The JOCK

Back in the day, when me and buddies used to fish at home on Silver Lake or one of the other local ponds, I can't remember getting skunked, ever. Although we weren't specifically targeting bass, we always had a good time and  always seemed to catch fish. My good buddy Aaron had this one little popper that would always outfish any lure we had 3 or 4 to one. Bluegill, sunfish, perch, bass, carp, crappie, turtles, frogs, you name it- it would eat it. 

So of course we were jealous. Whenever he busted it out we were like, "oh man, here we go". We knew we were about to get schooled. We named this lure "The Jock". It was everything we (by 'we', I mean our lures) weren't. Thinner, cooler looking, productive, and awesome. All the girls loved it (by 'girls' I mean fish). The Jock ruled.  We just watched in awe.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010. A skunk I WILL remember. I launched at 6:15 am in Lower Otay Reservoir. Located in Chula Vista, just outside of San Diego, Otay is another typical expensive, clear, deep SoCal Reservoir filled with bass- so I hear. And there are DDB's all over in here- so I hear...

I fished a Daiwa Dead or Alive wakebait. A beautiful, big topwater/wakebait with fantastic action. Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) lures rule. This one is no exception.

No bites.
I fished a Neko rigged Yum dinger worm. No bites.
Spinnerbait. No bites.
Jerkbait. No bites.
Senko. Nope.
Frog. Nada.
Huddleston. Nothing.
I went back to the end of the Harvey Arm of the lake and although I was getting no bites, I enjoyed the differences back here from what I've experienced at the other lakes. The water was stained, there was brush, tullies, little canals, mats of floating vegetation. Just a neat area. Then I noticed it..again and again...Boils in the weeds. A sign of life near the end of a long morning. I wasn't sure if these were  bass but I was ready to find out. I threw about three or four of the above mentioned lures...................nothing. Go figure. The water reminded me of home, the weather was nice. I was frustrated but ok. Stoked to be in a new spot and being on the water. It reminded me of the good old days and being a kid again. Thats when I remembered the JOCK. Of course I didn't have one, but I made do with what I had. I dug out a trout mini jig and went to work. I made about 5 casts and caught this guy. A little bluegill. The first Ive caught in a LOOONG time. Scrappy but small, thanks for the fight buddy! I left Otay at noon.


Oh, then I went to Lake Dixon and got skunked again. Left there at 8pm.
Total hours fishing 11.
$23 in lake fees.
$30 in gas.
Bass caught 0.
Catching a bluegill and reminiscing about my childhood...bullshit!

I'm going to Jennings tomorrow night to catch a DDB dammit! It's all about keeping the focus, the eyes on the prize.

***UPDATE*** Skunked at Jennings. FML..