I have recently moved to Dixon from Vallejo because of school. It's nice, because I can fish the creek more during the school quarter. My wife and brother-in-law are new to flyfishing and don't really like to fish Putah Creek yet. They prefer the constant action of bluegill and crappie fishing. Lake Berryessa is an option, but are there any small lakes or ponds that are close where I can take them? In the Vallejo area there are a couple of lakes, but I'm not too familiar with this area yet.
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
Welcome to Dixon. It's still a small town even if we do have stoplights now.
No real info for you on small local bass and bluegill ponds sorry. The only one I know of is private property (located behind the corvette express shop off of quinn road on the East end of Vacaville).
In the middle of summer you can head out 113 towards the dump. Brown road has a canal that crosses it about a mile from 113. Lots n lots of carp out that way. I used to go bowfishing for them a few years back. It was nothing to see 100+ in a couple of hours with many of them well over 10lbs.
Further East is Liberty Island slough. Seems if you were to put a float tube or canoe in you would probably find some bass etc. Lots of tulies, brush, downed trees etc.
Hit up Barryessa just before Easter for some great bass fishing. I've never had much luck with a fly rod for them but split shotting rubber worms is a kick in the pants for a LOT of fish.
__________________
Winter eats heat the way darkness swallows light. The terrors of failed power and frozen stems are stymied with fire, smoke and white ash.
The most overlooked spot to catch smallmouth and largemouth is the lower section of putah creek around winters down to stevensons bridge near dixon, I have takin largmouth in the 8 lb range and smallmouth in the 3 to 4 lb range...A float tube is needed for this, these fish are aggressive and will hammer topwater offerings in the late spring and summer evenings, Right now the water is too low and cold for bass action but come warmer weather yuo should do good. there is also alot of panfish in this area. I also have had really good luck in the upper part of berryessa with my float tube, the spawn for largemouth and smallmouth will happen most likely in late april, HIT IT...its worth it.
I was at Berryessa for a church activity last spring. I happened to have my fly rod in the car (just in case). I saw a guy land a nice smallmouth, so I grabbed my rod. About five casts later I hooked one. He threw the hook, but on the very next cast, I landed him. About ten casts later I landed another one. A little later, I had a fish break my fly off. He just slammed it! Both fish landed weighed a few pounds and fought like crazy. I only fished for about an hour, but it was definitely fun. I was using a #12 damselfly nymph in black. I use the same fly,also in brown and olive, for largemouth, crappie, carp, bluegill, redear and green sunfish. I've actually caught trout on the olive one at Putah Creek, Lake Solano, and Lake Chabot in Vallejo. My brother-in-law caught a squawfish once at Berryessa on his first cast using the same fly.
The pattern is super easy to tie. I use a 2X long nymph hook. For thread, use the same color as the body. For eyes, I use X-small black bead chain, figure-eight wrapped to the the top of the hook. The eyes add weight and make the hook ride with the point up. For the tail I use marabou. I keep it pretty sparse, though. The abdomen and thorax use the same dubbing. The abdomen is sparse, though, and the thorax is fatter. I usually pick out the dubbing a little to make it look more buggy. I wrap the abdomen with some sort of ribbing, usually krystal flash. The krystal flash ribbing doesn't add much to the durability of the fly, but the fish seem to like it. Durability hasn't really been a factor, though. I've caught over 100 fish on the same fly before and it held up. When it gets a little chewed up, the dubbing just looks like it's been picked out a little more. I thing it adds more movement to the fly. Speaking of movement, the fly moves like crazy. Because of the beadchain eyes, the head likes to dive. When you retreive, the head lifts back up. This makes the tail dance up and down. Real damselfly nymphs wiggle their tails side to side to swim around, but the fish don't seem to notice the difference. I think they just like the motion.
Thanks Lightfoot and Captain for the responses.
-- Edited by JT at 11:07, 2007-01-24
-- Edited by JT at 11:07, 2007-01-24
__________________
"Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught."
Hey JT. So I ended up fishing the Feather River right down town Orville and right next to the Hatchery. I fished for about 2.5 hrs and my girlfriend and i landed two sucker fish. I hooked one monster steel head on my 4 wt for about 5 minutes before he snapped my 3x tippet. I hooked another one and had him on for about 8 minutes before he came unhooked. They are amazing fish. They are so strong and fast. When you hook one its like trying to fight a race horse. I strongly recommend that you give the steel head a try. I don't think it would be a bad drive for you. Fish the area next to the huge pipe that comes down from the hatchery. I would go soon. Good luck!
