Category: Days on the Lake

A Nest full of Eggs

Here is a really neat thing I witnessed and was lucky enough to get some good photos to share with you.

Last month I went up to one of my favorite Marin lakes for 5 days in a row. The swimbait bite was pretty good and I was having a hard time staying away. My biggest fish that week was only 7 pounds but I caught a handful of fish in the 4 pound class. Fish were starting to move up and I am always in awe of how fish move from day to day during the pre-spawn period. It is a great time to get to know a lake intimately as far as the way fish move, especially the days before a full moon. I was concentrating on staging spots on a small arm of the lake.

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This was the 7 pound fish I got as I ripped my Hudd through some grass.

I was keeping an eye on several fish in the 8 to 9 pound class moving up slowly from day to day, and I had a handful of anxious males setting up on beds awaiting their arrival, so I was doing a lot more watching than fishing really.

So the eve of the full moon I went to check on the small 2 pound bed fish and found an easy 12 pound female nosing her way in to the area he was eagerly awaiting. I almost caught her but it got dark and I could not keep sight of her any longer. . .Well, you probably guessed already that I got up early the next day and headed back up to the lake to see if I could get her and and a quick photo.

Here is what I found.

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No more 12 pound bass. But I quickly forgot about her when I realized what had happened. Overnight during the full moon she had moved up, done her business and split. These fish are damned smart to say the least. The really neat thing was that I could see the huge amount of eggs she had dropped and was able to get these photos. The male was hanging out and watching over his accomplishment. You can see him in the upper right quarter of the photo. Good thing I had invested in a polarized lens cover.

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I learned a lot that week about pre-spawn movement of these green submarines and just how elusive they really can be.

Biting Off More Than He Could Chew

One afternoon last year on Lake Sonoma, I was quietly casting when I heard some splashing behind me, so I went over to see what it was all about. As you can see in the pictures below, what I found was this fish floating and twitching on the surface – a bass literally dying on the surface with a bluegill completely wedged in its mouth. I pulled the joined pair out of the water. Both were very pale from lack of oxygen, so I separated them quickly and let them both swim off. It’s one of those things I could hardly believe even though I was seeing it. Now, I have caught a lot of fish with small fish half digested in their throat before – even to the point of still hanging out of their mouth. But never quite like this.

Now it really makes me wonder every time I catch a 2 to 3 pounder on a Hudd or any other big bait – how often does a little fish like this bite off more than he can chew, and we never know?

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