Fishing Trip #161 November 2, 2015 5:50 AM—The Streak is Finally Over

Went fishing for about 45 minutes on my way to work this morning. I saw about 8 otters swimming up and down the shore lines but no fish activity. Since I did not catch any fish this morning, my ongoing streak has been officially broken at 52 consecutive trips.

Weather conditions: 45 degrees, dawning sky with no wind. 

No fish caught.

Quiet lake with no activity from the fish this morning

Fishing Trip #108 August 3, 2015 5:30 AM

Went fishing for about 45 minutes on my way to work this morning. Calm and quiet morning. Beautiful sunrise. I had several bites but no fish caught this time.

Weather conditions: 74 degrees, clear sky and no wind.

No Fish Caught.

Fishing Trip #96 July 16, 2015 6:15 AM

Went fishing for a couple of minutes on my way to work this morning. LOTS of construction this morning—saws buzzing and nail guns pounding. No fish were biting at all. Last night was a new moon so some of the fish should have been hungry at sunrise this morning.

Weather conditions: 74 degrees, clear sky and a light breeze.

Fishing Trip #67 June 3, 2015 5:30 AM

Went fishing for 60 minutes on my way to work this morning. I tried four different lures, all with no success. I had a couple of bites but none strong enough to set the hook. The winds kept blowing my line back to the shore when I was using plastic worms & crayfish and heavy weed cover in the water made using my crankbait an exercise in futility as I had to keep pulling the weeds from the hooks after every cast.

There was a full moon last night and perhaps the fish were feeding all night and not hungry this morning. This breaks my streak of catching a fish in 22 consecutive trips to the lake dating back to May 2, 2015.

Weather conditions: 63 degrees with strong winds from the south.  The sky was cloudy and overcast.

No fish caught.

Moon in the sky this morning

Fishing Trip #44 May 2, 2015 9:30 AM

I tried a new location today. I have seen a small lake in the southeast corner of Longview Lake when I drive to the library from work. I decided to give it a try this morning. Here are some of my observations:

• This is more of a pond than a lake, probably less than 4 acres in size (according to Google Earth).
• The water depth is very shallow. No matter where or how far I cast my line, my lures immediately hit bottom and brought in weeds or slime from the bottom. There are fishing limit signs posted around this pond, so I am assuming that there are fish in it. Perhaps natural bait, like night crawlers, would yield better results.
• There is a lot of wildlife in the area. Deer and beaver tracks are seen along the water's edge. A beaver dam and chewed-down trees are along the east side of the pond. Bird houses are located in several spots around the pond. I came across a snake in the grass near the water's edge. I showed a close-up picture of it to a friend who spent time on a farm near Truman Lake when he was growing up. He identified it as a cotton mouth.

I fished and explored for about 45 minutes.

Weather Conditions: 60 degree air temperature with 8 mph winds from the south. Partly cloudy skies.

No fish caught and no bites.

Looking North

Deer Tracks

Beaver Tracks

Beaver Dam

Beaver's "handiwork" on one of several trees

Bird House

Looking South

Snake in the grass

Fishing Trip #39 April 28, 2015 2:40 PM

Went fishing for about an hour after work. The turtles were out in full force.

Weather Conditions: 70 degrees with a light breeze from the north, bright sunny sky.

No fish caught.

Fishing Trip #33 April 21, 2015 6:20 PM

Tried my hand at fishing after work today. Fished for about 30 minutes. There were about 6 other anglers there but no one was catching anything.

Weather Conditions: 70 degree air temperature with light winds from the northwest. Mostly sunny skies.

No fish caught and no bites.

Fishing Trip #23 April 8, 2015 5:45 AM

Went fishing for about 15 minutes on my way to work this morning. I lost my favorite lure (the  H2O XPRESS Shallow Running Jointed Square-Bill Crankbait) on the first cast. I had a lipless crankbait in my backpack, so I snapped it on and gave it a try.

In the meadow behind me I could hear heavy breathing, like a large animal was trying to smell me. It was probably a cow or a horse. I tried to see what it was, but the fog was too dense.

Weather conditions: 53 degrees with a 7 mph breeze from the north, foggy, with a dark pre-dawn sky. There was a lot lightning but no thunder. The fog reminded me of fishing the Sacramento River when I was a boy.

No fish caught.

Foggy morning at Johnson Lake

Fishing Trip #18 March 31, 2015 4:05 PM

Went fishing for about an hour.

Weather Conditions: 75 degrees with a light breeze from the east, bright sunny sky.

No fish caught.

Fishing Trip #15 March 27, 2015 6:55 PM

Went fishing for about an hour.

Weather Conditions: 42 degrees with a slightly overcast sky.

No fish caught. One solid strike.

Lots of wildlife activity. Deer feeding, geese flying over head, and fish jumping.

Fishing Trip #8 March 22, 2015 2:05 PM

Went fishing for a little over an hour.

Weather Conditions: 70 degrees, light wind from southeast, bright sunny sky.

No fish caught.

Fishing Trip #7 March 20, 2015 5:30 AM

Stopped on my way to work for about 40 minutes.

Weather Conditions: 37 degrees, no wind, pre-dawn sky.

No fish caught.

I used two rods, one with braided line and the other with monofilament line. Midnight Special spinnerbait and the H2O XPRESS Shallow Running Jointed Square-Bill Crankbait.

Fishing Trip #6 March 18, 2015 4:45 PM

Tried my hand at fishing in the rain after work today. Fished for about 45 minutes.

Weather Conditions: Light rain, 38 degrees with 10 mph ENE winds.

No fish caught and no bites.

I used two rods, one with braided line and the other with monofilament line.

Midnight Special spinnerbait and the crank/swim bait baby bass.

Fishing Trip #3 March 17, 2015 5:45 AM

Stopped on my way to work for about 15 minutes.

Weather Conditions: 45 degrees, strong winds from the north, pre-dawn sky. 

No fish caught. I was using a Strike King Midnight Special Spinnerbait.