Blinded by the Bass.

I don't consider myself a "Superstitious" angler, so when my partner told me we would be fishing "Stevie Wonder" style I thought to myself, "We can work it out." If Mr. Wonder can catch over twenty Grammy's playing an instrument he can't even see, I'm sure we can fool a few bass. "Fishing blind" is a term anglers use when their boats sonar system is out. Which may or may not be a big deal depending on the time of year and your style of fishing. In winter when bass migrate to deeper haunts it can be a very helpful tool to find humps and clusters of concentrated large-mouths.

Think of a boats sonar system as a bat flying through a dark cave on the hunt for flying insects. Also referred to as "echolocation" a bat uses the echo of sound waves to determine the shapes of surrounding objects like bugs. A bass boat uses "bassolocation" to help determine where the fish are.

A beautiful crisp winters day at Piru.

We began our day in an area where my partner had success a month ago in shallow water. With the water temperature dropping considerably in the last few weeks (In the lower fifties), my "fishy" sense told me that deeper was the way to go. Not being able to take the blindfold off our boat, we would have to use our deep jigs and drop shots to navigate the lakes bottom like a blind man uses his cane to get down a busy sidewalk. Sure we might bump into an occasional stranger or bush but we'll get where we need to be eventually.

The only problem with this scenario is in a tournament time is an issue. Not only are we up against momma bass we are also battling with father time.  We caught our first fish around 9 am near the dam in deeper water on a six inch purple worm rigged on a drop shot. Our second fish coming an hour later also on a drop shot but a different color, prism craw. The last keeper fish of the day was caught around 2 pm in a totally different area then the first two fish. Our three fish limit came in at 7.16 pounds good enough for fifth place out of eleven teams. The winner had a five fish limit weighing 11.58 pounds, their big fish came in at 3.75 lbs and was caught on a jig, something we should have committed more time to.

In summary it was a really tough day on lake Piru. With temperatures as cold as polar bear farts I'm surprised we caught fish at all. On the bright side, not every song Stevie Wonder wrote won a Grammy. Our day was a lot like one of those songs, a good listen but I'm not going to sing it at my daughters wedding.

"Isn't she lovely?"

Sky man out.

Life is Fishing...

Life = Fishing

We are all chasing after something we can't see, hoping what ever it is we are going after, if we catch it at all, fulfills us in some way.

There are many people in life that never go out and get a tackle box. They figure what's the point, I'll never catch anything, why waste the money?

Some people know exactly what to buy and where to cast, catching fish after fish, filling their limit and going home.

Others stay on the water their whole lives, becoming the osprey, searching and catching never looking back. Addicted to the thrill of the game.

Another group of people are confused, not sure where to cast or when to set the hook. "Was that a bite or did I just snag some weeds?" They look back at past catches wondering if they let the "Big One" slip through their fingers. Lost in a murky sea with a blanket of fog on the horizon.

At the end of the day, some people in life don't like to fish at all, some fish to catch a limit, others want to catch everything that swims and the rest of us like to fish but aren't sure why., but all of us that got up out of bed, tied one on and caught a few, wonder about the one that got away... the one we never got to see at all.

Sky man out.
Thought I would bust out a philosophical post for ya'll, considering it's the holidays.