Report From The Lake - Nov. 18

[tucmaster]

Just a quick report on the lake as of yesterday. The water level remains high in the California grass and the saddle to the island across from the homeless camp is submerged. The water is slightly murky and should return to normal greenish tint soon. We saw a lot of surface feeding action out in the middle of the lake, too far from the shoreline where we fish, but when the action occasionally came close enough for us to cast to, we discovered that the feeding tucs were all rats in the 1/2 lb. to 1 lb. size. So we refocused on the larger shoreline cruising tucs and using live bait we managed to land and release 21 tucs ranging from 1 lb. rats to decent 4 lb. slabs. All fish appeared healthy, fat and well-fed. From the numbers of rats we are seeing, looks like this year's tuc spawn was fairly successful.

Good luck and good fishing.

[SaltyDog]

C'mon guys, even Jerrys kids can catch them on live bait. Little or no skills is needed with live bait. You dont learn much from it. Y'all should fish the local tournaments to see where your skill level is really at, till then, keep dreaming.

[Stan Wright]

Come over to the dark side Salty Dog.....


Stan

[tucmaster]

Aloha Saltydog.

Skills: I fish from shore and don't own a boat - a major disadvantage in competing in the local HFFA tournaments. Perhaps more importantly, I don't have a need to see where my "skill level is really at" by competing against fellow fishermen - my skill level is just fine as is. I fish strictly for the thrill of feeling a battling fish at the end of my line - not to compare my skills to those of others. If others are more successul than I, I'm genuinely glad they are enjoying fishing as much as (if not more than) I.

"Little or no skill is needed with live bait?" I don't fish at Morgan's Point. And, as any lake regular can attest to, there are days when even live bait wouldn't help "Jerry's kids". There's more to the skill level required to be consistently successful with live bait, than one may think.

Learning: By spending countless hours over the past 3 decades quietly observing tuc behavior as they cruise the shoreline, I've learned much more while fishing live bait than one might be led to believe.

You may not have realized it, but your post could be interpreted (rightly or wrongly) as a "put-down" against live-baiters. We certainly wouldn't want to see a similar post discussing those who choose to use artificials. Different strokes for different folks, I say.

Nonetheless, welcome to this forum, Saltydog - I will respect your personal opinion.

And as always, good luck and good fishing (with either artificials or live bait). Tucmaster out.

[Stan Wright]

Remember last year when that California guy caught the 24+ pound largemouth bass? Larger than the current world record, but because he foul hooked it .... the fish was released and no record applied for. Anyway there is a CA group of 25 or so live bait anglers who are seeking the next world record. They use light line and go for only big fish.

My son Chris was fishing with 2 of these guys. They requested "live bait" and used their own rods. (4 pound test line). Chris reported that they caught 37 peacock bass.... and they only counted the ones OVER 3 pounds. (no telling how many they caught) Working the shoreline they would ask Chris where they could cast. He would say "over by that log." They ask.. to the right or the left? Left. How far.. 1, 2, 3 inches? Yes, they were that good. They could sense when a fish was after the bait and knew the instant it took it.

The next day he took out 2 other anglers who caught a total of 7 fish.... all day.
Same live bait, same locations. When I ask "how come?" He replied with just one word......"Skill".

[kahuna bass]

Salty dog,

I'm impressed. Your only comment/opinion to the site, starts off by saying live baiter have no skill, and should just day dream.

So now, you must be the resident expert, of the artificial baits. I guess you have skills? Or, are you day dreaming about your skills?

Kahuna bass
Dark side live baiter
Artificial swim baiter too

[trashfromthepast]

hey kahuna, well put in regards to salty dogs comment. Who is Jerrys kids? That sounds like a total insult. This guy better be as good as he tries to sound!!!!!

[Lrry93]

SISSY FIGHT!!!!

I guess if he is so good he wont mind a challenge from me. He fishes artificial and I fish live and see who wins sucka !!

5 fish limit

[Ken]

Don't get overworked guys...he may just be a "pot-stirrer".

I've seen pot-stirrers messed up a perfectly good, friendly, helpful forum before. They like to turn people against each other and in no time, everyone is sick of all the bickering and leave.

I can count 4 forums here at home that was infected by pot-stirrers...and they have never been the same again. Too sad indeed.

Just leave hostile comments alone, ignore the bonehead and they'll eventually leave. Sometimes, I wonder if they are PETA people And I don't mean the People for Eating Tasty Animals either

Stan, if this person is really a pot-stirrer (I would give him/her the benefit of the doubt), you're the moderator and you can exercise your right to block the IP address.

I've been online for too long (over 15 years???) to sniff one out. But I do hope that my gut feeling is wrong.

Just my 2 Canadian cents (not worthed as much as a week ago )

HEY...my 100 post!!!

[Stan Wright]

I was thinking of inviting him to go fishing one day and letting him share the fun. Mahaps no one ever showed him live baiting before???
If it's still not his thing... no problem. How about it SaltyDog? Drop me a line.
Aloha,
Stan

[Boatless]

As the water in lake wilson gets cooler...........this forum gets hotter!

Live bait, plastic bait who cares?? I use both and I just wanna catch fish!!

[tucmaster]

Okay guys - thanks for the "live-baiter" support. All I intended to do was provide an update on lake conditions, and what do we get . . . a live-bait "hater"?

Stan is on the right track in being diplomatic about the whole thing by inviting Saltydog to a live-bait trip.

For those who are unfamiliar with the "Jerry's kids" comment, that is a reference to children afflicted with muscular distrophy, for whom comedian Jerry Lewis holds (or used to hold, I'm not sure which) an annual TV telethon to raise funds to help these unfortunate kids - thus the term "Jerry's kids". For Saltydog to reference these kids, in the manner that he did, was out of line. My guess is that he never had muscular dystrophy.

Okay - this thread is done, guys. Let's move on. Let's show mutual respect to both lure chunkers and live baiters, and get back to some serious fishin' talk! (You are invited to join us, Saltydog.)

Good Luck and Good Fishing. Tucmaster out!

[FishinFrenzy]

I think you guys scared off Saltydog. And just when the thread was getting interesting too! HEY, has anyone caught anything worth posting about lately (at Wilson; not Canada, Alaska, UK, Africa.... )? I haven't seen much action in the Fishing Report area lately.