Digital Camera

Fairmount Park, in Riverside, California, is one of the largest urban parks in the Inland Empire region. It has a rather interesting history, as it was originally dedicated in 1898 as a park. In 1911, Frederick Law Olmsted Sr, famous for his design of Central Park in New York, created the plans for the layout of Fairmount Park’s landscaping.  There's also an odd military tank , on a pedestal, at the west side of the park. Apparently, such tanks were built in the Riverside region for use in WWII (over 500). There’s an excellent writeup about the complete history behind Fairmount Park at the Riverside Parks website, (PDF format).  I have been fishing Fairmount on and off over the last month. Unlike visits during other times of the year, these recent trips have produced fish consistently. Granted, they have all been fairly small. However, it’s always fun to land something at Fairmount, given my history of getting skunked at this park. I have been catching largemouth bass, gre...

After watching the buzz over the umbrella rig for largemouth, called the Alabama Rig, Swarming Hornet, Power Tackle, Bait Ball and more , I decided to make my own. Inspired by some fantastic creations at Tackle Underground and other custom fishing lure websites, I visited Lowe's and cranked out a few custom, Alabama-rig style lures. These are pretty lightweight and certainly wouldn't handle a huge fish very well. However, they swim great in the water with flukes on and are pretty easy to cast. They do have a tendency to snag on the bottom, as any massive rig of umbrella lures would certainly be at risk for. A faster retrieve in shallow water helps avoid this. Furthermore, in some states (California, etc), angler's cannot use more than 3 hooks on a line. Thus, on my four-wire DIY umbrella rig, the 4th one has no hook, only a soft plastic teaser. I put together a little video showing off how I made this homemade version of the Alabama rig. Enjoy!

I hit Lake Perris for some late October bass fishing on the 23rd. Hadn't been back to this SoCal bass gem for a couple of months, was really eager to get in on some bass action. The local fishing forum was buzzing with quality reports on sunfish and bass, wetting my appetite. I started out around 8:30am at the public launch ramp cove. Fished it hard from the east side, while watching the day's boat traffic prepare for launch. I threw jerkbaits , dropshot plastics, and micro crank for nothing. This was not the way I had envisioned my trip going. Only had one decent bass follow the jerkbait back, but he wouldn't commit ( c'mon !). Spoke with a guy on a sweet red/black bass boat who cruised by. He said he usually fished Castaic and this was his first time to Perris . After growing tired of my shore spot, I hit up the area around the launch ramps, careful to avoid active launchers. First cast, on the BPS XPS jerkbait, BAM, fish on. Just a 1lber, but he had some fight...

I really enjoy exploring small urban creeks and runoff channels. While often covered in graffiti, heavily polluted and located in questionable locales, these concrete jungle streams can be a fishing shangri-la . Multiple species, all eager to bite and little fishing pressure keeps such trips enjoyable.  Recently, I tried out a new creek in the Inland Empire. I'll keep it a secret for now, given its small size and easy access, but I'll toss out one hint: It's all that remains of an old lake that was a popular local fishing hole. Poison oak, litter and plenty of graffiti kept the trip interesting. Oh, and so did plentiful bites from green sunfish, bluegill and small largemouth bass. Also present were numerous large common carp, but they turned up their proverbial noses at my hardbaits and microjigs. I think the only pressure this spot received was from local kids, tossing earthworms under bobbers. I didn't get to spend much time at this new-found fishing hotspot, but I...

I have been fishing a new spot in Riverside County quite often. The weather has been fantastic, but the water clarity has decreased, keeping the bass fishing a challenge. Little bass, caught on a Yum Dinger. This tarantula was more than happy to pose for the camera. Hairy, eh?

Bunch of Bass from the last few evenings. All on topwater frogs. Couldn't ask for more fun!

As the weather transitions from the sweltering days of summer to the crisp, clear days of fall, bass fishing traditionally picks up. At least, that's what I told myself as I drove to yet another fishing trip this Sunday.  However, after a few hours on the water, my efforts weren't exactly paying off. I had nailed two fish, one a total dink and the other a ~1 lb fella (pictured above), but I had been dreaming of non-stop bass action and this wasn't it. The better fish was caught on a Texas-rigged Gary Yamamoto Ika , a really ugly lure that catches a lot of fish for me. Finally, as the sun set, I switched up to a Gene Larew Three-Legged topwater frog . I initially tried some Sizmic Toad Jr. frogs, but I after missing two blowups, I decided to change lures. Finally, as I was casting near some reeds, I heard the tell-tale sounds of a large fish hitting surface forage nearby. I flipped the frog out, and three seconds later- BAM! Hooked this big largemouth bass, 4 lb category, 17...