Forget Forget The Recession, Let's Go Fishing

Heres my top 5 Western States, spring Bait Fishing holes for Trout.

Im not a fancy fly fisherman; I have tried it but just cant get the knack. I like to sit, relax and enjoy the surroundings while I fish. I also like to keep and eat what I catch.

I based my top spots on these factors; great fishing, great views and the ease of getting there.

So here goes;

Owyhee River:

Spring Fishing (before April), on the Owyhee River, in Southern Oregon is fantastic. This 10-mile stretch of river below the Owyhee Dam is just 30 miles from my home in Ontario, Oregon, or about 80 miles out of Boise. So heres a little local knowledge.

You may be saying, This is a famous Fly Fishing spot? Yes it is a favorite Trophy Brown Trout haunt for Fly Fishermen, but heres a little known secret, it is also open to Bait Fishermen and a skilled fisherman with bait can land more of these big Browns than the fly fishermen.

This river has a rustic beauty all its own, especially in early spring when the sparkling white snow still clinging to the valleys and hillsides. The river is low and slow this time of year and you can easily see the monster Browns rising for the bugs floating on the surface. There are hundreds of these Browns in every hole. You can easily catch a huge Brown Trout here, ranging from 2 lbs to 20 lbs and Rainbows 20 inches up.

Be advised you must immediately return the huge Browns to the river, but you can keep and eat any Rainbow Trout or Bass you catch. This is why there are so many monster Browns in these holes, they never leave the river; they just get bigger and smarter.

Legal Bait Fishing is allowed here, but you must have a thick skin, as you will get looks from the purest (Fly Guys) as they pass. This river is very clean and free of the Lead Poisons prevalent throughout the Western Rivers, so you can safely eat the red meated Rainbows and the occasional Bass.

You can easily drive in and camp, right beside the river, free of charge. Be sure to pack out all you bring in and keep it clean. Just set up your chairs and do some relaxing Bait Fishing or you can put on your waders and chase the Browns up and down the river. Wading is simple along this shallow easily accessible river.

Bring your four-wheeler or canoe and easily traverse the long winding riverbanks. Make sure you pack a lunch and have plenty of bait, as the nearest store is 10 to 15 miles away.

Tip; try a Night Crawler and Split Shot, drifted in the current.

Horsethief Reservoir:

In late spring try Horsethief Reservoir, just 10 miles above Cascade, Idaho.

This little lake is my favorite spot, spring, summer or fall. In the springtime, (Late April) right after Ice-Off, the trout fishing is amazing. You can limit out in a hour with catch-able Rainbows from 8 to 14 inches, with the occasional 20 incher.

But thats not all, let me tell you a true story; In the early summer my friend, Scotty, and I, went to Horsethief for a day trip, traveling out of Cascade, where I was living. We set up right beside the Dam, our usual spot.

While lounging on a grassy bank, beside the pristine clear blue water lake, I was looking out at the tree lined far shoreline. Suddenly, a rush of waves and a dark blur in the water at my feet startled me. It took me a few minutes for me to realize that it was an Otter, rushing in to steal my stringer of fish. Sure enough the Otter had swiftly rushed in and stole my metal stringer and the five Rainbows caught that morning.

After calming down, I looked out across the lake and to my amazement, not 50 yards out, was an entire family of Otters frolicking and happily munching on our mornings catch. Ive always wondered, Was it legal to catch another five fish?

A little later on, my friend Scotty was busy chasing a wild ring necked duck away from his tackle box, the duck kept trying to steal his bait. The ringed necked duck just wouldnt go away, he hung around all day, might have been because I tossed him tidbits every once in awhile.

We settled back down and caught a few more Bows. I had replaced my stringer, making sure to tie it tight. I then laid back and was gazing up at a pair of Ospreys floating above us in the blue cloudless sky.

I was just slipping off for a nap when the water ten feet in front of us exploded, spraying both Scotty and me with water. An Osprey had dived into the lake, right in front of us, arose and flew away with a nice trout grasped tightly in its talons.

It was a special wildlife day that morning, and the experience was really unforgettable. Natures at its best is usually there every time I visit this wonderful lake. Ive seen Deer, Elk, Moose and even a white Wolf at this high mountain retreat. This great fishing hole is easy to get to and sports many lakeside campgrounds. It has majestic scenery and the fishing is peaceful, quite and fruitful.

Tip; use Rainbow Power Bait, a small slip weight and a No.14 gold treble.

June Lake Opening Day

Youll find it in the High Sierras 50 Miles north of Bishop, CA.

Opening Day is the last Saturday in April. When I lived in Southern California, we never missed an opening day in the Sierras. We loved the excitement of the moment as thousands of California fishermen rushed to stake out their favorite holes.

June Lake is one of these opening day hotspots. Its another gorgeous high mountain lake with crystal clear water and forested banks. On Opening Day June Lakes Rainbows are huge, ranging from 12 to 30 inches. Ive caught 6 to 8lb lunkers from shore on opening day.

One opening weekend a group of us went up a day early to stake out our favorite spot, the park at the south end of the lake. In order to beat the crowds to this spot we slept out on the park grass next to our set up chairs. This was working out well except for the cold, April in the High Sierras brings below freezing weather at night. We were hiding down deep in our bags when the park sprinklers came on, washing us out and back to our camper to dry off and warm up. All except my son Joshua, he was sleeping in a waterproof down army mummy-bag. He slept through the entire watering and when we went back out we saw a solid sheet of ice over his entire bag, but he said he was warm inside.

That morning when the flare went off, we had our spot and began to fish. We caught several lunkers of 5 to 8 pounds. We entered them into the lakes fishing derby, but the contest winner for the day was over 10 pounds.

Tip; Try a slow retrieve with a white marshmallow on a No.12 treble with split shot.

Blue Mesa Reservoir:

Near Gunnison, Colorado; at the South end under the highway bridge, in May.

May is absolutely a great time to fish this lake; if youre a shore fisherman youll love the spot under the bridge at the Gunnison end near the rivers inlet. Ive caught my limit of large Rainbows every time Ive fished it in May. Occasionally a shore fisherman ties into one of the huge Lake Trout inhabiting this lake, they can go up to 50 pounds.

My son Jeremy at 7 years old, caught a 4lb Rainbow under this bridge with a childs fishing pole, he brought it in all by himself.

In May and late summer, you can drive right up to the bridge along an access road cutting off the highway, but dont try it in June. In June the rains make the road a bog, I know, it cost me $100 to get towed out. You still can get there in June, just park off the highway and climb down the rocky side of the bridge.

Toss out green or rainbow Power-Bait next to the bridge pylons and wait. Watch your poll they hit hard.

Eleven-Mile Canyon:

Youll find this canyon 70 miles west of Colorado Springs on the Upper Platte River.

This stretch of canyon is breathtaking; the river winds eleven miles up through the canyon until it ends at the Dam at Eleven Mile Reservoir. This stretch of river is so beautiful that my wife and I have decided to have our ashes placed in these waters when we go to that fishing hole in the sky.

There is plenty of drive in camp spots along the river. The fish are usually smaller pan-sized Trout, but are plentiful and then there is that occasional lunker. You can also catch monster 40 pike that roam these waters.

What I like most about fishing these waters is that on a warm spring day you can hop over to one of the mammoth rocks in the river and drift a Colorado Orange Indicator and meal worm along the current and watch it drift for a 100 yards or until you get a strike.

When my youngest son, Jeremy, was a tot, I would tie a rope to his life vest and then around my waist. Off we would go rock hopping and fishing all day long.

All the waters in this general area are great in the spring, but if youve never visited the Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon youre missing something special.

So forget about this recession, go fishing.

To see pictures or to respond and tell about your favorite "Fishing Hole", go to my blog post of this article at: http://mysiteforsoreeyes.com/wordpress/?p=46

Fishing Fishing Sea Walls And Riprap

Tired of fishing with your GPS and finding nothing, tired of dragging that Carolina rig all over the bottom of the lake, tired of trying to come across that magic spot on the lake. Well you may be ready to try your hand at fishing rocky riprap or seawalls, those obvious shoreline, hugging features found on lakes, rivers and reservoirs across the county. These forms of cover can held bass throughout the year. These spots are simple to find and are easy to fish. Here are some tip for fishing riprap and seawalls.

SEAWALL PATTERN: When theres a large surface mat of water hyacinths has blown up against a long stretch of seawall. When you tie on a Gary Yamamoto custem bait 3 inches fat baby craw, with a big bullet weight and begin picking the floating vegation apart. Fishing floating mats against a seawall or near the seawall, theres usually clean water underneath it all the way to the wall. This is a good spot do to combined horizontal cover with vertical and its open underneath. That crawl space will attract a lot of space.

Flip right through the top of the mat and start at the deep edge. But dont forget to fish the seam between the mat and the seawall.

GIVE THE SEAWALL A HUG: One technique is paralleling the wall with hard plastic lures and buzz baits. Also hugging the wall with a lizard, tube, worm and creature is just as important. One of the most important things if your pitching against the wall is to get the bait to fall as close to the wall If you are using a baitcaster you have to feed line out to allow the bait to fall up against the wall. If you are using a spinning reel its the same just dont close the bell until the bait hits the bottom. The other you can do is pitch the lure toward the wall and have it hit 1 to 3 inches before the wall, and then peel off line. It tends to fall more toward the wall.

FALL PATTERN: When fall comes the bass are migrating into and out of creeks, so the riprap provides an easy, dependable way to intercept bass. Fishing in the fall the bass are moving shallow or coming back out and they have to go through bridges to do that. So riprap along bridges would be a prime pattern Some good lures for this would be a shad colored crank bait like Rebel Wee R or 5A and 6A Bombers to crank the rocks, also the bomber long A jerk bait is another good choice. Cast parallel to the rock line and concentrate on deflecting the lure as often as possible. The biggest key in the fall is repetitive casting, you ask why, because the bass have seen lures all summer. So its important to cast repetition to a good looking area like a point of the riprap or a tree or brush laying down along the riprap.

PARALLEL PARKING FOR BASS: When it comes to bass fish there are not to many hard and fast rules but when you come across a seawall and lines of riprap, one rule rings come to mind. Take a casting angle that enables them to be paralleled with a lure. Another lure of choice for fishing seawalls and riprap or bulkheads are throwing a topwater and spinner baits in the morning, then a lipless crank bait or shallow diving crank bait later in the day. But regardless of the lure, always parallel them as much as possible and at least 45 degrees them, depending on the water depth and position the fish are in. Remember to put your lure as close to the wall as possible, or even bang it off the wall as you bring it back to the boat.

RIPRAP ROADMAP: Riprap can be intimidating to some fisherman or woman. Whether it is the foundation of a bridge, current break or erosion control for a stretch of shoreline, riprap can look over whelming in some situations. You may have riprap two miles long and it all looks the same, so where do you start bass fishing. You got to understand what lies beneath the surface is not exactly the same. Its important to locate irregular features in an otherwise uniform line of riprap. So you look for visible things like logs, treetop or flotsam that has drifted against the rocks or an unusually large rock is always worth fishing. But there are concealed irregular features that will hold a lot more bass. On lakes, a small ditch or creek may run into the riprap and come to a stop. Usually, a bridge crosses a channel and there will be a culvert nearby on one side of the riprap foundation. This can be an outstanding spot.0