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The little park ponds I frequent have warmed up, if only a teensy bit. Persistence paid off at Ford today, after slowly working a Senko. My other weapon for largemouth, a LiveTarget Bluegill Crankbait, did not secure any tangos. Hey, just feels good to catch one at (1) a tough park and (2) as my first bass for 2011! 12 inches. Maybe 1lb at most. 4lb test monofilament.

Went up to the San Bernardino National Forest on MLK Day. Fantastic weather, but horrible water conditions. The creek (I think this segment was called Mill Creek, not entirely sure) was running muddy, muddy and muddy. Did some hiking and sightseeing, but not fishing. Had my ultralight and trout gear all packed up, ready for some backcountry fishing, but didn't even break it out. I guess the melting snow must be making the creek so muddy, right? This was my first attempt at checking out the trout streams in the IE, I'll certainly be back for more.

80s in January? Definitely an excuse to go fishing! Unfortunately, it has been a slow season so far. Tried Fairmount, Perris, Ford, and even Diamond Valley Lake, all for nothing. Did see some nice bass at Diamond, cruising the shore and chasing the stocker trout, too bad my Megabait Charlie Trout swimbait didn't interest 'em. I went to Seccombe Park in San Bernardino today, with some hope of finally breaking the 2011 skunk. It's one of the dingiest ponds in my area, but there is a fair amount of water and some random structure to target (shopping carts and 5-gallon buckets hahaha), but I haven't caught much of anything here before (just sunfish). I started with a simple dropshot rig, working a Berkely worm, hoping for anything to bite. The park was packed-something about the fantastic weather brings out everyone, especially the characters (if you fish city park pond regularly you know what I'm talking about). The water was a little bit cloudy, but nothing like the m...

  Happy 2011 and especially Happy 1-1-11! I'm still alive, despite the lack of updates. Motherboard crashed on my main computer, got to fix it before any serious posting can resume. In the meantime, enjoy the collage from Diamond Valley Lake, Hemet, California. Went with a friend a couple of days before this Thanksgiving. Despite a rainbow trout stocking in the morning, the stripers and largemouth failed to appear for the 50+ anglers (including me!) working it from the shore. I turned my attention to the bluegill and found them still eager to feed despite the crummy cold weather. Farmed loads of them, landed eight chunky guys. Ultralight gear, dropshotting in 15-20 feet of water. Stay tuned!

Updates? Here's one. Life has been oh so busy but I'm still fishing. Fairmount Park, Seccombe , Ford, Perris , even a trip to Diamond Valley Lake. I have piles of photos on my computer from the trips, but haven't uploaded them. It used to be that I was thrilled to fish, get home and show the trophy pictures to my friends I was hunting crappie at Fairmount Park in Riverside, Dirty IE, California, scratched one crappie off the roots, then moved to the "other" pond at the park. Was fishing with one of my buds, he was throwing bass gear and I was working the panfish gear (light tackle, 4lb mono, collapsible spinning rod/reel). I'm always amazed at how crazy Fairmount is. As we were fishing, the police pulled over a car 5ft from our spot, then proceeded to arrest the driver and haul off the car. As this was going down,I felt the faintest tap, then another. Set the hook, and boom, I'm into something that's definitely not a crappie. Tries to take me int...

During the early part of October, we had some killer weather. Super hot days, triple digits, with evenings that stayed in the 70s. Great weather-for evening bass fishing! I started fishing my Rage Toad Strike King frogs, Texas Rigged and weightless. Ripping them across mats drew loads of strikes-including one monster that snapped me after exploding through the grass. I hooked far more than I landed, unfortunately. Check out that belly, hahaha ! On one of these nights, the moon was totally full, and the fish treated the open water like a clear-sky, sunny day. Fish wouldn't come out from under the trees or mats, perhaps spooked by how illuminated the water from from the moon. I haven't seen that before, certainly wouldn't have predicted it either. Also managed to get one fish on a new lure-a chatterbait ! I am still learning how to fish these jig/spinner hybrids, but they sure have a great vibration. Landing fish right away on a new lure really helps build confidence in it.

As much as a I love bass fishing, I can't resist hitting the salt. The sheer variety of fish to be caught brings me back every time. I've been fishing the ocean the last few weeks, and caught these while fishing a jetty in Orange County. Here's a little perch, caught while throwing jigs tipped with cut shrimp. Spottie ! I love how these fish absolutely nail your lure, fight like a saltwater smallmouth bass, never give up. I need to learn more about targeting these guys, I usually only end up with loads of dinks . The sculpin here are awesome . This guy totally caught me by surprise, quite the mouth on him. Check out those colors! The water near the jetty's have lots of salad right now, making the fishing pretty tricky, but it's worth it. I love Newport Beach. It can be super crowded at times, but just getting down to the ocean from the stinky Inland Empire is so absolutely worth it. I've been getting into some epic freshwater largemouth bass action lately, l...