When I was younger I would cut fishing line with my teeth, until i started to notice they were wearing down at an alarming rate. If I would have kept this up, by 25 I would be purchasing my first pair of dentures. Sure, it would have been a cool party trick to pop out my teeth and say things like, "get er done," or "pass me the yogurt," but I was not ready to go full hillbilly yet, so I switched to nail clippers. Which are great until you need to cut your nails and they are buried in your tackle box or boat.
That is why it is a good investment to have a set of line clippers whose sole duty is to cut fishing line. Boomberg Tool Company was kind enough to send me a sample of their product called, "The Snip," which is a retractable heavy duty line cutter with an LED light. The stainless steel jaws cut clean and smooth and have no problem cutting through braided line. The LED light allows you to do your cutting in the dark, which is very handy on early mornings.
The retractable cable is a key feature so you can attach the tool to your person or belt loop, that way during a tournament you won't waste time looking around the deck of your boat just so you can cut your line. This is the moment the thought pops in your head, "use your teeth, they aren't going anywhere." Well sure at that moment in time, but if you keep using them, you will lose them!
Cut the crap, stop using your teeth, ditch the nail clippers and get the man-i-cure upgrade to "The Snip." Your teeth and nails will thank you for it.
This last month I fished a tournament at Piru Lake during extremely tough conditions. Lake water was down 50 feet, air temperatures dipped into the 30's and the water looked like chocolate milk. Cold water from the bottom of Pyramid Lake was being pumped into Piru, further confusing the fish. Yet I still made the enigmatic decision to leave a group of beautiful women at a bar the night before, to go fishing. Dummy.
Fishing with my back to the wall.
When duty calls sometimes you don't answer, or if you do just say you are sick. I should have just let the phone ring off the hook that November evening and done a bunch of shots with the hot women. Seems ridiculous to me now, but staying at the bar is a slippery slope that I have fallen down a few times in the past, so I did what I thought was right.
Who knows what would have happened if I stayed at the bar with the girls, I could have ended up face down in the gutter, but I think it was worth the risk considering the day turned out being a complete bust. The seductive nature of the south bay didn't get me this time, but that's not to say it won't get me the next.
I don't think I am going to answer my phone for awhile so go ahead and leave a message after the beep.
"They call me a hagfish, don't mess with me! If you die around me I will eat you."
With Halloween right around the corner, what better time for a post on the the slimer of the sea, also known as a hagfish, class Myxini order Myxiniformes and family Myxinidae. The stem myxin means "slime" and this fish is the triple threat of the gooey stuff. If Dr. Venkman (Bill Murray) would have encountered a hagfish instead of a ghost in that swanky New York City Hotel in the opening scene of "Ghostbusters", he would have been choking on slime. That's the kind of slimming capabilities these creatures possess.
Hagfish are jawless, worm like creatures that live in temperate seas and have long fascinated biologists as the only living representatives of the ancient creatures that gave rise to fish and humans. Preying extensively on invertebrates, but are also important
scavengers on the ocean floor. They can quickly congregate in large
numbers on dead whales and fish with the ability to cover a carcass in a
"writhing swarm" with enough action to stir up surrounding sediments and completely engulf the dead animal with slime. Being scavengers, they are not scared to enter a dead or dying
fish through the gills, mouth, or anus, and consume their prey from
the inside out! Like a miner entering a mountain to extract the gold.
It is not uncommon for marine commercial fisherman who use set lines or
gill nets to find fish in their nets that are occupied by feeding
hagfish. Once on deck the hagfish secrete incredible amounts of slime
that sticks to both deck and fishermen.
Their main defense mechanism is their burrowing behavior and their
slime, with which they can coat themselves in large quantities quite
quickly. The slime is also used to coat dead fish, thereby making it
unpalatable to other scavengers. Talk about marking your territory. That reminds me of when we were children and you would lick every doughnut in a dozen so no one else would eat them. Apparently the hagfish does not like to share with others.
How do they get water into their gills when they are completely covered in slime? Good question, what they do is tie themselves in a knot, which passes down their
body pushing the slime away. Kind of like natural Sudafed, clearing out those breathing passages. Very resourceful, inspiring creatures if you ask me.
This Halloween when you are contemplating what to be, I hope this post inspires you to consider dressing as a hagfish, because it's cool and original. Sure, people might not know exactly what you are but when they ask, you can look them dead in the eye with a Clint Eastwood smirk and say, "I am a hagfish, and if you don't give me all of your candy, a bunch of my homies and I are going to cover you in slime until you can't breathe and then eat you from the inside out."
Be safe this Halloween, don't talk to strangers.
Skyman out.
Reference: Moyle, P.B., Cech, J.J. Jr. 2000.Fishes: An Introduction to Ichthyology, Fourth Edition. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ.pg. 212-214.
Fall for me equals pumpkin spice lattes, clean air, goofy sweaters, football, and shad. Bait fish really ball up in the fall and can create a bass feeding frenzy. If you can find these balls of bait, you will find the bass, and there is no better bait out there than a fluke for imitating a dying shad.
A little morning cruise.
The fluke is an underestimated, underutilized bait in my opinion that often gets overlooked for the fancier more expensive hard baits on the market. There is not much to them, they are 3"-5" pieces of soft plastic that come in a small bag. They may be soft but they are hard to beat in the fall. It's subtle movements when paused remind me of a senko but it can also be fished as aggressively as a rip bait, or on top like a walk the dog type lure, you could even rig it on a lead head and bounce it off the bottom making it one of the most versatile baits in your tackle arsenal. It's main job is to imitate a dying shad and it has never seen an unemployment line.
Oh baby! Get ready.
So it's no surprise that it played a pivotal role in our teams first place finish at Pyramid Lake October 14th, 2012. We started off in the morning using top water to no prevail so we switched up to the fluke. The cove that we were fishing had lots of bait, so we knew the bass were feeding on shad, we just didn't know if the fish wanted an aggressive approach or a more subtle presentation. The fluke proved that subtlety was the key that opened the door to feeding bass but it was a door that kept closing on us through out the day. We only caught 3 keepers on the fluke, one coming on a hula grub, so it was not a wide open bite. But it was just enough to squeeze out a victory by 0.22 lbs over second place. Our total weight of 7.85 pounds just beat out the 7.63 brought in by Walt and Orin's son Andrew.
Orin T. and Angel A. holding our winning weight.
In the Fall when the going gets tough, the tough tie on a fluke. So next time you're in line at your nearest tackle shop wearing a goofy sweater, drinking a pumpkin spice latte, don't Fall for the gimmicks and go with the original and best soft jerk bait on the market, you won't be disappointed.
The farm ponds that littered the landscape of San Luis Obispo like acorns from an oak tree, provided the soil for my interest in fishing to take root. My friends and I would buzz from one of these farm ponds to another, like villainous bees on the hunt for our next bass adventure.
Bishop's Peak.
We would talk about girls, drink an occasional root "beer" and sneak a smoke or two all while pursuing whatever fish would take our bait. This grew into more of an obsession for me as I turned my baseball card collection into an expensive bass lure anthology. It started with bobbers, hooks and crimp weights, then escalated to a few Kastmasters, Roostertails and Rapalas, finally guiding me to the arsenal of bass destruction also known as the Bass Pro Shops mail order catalog, and I have been chasing the dragon ever since.
The view from Tammi's right arm.
Tammi and my arsenal of "dragon" baits mosied on down to a few farm ponds to see if she could be my "delorean" to those carefree days. Hoping each bass I caught would take me back closer to my youth, until finally I would hear Doc say, "Great Scott!", and turn around to see the amigos of my teenage years along the bank. This didn't happen of course, but fishing still gave me a jolt of youthful excitement with every new tug on my rod.
Farm pond.
Even though my feet were planted in the present, these familiar images dispersed me back in time, like a strong wind does the seeds of a dandelion. Thanks Tammi, for blowing this little seed pod back to where it all began.
Some of my fondest memories from playing baseball were not experienced on the field or up to bat, they were sitting on the bench joking around with my teammates. Maybe I did not contribute towards a victory in the traditional sense with an inside the park home run or a triple ripped down the line, but I loosened up the guy who did those things with a couple of fart jokes. A little silliness helped create a relaxed atmosphere and took some of the pressure off, indirectly leading to better results. These same feeling came back to me while my team bombed during our clubs annual Manny Nunez Memorial Challenge event at Castaic Lake, September 16, 2012.
The only keeper of the day. I may be smiling but I'm crying on the inside.
In an event that showcased 9 different Southern California bass clubs and a total of 50 teams, the Castaic Bass Club came out on top with an impressive 28.21 pound three team limit produced by Mike M., Tony F., Lenden R., George R., Roger L., and Kevin J. Even though the two fish we caught did not contribute towards our clubs total weight, my teammate Mike I. and I helped out in other ways, by signing people in, recording weights at the weigh in, organizing the BBQ and just trying to have a good attitude, which can be difficult when sleep deprived.
Castaic Bass Club 2012
My partner and I might have been riding the pine while our teammates won us the trophy, but it still felt good to get the win. Just because you are on the bench doesn't mean you have to pout, grab your rally cap and cheer on your peers or help warm up the closing pitcher. These kind of contributions might not show up on the stat sheet, but they helped pave the way for victory. Not everybody gets to be Barry Bonds, but that doesn't mean the people at BALCO didn't get to enjoy his home runs.
Apple's are not my favorite fruit but I eat them anyway because I know they are an important part of a well balanced diet. Since I have not traveled in awhile I decided to balance my travel diet and bite into the big apple that is New York City. Boarding a red eye flight I strapped on my neck pillow/ life jacket
and drifted off into a river of dreams. Navigating the island of Manhattan, would I feel like a fish out of water or like a little fish
in a big pond? After my trip was over I would be able to determine what corny phrase was most fitting.
Landing at 5:45 am had its advantages. You arrived with a full day ahead of you and plenty of time to tackle a few to do list items, that is of course you don't get sacked by the defensive lineman of sleep, and in New York City his name is Lawrence "Sandman" Taylor and he will #%&K you up! Getting past LT and the rest of the sleep-fense I was greeted by my fathers cousins. Having family in foreign territory is great, you get the inside scoop on all the best spots and in this case it was a triple scoop because I had three cousins to show me around.
Bass sighting in New York City?
Some of the highlights of my trip were The Standard Hotel in the Meatpacking District, as was the dive bar across the street called Hogs and Heifers. Complete opposites but accepting of one another, like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito in the movie Twins. One young tall and good looking, the other a short dirty old man with a collection of braziers.
NYC street art.
Other highlights included being treated to a Giants preseason football game at Metlife stadium as well as a Scooner Harbor cruise, where I got to see Lady Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge from a distance. Little Branch was a great little speak easy in the West Village. Eataly's rooftop beer garden was amazing and their Pistacio Gelato was amore mio. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Empire State Building and Brooklyn Bridge, have now become favorite spots.
Niners fan routing for the Giants? It's preseason who cares.
Getting around to all these awe inspiring sites is made easy by the subway, which navigates like an elaborate river system, with riffle's and pools and even some
rapids. The ACE flows up and down the west side running into the L which trickles east to west into the 4,5,6 that runs along the east side. Being a non-native species I observed the Native New Yorkers to see how they navigated this waterway and picked up on some of their habits. Don't pause too long on sidewalks, ignore the red hand above the crosswalk, just look for cars or should I say yellow cabs because those are the only cars on the island, and try not to look confused or you might be taken for a sucker fish.
The cousins and I.
Why had this little fish waited so long to experience the greatest city/big pond in the world? Expanding my fruit palate and eating some apple really enlightened me and I felt healthier for it! Don't just stick to your home waters people, get out there and try a new "hole". You'll find that if you respect the locals you might just experience the time of your life and end up with more than just an "I Love New York" t-shirt. Skyman out like a trout.
We have all heard the saying if it's not broke don't fix it or don't mess with a good thing. Any attempt to improve on a system that already works is pointless and may even hurt it. Sounds like loser talk to me. This is America, where you can compete to be the best at everything from video games, beer pong, grilled cheese sandwiches, surfing and yes of course fishing. There is a reason why The United States has metaled 2,296 times in the summer Olympics and Argentina has done it only 66 times. We strive for perfection. If we're not happy with our results, we are willing to take the highway to the danger zone by stepping out of our comfort zone.
From top to bottom: 4" roboworm morning dawn, 5" senko and a topwater revo. My weapons of bass destruction.
I was inspired to write this post after fishing a tournament at Castaic Lake in July. The bite was great, I must have caught 15 bass in the 1-1.5 pound class on the drop shot rig. What I was doing was working, but with time running out and 7 or 8 pounds in the live well, I knew it wasn't enough for a victory. Deciding to switch it up to entice a bigger bite I risked the sure thing for the unknown on the highway to the danger zone! It paid off when a 2.15 pound fish masticated my wacky rigged senko on a flick shake weighted hook. This improved our total weight, enabling us to cull one of our smaller fish but it was too late.
My old friend, kong island.
We finished with a total weight of 7.74 pounds good enough for 6th place. I believe if we would have hair-pinned out of the comfort zone and into the danger zone a little sooner, we could have finished 4th.
Happy in my comfort zone.
It's hard to try something new when what you are doing is already working. Change takes effort and risk. Most people aren't willing to gamble a comfortable existence for an opportunity at supremacy, but you'll find the ones that do are often reaped the biggest rewards. America would not be the country it is today if it wasn't for people taking risks and I would not have enjoyed the movie Top Gun if it was all Goose and no Maverick. So put on your leather jacket and go grab your aviators, you know you want to be Maverick, Goose was the safe one and we all know what happened to him.
Crowds and fishing go together like reading Shakespeare at a LMFAO concert. Maybe if you wear industrial strength ear plugs you can get through a page or two but you are not going to finish Hamlet. Save yourself the trouble and go down to the library. Lines get tangled, tempers get flared and the occasional stomach gets really upset all in the name of catching a few fish for dinner.
The crew!
Our trip out of Marina Del Rey on the New Del Mar started at 7:30 am. We picked up bait at the bait dock and cruised out to our first location. The deckhands dropped anchor while we dropped our set ups in the prospect of catching rockfish. Our rig was simple, a 3 ounce weight held down a lively anchovy that was hooked through the nose like a Fall Out Boy groupie. The hard part was catching the fish and not the other anglers or pelicans that waited right beside our boat opportunistically.
Bait gone bad.
We caught Sculpin, Cabezon and Red Snapper as we battled for position on the boat like Dennis Rodman and Charles Barkley did on the hardwood for a rebound. Boxing out anglers and snatching up loose fish as we reeled them in from their ocean haunts. While all this activity was happening on the boat the swells really started to pick up and made me queazy. I have always fantasized about kicking the crab out of the Bering Sea with the Deadliest Catch crew, but after this little outing on the calm waters of the Santa Monica Bay I realized vomit would be coming out of my ears battling the stormy seas of Alaska.
We caught dinner!
Our party boat arrived back at port around noon and we all had enough fish to take home for dinner, which was great. But for me, fishing is an activity enjoyed best with the company of few, while partying is a fun activity to enjoy with the masses. So next time, I'll take my beer and jean shorts to the LMFAO concert, my Shakespeare book to the library and get my fish tacos at Wahoo's.
Whether you start your fishing day off with a cup of coffee or a whiskey ginger ale like my friend Joel, the real pick me up is the anticipation in our "mental mug". Will this be the day you catch a trophy or will it be a day you go home with a participation certificate? The only way to tell is to get out there and go fishing!
To help me understand the "mental mug" of the fisherman, I thought I would start writing angler profiles to see what makes us tick (in a clock kind of way not the Lyme disease way). Below is my first interview with Joel "Style" Bonilla, the most fashionable fisherman on the water as well as a good friend of mine.
Angler Profile:
Name: Joel Bonilla Age: 27 Where are you from: Los Angeles Occupation: Environmental Planner
1) How did you get started fishing? How long
have you been fishing? I got my start during my adolescent years, back
around 1991. Back then, fishing was just something my folks would do during our
yearly vacation trips to the San Gabriel Mountains. My brother and I shared a
“snoopy catch ‘em kit fishing rod”. I really wasn’t consistent until this year
(2012). I think it’s difficult for a child to pick up fishing. Fishing requires
patience, basic knowledge of the environment and money.
2) Do you remember your first fish? How did it
make you feel? Species, size? My first catch happened at Castaic Lake, where I
caught a one pound, largemouth bass.
My buddies and I were fishing from a boat in
Castaic Lake. The entire day went by without success. I had nibbles here and
there, a big one that got away, and ducks trying to eat my bait. It was a warm
sunny day in the high 80s during the month of April. The wind was really
picking up that day so we had to stay in the cove where the wave action and
winds were calm. While boating around we found a shallow cove with lots of
shade. The fish seemed to like hiding under the floating algae mats.
3) How much did your biggest fish weigh? What
did you catch it on? My only catch was a one pound, largemouth bass. I
caught it with a crankbait. I was really careful not to get my line tangled in
the dead vegetation. Things that didn’t work were my Texas rig senko
and spinner bait. Additionally, my knots need some work since I lost a fish
after my line snapped at the knot.
4) Fondest memory you have from fishing? My fondest memory came while fishing at Big
Creek in the Sierra National Forest with my old college friends. I fished for
hours and never felt more at ease. I caught two crayfish and broke my friend’s
fishing rod after getting the line tangled in a tree, Laugh!!
5) Why do you fish? As described in my fondest fishing memory; fishing,
for me is less about the fish, and more about the time spent with family and
friends.
I’ve been told by experienced anglers that I
have my entire life to become proficient at fishing. I’ve been told that over
time, I will collect tons of gear and would have invested a lot of money and time
into the sport. I see myself becoming engaged in the sport with every outing
and have no doubt about what I’ve been told by my wiser colleagues. So for now, when I cast my line out into the
water, I fish to enjoy the moment.
7) Any pre-fishing rituals, food you like to eat
on the water? I enjoy a ginger-ale and whiskey drink early in
the morning, before my first cast.
Joel's "mental mug" provided me with some great insight. He lives for the moment and is more concerned with catching memories than fish. If he sticks with it, his memories will start to include more fish to go along with time spent with loved ones and the expensive gear that accumulates. That is of course, he can remember them at all, considering he is woofing down whiskey and ginger-ales at 6 am. Take it easy on the sauce buddy, the only thing you're going to catch is a hangover, and that's not something you can mount above your fireplace!
