San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Well, with the weather starting to cool down at night and water temperatures getting colder I decided to just take a late morning
run to the SD river. I figured there was no sense in going early and besides, I normally don't fish it much past the middle of November
as it tends to shut off as the cold water starts to take over. It already has pretty darn tough after they flooded everything by releasing
water from El Cap a few times.
I am sorry to say that I did not take any special gear to catch Salmon, even though McFish suggested I do and just took some
plastic worms(Senkos/Roboworms), some crawbaits and a few reaction baits.
I tried a few reaction baits but I figured I missed any morning bite if there even was one since I arrived kind of late.
The weather was nice and there was no wind, but the water had a green film on it so any water that landed on my shirt or shorts
from my line or lures immediately left spots. Nothing as far as I could see scratched the surface and it just felt like one of those days
where nothing may be biting. You know those days where you were excited to fish and then you try to justify a bad day by saying to
yourself...at least I got out on the water...ha ha
Suddenly, I couldn't believe it as I got a tap on my senko and set the hook quickly as it was in lots of cover and landed a small bass.
It fought hard for being so small and flipped my senko about 5 feet on its first jump. I was happy to catch something as that was
my first bite. I continued to work lots of shoreline stickups and cover and switched over to a Tokyo rig with a crawbait trailer.
I flipped it under an overhanging tree branch and bam, I was bit and landed another bass just a little bit bigger. I did not stay
very long after that as I only got 2 bites....but happy to land bass on both.
Again, nothing big, but it made for a better ride home.

Good job! Those River fish are plump! At least you're on the water..better than sitting at Dennys, eating strawberry crepes! Dropshotting 4" Robos and you would of caught a couple dozen....all 6lbs....hahahaha!

Nice job on landing a few. I was out there Sunday morning watched about 100 cormorant birds flying inland, then a squad of 20 of them landed in the pool I was fishing.

Figured the ones going inland had a taste for freash trout, the ones that landed by me were clearly hunting chinook. I took it as a sign to head home skunked, wish I went to Dennys tho...

Guess the Salmon run was last week! Story of my life!

Mcfish wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 4:35 pm Good job! Those River fish are plump! At least you're on the water..better than sitting at Dennys, eating strawberry crepes! Dropshotting 4" Robos and you would of caught a couple dozen....all 6lbs....hahahaha!

It is really funny McFish, as your text this morning telling me I should go to the river helped inspire me to go there(not the part about you heard the salmon are running). Thank you.
If I did not go fishing, I would most likely have been just enjoying these crepes this morning with coffee.

Fisheromen wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 7:15 pm Guess the Salmon run was last week! Story of my life!

Yep, no Chinook salmon, but other than the bass I caught with a fishing rod, I did catch this small spottie with my hand that tried to jump over my kayak..... ....and later I was just inches away from touching this halibut. It was quite a morning at the river.

Since I posted this story on the SD River, I was just curious if anyone has ventured out near the Old Mission Dam and caught any bass around
that area? I have net been down there for decades and just had to take a trip to look around. I did not walk around too much and the
water did not look too deep, but I am guessing there may be some pockets with bass in them. My last pic looks like a nice area to pitch
a frog.
Anyway....you do not have to give up any secret spots, but I just wondered if anyone has caught any bass around there?
Thanks and tight lines.

Lots of dinks there during summer. Spring rains time I have caught a few bigger ones, nothing really worth bragging about other then the spot it was caught at.

Kumeyaay Lake is where I suspect anything there comes from. Can't say I fished that lake tho, only times I been there the lake is fully choked with hydrilla

BTW this was my view of the river earlier

VinnyBass wrote: Sat Dec 09, 2023 2:32 pm Since I posted this story on the SD River, I was just curious if anyone has ventured out near the Old Mission Dam and caught any bass around
that area? I have net been down there for decades and just had to take a trip to look around. I did not walk around too much and the
water did not look too deep, but I am guessing there may be some pockets with bass in them. My last pic looks like a nice area to pitch
a frog.
Anyway....you do not have to give up any secret spots, but I just wondered if anyone has caught any bass around there?
Thanks and tight lines.

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It's been awhile, but I've only seen dinks upstream of the dam, it's pretty shallow. There are big carp downstream right under the dam when the water's high. It gets hammered by hikers/dogs splashing in the water and people fishing off the dam, so whatever's in there spooks pretty easily.