Month: July 2009

Past vs. Present Pt. 3 – A Midnight Delta Duel: Vintage Pike-Oreno vs. MS Slammer

Part three of this series brings us to the first battle of old verses new. I have taken two lures – one vintage, one modern, and given them a fresh coat of paint to even the playing field.

July 09 079

I painted both lures last week in Kokanee trout color so they would be sort of a generic color to cover the different bodies of water I have planned for the fish-off.

For those of you that did not see part one and two here are the links

part one link

part two link

Battle Round #1: California Delta

The first battle begins on the Ca Delta – but this will not be just any normal trip. It started with a call to my friend Matt Allen yesterday. He had known about the lure duel and wanted to be part of it.

We decided to go night fishing. Those of you who know and fish the delta probably think were fucking crazy at this point, and well you may just be right.

For those of you who don't fish the delta, it can be a crazy place to fish even during the day. To make it even better Matt's Lowrance GPS crapped out on us half way back to the launch ramp on the way home.

Back to the story:

We got to our area to be fished a little after 9:00 pm and started to fish. We really had no idea what lure was going to out-perform the other. Matt got the vintage 50's Pike-Oreno and I fished the modern MS Slammer.

Not more than a half hour went by when Matt got the first bass on the Pike-Oreno, it was about a 2 pounder and the game was on.

Matt Allen Pikeoreno

The next couple hours went on – I got hit a couple times on the MS Slammer with no hook ups.

Matt on the other hand had two more 2 pounders and sealed the deal with an 8.2 pounder!
We were both pretty impressed by this time and traded out the lures.

Matt Allen 8.2 lbs

Another hour in and Matt got the fifth fish of the night on the Slammer. Another cookie cutter 2 pounder.

This left the final score at 4 to 1

South Bend Pike-Oreno: 16 plus pounds for 4 fish

MS Slammer: a measly 2 pounds give or take for 1

We have two more lakes to fish before I call this one, but things are looking grim for the Slammer. I guess sometimes new does not mean better.

To be continued on Clear Lake. . .

 

iPhone Apps for the Bass Angler

Tidegraph  

So I have been adding some new apps to my iPhone, and I thought I'd share a quick list of my favorites that are of interest to the bass fisherman:

Tools:
Google Earth – the mobile version of Google earth is a great way to get a quick aerial view of lakes or the Delta.

TideGraph – lets you see the tide pattern for any location in the the US (and Guam, for all you Guam anglers), with times for high and low tide, and rate of flow. Also shows moon phases.

EverNote -  you can save notes, take snapshots, make voice notes and store them in an organized way that you can synch back to your computer. It's the perfect place to make on-the-water notes about the day.

SpeakEasy – is a super-easy to use voice recorder. It has a built in interuption feature in cas eyou get a call in the middle of the phone. Good quality sound, too.

Fishing Calender – I just downloaded this one. it's a calender that shows tide and moon phase conditions and has a feature that lets you add your catch information

Of course, the built-in weather app is handy as well.

I also use these apps for this blog:

TwitterFon – lets you quickly check and update your Twitter account (hey – follow me on Twitter: @wiredangler)

Typepad – I can update my blog from anywhere. haven't tried this one yet – I just found it.

If you have any handy apps you use, add them in the comments

First Crack At The New Mini Shell Cracker From Black Dog

black dog mini shell cracker

I have known about this bait for quite a while now and have been fiending to get my hands on it, so when Jeremy from Black Dog Bait Co. told me he finally had his first small batch of prototypes, I made the hour and a half drive out to Livermoore to go fish the Delta.

Jeremy had been up half the night painting these little gems. I had talked to him the day before when he told me they had shown up just in time for Grant to bring them to ICAST Tackle Show coming up in Florida from July 15th-17th.

I love swimbaits but have been fishing crankbaits as a go-to technique for many years now, so this bait combines the two into one uniqe hybrid.

black dog mini shell cracker

Unlike its older brother that is made of wood the new Mini Cracker is an injected plastic bait like its new Punker counterpart.

black dog mini shell cracker lunker punker

The advantage to this is durability and price. Like the new 6" inject Punker the new mini Shell Craker is going to sell in the $20.00 price range. (Holly shit, I say) This just means you can buy 5 at a time!

Down to the basics:

So how does it work? Well…..I must say very well.

I opted to throw it on 65# braid with a small moderate 7' 9"swimbait rod made by Rogue Rods. This bait could also be thrown on a heavy crankbait rod as well, but it would need to be pretty heavy.

It cranks down anywhere from 2 to 3 feet and is pretty boyant which will be very beneficial in bouncing off cover, and can also be slowly waked, very effectively.

Jeremy Anderson black dog mini shell cracker

I have not been this exited about a bait in a long time. Oh and did I mention it catches the hell out of bass yet?

The new Mini Cracker will come in all the traditional Black Dog colors such as Delta Craw, but also be looking for some new outfits with its release.

Here's some more photos of the bait.

black dog mini shell cracker 

black dog mini shell cracker 

black dog mini shell cracker 

Coming to a store near you soon.

El Nino Is Stirring Once Again

Just recently on the 9th of July it was officially announced by the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) that we are in El Nino year once again. This may mean an end to our lack of water in our lakes here in northern Ca. It has been depressing watching our lake levels slowly decrees over the last few years.

Let's hope this works in our favor.

Here is a link

The last time we had an El Nino year, I remember the fishing being great as well.