When one last cast pays off….

When there’s no one left to leave you
Even you don’t quite believe you
That’s when nothing can deceive you
While you see a chance take it …

In a previous post I mentioned that I think its harder to follow a great fishing day than to try to chase one.  After catching a 32 lb striper out of San Luis Reservoir last trip out,  inevitably, there is no where to go but down.  There was some potential for an epic day today.   Steve Santucci had his best day on the lake this year just yesterday when he text me that he was into a school of big stripers 500 ft long near Romero,  Vaughn had a great day on Wednesday and the Solonar tables showed 4 stars and the winds were forecast to be mild all day.

From sun up till 1:00 PM (nearly 6 hours)   I fished around the lake from the Bay of Pigs along the Dam to the trash racks.  I fished the sunken islands around Romero and worked my way to the Cottonwood 156 Rock Wall and only had three small fish to show for it.     By 1:00 Bob McCullum had called it a day with  with one 5lbr, a LMB and a partridge in a pear tree (AKA a bunch of rats).   It was shaping  out to be  a depressing day after catching the 32 lbr last week.    Last night I was worried this would happen when I noticed there was a bright full moon out all night.   I really wanted at least one good fish so I remembered what Steve told me last year about full moons.    The fish feed at night,  get tight lipped in the morning but get hungry later in the day.  That made sense to me and the Solonar Peak was at 1:51pm   Instead of leaving at 1:00,  in a hail mary move, I went back to the BOP and fished the shallow water right to the bank and started to catch some fish.   I caught 4 fish in the shallows,  one of them 25 inches.  I noticed a bunch of birds sitting and standing at the shoreline a ways down the face of the dam so I fished the rock face of the dam and metered some large fish in 20-25 feet of water right on the bottom about 100 feet off the dam.  With a long sink , hard strips and long pauses,  I was able to put two 10 lbrs and one 8 lbr in the boat before heading home.  Funny how it could have been a really crappy day if I had not decided to fish one more spot.   The secret to catching good fish in San Luis is not to give up too early especially after a full moon all night.

The fly of the day was a 4 inch Chartreuse and White Craft Fur Baitfish fly with stick on eyes unweighted–Vaughn’s fly pattern.  The fly has crazy action on the pause especially and I really like the way it moves with a pulse disc.  Im tired of talking about pulse discs but if you look at all the bigger fish I have landed in San Luis,  90 percent of them have a pulse disc in front of the fly.  I don’t leave home without them. 

I took all the rods im bringing to Brazil out on the boats to test cast with different lines today.  I made some changes.  I dont think Ill be casting the giant Pole Dancers all day.  Its not that bad but multiply it times 6 hours a day and yikes.    I m taking a 10 weight Helios II with an 11 wgt Quickshooter floating line.  It still takes some muscle to cast for 6 hours but with the lightest 10 wgt reel -a Lampson Vanquish- the hole rig only weighs about as much as a heavy 8 wgt and its doable.   For streamer fishing,  Im going with the Helios 8 and 9 wgts with either a 300 grain sink tip Leviathan line or Rio OBS intermediate lines.  These rods will be mainly for there ease of casting all day. My backup rods should I need more lifting power are the WInston 9wgt Jungle Rod and the Sage 8 wgt SaltHD.   The Leviathan Line is interesting consisting of 300 grain 28 foot head section connected to pink running line on a 50lb  core.   

It sinks pretty good but it does sink as deep and straight or cast as easily as my level 28ft of t-14 with 50lb Mono.  Im also worried that mono cant handle peacock bass,  but then there were no issue with the mono fighting large 15+ stripers. How much harder can peacock bass pull?  Im for sure going to bring a striper line to the Amazon in a couple weeks-the guides will probably laugh at me but Ill bet that I can cast that easier all day than any of these other engineered lines.   Ive got the finger protection tape down too

Pole dancers don’t dance with short 60 lb leader.  You need to use 40lb and long to get the best motion.  Homework is to tie shorter lighter pole dancers that are 7 inches long and have bigger hook gapes.

I tested out some lightly dressed fish masked Peacock Bass Flies and they cast great.  I think its important not to overdress Peacock Bass Flies.  Tie them as light as possible without sacrificing the large silhouette.

The Lippa tool is way way easier than a boga or fishclip,   Awesome new tool.

 

 

 

Steve Winwood
“While You See A Chance”

Stand up in a clear blue morning
Until you see what can be
Alone in a cold day dawning
Are you still free
Can you be

When some cold tomorrow finds you
When some sad old dream reminds you
How the endless road unwinds you
While you see a chance take it
Find romance, fake it
Because it’s all on you

Don’t you know by now
No one gives you anything
Don’t you wonder how you keep on moving
One more day
Your way
Ooooooooh, your way

[Instrumental Interlude]

When there’s no one left to leave you
Even you don’t quite believe you
That’s when nothing can deceive you
While you see a chance take it
Find romance, fake it
Because it’s all on you

Stand up in a clear blue morning
Until you see
What can be
Alone in a cold day dawning
Are you still free
Can you be

[Instrumental Interlude]

And that old gray wind is blowing
And there’s nothing left worth knowing
And it’s time you should be going

While you see a chance take it
Find romance
While you see a chance take it
Find romance
While you see a chance take it
Find romance
While you see a chance take it
Find romance
While you see a chance take it
Find romance

One thought on “When one last cast pays off….

  1. Hi

    Great video, thanks for sharing. Do you have any close up pictures of the gunwale rod holder you have on the boat?

    Thanks

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