11/27-Back to the SD River

[VinnyBass]

Decided to take the cheaper fishing route(a recent new roof set me back $$,$$$$) so I headed down to the SD River for a morning session.
The last time I was there it was really stained and flooded via the tons of water being released from El Capitan. This time the water had
gone down to almost back to normal. I always start off with reaction baits,(a bunch of them) but no takers. I then started working the
stick-ups flipping a Tokyo rig with a senko trailer. My other rod had basically a drop shot rig on straight braid that I almost cut off but
decided to flip that for a while. Well, @Mcfish would be proud because after lots of flips, my line headed
towards me and I landed a bass. A pretty small one, but always good to catch a skunk-breaker no matter how small.
I worked a lot of stick-ups and shoreline. Trying to keep this post kind of short, I only had 2 other bites but was lucky as I landed both
of those bass on a wacky rigged senko. After my recent trip to Murray where I only got 3 bites, landed 2 and busted one bass off, so I
felt pretty lucky on this trip as I was able to land 3 bass on only 3 bites.
Maybe this time of the year catching 3 bass is the new 5 for a limit.....ha ha.
Tight lines everyone

Smallest bass on DS..ha ha
(Thanks McFish)

Wacky rigged senko

Wacky rigged senko

[Slater]

[Mcfish]

You owe me for that dropshot fish..I'm not sure what you owe me, but you must owe me something......! Good job getting some river fishes, can be tough this time of year!

[VinnyBass]

You owe me for that dropshot fish..I'm not sure what you owe me, but you must owe me something......! Good job getting some river fishes, can be tough this time of year!

I would give you some 6” Roboworms….but I know that those may be way too long for you to ever use. I would give you a Tokyo rig, but I don’t think you would ever use it either. For now, I owe you a big thank you for always telling me to throw a drop shot rig even though I usually don’t want to …. Ha ha.
Tight lines always buddy

[bendopolo 44+]

I figured you were running down to look for more Salmon…..

[VinnyBass]

I figured you were running down to look for more Salmon…..

No salmon in the SD RIver. Heck they could not survive a day in that water....ha ha

[Neuroshima]

Cool pattern on the last one, or is that just shadow?

[otaymichael]

Good job!

[VinnyBass]

Cool pattern on the last one, or is that just shadow?

Maybe a few shadows on the pic might’ve helped darken him up but he was pretty dark already. I caught him deep in the stickups under an overhanging tree.Probably didn’t get out much and lived in the shadows… ha ha.

[Ol Dirty Basser]

I figured you were running down to look for more Salmon…..

No salmon in the SD RIver. Heck they could not survive a day in that water....ha ha

That's not what the story says that goes along with that picture...

https://wonews.com/san-diego-shocked-ba ... ego-river/

[VinnyBass]

I figured you were running down to look for more Salmon…..

No salmon in the SD RIver. Heck they could not survive a day in that water....ha ha

That's not what the story says that goes along with that picture...

https://wonews.com/san-diego-shocked-ba ... ego-river/

OMG!!! I never ever in my lifetime would have thought a salmon could be in the SD River.
I did not think Salmon could survive in warm water. I've been down the river up and down
where it is just stickups and trash in Mission Valley and the water temp is close to 80 degrees
at times in the summer. Lots of detours and virtually blocked areas for a fish that big to get up
where it looks like past Mission Center road. Hmmmmm?
@Queue ...what do ya think?

[Mcfish]

Hmmmm...I spent a couple summers guiding on the Klamath River, never saw a Chinook with that coloration! Maybe that's what the S.D. river does to you! I think at one time, all the California River's had some sort of Salmon and Steelhead runs. I know Camp Pendleton had steelhead.

[Ol Dirty Basser]

Hmmmm...I spent a couple summers guiding on the Klamath River, never saw a Chinook with that coloration! Maybe that's what the S.D. river does to you! I think at one time, all the California River's had some sort of Salmon and Steelhead runs. I know Camp Pendleton had steelhead.

Yes, from my understanding there's a group of people that are/were trying to restore the creek near Trestles so that the steelies could go upstream and spawn. Apparently they would go up the creek but could only get to a certain point before they were blocked off.

[VinnyBass]

No reports ever in my lifetime of anyone fishing and catching a Salmon in the SD river or knowing of anyone or finding even
a dead one....pretty strange eh? Anyway, I just wanted to share a couple picks on this post of some small bass I caught at
the SD River with you guys.

Rumor has it that McFish already has his fly rod and gear in the truck ready to go....ha ha
Just messing...

[monstahfish]

I wonder if all the el cap draining created cold tailwater flow that drew it in? Combine that with a salmon whose navigation is busted, seems crazy but I suppose it's feasible.

[Neuroshima]

I have my serious doubts about the salmon. I've only seen one pic, and it's poor quality. I would imagine it would have receive a lot of more attention if true. Heck, I saw dead carp a few months ago when O2 levels dropped.

[camobass]

That salmon’s skin has that dry, shine look to it. Like it wasn’t quickly caught, photo’d and released

[VinnyBass]

I am going to sound like a negative Nancy here.....but here are some things in the WON story that to me seem strange.
He said he had only a 20 minute window to fish, before going to work. OK...yet there is a float tube there and it
just seems illogical to take that out, try to get it out somewhere in the water to fish in such a short time.
Another thing even though I don't have a float tube, don't you wear waders when you fish out of one?
He is wearing Levis(and they are not wet)...where is his waders?
I have some questions looking at the slightly blurred areas of the photo itself especially if you enlarge it with a computer.
Some things are just out of focus yet right around him where he is standing everything is pretty sharp. The tail fin area of
the fish is a little weird...I guess working for a few decades with graphic designers and artists who were pretty good at
photoshop makes me look at things a little more closely.
And I met a guy at the river a couple times who works for the city or somewhere who said he randomly tests the water
and tests the oxygen levels. Lots of dead fish at times down there due to lack of oxygen.
There are a few other things but I want to know what you think about the 20 minute thing, the float tube and not wearing
waders? Something is not true in this story to me.....sorry if I am being a whiner.

[Neuroshima]

I am going to sound like a negative Nancy here.....but here are some things in the WON story that to me seem strange.
He said he had only a 20 minute window to fish, before going to work. OK...yet there is a float tube there and it
just seems illogical to take that out, try to get it out somewhere in the water to fish in such a short time.
Another thing even though I don't have a float tube, don't you wear waders when you fish out of one?
He is wearing Levis(and they are not wet)...where is his waders?
I have some questions looking at the slightly blurred areas of the photo itself especially if you enlarge it with a computer.
Some things are just out of focus yet right around him where he is standing everything is pretty sharp. The tail fin area of
the fish is a little weird...I guess working for a few decades with graphic designers and artists who were pretty good at
photoshop makes me look at things a little more closely.
And I met a guy at the river a couple times who works for the city or somewhere who said he randomly tests the water
and tests the oxygen levels. Lots of dead fish at times down there due to lack of oxygen.
There are a few other things but I want to know what you think about the 20 minute thing, the float tube and not wearing
waders? Something is not true in this story to me.....sorry if I am being a whiner.

This was floating around on Instagram, and the poster said that the angler was fishing from shore, and that the float tuber kicked over and took the pic of him. Wish I could find it again, because IG picture had a bigger field of view. You could see the ground which was dry, as if there was a giant fish just pulled out of the water and flopping around.

Now if you want to talk realistic oddities, I once talked to a retired police officer at the river and he said he saw sealions swimming up near Fashion Valley!

[VinnyBass]

I am going to sound like a negative Nancy here.....but here are some things in the WON story that to me seem strange.
He said he had only a 20 minute window to fish, before going to work. OK...yet there is a float tube there and it
just seems illogical to take that out, try to get it out somewhere in the water to fish in such a short time.
Another thing even though I don't have a float tube, don't you wear waders when you fish out of one?
He is wearing Levis(and they are not wet)...where is his waders?
I have some questions looking at the slightly blurred areas of the photo itself especially if you enlarge it with a computer.
Some things are just out of focus yet right around him where he is standing everything is pretty sharp. The tail fin area of
the fish is a little weird...I guess working for a few decades with graphic designers and artists who were pretty good at
photoshop makes me look at things a little more closely.
And I met a guy at the river a couple times who works for the city or somewhere who said he randomly tests the water
and tests the oxygen levels. Lots of dead fish at times down there due to lack of oxygen.
There are a few other things but I want to know what you think about the 20 minute thing, the float tube and not wearing
waders? Something is not true in this story to me.....sorry if I am being a whiner.

This was floating around on Instagram, and the poster said that the angler was fishing from shore, and that the float tuber kicked over and took the pic of him. Wish I could find it again, because IG picture had a bigger field of view. You could see the ground which was dry, as if there was a giant fish just pulled out of the water and flopping around.

Now if you want to talk realistic oddities, I once talked to a retired police officer at the river and he said he saw sealions swimming up near Fashion Valley!

Thank you.
It still seems strange, but what else can I say?
I worked at the Union-Tribune in Mission Valley for 28 years and I remember a sea lion swimming around in the river.
Crazy stuff!