Water Temp:58-62
Water Clarity: Stained 2-4 feet
Weather: Blue Bird Skies, Real Nice, BIKINIS!!!

It was a real Nice day. I woke up real late on my couch. Hungover. Again. My brother called me up and he and my Dad were already out on the water. I wasn’t in any hurry so I took a shower and was out the door by 1:00. Mario MAS hit me up to see if I wanted to parlay with him on his extra pontoon but I was already heading to meet with my bro and dad.

Lake was at full boat capacity when I got there. Lots of boats out there. Jet skiers, wakeboarders, fisherman everywhere.

I saw Rats truck when I got there and Mario was just about to launch his pontoon. Said what up and 2 minutes later I was in the boat. I caught one right away on a carolina rigged power hawg. He was a a good keeper size fish with a weird cut on his asshole. Like some one might have sliced him with a knife. Weird. Later, we caught another fish in cherry cove with the same scar. Anyone know what that is?

We saw Rat and he was fishing with Tomcat. They said they were having lots of luck throwing brush hogs. We opted for a friendly 5 dollar tourney and the boys were game. I landed one on a rip bait shorty after the start of the tourney but he wasn’t keeper size. We then headed back to cherry cove and then the bite started. My bro was getting his fish on jigs with twin tail grub trailers. He put a nice keeper in the live well and we were officially on the board. I managed to get a 4 pounder on my power hawg near the back of the cove which was followed by some more keepers from my bro. There were a lot of ski boats back there just chillen, but the fish didn’t seem to mind their presence because they were still hitting.

The bite mellowed out and we had four keepers in the live well. I was thinking Matty was going to have a solid bag because he headed towards the south end and was over there for awhile.

Time was ending so we headed towards Matts boat to see what he had in the bag. He had only one keeper. He did say that he missed a good size fish in real shallow water that reacted on a Rat-L-Trap. A few minutes before we saw him, he was foul hooked into a monster carp and it took him for a ride around his boat. Who knows, maybe it was a lunker bass….

The day was over and the four fish in our bag won the friendly tourney. I think Matty and Tomcat were just too burnt from fishing Los Banos Creek Res. the whole day before. Soldiers.

All in all, a fun day, a hot day, a hungover day. While we were at Calero this day, Jerbs was in some other place catching his new PB and a 45 pound bag, but I’ll let him tell you that story. TIGHT LINES BITCHES! JIGS WITH PURPLE TRAILERS!

Water Temp: 54-59 (varied tremendously around the lake)
Water Clarity: Stained
Weather: Clear and warm!!

It was a pretty slow day today. My brother and I launched “Max” at around 3:30 which gave us only about 2 hours to fish. We banged on the north banks with nothing but a bite form some little guys nipping my tails of my jig trailers. Then we hit all sides of the Island with nothing. Then we went to the back of Cherry cove and we heard a big fish jump. It was in real shallow water. I’m positive it wasn’t a carp. It was hunting for sure and even splashed the top of the water again as though it was chasing something. It was definitely a big fish. My bro ended up hooking a nice one finally on his jig near the back of the cove. It probably weighed about 3.5 to 4 pounds. I started throwing a carolina rigged power hawg and got a bump, then set and practically broke my wrist, the fish i set into did not move at all. I came up short though and had him on for about a second. It was nice fish man. I lost it becasue I was throwing a bulky 6 inch bait with a 1/0 hook! I just got done telling my bro that my hook was too small and I’d miss a nice fish if I got bit. Oh well, I guess that 24 oz of Tecate made me too lazy. It’s been so long since I’ve thrown that presentation and got to remember to reel, load, reel, set, reel when trying to get the hooks into a fish!Â

There were a lot of fisherman out there for a week day. Some guy said he hooked into a big one and lost it at his boat. He said it was so big that he didn’t want to lip it because it was so big. I also heard that some guys caught an 8 and a 9 in the south end. The big girls are out and playing!! GET ON THE WATER RIGHT NOW!! Matt said that 42 boats launched on Sunday so the Weekend Warriors are coming. Make those weekdays count. Time change soon means longer days on the water.Â

TIGHT LINES!!

Weather:NICE!!
Water Temp: ?, no fish finder on Lunker Loretta
Water Clarity: Stained

Rat Rogers called me up on Wednesday to see if I wanted to head to the Delta and stay at his grandma’s house boat that is perfectly named, “SOOO BEATS WORKING” for Presidents Day weekend. It sounded like a plan. The weather was looking good and a nice front was a coming. I hit Jerbs up on AIM while I was at work to see if he wanted go but he’d have to bring S.S. Jerbs because Lunker Loretta was filled already. Philthy, Rat, and myself would be on the Skeeter but I knew Jerbs would be down because of the fact that we had a house boat to stay on right on the water in Turner Cut. So we headed out on Thursday night and I had to tell my work I wasn’t coming in on Friday because the bite was on in the Cali Delta!

We stopped for supplies on the way up, and i even bought chicken liver for the night fishing which was a waste because we didn’t even night fish. Well we did but for only about 15 minutes because we had to hit the hay for that early morning Delta bite.

The morning launch was us stepping off the house boat directly onto the Skeeter at around 7:00am the next day, it was a outgoing tide which is a good time to fish the Delta. Our first spot was Whiskey Slough, although it was very unproductive for us on the Skeeter. The S.S. Jerbs stayed in turner cut but after fishing Whiskey Slough for a bit, we heard the S.S. Jerbs coming around the corner, that 2 HP motor made it there! NICE! The lack of hook ups was responded by a much needed safety meeting and we were back in business. After our safety meeting, we left the S.S.Jerbs and its captain in Whiskey Slough and headed towards Mildred Island. Philthy was the only one catching fish so far with one dink in Whiskey and one in Mildred Island. ( I’d like to add that Philty is an up and coming Valley rep for the Bassturdz and is a ripping fisherman.) Matty began throwing his Bomber 7a across a rock wall and was stoked to find some schoolies feeding in some fast water. I was pretty much spaced out by this time from all the greens that we’re entering my face which I regret but hey, I was on vacation. After Mildred we headed out to the infamous Frank’s Tract. We ran into Amber Russo at the Sugar Barge and she did tell us that we should be throwing spinner baits and rat’l'traps but I don’t think we listened too well as we were mesmerized by her presence. By the way, she’s hot and can fish. We tried to get her to party with us but she had a 100% Bass tournament to attend the next day.(TOP WEIGHT WAS 40 POUNDS BEATING THE REST OF THE PACK BY 13 POUNDS!!!) A PIC OF THE BAG HERE

I wasn’t getting too many fish so I decided to catch a buzz instead and bought a six pack of some colorado cool-aid at the Hook. We pretty much we’re on an alright crank bait bite and ended the first day with a boat load of dinks but I wasn’t complaining.

When we arrived back at the House Boat we hit a rock point that’s right down the way from it’s slip that has always produced and we were rewarded with more crankin’ fish on the 7a’s. Then, the S.S. Jerbs come rolling around the tullies and it’s captain was smiling. He said he caught his new PB, a nice fat 7.5 pounder. He was pitchin’ a jig in some weeds near a rock wall right by the house boat and got nailed!! Good Job Jerbs and not bad for SS Jerb’s maiden voyage on the good Ole’ California Delta! The six pack was hitting me pretty hard so I layed out at around 4:30 and chilled for the rest of the night.

The next day was a little more productive for me. I stayed away from the lah to keep focused and it worked. I didn’t get any fish with size but I was getting respones from the blackies by throwing jig n’ pigs in brown and purple(my favorite), bumpin’ rocks with the Bomber 7a in red craw color and of course, the good ole senko. I did break off a nice fish that slammed my jig as I was swimming it towards the boat because of a faulty knot. Again, good numbers but no size and one lonely striper. Kind of a bummer when someone catches a 40 pound bag the same day I can only get keepers up to 16″. You know what, it’s fun though and that’s all that matters!(Big fish do make fishing trips funner )

Jerbs and I left on Saturday night but Rogers stayed on the boat with Philthy. Rat went out the next day with his old boss Mike and had a better day out in Franks Tract. He caught a lot of jig and crankin’ fish and was rewarded a nice 5 pounder that popped a jig. His boss’ friend also caught a 4.12 on a rip bait which not bad for his first rip bait fish.

The bite is getting better everywhere and it’s the time of the year when the biggies are coming out to play. The Delta is bad ass and we are hoping to buy Matt’s grandma’s house boat. Then we can rent it out to all of you bass fisherman who support us BassTurdz. TIGHT LINES FELLAS!! Oh yeah, Amber Russo is hot!

Water Temp: 51-54 Degrees F
Water Clarity: Stained 2-4ft Visibility
Weather: Partly Cloudy, Post 3 day Storm

I woke up Sunday morning with one of those too tired to do anything hangovers. I was looking at the sky on my way to the southside thinking,”I bet the fishing would be good today.” We’ve just had a three day storm pass and the rain wasn’t too cold. It’s been a while since we’ve had a storm so the rain probably warmed up the lakes which could bring the fish shallow and turn on the bite. Lately I’ve been anti-fishing because of how cold it has been but it was unavoidable that improved fishing conditions were prersenting themselves this Sunday.

I got a call from Rat Rogers on my way to the South Side after coming to the conclusion that it was a good day to fish. He said that him and Tomcat were going to Anderson and asked if I wanted to cruise along. I opted that we should just take “Max” out since “Lunker Loretta” is without a fish finder right now. Matty agreed and was heading to meet me at mi casa de Seven Trees.

We got to the lake at around 12:45pm and headed straight towards a Main Lake point. Rat rogers missed a fish right off the bat because he was hittin’ his bubbler and was caught off guard! Tomcat was rewarded with a fiesty 2.5 pounder that he plucked off of a rock wall and we were officially on the board. He caught his fish throwing a watermelon/red flake senko texas rigged with what looked like a 5/16 tungsten weight. We hit a few other points while heading to the south end of the lake and I got a dink on a drop shotted Aaron’s Magic along the way.

It slowed down for a bit until I was rewarded with a rip bait fish that popped my Staycee Lucky Craft after a long pause in about 10 ft of water off of a long flat. He was a keeper fish and a fiesty one at that. He didn’t have that sluggish dead weight winter fight in him but rather the traditional fiesty largemouth attuitude that we all have come to love. I marked a lot of fish off of the 30 yard stretch of shore we were fishing. We couldn’t get any of the fish we were marking to hit so we headed across the lake towards the steeper rock walls.

I was immediately rewarded with a nice 4 pounder that popped my jig n’ pig after casting it towards a rocky point in about 25ft of water. I actually barely had the little fucker hooked and I was lucky to have landed him. The jig n’ pig I was throwing was a 3/8 oz brown Rodstrainer with a red pig trailer. We headed towards another point which looked real good and I was rewarded with another keeper fish that popped the jig in pig after a few tugs in 15 ft of water. One more drop shotted fish off of this point ended the day and we had to head out because of the failing light.

It sucked that we had to head out as soon as we established a pattern but this is Santa Clara County and we’re used to having to get off of the water one half hour before the sun sets. All in all it was a good day, we got some fish and it was an improved bite which always is a good sign that the fishing can only imrove and I think we might be over the worst of the winter. A few more storms will only make it better. Mario Ocho Mas was at Calero this same day and his buddy landed a 8.7 dropshotting from shore!! Cooch killed it at the Delta this weekend also and you can check his pics on NCBF.com. See you this weekend if you’re heading out to the Delta!

Water Temperature: 49-51
Water Clarity: Stained 2-4ft Visibility
Weather: Clear Skies

Joser is leaving to Australia for a little while so he got us Bassturdz together for a trip before his absence. Someone said Anderson but I convinced them to head out to Del Valle. I like this lake and we did catch some small mouth there last winter.

We left SJ at 11:00am so we were off to a late start. Roberto and Rat rogers had a little party time the night before so they were a little slow going. They did look a little under the weather but their spirits were high.

The lakes water level was really low. The lowest that I’ve ever seen. Which was a good thing actually because we were able to see a lot of fishable structure that will be great when the water level raises again. I was stoned so I don’t think I’ll remember where all the spots were because there was a bunch of them. Remember the green fence….swimbait….?

All in all it was really slow. I got bit right away on a jig with a grub trailer which worked great for the smallies last year but I lost him. I had high hopes after such a quick tap on my jig but we were quickly disappointed when we didn’t get shit for a while. Joser was rewarded with a nice trout that hit a dart headed worm. He kept it to feed his familia. Hey, us Bassturdz don’t discriminate against fish, just haters.

I did manage to hook a couple of fish on a drop shot with a 4 inch Aarons Magic Worm.(go to color, will never let you down) Other than that. We didn’t get shit except a runny nose and a buzz.(at least i got one, a buzz I mean)

I can’t speak for the other Bassturdz but I wasn’t into the fishing as much as I should have been. I was really glad to get out of SJ for a day and enjoy the nice sun instead of rain and cold, drink a few brews and puff on some lah. It did get cold as a withces tit as soon as the sun set. It’s good to know that there are only a few months left until Spring. I’ll be out of work by 2:15 and at the lake by 3:30 pitchin’ into some trees or bringin’ my crank across a main lake point!

water temp: cold as shit
Rat Rogers called me up right when I was leaving work and asked if I wanted to go hit calero. At first I was thinking it might be too late being that it gets dark at 4:00 and I get off of work at 2:15. What else was I going to do? Drink beer and watch movies. So as soon as I hung up with MAtt I called the Jerbs to see if would be down to roll. Of course, it’s the Jerbs, he’d rather fish than do anthing else. So he canceled his plans to hang out with Prince and I picked him up. Look at the excitement in his face the purple people eater there and we were on the water by 3:15, which gave us about an hour to fish.
It was a little cloudy and there was practically no wind. The water level is down really low at Calero right now so you can get a good look at all of the structure that gets covered up when they fill it. You can even see the tree we planted on the island….wait…did I say that. We didn’t plant a huge tree on the island. Forget you read that. I was throwind a 1/4oz jig with a pork trailer and I didn’t even get a bump. We fished the bank directly across from the launch ramp and worked about 200 yards of it. Jerbs hooked a nice lil’ keeper when we were passing the elevator shaft on a jig with a hula grub trailer. He then backed it up with another fish that was almost a three pounder………and that was it. Good job Jerbs, outfishing the vets. Lookin’ good with that new casting rod.

There is no graph on lunker loretta so we didn’t know what depths we were fishing and we had no temp gaudge. But I’m guessing it’s cold as shit. We were on the water for maybe 45 minutes to an hour and then we had to leave. Fuck the Santa Clara County rules of having to be off the water a half hour before sunset. It’s bullshit. Thanks Rat Rogers for the invite and the new glass pipe is great.

Marone

The bad news of our canceled striper trip to the delta this weekend was followed by the good news of a future trip to Mexico. I went out to the mother land back in November of 2004 and the fishing was amazing. I heard about their world class surf fishing from the internet and I did a bunch of research. What I had found out is that I was going there when the sierra mackerel would be frequenting along the beaches in search for food.

So I brought a surf rod hoping to get some fish while fishing off of the beach. I was told by some other surf fisherman to get some Rangers for the sierra mackerel.Rangers are big plugs that you cast out as far as possible and reel in as fast as you can. I didn’t hook anything off of the beach we stayed on which was supposed to be world class for rooster fish and snook, although it wasn’t the best time of the year for those particular species. I did get a guide to take me surf fishing one day and it was only $75 compared to the boat trips which can get up to $500 plus. The morning trip included transportation, rods, and some tackle. The guys name was Stephen Jansen. He actually has a surf fishing shop there and makes his own lures specifically for sierras and roosterfish.

We fished an estuary on the western side of the tip of baja. When we arrived to the spot, it was still dark and the sun was just starting to light the sky. The bite was on for only 20 minutes and during that time you could hear fish busting everywhere. I only hooked one sierra and it was a relief to finally catch something after fishing for five days without catching a damn thing from the beach.

I took my dad there the next day just hours before we had to be on the plane back to the states. When we got there, that dude Stephen was there with some other clients and looked pissed when we showed up to his spot. Whatever, it’s not his damn ocean. My dad got a sierra right away and I missed a few blow ups. It was nice to see my pops hookup. What a great wa yto end a week in Mexico.

I’m definitely calling that guy again when I get out there this coming April. I’ll probably throw in 2 surf fishing trips and one Marlin fishing trip. Hopefully next time, I’ll get one of those roosterfish I’ve heard sop much about. Check out this link of some guys fishing with Stephen Jansen on a 2002 trip out to Cabo San Lucas. VIVA surf fishing in MEXICO!

Weater: Sunny, Clear Skies, Cold as Shit! 49-51 degree water temp.

   Headed out the delta to see if we could hit some more hot striper action. What a tough day. My dad, my Bro, cody, and I launched out of Sugar Barge on Bethel Island at about 6:00am. It was just before low tide so we got to fish the end of the outgoing in the False River for about an hour. Our first stop was one of the opening to Franks Tract from the False River. I had some good blow ups the week before on a spook there at the end of the day during the incoming tide. My bro hooked up on a 2-3 pound striper first cast on a rat-l-trap and I knew that could be a sign of a bad fishing day ahead. Fug superstion but i swear a f-ed up fishing day always follows when somone hooks up on their first cast.Â

  We saw some birds in the False River so we went to where they were feeding, I caught two shakers using a rat-l-trap and a spoon. My bro caught another one on a fish trap and that was it. I felt bad because my dad didn’t catch shit. Basically that was the only action we had all day! We tried trolling on the Sac River, we tried drifting minnows in Disco Bay, we tried plugging everywhere, and we only caught one more fish the entire day, and it was a dink! Oh well, one of those days. I did check the Fish Sniffer Striped Bass report and I guess there was a tough bite out there for everyone. The bite we’ve had these past 2 months has been great, it’s a bummer if this is the end of the striper action. Guess it’s time to hit San Luis and see if the forebay or the big lake will give up any action for some winter stripers.Â

So work and fish. Pretty much takes up 90% of my week when i’m not in bed. Fuck partying and having a hang over all weekend during my only two days off. I’d rather go launch my dad’s boat at 5:30 am, Drink Beer, smoke trees and talk shit to Jose and Jeerbs all day while being on the water searching for the stripers in the California Delta.   Good eatin’, good fightin’, good ole boys. These pics are from our Bass-Turdz first annual after Thanksgiving Day trip. I didn’t have my camera with me this day so Jeerbs provided the photography. Rat Rogers and Roberto couldn’t make it because Jack told them not to go. He said they needed a little vacatsh while on vacatsh. They should have gone though, we ran into a nice school right away in the False River right after sun up. We were in a good size school that had a lot of 2-4 pounders in it. Fun on the spoons and jose was nailing them with the Fish Traps in Pearl with a 1oz. lead head. Bite was on for a good 30 minutes, then poof, they were gone.  Jeerbs got his first bait caster fish, he was using trout poles the week before. I think for a begginer bass fisherman, he’s got BassTurd written all over him. Toes on the Veece!!

I went the day after too with my Pops and my brother. We didn’t get many in the beginning but then we ran into another school towards the end of the outgoing tide. Lots of skakers but they were a lot of fun. My Bro brought his nephew and he was hyped becuase he hooked into a 3 pounder on a trout pole spoonin’. I think that kid is hooked. I was suprised with the only keeper around 28″ when i pitched my spoon towards a wind blown bank away from the school of shakers. I called G-juan and told him to get the fish taco stuff ready cuz I was bringin’ it home. I don’t have pics from that day because my camera broke. It weighed about 5 pounds, G-juan baked one fillet with the Guam special sauce, and fried the other. Fish Tacos and Tecate with lemon and salt was on the menu later that night. I don’t ever really keep fish but G-juan said he had a sweet Guamanian recipe, and I really wanted to try it. We were so stoked on the fish we went out and celebrated by going to the Blank Club for Goth Night. G-juan got the boot for life because he was having too much fun, i decided to follow suit but I only got a warning. Here’s a photo of the keeper i caught and cooked.