Fustration has set in(long with questions)

[Tavvi]

Me and my wife are outdoorsy types locked in San Francisco. I have had the pleasure of halibut fishing and some trout fishing in a city lake here but I wanted to be out by the woods to fish when I wanted any time of day.

At last we have found home on the Russian River 10 miles from the coast in the North Bay. It's beautiful, peaceful and all year round fishing. But I have been a lake fisherman my whole life and this river fishing has left me for out to dry.

Now mind you, I fish for pleasure and just being out there on the river is god sent to me; watching otters, mink, ospreys and a harbor seal going after steelhead is all I truly need to keep trying. At three-years-old, my Grandfather and I fished from a picnic table into the lawn never needing to catch anything and I still have that heart. BUT I would love to catch something... Anything - heh.

I had caught bait fish, baby salmon and a few bullhead and the like with bait such as nightcrawlers and liver but had yet hooked into anything substantial. But since April 1st baitfishing is outlawed until October. And though I loved to cast, this has left me with no luck what-so-ever. I have seen 2-3 foot salmon jumping, spent steelheads coming to shore but nothing has touched my lures. And I've tried everything from spoons, to jigs, to spinnerbaits, to plastic worms, plugs divers and floats... nothing.

Now for a couple of questions: With the steelhead run over, the salmon run almost over and the shad from may to june but then over, Why is there no baitfishing? I mean there is supposed to be smallmouth, occasional largemouth, cats and bulls in the summer... Bass. Fine. lures. but how do ya catch a cat with a lure besides snagging them- heh?

Second what kind of fishing techniques should I be looking at? Here's my situation. I don't have a boat yet so I'm kinda stuck at this hole that seems pretty good to my untrained eyes. The shore goes out to a point that ends, to almost casting distance, to reportedly the deepest hole in the river. The water here turns back on itself. The shore is gravely. There is a large sunken log I can almost reach casting? I know I need to explore more but this hole sounds text book to me.

If ya got this far congrats -- hows this for an introduction? Thanks for any help!
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[Fishslayer]

[cool]Ya might have a try with some of the rubber swimbaits like Big Hammer, Fishtrap, etc. etc. I'm sure one of BFT advertisers carry them. Douse 'em with some of the foo foo scent & off ya go! [] Any fish that eats other fish should eat the swimbaits. Our local freshwater guys have had luck with rainbow trout pattern on bass.

Catfish HAVE been known to eat lures. I'm thinking a weedless leadhead of some sort working a swimbait on the bottom. Just a thought, I don't do freshwater very often, & usually with bait.

edit: Just a guess but I would suppose the "no bait" rule would be to protect the resource during the spawn?

Fishslayer
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[TubeDude]

[cool]I lived a lotta years in Sacramento, and fished most of the inland waters. While there are small lakes and places on the bay...and the lower river to fish...you should look to the hills to find the esthetics and the quality of fishing you would like. There are numerous lakes full of smallmouth, spotted bass, largemouths and trout all up and down the foothills of the Sierras. Some you can reach from the Bay area in two or three hours.

When I lived in Sacramento, I lived right on the American River, where I caught lots of steelhead, salmon, stripers and shad...and catfish. I was only a few minutes from Natoma and Folsom Lakes, both on the American. For lots of crappies, bass and catfish, I liked Clear Lake...about three hours north of the bay.

If you find clear impoundments with catfish in them, you will sometimes catch more cats on lures than the guys who soak stink baits off the banks. Wherever cats are in clean water, they become sight feeders and will attack all the standard lures tossed for trout and bass. Clear Lake is a good example. It is full of small silverside minnows, which are food for all the species in the lake. Toss a small white jig for crappies in there and you can also hook cats up to twenty pounds on light gear.

Don't give up. Just look farther afield. And try new places and new techniques.
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[dh_tubinaaron]

when they say no bait fishing do they mean natural/ livebait or no bait soakng at all??

If its only live/natural bait, use a processed bait for the cats like powerbait cat nuggets, or some other kind of bait like hog wild dip bait or something. or try a sponge with the hog wild on it.

Good luck

BIg and small kill em all

Aaron
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[TubeDude]

[cool]Usually that restriction, in a fresh water lake, means no natural bait or scents. On some waters, it can include the scent impregnated lures, like Berkeley's Power Worms and grubs.

Yep, "no bait" translates to artificials only. I would have to see the full set of written regulations to say for sure, but that is usually a good argument for polishing up your skills in using plastics and spinners. But, a guy who can work artificials right can often outfish a bait dunker with minimal skills anyway. One definition of bait fishing is "A jerk on one end of a line, waiting for a jerk on the other end of the line."

Don't misunderstand. I'm not a lures-only purist. I decorate a lot of my lures and bait bugs with strips of bait, and I soak all kinds of plain baits when the situation both calls for it and it's legal. Many kinds of bait fishing require a high level of skill to get good results. It's not always just baiting a hook and reeling in fish. A couple of trips where you get skunked while other guys are catching fish...on the same stuff you're using...will teach you all about humility. And, although it sometimes seems like it, it's not always just "fisherman's luck" either.
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[Tavvi]

It is strange, the california sport fishing regulation guidlines only says no bait fishing from april- oct but not what that means. I was actually worried that it is/was meaning no scents either but there is no clarification to that. Can someone double check the manual for me and explain? Russian River below the damn?
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