I wasn't sure what I was going to do in the morning, but was planning or at least hoping to fish for an hour or two.  5:55am and my phone starts ringing!  WTF?

I see the number and it looks familiar so I answered.  Turns out it was a recruiter (from the east coast) having a potential job opportunity out here in San Diego!  I had to go from "Dead Asleep" to "Interview Mode" in seconds without a cup of coffee!  This was way more stressful than you think!

Interview done and now I'm a little stressed.  Trying to get interviewed in that scenario is not easy but I think I did well so it was time for a cup of coffee!

I grab my rods since I was wide awake now and head down to the puddles.

I started bass fishing at first but went back to trout fishing right away since I haven't seen a bass caught in a month around here.



I switched lakes and started soaking baits for a quiet morning... until a group olf old betties were walking by and blocked my view of my rod.  They were all turned at the rod, so something was going on.  I parted the "Gray Sea" and saw my rod doubled over!  I was hoping for a trout, but realized it was most likely a cat.  The ladies were more stoked than me!  LOL



I wasn't keeping this one so I let it go after a quick picture and hook removal.

Then it was as quiet as ever or possibly even more.  I did a last cast and set my 15 minute timer...

10 minutes... Nothing

5 minutes and I see my SI out of the corner of my eye get thrown into the lake!  UGH, that means a cat but Fish On none the less!

As I was fighting it, I started to change my mind about it being a cat.  It was making blistering runs and going apesh!t!  I then got eyeballs on it and it was a REALLY nice trout!  I took my time and there were no people or birds that could have messed it up so it was a really fun fight!

In the net and onto the scaled Lip Gripper!



Friggin beauty! at ~4.25# on the spring scale!



Funny thing it was a Cut Bow (What they were calling Steelhead)!  What a fun fis indeed, even though it looked like a normal triploid trout.



Well, I made one more cast and headed home.  My granddaughter is coming over tomorrow for the weekend, so I'm going to be Papa for the weekend and probably means no fishing for me.  I do plan on cooking a huge Super Bowl dinner though, so it'll make up for it.

Thanks for reading and I'm contemplating heading down for the final two hours today before the park closes.  I need to clean these lakes out of trout!

Well my parking permit expires today and I have to go in for my PRP shots.  No better time than to get in a quick lake session.

It was S-L-O-W!!!!  Basically 3 hours of nothing until at the very end.  My only action in the beginning was a Green Heron flying into my line and tangling up!  I reeled him in and untangled him.  My first Green Heron ever and one amazing thing about it...  It never ONCE tried to bite or peck me.  I was a little dumbfounded since I've never caught a bird that wanted to draw as much blood as possible!



Well, my 15-minute timer went off (old Sasquatch move to make sure we left at a decent time)...  5 minutes later and my SI dropped like an anchor!  Trout on!

Nice one, but weird coloration on it.  Looked like he might have been in these lakes for a while.  In any case, more meat for the smoker and another carcass for the lobster pots!



I got home to shower and head off to get my PRP injections.  Not a terrible procedure but not comfortable either.  Fingers crossed this holds me over until the end of the year so I can start working and get some more fishing in!

Thanks for reading and until the next Puddle Excursion!

Quote from: Chris on February 04, 2026, 10:02:10 PMHow do you like it now? I've been beating on the Komodo's in hopes Okuma would recognize me but no such luck. Lol. Iike them but always open to new gear.

I haven't really had anything to test it yet except for a few larger grade bonito and had to back down on the drag to make it a little more fun. I would totally have no issue throwing artificials at big yellows and tuna with it, although I'm not sure "how big" is to big yet.
Feels solid. Not as smooth as the Tranx 500, but $100 less so good trade off to me.

Well, I postponed the surgery until later this year, but I go in for PRP injections today.  It should improve the tear by 25-35% and most of the pain in about a month or so, but we will see.  This is going to be an expensive experiment, but I've talked with people who have had it and they swear by it.  I only wish insurance covered it.

Quote from: sasquatch on February 02, 2026, 10:46:50 AMHaven't seen it. My friends mom changed the password and killed my access. 😂

Bummer. I actually remember when you said you had access through your friend's mom's password and it made me laugh.  lol

Has anyone been watching it?  I've enjoyed it so far as it kind of reminds me of more of a "Fellowship of the Ring" type of story for GOT which will ramp up as the seasons move on.  The characters really nailed their parts IMHO.

What's your thoughts?

Well, since receiving another rejection letter on Friday, I have to think outside the box.  Travel is not really an option as living away from home for months at a time in sub-zero weather is not enticing at all.
I took my notebook down as well as my gear to the lakes to soak some bait and try to brainstorm other options or possibilities that are out there.

Being there when the park opens usually means early bites dying into the doldrums before I leave.  Well, it wasn't long before I got my first nice trout of the morning and it was a big old hookjaw to boot!  Long and skinny sucker!





I rebaited and started to see what was out there which could match my experience... as a career pivot in sort of a way.  Not many options out there and then I noticed my SI drop like an anchor!  Fish on!
Triploid stocker and a fairly nice one!



I went back to work and exhausted all of the options I could think of so I was ready to pack it in when I see the SI laying in the water.  Fish on again!

This one wasn't big and 1.5# at most.... more like bass bait.

I helped a guy near me that was in need of help and he said he saw a giant trout, like 10 pounds that jumped out of the water.  I was instantly thinking it was probably one of the swimming ducks diving or poppin up like they do but I wasn't going to not investigate just in case.  Then we were both looking to where he was pointing and a 10+ pound bass smashed the surface!  I was like "That was no trout"  lol.  It was in the same general area I saw a kid catch and weigh his first 10 pounder so guessing it is the same fish since I can't imagine they leave their territory when they get that big.

Oh well, time to go home and try to enjoy the rest of my Sunday.  I have some fish to clean.



Thanks for reading!

Quote from: Tim524 on February 01, 2026, 07:24:15 PMYou are addicted to them Lakes more than Janie is to Bass Pro    

It's cheap and convenient when you're not bringing in a paycheck.

I pulled more lobster and made more Lobster Mac-N-Cheese but coated it with toasted crushed macadamia nuts!  Then I put lobster, crab, and halibut into fish cakes and added some remoulade sauce!



I also pan seared some squash just to get our veggies in and voila!  One hell of a paper plate ginner!

I ran back in the morning, but the same guy who saw me catch at my first spot yesterday was there again holding the area hostage... Grrrr

I ran to my next spot and there was another person holding that spot down.... Now it's time just go full Ninja...

I set up and hoped for something... anything... considering there's nowhere to hide around here and they all gang up on you soon as a rod is bent.

Within 15 minutes and my rod doubles over!  I was really hopeful it was going to be a big trout, but my strike indicator only goes "Up" when a Catfish hits for some reason. 

Sure enough!  At least a big one!



Next bite and my strike indicator drops so definitely a trout... and it was!



Then came my moment of pain.  One rod went off and it felt like a nice trout.  I was fighting it in when my other rod went off but I stuck to the rod in hand.  I get a nice trout in and run to my other rod and I KNOW it's a much bigger fish.  I saw it slashing at the surface, but that brought the pelicans and cormorants...  It was way too big to just muscle it in and I had it about 2-3 feet from the end of the net a few times, but the bird wasn't scared at all and kept cutting him off from beaching himself.

I saw the bird swipe at the trout's head (The fish was big as the bird by the way) and friggin clipped my line.  Thank god I don't have my BB gun with me or that bird would have been headless and the mad birders would have called the cops.

The parrots were tormenting me that a bird bested me from above...



Oh well... I kept Dave posted and things slowed down, but had one last flurry before I left with another cat and another trout.  Got my limits and had to head back to get on the horn with some more recruiters and get a few resumes out.  I want to go back this afternoon, but the wife says I need to take her out for dinner tonight since she's basically the bread winner in the house these days.



Oh well.  My shoulder is ruined and I hope this PRP shot helps.  I'm going to wait until the end of the year to get my surgery in and just keep my fingers crossed, I don't make my shoulder situation worse.

Thanks for reading!

I had a few interviews during the day but had a little bit of time in the morning to give the puddles a try.

I found my spot and was super happy that everyone was spread out and no one was on top of each other....



Then... "That Dude" pulled up right next to me and was casting right where I was.  Then he wanted to have all sorts of conversation, and I just kept the answers short and went back to the truck to watch the strike indicators.

Watching this guy cast over my lines was maddening and I should have just left, but I was only going to be here another hour and relocating seemed like more work than I needed to do.

Then I see my strike indicator slowly dropping and knew right away it was a trout!  The guy was already perplexed why I had my "Bobber" dangling from my line on my rod but I got it done with a frisky rainbow.  Definitely looked different so the more recent stocked fish from I am guessing.



Well, enough was enough and I headed back to have conversations with some recruiters.  As I got home, I got an email from a company that I was really hoping I was going to be hired at.  Good news it was down to two people.  Bad news it wasn't me.  ~sigh~

I finished my interviews with the recruiters and decided to head back down to see if the afternoon was any better than the morning.  Sure enough, the guy was right in the spot I was going to head back to so I decided to just try another lake instead.

I have to say it was wonderful!  To my surprise< i got bit fairly quickly and it turned out being a nice Hook-Jaw Steelhead!





Then about 30 minutes before closing I hooked another legit one!  Not as big, but a legit 3-4# triploid!



Not too shabby at all and a fine way to end the day.  It even took a little sting out of the job rejection and more trout for the smoker!



I might have to go back tomorrow since I may have stumbled onto something....

Right on Tim. I was checking out old SNBF pictures and they were only little guys! Lol

Quote from: sasquatch on January 28, 2026, 07:26:33 PMDamn. That made me feel even older. 😂

That's because you are. Lol

It's been quite a while since I fished with Dave, and he was up for trying some trout at the puddles.

It was sunny first thing in the morning and not as cold as I was expecting.



I stopped for a minute to figure out why there was a set of dress socks just sitting in the grass.





Well Dave arrived and it took a bit for him to tie up and get a bait out, but was ready for a big Lightning Trout!



I was first to strike!  I thought it might have been a decent trout, but the little whisker trout fooled me on the noodle rod.



Dave denied me any gloating for a little whisker.  LOL



I saw a few trout hiding from the cormorants along the shoreline but couldn't get any of them to take my offering.  Finally, just before I was about to leave, I got a little guy!



Really tough fishing and it definitely wasn't trout weather.  Well, at least I got a few to fillet and have some carcasses for lobster bait.

On a side note, I'm not sure where these trout are from, but the meat was pretty bland looking.  The worst meat color out of all the trout I've caught here and pretty damn small also.

Quote from: jrodda on January 24, 2026, 08:46:33 PMIt is pretty hilarious that you would rather just let a fish get off than let them see you catch it.

Sacrifices have to be made for the greater good.