Monthly Archives: June 2011

10 Summer Fishing Tips

Fishing at High Noon

Don’t expect to catch much around high noon. The angle of the sun to the water makes predatory fish wary. Wait for poorer lighting conditions like dawn and dusk to get fish active.

Fishing at Night

Following point 1, try fishing at night for an interesting change of pace. All you need is a headlamp so you can see what you’re doing and running lights on your boat. Have you ever been out in the middle of Round Valley in the middle of the night? It’s eerie, yet peaceful. Maybe you can catch a new state record eel?

Don’t Get Burned

Wear sunscreen. Even on overcast days, the sun will burn your nose, ears, and neck. You may not care about it now, but in a few years when your ears are falling off from cancer, you’ll wish you put on the darn sunscreen!
Wear a hat. see above.

Herring Are Cool

Keep your live bait cool. Herring are best kept between 35 and 62 degrees Fahrenheit

Water Water Everywhere

Bring lots of water to keep hydrated and try not to fall out of your boat when you pee. Most drowning victims are found with their pants down, falling off their boats and not being able to get back in, they tire and expire!
The docks can be a zoo on the weekends. I prefer the dirt boat launch because most people are drawn to the concrete one. Less people for me to wait on / avoid.

Thick Weeds are Good Cover

When weeds start to choke the bays, keep fishing them by increasing your pound test from 8 to 15 and using heavy spoons or weedless jigs to target bass.

The Cool Water is Deep

Try trolling for bass along the rocks and humps. I’ve picked up many a bass in 30 to 40feet of cooler water
There is no tip ten. Get out there and fish and have fun.

To Sleep or Fish? One Wife’s Perspective

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fathers Day Fishing 2011 I ask myself this question every time my husband wakes up at three in the morning and heads out into the darkness with his fishing pole and tackle box.

I wonder, is it the peace and quiet of being on or near the water with nothing but the sounds of waves lapping at the sides of your boat or the shore of the creek, river, lake or ocean? Is it the lack of any responsibility at that very moment other than hooking your line with the right lure or bait? Feeling for the slight pull of a fish on?

I wouldn’t know, really. This is all just guesswork. In the six years I’ve known my husband, I’ve asked him a handful of times to take me out with him and teach me how to fish. I think I’ve sat next to him in the dark once while he fished off the shore of Long Beach Island while we were down there for a week’s vacation with friends. This was pre-children and pre-marriage.

I wanted to be hurt. I wanted to be offended that he never found the time to take me fishing. He’s loved the sport since he can remember. His mother loves to tell the story of how he took his plastic fishing pole into the backyard and tried fishing in the grass at two years old. I always thought that if I could share this one thing with him, this one thing that he was passionate about, that we’d be closer in some way. Well, maybe, but perhaps some things just aren’t meant for sharing in that way.

As the years went by I started to realize something. Fishing is something sacred to him. It’s something that I would enjoy, I’m sure, but it’s not something I’m passionate about in the least. The fact that he spends hours upon hours reading and writing about fishing, tells a lot. He is a fisherman, and I’m a fisherman’s wife. It can be lonely at times, but I have to respect the fact that he goes out fishing for peace of mind, silence and his own form of quiet joy. It’s in his blood, just like riding horses is in mine. I feel those same things when I’m on a horse and he’s not once asked me to teach him how to ride.

Our two boys are now three and nearly two years old. He’s already taken the eldest out to the creek and pond with a fishing pole. They come back with smiles on their faces and sweet memories to share. The last trip was on Father’s Day. My father-in-law, husband and three-year-old trekked out into the woods with fishing poles and worms in hand. They came back laughing and joking about moments they’d shared.

What’s the point of this, you ask? Well, my point is this: I’m glad that I have a husband who fishes and two wonderful sons that can benefit from knowing the joy that fishing can bring. I can see a long and beautiful relationship forming already. It won’t be long before I’m hearing the alarm clock going off at three in the morning and listening to three sets of feet shuffling out the door, and I’ll just smile to myself and go back to sleep.

June 26, 2011 Fishing Report

Book Review: Four Fish by Paul Greenberg

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I just got done reading Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food and wanted to share it with the readers here at Round Valley Fishing. Anyone who is passionate about fishing and fish will find the book insightful.

Four Fish - Paul Greenberg Follow along as Paul Greenberg explores the politics and economics surrounding the fishing and farming of Salmon, European Sea Bass, Atlantic Cod and Bluefin Tuna. Greenberg, a lifelong recreational fisherman and author from Connecticut, walks us through the impact man and the commercial fishing industry has had on these fish. The ultimate question is asked, “will people be able to govern themselves before the last tuna is caught or the last cod is eaten”? What does the future hold for The Last Wild Food?

I blazed through this book in about 3 days. It made me think about my love of fishing and eating fish. It made me think about my young sons too. Will they be able to fish for salmon, cod or tuna when they’re old enough? Should they be able too? We don’t fish for dolphins or whales, why must we fish for tuna? Great Read.

Fishing Bluegill Spawning Beds

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Bluegill, Bream, Brim whatever you call them are members of the Sunfish family. There are also among the most abundant fish in Round Valley Reservoir AND they are spawning right now. The two weeks before and after memorial day usually correspond with the height of Bluegill spawning which occurs at 75deg. water temp.

During the spawn, males are aggressively guarding their nests or beds while the females hang out close by. Something like 95% of Bluegills caught on spawning beds will be males, so don’t worry too much if you are keeping your catch.

Locating Bluegill Beds: Bluegill beds can be found by sight from shore and boat. Look for areas with a hard sandy or rocky bottom and of course the tell-tale spawning beds that look like closely packed craters on the moon. See below pic.

Bluegill tackle: The world record bluegill weighs 4 pounds 12 ounces and was caught in 1950. The big takeaway here is… use light tackle or ultralight tackle and have a blast catching 1 pounders all day. To say 6lb monofilament is overkill would be an understatement.

Bluegill Terminal Tackle: small, small, small. Small bobbers, small long shank hooks (size 8), small splitshot. I use long shank hooks because Bluegills have tiny mouths and are crazy aggressive so the long shank makes it easier to remove hooks and minimizes deep hook sets.

Bluegill Bait: small, small, small or nothing at all! Waxwoms, garden worms cut in half, small pieces of cheese or dough molded around a hook or heck even an empty hook!

Catching Bluegills: Cast your baited hook on top of a bed and wait… that’s it! Adjust the distance from your bobber to your hook. The closer you can get your bait to the bed, the better. you can also cast past the bed and real slowly to drag your bait (or bare hook) across a bed. The guarding male will attack it.

Bluegill Size and Creel Limit: in Round Valley Reservoir there is no size limit however you can only keep 25 combined sunfish (Rock Bass, White Bass, White Perch, Yellow Perch, Sunfish (except Banded Sunfish, Blackbanded Sunfish, Bluespotted Sunfish, and Mud Sunfish which are all protected), Bullheads, White Catfish, Suckers, Carp, Bowfin). Yep… only 25.

So get out there with your light gear and bring your kids, right now is a great time to catch lots of scrappy Bluegill.