7-24-20
A fishing buddy invited me to Miller’s Canyon the other day. Since the gate to drive into Miller’s Canyon has been closed for many years, I was very hesitant to make the trip because of the almost 2-mile hike required to reach the Serrano Beach area. Considering that the hike would also take place at night, and that I would be traveling solo, my mind began to race with thoughts like Wild animals are free to roam that area!?,and Will I make it there?
As I began to prepare at home for my trip to Serrano Beach in Miller’s Canyon, I had a really good idea pop into my mind. That idea was to use my mountain bike as my mode of transportation, so I threw my bike into the back of my truck. Once I reached the Miller Canyon Road turnout/entrance, I grabbed all of my fishing gear and was off! Instead of walking the 1.8 miles down the paved path to Serrano Beach, I literally flew down the path on my bike and made it in just a few minutes time.
As I traveled the path that I haven’t traveled in over 20 years, I was reminded of all the times my father took me to Miller’s Canyon to fish for Striper, Largemouth Bass, and Catfish. Good times!!! Those were the days when I thought nothing could stop me and my Carolina rigged floating nightcrawler. Once I reached my destination, I met up with my friend and I actually set up to baitfish using a Carolina rig baited with an anchovy. Fishing with bait is a tried and true tactic to put fish on the stringer at Silverwood, so I went ahead and tried it out again. I will say that in almost all of my fishing outings in the last couple years, I have focused strictly on the challenge of catching fish with artificial lures.
In addition to having a bait pole in the water, I set up my jerkbait lure and made a few cast walking toward the boat ramp. I could hear my friend yelling for me who was closer to my pole than I was at that moment, and he landed a small bull-headed type of Catfish near one pound on my rod. As I continued to explore the boat ramp and made several casts on the end of it, I could barely believe my eyes when I turned around. There was a small Bobcat running away from the boat ramp which I was standing on. Immediately, I went back to the original fishing spot near my friend, and I stayed there bait fishing several hours. I had many strikes on my Carolina rig set up with an anchovy with nothing to show for it. The new challenge for me that night became less about fishing and quickly more about getting back to my truck with/on my bike. Since the trail to get down there was rather easy, I knew it was going to take a lot more effort to get out. I made it!!!!!!
One morning last week, I decided to fish at the Marina. There was a lot of fish jumping that morning which looked like carp. I was able to land a 1-pound Striper on a jerkbait, but other than that it was a relatively slow morning. The friend I met there wanted to try the Cleghorn area before we ended the fishing session. I’m glad we went to Cleghorn to shore fish because of the shade made available from the trees. I was able to land one Striper on a Carolina rig baited with anchovy. Another friend called me later that day to see if I would meet him for some fishing at Vista Point. I met up with him and was able to land 3 Striper on some jerkbaits. All in all, I was able to catch 5 Stripers on that day.
Another time last week, I spent several hours night fishing at Vista Point and was not able to even get a strike on my jerkbait. This was a nice, gentle reminder to me that Fishing is called Fishing for a reason.
Overall, I was able to land 6 Stripers in total fishing last week (5 on jerkbaits, 1 on a Carolina Rig). My goal in my next couple of trips to Silverwood is to land a Largemouth Bass at or above 4 pounds on a lure. Let’s Go!!!
