Drought Carnage!

[Paul Roberts]

Got some fishing in, just before being evacuated for a wildfire. Haven’t had much time for fishing, with all the turmoil of late. COVID fallout, and non-COVID health issues, have made our lives a roller-coaster.

 

Anyway… I got some fishing in. Wanting to do a video on bank fishing, I hit a series of small ponds. We’ve been in a serious drought and the ponds were VERY low, some having lost half their water. This isn’t necessarily bad news for us predators though. The bass can be easy to find and with all those fish, of all sizes, crowded in together it can be exciting, if I don’t alarm them in that shallow clear water.

 

Here’s the results from the first pond, with a nice easy to read and easy to fish layout: 5 fat fall bass in as many casts. Gosh they are beautiful. The next ponds were a different story though, due to their layout, and I had to earn my keep there. I’ll report on them after I get through that bit of editing.

 

The majority (a good 90+%) of this first pond was left with <3fow. One bank held ~5fow and I found these bass out from a prominant shoreline tree there, crowded up under a mat. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!   Is that cheating? Hey, I'm a predator too, and it's been a while. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JohnFromLisbon]

Awesome!

 

Can't wait for that bank fishing video. I remember a while ago on a fishing trip, my fishing buddy and I watched your video on the spawn and the "fishing lines" series back to back before, during, and after dinner. Love it!

[Paul Roberts]

Hi, John. Glad I could join you guys for dinner then.  

[Paul Roberts]

@JohnFromLisbon I see now that you are in Portugal. I've been chatting with bass fishers from Portugal, as well as from Spain, Italy, and lately, Brasil. So I've looked up the bass fishing there and you have some beautiful lakes. My wife has dreamed of retiring in Portugal or Spain, so who knows?

[JohnFromLisbon]

21 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

@JohnFromLisbon I see now that you are in Portugal. I've been chatting with bass fishers from Portugal, as well as from Spain, Italy, and lately, Brasil. So I've looked up the bass fishing there and you have some beautiful lakes. My wife has dreamed of retiring in Portugal or Spain, so who knows?

I think you'll like it here. It's not giant bass central, but we do have some great spots all over the country with healthy bass populations. Inshore fishing is pretty good, too. We have trout waters up north (rainbows were introduced here years ago and we still have some native browns) and in the mountain regions in the center, there's even some salmon far north on the border with Spain. And we're a tiny country, too. If you're somewhere in central Portugal, especially along the coast, you can reach anywhere in the country in 4 to 5 hours, tops.

 

If you want to know anything else, fishing related or otherwise, let me know ?

[Paul Roberts]

54 minutes ago, JohnFromLisbon said:

I think you'll like it here. It's not giant bass central, but we do have some great spots all over the country with healthy bass populations. Inshore fishing is pretty good, too. We have trout waters up north (rainbows were introduced here years ago and we still have some native browns) and in the mountain regions in the center, there's even some salmon far north on the border with Spain. And we're a tiny country, too. If you're somewhere in central Portugal, especially along the coast, you can reach anywhere in the country in 4 to 5 hours, tops.

 

If you want to know anything else, fishing related or otherwise, let me know ?

Thanks, John. It's not giant bass central here either. AOK with me. I assume your inshore is sea bass?

 

What an amazing world we live in. Beauty everywhere. 

[JohnFromLisbon]

1 hour ago, Paul Roberts said:

Thanks, John. It's not giant bass central here either. AOK with me. I assume your inshore is sea bass?

 

What an amazing world we live in. Beauty everywhere. 

 

Seabass, stonebass (what we call corvina), and even smaller species like (chub) mackerel and bream. You can usually find them along rocky shorelines on near riprap and there are a lot of tackle shops dedicated to either inshore and surf fishing. ?

 

[Paul Roberts]

2 hours ago, JohnFromLisbon said:

 

Seabass, stonebass (what we call corvina), and even smaller species like (chub) mackerel and bream. You can usually find them along rocky shorelines on near riprap and there are a lot of tackle shops dedicated to either inshore and surf fishing. ?

 

Very cool.