Bass Fishing at Foothills Park

For the duration of this blog I've kept my bass fishing techniques a secret. Boronda Lake, a small pond within Foothills park, is only accessible to Palo Alto residents. Granted, the gate is usually only staffed on weekends so you could probably drive right in during the weekdays if you are willing to take the risk.

Boronda Lake has mediocre bass and sunfish fishing, but both species are mere apparitions during bright, sunny afternoons. The lake is only eight feet deep at the deepest point, meaning that heavy weed growth and warm temperatures make it difficult to catch both bass and sunfish.

To make matters worse the lake is hit hard by many skilled fisherman, and this has made the bass that reside in this pond quite wary. The entirety of this small pond can be fished in 45 minutes.

July 24, 2016: Caught five bass (released)

To give myself an edge over other fisherman I fish in a float tube and cast a six-inch Roboworm to back of the tules an hour before the park closes. The fish become much more active during this time, and my dad has even managed to catch a plethora of bass on a round black popper.

I have also found that trolling a Roboworm at the edge of weed lines in the morning can trigger a strike. The key is to constantly check that your worm is at the edge of the weed bed — right before it drops off into deeper water.

In terms of tackle I use:

• #1 Baitholder hook (barbless)
• Six-inch Roboworm (weightless)
• Spinning Rod spooled with 12-pound monofilament

Because the lake is so small I must advise catch and release to preserve the population of bass.

I've fished at Boronda for 12 years (since I was five), and I've caught some of the biggest bass of my life here. While not the best or biggest bass lake, it can certainly turn out the occasional surprise for the persistent angler.

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Summer Catches

    I've unfortunately been really busy juggling school, cross-country, and surfing to write a blog post. But I have not stopped fishing. Over the summer I caught upwards of one-hundred bass between ten and eighteen inches using Roboworms and Senko's on # 1 hooks at Boronda Lake. The bite started around mid April and is still going strong at late September. During our annual trip to Yosemite I landed several beautiful brook, brown, and rainbow trout. However, my father stole the show by catching a monster brown trout on a #22 mosquito in the Merced River. Scroll to the bottom of the page and check it out if you haven't already.
 
    Ironically the most exciting fishing trip occurred no more than half-a-mile from my backyard. I walked to where the many "creeks" meet the bay and fished with a fly rod for carp. I could see dozens in the water, but they always managed to elude me. One day I finally managed to land one by crouching low, sneaking up to the fish, and casting a large crayfish fly a couple feet in front of it. The carp inched forward and took my fly, only to sprint away as I set the hook. The drag on my trout reel screamed for nearly ten minutes as I ran up and down the bank, trying to tire the carp out. After a long and tiring fight the carp finally gave up, and my dad crammed it into the net. I would say the carp is about twelve pounds. My dad thinks it's around ten. You guys decide (but I think it's twelve pounds).

    You may not see as many, or you may not see any blog posts from me in the coming months. I started this blog nearly three years ago as a summer writing project my dad forced me to do. Since then I have poured dozens of stories and experiences into it, and somehow managed to keep it going. I have had around 10,000 people visit this site, an unbelievable number. To all those who read my first blog three years ago, I'm sorry because the writing was pretty bad. However, I would like to thank everybody who took the time to read those first few entries, and give their support. I intend to update this blog as often as possible, with as many fish as possible. After all, I am a student, a runner, and a surfer, but deep down, I'm a twelve year old kid obsessed with the feel of a fish on the end of my line.

Just look at the bigger bass (senko, # 1 hooks)

The 2014 summer season was highly productive.  Some of the highlights:

• Average of 3 bass per sessions, sometime up to 5 to 7 bass of a good size.  The bass were primarily taking plastic worms rigged wacky.  We also had dozens of bass on the fly rod using a bluegill fly
• Carp on fly rod using the crayfish pattern
• 70 trout in one session in the Yosemite high country, the majority on a fly rod using small dry flies.  Non-stop action.
• Nice brown trout on a small dry fly in the Merced River inside of Yosemite Valley, by the bridge near Yosemite Lodge
• 20 bluegill at West Lake in Santa Cruz on a beadhead nymph

Dozens of bass like this caught over the summer
(roboworm / senko #1 hooks)

Dad makes a rare appearance, catching brown trout on dry fly

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Summer Fishing Report #1: Bass Fishing Overview for Foothills Park

Running at my summer camp

My last post from Foothills Park was during the pre-spawn bite in mid-April. After the crazy pre-spawn bite at Lake Boronda the anglers of Foothills park experienced a lull in the fishing. The spawning bass were far and few between, the ones that were easily fooled had already been caught. After the spawn the large-mouth retreated into deep water where I couldn't reach them. My dad and I managed to pick up a few here and there on plastic crayfish and #10 wooly buggers, but for the most part fishing was fairly spotty. Since then my father and I have been hitting the post-spawn bass hard. However, between the months of July and August we experienced some great fishing at Boronda Lake.
The bite started after the heatwave that hit the bay area in mid-July. I was attending a summer camp in the high sierras, but my dad decided to give the lake a shot. When I returned from my week-long camp he recounted the muggy nights, temperatures near the 95 degree mark, and the dozens of bass he had landed. I immediately demanded that we drive to the lake. After arriving my dad hopped out of the car, sauntered down to the dock and began to cast into the lake with his fly rod. He began to land twelve-inch bass on almost every cast.

A fourteen-inch bass (roboworm)

The rest of July passed much like that day, with four to five bass devouring our lures just as the sun slunk below the grass covered hills. My dad landed most of our ten to twelve inch bass using a #8-10 sliding popper and a #12 bluegill special. He would stand out on the docks and whip his five-weight fly rod back and forth before placing the six pound leader gently on the water. I stayed with conventional equipment using a spinning rod spooled with fifteen pound braid. My lure of choice was an arrons magic roboworm, rigged up with my fathers "Oda Rig". This technique was responsible for landing many of our bass in the fourteen to sixteen size range. Between the two of us we landed nearly seventy bass in about a month. Most were between ten and sixteen inches, but my dad fought a seven pound bass right to the dock, only to have it shake the hook when I attempted to net it. In addition to the action earlier in the year, this season was our most productive expedition yet.

Another bass landed on the roboworm

However the action died as soon as it started. The stifling hot nights faded and gave way to chilly autumn winds and early nights this week. And just like that, the bass stopped their evening feeding frenzy. This is the dynamic change that fisherman face every year. Although the bass fishing is tapering down here at the Foothills I will continue to pursue other species in different locations. Maybe hunting wild trout in a shallow brook, or braving the salty spray of a rock-fishing boat, but I always intend to continue fishing. However the end of this bass season marks something a little different for me this year. I begin high school in two weeks, and there is a lot of change I will have to go through. It may be the end of my childhood, a time where I have to start planning ahead in how my decisions will affect me later in life. Through it all I intend to keep going forward and fish as much as much as time allows.
    --KidFishRelease

Boronda lake

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Pre-Spawn Crazy Bass Bite

First Bass of the season (4 1/2 pound)

The larger sample of Week 2 bass

Last week I injured my hip while playing soccer. Since then I have unfortunately been unable to play any sports, resulting in a severe case of boredom. After slogging through a week of school, my dad offered to take me bass fishing at nearby Foothills Park. Fishing: Preparation for Life and Explosive Big Bass Action are two other posts that I have written that sum up what Boronda Lake is like. It's a meager shallow pond where foliage grows in abundance along the bottom. And yet, it can be home to some of the best bass fishing in the area to those know know it's secrets......

The smaller of Week 2 bass

Many mice inhabit the reeds

4th and 5th bass of the season (14 - 16 in)

Largest bass of my life (25 in)

Unfortunately, after six years of fishing the pond, I am still a budding Boronda angler. But to minimize my inadequate experience, I try to maximize every possible advantage. This means using a float tube to probe the backside of tules where no angler can fish, being on the water as the sun sets below the horizon, and using the bait that other people are catching with. The float tube is a major edge over other fisherman. Bass feel safe in places they have never been

caught in before, and since anglers cannot reach the backside of tules and structure in the middle of the lake, they are more willing to bite in those areas. So last week, I kicked my way around Boronda lake, trying to see if I could hook into a pre-spawn bass.

I fished Boronda three days in a row, then hit it twice the following week with a  #4 bait-holder hook pinning a blue senko rigged wacky on 8lb. test. So what did I catch? Well on the first day, I pulled in a four-and-a-half pound bass as the somber light of a dying sun turned the numerous mosquitos into aurora dust. Elated by my catch I went the following day as well, and landed three largemouth bass, one right after the other under the starry sky. One of the bass weighed in at five pounds (don't worry I released all of them). The other two averaged about fourteen to sixteen inches, and I lost another one about the same size. But my dad suddenly encroached on my spot and tussled another five pound brute to the net. After some speculation, I realized his fish was bigger. In order to maintain my pride I was going to need to pull in an even heftier beast.

Intense stare-down with  a deer

And so I pleaded with him to take me the following day. But the bass suddenly went on lockdown due to the fact that five of their brethren had already been caught in the same relative location. As the moon rose to a luminescent peak above and I was forced to evade the occasional ranger patrol,  I wallowed in despair. For I knew my father was going to take the title for largest bass. Confident that we were going to get skunked that night, my dad dragged his float tube to shore and walked to the car. I was left alone in darkness so complete I could hardly see the handle of my reel. I cast my Senko half-heartely into a dense clump of weeds and let it sit. And suddenly the water erupted with the thrash of a colossal bass. My reel began to overheat and malfunction as the bass towed me around the maze of reeds. Struggles with bass are brief and vicious, but soon I had the tremendous head of the monster at my net. And then it breached the surface, and the hook pulled loose from the jaw. I watched it flop...... straight into the net. Luckily, the fish landed in my outstretched net, and I was able to land it. Regardless, my father was shocked when he returned to check on me. I don't know how heavy the bass was, but I would guess it was around 7-8lbs. It was 25 inches long, and plump with numerous sunfish. To date it is the biggest bass I have ever landed.

2nd and 3rd bass (5 pounders)

I visited the lake the following week, and my father and I pulled in a combined total of three bass on day one. However I managed to land only one on day two. All four fish were average, 12 - 14 inch bass. The time of the immense giants was over, leaving in their wake only memories and photographs. But the reason I was able to fish that many days in a row was because of my hip injury. Originally I had thought it would have been a negative thing, and there were some consequences. I could not play in my soccer game or participate in the opening week of track and field. Conversely, I experienced one of the best fishing trips of my life and landed the largest bass of my short career. This has lead me to believe that life is always in the gray area. There are positive points, but there will always be negative points. You will always have to make compromises, but if you recognize the positive side of things, one can lead a much happier life

Fish total: 10 bass, four in the five pound range
Tackle: 8 lb test, #4 bait-holder hook, blue Senko rigged wacky, bait-cast reel
Air Temperature: 59 - 65 degrees

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Explosive Big Bass Action

Right now I am in a Junior Guards program. It takes place five days a week for five weeks. During that time I have to swim to the end of piers and run dozens of miles. What does this mean for my fishing? It means,  I cannot fish!   I am either too tired or I do not have enough time. So now I am relying on other people like CC to supply me with fish to put into my blog.

CC (carnivorous crank bait) has been hitting Boronda lake almost every day. There was eventually a period of warm spells in Palo Alto. At the tail end of the warmer weather CC put some quality time into fishing with his KVD shallow-diving crank bait. His reward was a five-pound fish and a three-pound fish on the first day. Elated, he went home and came back to Boronda. At the end of the day he held a four-pound bass in his hands. After some conversation, I found out what he was using. His reel was spooled with twelve pound test, and he was using a shock rod. The lake had occasional gusts of wind blowing across it, but it was usually placid. Temperatures were about 76 degrees. Lake visibility was about six feet.

Five-pound bass caught on KVD crankbait

Three-pound bass

Four-pound bass

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Fishing: Preparation for Life

I really put my time during the last trip. My reward was this nice bass
at Lake Boronda. 

In my earlier post, you will see that I fished at Calero earlier this morning. But as evening approached I got the Boronda bass itch, the unstoppable urge to fish at Lake Boronda for a chance at a bass. So I put down my Xbox controller and my TV remote, and rode down to the lake. The drive along winding Foothill Road built up the suspense within me.

As soon as we got to the lake I jumped out. I already held my weapon of choice in my hand, a four-inch Rage Craw, pinned on a shaky 1/8 ounce jig head. The evening temperature was a balmy 76 degrees, and the lake was placid. I began my routine lap of the lake, but after one and a half hours my hope was flickering. A friend of mine (not CC) caught a frog, but that was about it. Just as we were about to leave, I pitched in my Rage Craw, and dragged it along the bottom of the lake. A nice fish picked it up. An exhilarating fight commenced, and I netted a hefty bass. Soon after my catch, CC caught a decent bass and a massive sunfish using a KVD crank bait. Though the action was still quite slow, the fish were warming up. Soon, I expected violent surface action from big bass.

A friend of mine caught this bullfrog while buzzing a soft-plastic on top of the water

Fishing is often rewarding when you catch fish, but there are times when you don't. I have talked to the adults and they say that fishing is "preparation for life." If someone only cares about catching fish, they don't really understand what fishing is about.  In fishing the exciting part is perfecting your bait's action, and thinking about the bass's movements and patterns. The actual fish is just a reward. I don't completely agree with this idea, but fishing is something to enjoy. It helps me get away from the Xbox, and enjoy the outdoors. If you only live for the fight of the fish, you will miss the opportunity to enjoy many moments in your life.

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Fishermen make Friends

This happy fisherman (CC) pulled in a hefty 3.5 pound largemouth bass at Boronda Lake in Palo Alto

Fishing is all about the experiences you have during your adventure. Last night I was treated to an amazing dinner with some of my best fishing buddies. We talked and ate and ate and ate... and then I ate some more. The reason we were eating so much, fishing! As some of you may figure out in the future, fishing is not catching. Quite often you sit at the side of a lake for eight hours and catch nothing. However, I feel enjoying the scenery, and the company of others is more than enough. A fish is just a bonus. It does help to be full of warm, yummy food.

Yesterday was one of those days when the conditions were aligned just right, and success greeted us. When we got to the lake there were three people in the car. Me, my dad, and our friend, CC (carnivorous crank bait) all stepped out ready for action. The lake was a glassy surface, that reflected the hills. A light gust of wind would occasionally stir up the water and the cool air of the evening had the bass jumping. I went on ahead to scout for fish, while CC tied on a KVD shallow-diving crank bait. When I came back to check on him, I was surprised to see a massive bend in his Shock rod. After a vicious tussle, CC coaxed the 3.5 pound bass into the waiting net. We continued fishing.
After I caught a much smaller bass, our entourage piled into the van, and left the lake just as the sun passed over the grass covered hills. Back at the house we were greeted with cake and refreshments, as we sat around the table talking about CC's success.

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