Greetings All,

I had an opportunity to visit Tucson's Chuck Ford Lakeside Park recently. SE Arizona has had a good deal of weather variety this year. During my visit it was a surprising 27C (80F). So it was shorts and tee shirt weather.

After the recent snow storms this was a pleasant change. The warm weather also appears to have triggered some bass activity too. In previous visits I only managed a single bass during the colder periods.

 

During this visit I managed to find five large mouth that wanted to play.

 

 

A good time working the shoreline. It was great fun to be on-line and in the warm sunshine. Right now in SE AZ we've got the best of trout fishing and bass fishing going on. As long as the wind is at a reasonable level there is plenty of angling adventure to be had.

 

One of the other anglers there also working the shoreline tells me he had similar success working a frog. So that is another option to try for some SE AZ angling fun. Be well, and Cheers!

Greetings All,

I have an update to share from a recent goofing off angling adventure at Chuck Ford Lakeside Park. I was casting along the bank and realized some interesting flight patterns in the area. I realized it was the Heritage Honor Flight practicing for the upcoming air show season. It is not often you get to see two F-35 Lightning IIs flying in formation with a vintage WWII P-51 Mustang and a P-38 Lightning. Wow, what a sight to see. I did my best to 'Zen' shoot some video of the flybys. Here is a screen grab to share.

 

 

That was definitely fun to experience.

 

Also great fun to experience was the fish catching too!

 

 

It is always a challenge when fishing in windy conditions. Using ultra-lite gear adds to that challenge. Well, challenge accepted! Be well, and Cheers!

 

Greetings All,

 

I hope each of you are well over this extended holiday weekend. I managed to make the short run up to Tuscon for some fishing because the winds were not friendly enough to be on the water. Nothing like red flag conditions and being out in the wild lands during a holiday weekend with all the recklessness going on. Not too many folks want to take on being out in full sun at almost triple digit weather. So there is something to be said about finding an easy fishing spot at the urban waters with those conditions.

 

This is the case of being at the right place at the right moment with the right gear. Being the ultra lite guy I am having a great smooth drag is extremely important. Using 4 pound mono there is very little tolerance for errors. One of the reasons I have had such a rough time finding decent reels at a good price point. Many of the reels these days come with carbon fiber drags which have terrible qualities for UL fishing. Most anglers are not using UL techniques so that type of drag is better suited for those applications. Me, I'll take a smooth drag with fine adjustments.

 

I recently found a $16 Okuma reel that is very light in weight, has oiled felt drag disks and comes in 1000 size. It also has a large diameter line roller too. At that price point I purchased several of them. I loaded them with fresh line using the sock method. I got them put on the rods just before heading out to Tucson.

 

I arrived at Chuck Ford Lakeside park about mid morning. I initially was tossing about the 1/32 oz grub on a jig and caught a few smaller, 12 inch or less, bass while working the shoreline. Most of the shoreline has no shade and not many features either so you have to cast about to find the different areas which hold fish. After about 20 minutes I migrated over to a steep section and changed over to one of the rigs that I had a weedless worm tied on. Since this was a first cast with the new line and new reel I didn't quite know what to expect. The line and lure sailed out easily with the modest effort cast, which turned out to be a pretty long bomb cast with assistance of the wind. As I was watching the line settle on the water it immediately started to tension. I only got the bail closed before the rod started to bend and the lightly set drag slipped and screamed. WOW! First cast with the new reel and first fish too!

 

My initial suspicion was I tied into a channel catfish as this was heavy and strong based on the long pulls and relentless struggle. A lot of line peeled before I even was able to gain any back. It was very much like watching one of those salt water angling sessions where you know you are connected and you are simply there for the ride as you've got no leverage in the matter until the fish relents. So I simply enjoyed the moment.

 

It turned into a protracted moment as the fish was in no hurry to see me. I was OK with that but I've got to admit the excitement was pretty high. All I knew was it was strong and most likely larger than typical. Yup! It was.

 

What a HOOT!

 

Yes, the catching is pretty good right now. Most of them are not this size as this is larger than typical. It is crazy hot out there right now. Please be sure to take precautions if you do go. I worked through 3 liters of water in the time I was out there. Having that hydration bladder is wonderful as it allows for easy water access as you need during the day.

 

Good gear (soft plastics, knot, line, reel, rod), and good fortune all make for a special moment!

 

Be well and Cheers!

Greetings All,

 

This is just a continued adventure that I'm living. I had to be up in Tucson to meet up with my MD to review my health situation. I'm happy to report I am stable and possibly on the edge of improvement.

 

Well, with the early morning MD visit concluded in a good way, it was a touch too early for lunch, so a quick shopping trip at Sportsman's Warehouse was in order. After that a yummy bowl of ramen noodles! Yay! Chopstick licking good, aye!

 

Now I still had my yak secured in the back of the ole pickup truck. With a full belly and 3 liters of water I was ready to get in some urban angling at Chuck Ford Lakeside park. I had never kayaked on that lake before. I did confirm it is basically a large shallow lake, possibly 15 feet at the deepest. By dropping my anchor are various locations I was able to get an ideal of the lake features. I've got an understanding where there is a harder bottom versus the silty muddy areas.

 

Now for a good portion of the first hour I was seriously thinking I was going to write this adventure in the books as a total skunk! I had gradually worked my way to about halfway around the lake in a counter clockwise pattern. No real worries as there were about 3 anglers at the entire lake so it was easy to avoid any encroachment concerns. 

 

I was on the east side of the lake when I got a text from my supervisor. Hey, I'm on leave! That sort of soured my mood for the moment. Oh well, nothing I can do about it till I get back to a computer. By this time I was over on the east side of the lake and working the shorelines, cast after cast. Then out of the blue the cast had settled and I felt this odd resistance. It was like more than the drag from the silty mud in that portion of the lake. I paused for a moment and watched the line and the tip of the rod. There was this very slight movement. I wasn't really sure if it was a fish or just my yak moving from the breeze. I gave the rig a bit more tension and then I noticed the tip pulse, OH Yeah! No skunk today!

 

In short order I caught four bass ranging from 1.5 lbs and smaller. Plenty of good fun on the ultra lite gear. I was feeling much better and continued to deal with the tripple digit heat of full sun. A wet hat his comforting. Drinking plenty of water is helpful too. 

 

I got about three quarters of my way around the lake when I made a long cast paralleling along the shoreline of a sort of cove. The bait settled quickly to the bottom and I was just starting to pickup line when I felt serous resistance. It is unusual to snag a weedless worm. It does happen. Lakeside is a an urban lake and pretty devoid of most snags. I can usually use an exposed hook jig without too much fuss. I started to lift the rod and add more tension to see if I could free it from what ever it was caught on. Well, what it was caught on did not like getting poked!

 

I've talked about how when you hook a big fish it is very different in struggle behavior when compared to smaller fish. There was no influencing this fish using my UL gear with 4 pound mono. It was just time to buckle up and enjoy the multi-minute ride. It was roughly 10 minutes before I could even see what it was. It was just sliding the yak easily along for those few minutes. I'm glad the wind was not complicating things for me as I was holding frequently at close to max tension, especially when there were the incredible strong surges. Oh, and I was not anchored either. I did manage to get it eventually into the net, it was kinda cramped in the net.

 

 

Yeah, this is a much larger than the typical large mouth bass from lakeside. What a beauty! 20 ish inches in overall length and it was a pudge, heavy. A pretty massive jaw bone too.

 

The hook did not penetrate the bass' upper crusher. However the sharp hook was simply snagged on the crusher plate and held firm. When I got my hands on a the bass to remove the bait, all that was needed was to simply release tension and give the bait a touch along with gravity, it fell to the back of the bass' throat where I could simply lift it out from there. Yes, being held by just a snag on a hard spot for several minutes and quite a few direction changes too!

 

That is a great rig, good quality drag, better than typical knot (Toit knot), 4 pound mono, and a fantastic hook! OK plenty of good fortune too!

 

YEAH BOY! What a total HOOT! Not today skunk, not today! Hee, hee!  Be well, and Cheers!

Greetings and Happy Fourth to All!

Triple digit heat, 105F-ish, with over 15 mph winds and gusts in the high 20 mph, Red Flag conditions. What a great time to go fishing, catching. Not too aweful if you're ready to deal with the heat. Just be sure you have a quick and easy exit strategy, along with plenty of hydration. Drink frequently to avoid bad things from happening.

I recently found a low cost small 2.5 inch jerk bait at our local big box retail store. I am typically a soft plastic lure user, not a hard bait one. So, this was both interesting and affordable. I mainly intended to use it for the upcoming trout season in the colder months. I looked to use it on my UL spinning gear or my BFS rig.

Given the weather challenge I was up for the additional degree of difficulty. I put the new small jerk bait on my BFS rig and took it out to the lake for a try. A few casts and things were going swimmingly. That is until during one of the protracted pauses, the line got tight. When I responded, I was greeted by a heavy tractor pull sensation. OH Golly! This is going to take some time.

My BFS is an UL configuration with 4 pound mono on a short 5 foot rod. Very much configured for trout and pan fish. Sure the occasional small bass too. Just typical of what you expect to find in this lake.

It took over 30 minutes to be able see what was at the end of the line. The murky water didn't help. I figured it was a catfish. I just didn't know the type or size. The high drama was one the fact that it is a short pole so there is only so much leverage. Also the lighter line and older line too. It is over a year old as I used that reel through last spring till now. The color of the line is quite faded, but it still appeared usable. Then there is the knot. I'd been goofing about with a knot of my design and this is great test of durability.

Even after I was able to see the fish for glimpse, there was still plenty of fight left. I got it close to shore a few times but for a fraction of a second before it would thrust away for another round of let see how much line can be pulled off the reel. On the fourth attempt to land the fish, no net, I did manage to get my hand on it, carefully.

Just a quick hook removal, and an even quicker selfie. Yeah, amazing in the heat how quickly things can dry. I got this beauty back into the water pronto.

Everything worked as it should. The high drama was a nice way to start off a fishing adventure. Not bad for the first fish of the day, first BFS fish on a jerk bait too.

There were plenty of small large mouth bass in there too. Those were willing to play on the soft plastics worked along the bottom. Nothing big just all fun. Nice to have the fish catching opportunity at a community water.

Be well, Cheers!