Meet our crew from "Andrea"

Orlando Murillo and Abraham Castro, make a great team, they are dedicated and professional and Abraham especially has a cheery character. Orlando is originally from Loreto further up the peninsula and Abraham has fishing in his blood as he is the son of one our most popular captains’ Julio from the Tracy Ann. Abraham learned about fishing from the time he could walk. Captain Orlando speaks fair English. They are aggressive at fishing and work hard to come back with flags flying, as it is a matter of personal pride for them, they have lots of knowledge between them. Abraham is young with a lot of energy and we have received many comments as to how likeable he is as well as what a great fisherman.

Here is a picture from them with our friend Butch Bustamante.

Top class sport on Mayfly spinners

Finished work around 4 and had one thing on my mind, get the rods out for the last few magic hours of the day...
I do lots of my fishing in the evenings and its something that i a very used to now and when most anglers go home for there tea i am arriving knowing what goes on at this magical time of day...
There is usually a lull 2hrs before the light goes and i suppose that's why many choose to go home, i sit around smoking and gazing over the water preparing myself for usually a hours metal action..
All my specimen fishing has learnt me this, when i fished the dove for barbel i would bait the swim all day with hemp ect and watch the huge monsters drift in and out of the weed with no interest whatsoever but when the magic witching hour came the barbel would drop there guard and you could see them absolutely walloping the bait down, at times you could pick the fish out you wanted with ease..

Well this goes for Trout fishing, they too drop there guard and its surprising how close you can get to these fish, i fished with Crewe lad Phil Smith the other week at Dovedale and we saw fish feeding in only inches of water!

Well tonight gave me them same action but different to normal is that we are right in the middle of 'duffers fortnight', the Green Drake is away and its a time when anglers come out from everywhere to get some action, i hear anglers moaning that they only see trout men in mayfly, well to me thats fair enough, some are not as addicted as us and why not go and and catch a few fish when its easy...well this is not my bag, it quite the reverse, i have found Mayfly can be non challenging, i went out the other day and had three fish in three casts! bad casting, drag, they will still hammer your fly...

How i have changed (learned) at one time i would hammer the river and come away saying 'i have had 20/30+ fish in a few hours!! well now i would be quite embarrassed to say this, i love it hard (not that way Prior!) something that really gets me thinking, John Tyzack will tell you that i am always asking him Why? What? ect, i like to know what happening and fly fishing though at times can be very easy, it can bite you on the arse and send you home puzzled..

Tonight i fished the upper Dove, on arriving it was obvious that the mayfly were coming off well, every likely pool would have a fish 'searching' for the Drake.. I started to fish and taking fish, i soon had a break when i caught a very small fish to a huge mayfly pattern, this fish will sulk for 4/5 days and will miss out on some good mayfly that it will obviously need..catching these fish must do them no good so its another good reason for me to go siting bigger fish..

I watched in amazement in a deep back eddie, mayfly nymphs swimming to the surface and braking out of there shucks, i could see the whole thing, on entering the surface of the film they would be out of there shucks in around 3 seconds, obviously they are very prone here to feeding trout, one thing that did strike me was the colour of the dun as it just left the water very deep yellow colour, within 30 seconds the dun would change to the colour we all most know, this is something to keep in mind when matching colours...

I also noticed that most of the trout would take the emerging fly preferably to the dun, due to less effort for the fish, there was no splash, just a powerful swirl under the surface, the erratic jump would come when the fish hit the nymph too late and would dive out the water to take mid air!! also i did notice the trout would dive bomb the dun to sink the fly then take it, now i know why i miss lots of takes on certain days...

I had calmed down and wandered the river watching Duns getting nailed all over river, i was in the middle of the best hatch yet and just sat and enjoyed watching them, i have learnt so much by watching trout feeding than actual fishing, i can watch a trout now and know exactly where to place it with different fly patterns, believe me this does make a huge difference..more on this when i get more time...

I decided to take a few 1lbers and moved down to the bottom of the beat, lit a fag and had 30 mins kip on the bank side...
I soon come around to see that wonderful orange/red glow of a sun set that photographers dream of, a time where you can take a pic of a lifetime, there were huge mayflys dancing all over the river, yes it was the wonderful mayfly spinner time!!
The fish were onto them big time, the rises had gone from huge slashing dun takes to the boil of a easy prey spinner...
Easy for the fish but a spinner fall is never easy on the angler, drag is a pure no go, patterns need to be very alike as spinners tend to be taken in very slow flat flow so the fish has plenty of time to inspect your fly, this is my kind of fishing, hard....
I selected a new tyed pattern by myself called the LTD Mayfly spinner, its always buzzing to have a new pattern to see how it fishes, my LTD sedge has done wonders for me and i continue to get messages thanking me for doing a step by step on my blog..and some very good comments about this fly which is very nice, Wezzer had some given to him by the quality Crewe angler Tony Slade which was nice to see...
I watched big wild browns taking spinners in a flat calm above a rifle, to present the spinner i was going to have to get in the fast flow behind the fish and get a slack cast in to give me some time before the drag kicked in...my first cast brought me a nice brown of around half a pound, not the fish i wanted which was slightly above...
The orange glow across the river was amazing, spinners were all over the place, not just mayfly but the Sherrys in perfect form...
My heart started to pound as i moved in position for the bigger fish, i could not see it but the bow waves coming while feeding showed a decent fish, the light had nearly gone, it was deadly silent and it was just me against this fish...i blew the water out the cdc wings, ginked up my coypu tails and made a cast well upstream of the fish and waited, will it wont it, i just saw a head pop out as calm as anything and disappear, i waited then bollocked the hook home with a side strike, well the water just erupted, flat calm changed to a bow wave, the fish tore 20 yards of line off, the water was only inches deep and i could see i heading for its home... i thought i am into a fish of a lifetime here with a 2lb tippet...the fish was played back towards me and went straight down the fast rifle pool, i have learnt to lay off the pressure when this happens as you will most certainly lose it if you bully it, laying off the pressure and the fish will find a place beside a stone out of the flow, this happened  and i got behind it a swung it into the net...
I was expecting a huge fish from the scrap it gave, but holding the net up the fish weighed a very respectful 1lb 10oz and as wild as they come, a fish almost certainly a hook virgin...the fish was photographed and carefully returned and went down as one of my best fighting fish ever...and to a Mayfly spinner made it all the better...Sweet!!
The LTD Mayfly spinner has done me proud, it will be tested on the Wye tomorrow so will give a update tomoz..i will do a step by step if anyone want to try one, i dont put them on my blog unless i know they are worth it....

PS A note to the my blog followers..
I would like to thank all the lads for the support i get from my blog and the comments many of you leave, i have met so many sounds lads through this and its opened up lots of fishing opportunities for me,  its something i do for all to see and i enjoy writing them, all my posts are from my heart and get me in slight bother sometimes but i just cant change the way i am, i will always tell it like it is and honest it what i am about...


Nice one
LTD
Glen

bass fishing (lake coutny forest preserve, il)

Neal and I headed out for a quick trip to Independence Grove in hopes dropshotting up some decent bass. The weather was overcast early in the morning and we were fighting off an ugly storm moving in from the west. This would be my only fishing trip for the next week due to an upcoming sales meeting with my company in Las Vegas, so I really wanted to bend a rod on some fish. Being early June, I really was surprised at the amount of weed growth that was already taking control of the lake. The weeds were thicker now then they were at the end of last year! We settled on fishing plastics around the deep weed edges in the early morning and switching to some of the deep timber later.

The morning was just awesome for Neal, and he was quickly catching fish after fish. They were just hammering the Berkley hand poured 4 inch worms he was dropshotting. I finally started to catch up by the time we left and I think we caught a total of 14 fish. Here’s the nicest fish landed.

a healthy lake county, il bass

The one that got away….. I’m not going to make up some astronomical number on its size or weight. Typically when people do that to me, I tend not to trust what they are saying. I will tell you this, it was the biggest bass I had ever seen. Mid morning fishing timber with a cotton candy zoom finesse worm on a dropshot I hooked this sea-donkey. I wasn’t working the bait aggressive, I was locating the timber and just shaking the dropshot stationary. I felt a solid tug and set the hook on this slob. I knew from the second it was hooked that this fish had some shoulders. I played it slow only to have the fish spit the hook when it jumped. I felt like I gave it plenty of slack when it came up to jump but it wasn’t meant to be. Just another fish story I guess…..?

Latest Fish Report

May 27th to June 2nd, 2010

Overall Catch Success Rate 98%

BILLFISH: We had a huge improvement on fishing in Cabo this week, as the El Niño current winds down. But Cabo was not the only news, once again Loreto surprised us all, with two swordfish being caught again, by Robert Ross aboard “Bad Company”, on the same day, May 31st. Robert and his crew were fishing 6 miles east of Isla Catalina when they hooked the first fish, estimated at 160 lbs. They then went on to boat another which they estimated at 400 to 500 lbs. Our thanks to the deckhand Jorge Luis Hernandez for keeping us updated, texting us the info, as it happened and then sending photos for the skeptics. This is quite an achievement anywhere for an angler to catch three swordfish in one month. Marlin catches improved substantially and at the close of the week most boats were catching at least one per day each, with catches of two not uncommon, plus some smaller game fish as well. We had a couple of boats with three marlin days…first was “Rebecca” with three striped marlin and a dorado off of Medanos Blancos for Pat Volpe fishing on her birthday with son John & daughter Lisa from New York City on June 1st. On June 2nd, “La Brisa” fishing the same area, the next day out also released three marlin and boated a 38 lb wahoo for Neal O’Russa and Ryan Cushing from Illinois and Kevin Merta from North Carolina. Other notable catches were again for “Rebecca” on May 31st, with two striped marlin, two dorados and one yellowfin tuna for Megan Weakly from Denver and Chris Potts from Memphis. “Andrea” and “Fearless” also had double billfish days. Live bait was the most effective method for catching marlin. Forty four percent of charters caught marlin, with catches of one to three fish per boat. Twenty five striped marlin were caught overall with all but two released; those brought in weighed 100 and 170 lbs respectively

 

OTHER SPECIES: At the start of this report yellowfin tuna was the top catch, but this species started to decline as the week progressed. Fifty six percent of boats caught between one and ten tuna from 15 to 30 lbs. “Tracy Ann” was one of the top tuna boats, catching nine up to 20 lbs and releasing a striped marlin for Matt Lewis and friends from Los Angeles. “Bill Collector” also did well to catch eight, plus four roosterfish and a marlin which was released, fishing 12 miles from Cerro Blanco for Kelli & Linda Bullin, Anthony Woods and Christian Smith from Fort Worth, Texas. The total tuna count was eighty six. Dorado catches were average at twenty eight percent, with catches usually of a single fish and occasionally two. There were quite a lot of roosterfish caught inshore as well as a few jack crevalle. Wahoo catches slowed down, with just two 30 lb fish for us. “Ruthless” released two hammerhead sharks 13 miles out from Cerro Blanco and also boated a tuna for Daniel Pacheco and John Knox from San Antonio, Texas.

LOCATION: Three to eleven miles out from Chileno, Cabeza de Ballena, four to 12 miles from Cerro Blanco, Medanos Blancos, Destiladeres.

WEATHER CONDITIONS: Quite cool for June….seas on Cortez calm to moderate, windy with whitecaps on the Pacific.

AVERAGE WATER TEMP: 75 F

BEST LURES: live caballito, ballyhoo, petroleros, guacamaya.

Based on the catches of Pisces by Tracy Ehrenberg

Here is a great picture of our regular client and good friend Creighton Lawhead from Carlsbad, CA with his favorite captain Julio Castro from “Tracy Ann”.

Creighton has been fishing with Pisces for over 20 years! He released a Striped marlin yesterday.

Behemoth Redear Sunfish

Friday afternoon we sampled a 7 acre pond 20 miles north of peoria and shocked up the biggest redear sunfish I have ever seen in this region of the country. I know redears grow huge down in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, but around here a one pound fish is considered very big. Well this redear measured in at 12.25 inches long with an unbelievable 16.5 inch girth and weighed in at 37 ounces. That is about 2.30 lbs!


For those wondering, a fish's girth can be defined as the distance around the fattest part of the fish. This redear was 7.15 inches tall, but the total girth measurement around the fish was 16.50 inches!!! Could you imagine catching a 37 ounce bluegill?

The rest of the pond was completely full of 12-16 ounce monster bluegill. Here are just a few pics, but we counted more than 20 male bluegill over 16 ounces!





The average bass in this lake is 13 inches long and about 18 ounces. There is no rooted vegetation due to the white amurs stocked 30 years ago from arkansas which I believe are actually reproducing to a small degree. I dont think they where sterile from that source back then. Anyhow there is a combination of factors attributing to such an amazing natural bluegill fishery. The pond hasnt been supplementally fed or treated or really managed much at all except for a few family fishing trips and fish frys. A true gem with a whole world of potential!

So anyhow working backwords, I spent thursday electrofishing in Indianapolis. Was a fun road trip and met some great people. Their 10 acre lake was one of the most scenic and fishy looking lakes you could ever imagine. I am talking the kind of lake that would make any diehard fisherman drool at the chance of casting a line into. The fish on the other hand were about the worst I have sampled this year??? I guess that is why I was hired. The owner wasnt catching many fish and really hasnt caught much for the last few years. He completely and accurately described the fishery to me before I even put a boat in the water. A few things didnt really make sense why the fish were so small and why there really werent that many of them? Was it because of retarded genetics from only being stocked 80 years ago with a couple sibling fish, was it a fish kill of some sort, water quality, PH, soft water, otters, trespassers, bullhead, carp, fish disease, etc. Trust me I was doing some major head scratching for this one while there at the property and was able to finally pull together a management plan on the best way to address some of the limiting factors and put some big fish on the end of his line. Definitely not the normal situation to deal with, but the solutions and suggestions arent the norm either. Fast forward to one year from now and that lake is going to be hopping with big fish if they follow through!


Wednesday I went to Otter Creek to check on the feed trained bass lake, the smallmouth lake, the wetlands, and mainly to electrofish the big lake. This is a 145 acre lake that is stocked with the absolute best fish genetics on the planet. Pike river strain walleyes, leach lake muskies, keo hybrid striped bass, missouri bluegills, blacknose crappies, jumbo yellow perch, arkansas clear creek largemouths, and millions of golden shiners, gizzard shad, and threadfin shad. This lake is going to be on fire over the next several years. Kind of like so good that it gives me some chills just thinking about it.
While at Otter Creek I met up with harrison fish farms and loaded up a few thousand albino white catfish. Justin and Allen went around and delivered them and I headed over to Trivoli for a pond consultation. Brand new 6 acre and 1/2 acre ponds that are gonna be gems as well.

So working backwards, this was a really fun week. Sat I will be fishing a bluegill tournament near Victoria, Sunday we have the 7th and 8th grade Sunday school classes with their families coming out to the lake for the afternoon, and then next week we are headed to southern illinois to do some consulting and dock building for most of the week.