That's an awesome area! I've taken a few geology trips there and classes on the area. When the roads open up I'd give Onion Valley a look, great spot.

I had the honor of knowing Verne since I was 17. To this day, I've yet to meet someone on the sand as kind and generous as him. His wisdom and willingness to help people getting into the sport put me on my first 7 gill, legal halibut, and white seabass from the beach. He was a truly special person, a wealth of information and knowledge on our local waters. His kindness and generosity were proven time and time again when I would fish on the pier with him and his dad. I'll miss his texts for every holiday and his genuine congratulations after a milestone catch. I owe much of my success from the sand to him. Malibu and the fishing community have lost a good one. Thanks for all the help over the last 6 years Verne, rest in peace, my friend.

Quote from: Latimeria on September 14, 2024, 08:52:46 AMDude, that's so awesome!  Congrats on that toad and figuring out the campus waterways!  I hope you get the new record soon.

What makes me really laugh is thinking about a crappie fisherman saying you look foolish... Case in point...

I swear that picture could've been taken at my spot haha, the set ups all to accurate.

I know this might be a stretch but I was wondering if anyone here has ever fished, or knows someone who has, in New Zealand? I'll be doing some geology research down there for 10ish weeks starting January 2025. Like any normal person, I want to take full advantage of the opportunity and should have enough time to give the fishery an honest go. I'll be splitting time between the north and south islands and will be posted up next to beaches or major lakes for most of it. I'm also hoping to sneak off to Australia for a week or two at the end, if I can work it into the budget. If anyone has any intel or contacts they'd be willing to share, I'd really appreciate it!

I've been back in Minnesota for about a month now and have finally made considerable progress in figuring out the fishery! After the first week or two, I figured out the bass at the small campus lake, which connects to the Cannon River and then flows through town. After several 10+ bass days, I shifted gears to give the small 1/2-2lb bass a break and started only bringing big swim baits to fish. Boy, I got some strange looks from other students and the local townies, walking around with my Lexa's and big 10" trout swim baits. A few local fishermen even took it upon themselves to let me know how foolish I looked. My only response to them was "big baits or bust" which hasn't made me super popular amongst the locals who religiously fish crappie jigs, spinners, and senkos. Fortunately, it only took me about a week of grinding every day before I was able to hook into this monster pike and prove them wrong.






I'm not sure what is crazier: that my second northern ever just about hit the 40-inch mark, that I landed this guy solo without a net, or that I pulled him out of the campus ponds in front of my dorm. I'm beyond stoked. The fish came within about 7 inches of the current state record (46 inches) for catch-and-release northern pike, which is pretty wild.


Since then, I've lost two others in the 20-30-inch range due to not having proper leader material; these buggers are toothier than a barracuda! Currently waiting on an Amazon order or two before I can give them another go with the right materials.

Quote from: Latimeria on June 03, 2024, 08:25:01 AM
This is the first vert I found here, so need to make sure it's a fossil.  I'm suspecting it's an old artifact (hundreds of years old vs thousands/millions).  It doesn't fit into the other fossils of the area.

As for the crabs, I've worked on ID'ing these with some museum people before.  It's an issue, because all of the supporting evidence I gave is well received by them that it's Pliocene in age (5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago).  Only issue they have is none of the other Pliocene sites in San Diego has these crab fossils, but they do have similar ones from the Eocene of San Diego which is 56 to 33.9 million years ago.  Big difference, but since this is a fill site and not actually a deposit site, it's not worth their effort.

They are cool as hell though, but not easy to prep.  It's a lot of work getting that hard ass matrix off the crab.

Since I've been back in school, I declared geology as my major, but we have a whole paleo-bio lab I have access to. It would be pretty cool to take one back to Minnesota and I can put it on an XRF machine and try to give you a proper date!

All I'm saying is that it would've made a sick hat....

Quote from: Latimeria on May 01, 2024, 05:37:41 AM
BTW, it still looks a bit chilly up there.

Yep! Weather has been pretty touch and go, it snowed about a week ago for a day, it's been raining on and off and in the 30s-50s since. Looks like I'll get a week of 70s coming up here though!

I finally got some time away from school and soccer, finished midterms last week, and got a long weekend for it. I got invited to a friend's lake house in Eden Prairie for the weekend and packed the couple of rods I had with me. I set my "non-fishing" buddies up with night crawlers and a split shot. The Bluegill bite was wide open. Determined to catch something to make the long drive worthwhile, I worked a 5in glide bait all over the banks and docks. I kept after this for 2 days without a bite, fishing through the rain, and finally, in the last hour, I stuck my first Northern Pike! Not the biggest but still pretty happy I can finally add this to the species list #102

Quote from: jrodda on March 24, 2024, 04:01:53 PM
Relatable trout post for once. Don't normally fish for them but when I do, it's those.

Amen. Thanks for sharing a story we can all identify with haha

Quote from: vdisney on February 02, 2024, 04:17:54 AM
Good seeing your name on the board Ethan, hopefully school is going well for you.

Thanks! It's definitely going haha with all the damn lakes and rivers frozen, I'm contemplating taking up ice fishing if I can find the time. I'll be back in Cali for a bit in the second week of march. Hopefully, I'll see you on the sand!

Dang! I feel like I've been lacking on the stats for 2023 with all these sick breakdowns. I finally broke the 100 species mark on my life list in California, the more notable additions from 2023 (or at least the ones I remember) include salty stripers, a butterfly ray, blue shark, SoCal anadromous steelhead, and some proper native trout from the sierras. Ended up spending as much time catching snakes and reading about herpetology as I did fishing. It was a bit of a change of pace from previous years, but I'm happy to report that I've added 25 native species to my snake life list (out of about 40 native to CA) and 35 total between California, Montana, and Minnesota. It's well below freezing at school right now, so I've got plenty of motivation to get back and add some more this spring! I also fell short on the LBSF side of things, had some epic multi-fish thresher days on the kayak but the 7 gills are calling, it's been too long. I'd also like to finally get my legal WSB from the surf or yak, bastards been eluding me for far too long, 2023 was the year of endless shorts and almosts for me. I'm hoping 2024 will be more fruitful.

I'm glad somebody's holding down the fort! Good deal Verne!

Weird lookin 7 gill.....

Quote from: jrodda on October 22, 2023, 10:00:57 PM

Quote from: Ethansauce_ on October 22, 2023, 07:21:11 PM
I decided to take another stab at college so I'm stuck back up north in Minnesota right now, only another 4 weeks and I'll be back home and putting sharks on the board haha

Any of those 1000 lakes close enough to your uni to fish?

There's more than a few! I'm also playing soccer for the school and the D3 commitment plus academics have kept me from taking advantage, I'm hoping I'll be able to make some time before it all freezes over.