally, I got the bigger one to take it and it took off like a bullet!  I had the drag pretty tight to begin with and after a 3- or 4-minute tussle, it popped off. Ugh.... one of the hooks were at a 90-degree angle so I fixed it with the pliers.  I know this hook isn't going to hold up at this point to any real ones.

I was planning on checking out multiple lakes, but I couldn't leave this area with all of the trout around.
I kept casting in front of the smaller male lightning and finally hooked him!  Well, with a single run, the hooked popped out.  How infuriating...

I continued to cast to trout swimming by with no luck and then noticed a loose wrap on my spool.  I gave it a long cast to try and get the line tight on my reel when I thought I hooked into weeds... until it started running!  Holy hell, I'll take it!

It was a good fight, and I reeled up a fairly decent Hybrid Steelie!



More people started showing up and my time was coming to a close.  I kept walking around the lake and came across 4 trout that wanted nothing to do with me.  I would have kept trying, but my time was up and I needed to get back to talk to the recruiters.

After a good talk with the recruiters, I realized he failed to mention where these jobs were located.... Needless to say, I'm not commuting to LA.  lol

Well, back to the drawing boards!

Damn, I get to the lakes at 7:00 when they are opening and there is a line down the street!  UGH...  It was almost as bad as the opener with Steve!  Well, the line was much worse anyway.  I realized they were all getting silver permits, so they were all senior citizens getting in on the trout after the crazy opener.  (I guess I was a senior citizen in training then).  lol

I get to my spot and see a couple of lightning trout swimming back and forth!  These were much smaller than the one I got last night, but still respectable sizes (around 2.5#).  I couldn't tempt them with a worm for some reason, but I saw one come rushing from behind to hit my micro spoon!  Fish on!  Fish OFF!  The stupid little hook only stayed imbedded for 1 second before pulling.  about 10 minutes later and I have the second one chasing my spoon up and bam!  On!... Off!  UGH!!!!

I head up to see what other lure I can use and see my worm rod go off!  Fish on baby!

Ugh.. Whisker Trout...



A little while later and I'm on again!  Ugh... Whisker Trout again.....



I started casting the spoon as I saw a few normal trout swim by and get hooked up on the 10th cast!  It didn't feel big...

It wasn't a small one, but nothing big either.  Well, a Red Ear fell for the spoon.



That was it.  I got multiple bites for the next 2 hours, but nothing stuck.  Some guy stopped to talk and I told him about my trout from yesterday.  I was trying to be cryptic on where I got it, but he said "I saw it... I saw what you caught"....  Damn, busted.  Here I thought I was super ninja but I should know that most good anglers are always on the lookout and nowhere is safe.

Ha!  Well, it still was a good morning and I got back to get back on the job hunt.  I at least found a good lead, so going to call tomorrow and see where it goes.  I might just have to hit the lakes again though really quick as just before I left, I saw the trout rats sight casting to Lightning Trout and one got a big boy... It was hard to say from the other side of the lake, but I would guess 5 or 6 pounds.  Now I know they are making their way around to the other side.

Until tomorrow!

Well, I never hit an "Opener" of any sort because it usually gives me anxiety but I'm still looking for employment and I needed to try and do something to keep my mind off of things.  I called up Squatch and he was happy to come down and give it a shot.  The opener was Saturday, but he had a Mead festival to go to and I wanted to see where the fish were being caught before we went.

I took a bike ride around all of the lakes on Saturday and only saw 5 fish caught.  4 were lightning trout that were flossed or snagged by the local trout rats and the place was PACKED!

I got the gear together and met up with Squatch at 5:30 am to hopefully score some Lightning and Steelhead!

I had no idea where to set up except we needed to just get any spot that was close to where they dropped the fish in.

Lets just say it was ssssslllllloooooowwwwwwww....

It was super fun hanging out with Steve again and shooting the breeze.  We finally had a shot when they moved through, and we either couldn't get the hook to set or just have them unbutton in the thick grass.  Well, I had one on that only made it halfway in.  In other words, we were 0 for 5... Squatch was 0 for 3 so he won that battle.  hahaha 

He was getting hangry so he rolled up and got a piping hot and fresh burrito from the grill.



Basically, we stayed until 11:00 and didn't get squat.  We didn't even see a fish caught except for two people that walked by with one fish on their stringer each.  I did find someone down the lake that was hiding his two steelhead however and figured I would head to his spot in the afternoon if it was open.

Squatch cruised by the house and checked out the new Fossil Shed.  I would have had a beer with him, but I quit drinking, so he headed back to the dense jungles of Vista.

.. forward to 3:30pm.

Lakes were crowded as sh!t still!  WTF?!?!

Luckily the spot I wanted to hit was open.  The spot where Steve and I were fishing in the morning were nuts to butts and no one had a single fish on a stringer.

I was texting Steve when I had a few hits.  My worm was getting crushed or cut up.  I didn't see any turtles but was trying to figure out what was chewing it up.



I then see the rod bend over.  No drag being taken, but the strike indicator was floating in the water so It should be a fish.  I kept the rod low and acted like I was stuck in weeds.  I started to think I had a big turtle on when I saw a bright flash of yellow!  I had it close enough and I think it didn't even know it was hooked because it never threw any water but lazily swam in a half circle.  I crouched down and slid the net to the water's edge and got the net around him.  I instantly stood up and walked to the back of the truck for a quick picture and stuff him into the cooler as not to alert anyone.

I didn't have a scale but was probably 4.5 pounds (or more).  I originally thought 4, but realized it was bigger than I realized in all the secrecy.



I walked back down and recast. Soon as I looked up, I saw a dude staring right at me and didn't stop staring.  f@ck, I know he saw me.  I could tell he wanted to walk over, but he had a lot of sh!t with him and I think he just stayed because he had too much crap to move.

Every person walking by asked if I caught anything and kept saying "Nope, not today. Slow day for sure".  That one dude down the way kept looking over, but the clock was ticking and they were going to throw everyone out at 5:00 anyway, so I was feeling pretty good.  I made sure to text Squatch a pic. 

Well, it was time to go and apparently that one guy wasn't the only person to see me catch it.  Long story short, but I had an "Even-Steven" day and everything evened out in the end!  I know where I'm fishing in the morning...

It's at Delmar from the 5-7th. No excuses

3,500# Rainbow, Golden Rubies, Steelhead in lakes 2, 3, 4, 6, & 7.

Breakdown

Stock is today.
500#-Lake 2
1000#-Lake 3
1000#-Lake 4
500#-Lake 6
500#-Lake 7

I just want to see who is visiting the boards daily.  Please throw in a quick vote.

March 7th, 2026

Save the date...

I've had a struggle with alcohol my entire life.  I was proud that I quit for a month or two a couple of times over the past few years but not being employed (or finding a job) has been tough recently. 

2 weeks sober today.

I know it's not been long, but it's a start.   

I smoked some king Fillets and even baked some, but it was time to try the Silver's.  I'm running out of ideas what to do sometimes and I just decided to BBQ these on the Weber.

I like the Silver's over the Kings, but that's like saying I like big boobs over smaller boobs.  I like them both.  lol