It's the Terrible at Fishing radio show on Gold
Country Radio. Here's your fishing expert and
host, Michael Ruffino. Welcome back to Terrible
at Fishing everybody. This is Michael Ruffino,
your host. There's a lot of stuff this week.
A lot of stuff this week. I guess we'll just
start with the beginning. First of all, fishing
is starting and I love fishing. I may be terrible
at it, but I love doing it. And last week I was
going to get out there at Lake of the Woods right
after the stocking and try to get some browns.
Loaded up my truck the night before inflated
my boat And I get out there first thing in the
morning and find out half my boat was deflated.
I had a whole first time in 20 years and so Couldn't
go fishing. So I had to fix my boat. So I flipped
it over and working on you know, it's got four
chambers and two pontoons and so Obviously it
narrowed it down to one half of one pontoon and
I worked fine. I finally found that little itty
bitty pinhole. It had to be when I stored my
boat over the winter because I roll it up and
put it, you know, in the garage. So I patched
it. And a day later, I put air in it that night.
Man, I couldn't have. messed up the patch so
I flip it over again and and This week anyway,
and then it's slower like Doesn't help much and
then I find this other little pinhole not too
far from The other pinhole so I put I put a good
patch on it So now my boats all fixed up it ain't
Lincoln as hard as a rock so but I I was pressure
testing it on Wednesday, so I called up the resort
and since I am an employee at the resort and
They had a boat that was acting up now I'm here
to offer my services The motor was acting up
and so I figured I'll take it out for you We'll
run it through its paces. We'll check it out
We'll see why it's the motors just stalling on
people and stuff like that, you know I'm just
there to help. You know, I'm self -sacrificing
my services and day With my fishing poles and
my gear out on the lake on a beautiful day. I
Know you're thinking Wow Mike you are one of
the most unselfish people I have ever run across
I know I know it's It's good to be kind. It's
sharing is caring and You know, it's uh, it's
very important so I go out there and, you know,
I don't have a fish finder on this boat or anything
like that, but I really don't need a fish finder
for Lake of the Woods. But it'd be nice to know,
you know, something underneath me in the water
temp. Although a buddy of mine, he's got his
bass tracker and him and Mike are out there and
they're fishing and right in front of me they
catch a three pound smallmouth. I think they
just did it to torment me. Actually, they caught
quite a few, you know, a few smallmouths. That
three -pounder being the biggest last time I
had talked to him. And a rarity. I got skunked.
Got some nibbles, got some bites, but I didn't
land anything. But it's beautiful and I'm troubleshooting
this boat and I think it's a fuel filter That's
what I think I think they if they replace that
fuel filter, they'll be they'll be fine Because
it would starve I thought first, you know when
they described to me it was like a vapor lock
issue and For those who don't know what a vapor
lock issue is when your fuel line is near a heat
source and it overheats it boils the fuel within
that fuel line and it boils and it creates basically
a dam and a blockage in the fuel line and your
engine starves and putters out you have to wait
for it to cool down for you to start the engine
again so anyway this one didn't have you know
first thing I did is look for the you know vapor
lock issue And since I was borrowing a boat,
I wasn't quite sure, you know, what to bring,
so I just brought bare minimums. And so I didn't
have any jerk baits. I went with other baits
and, oh well, silly. But now I have my boat.
It's all ready and it's hard, you know, the pontoons,
you know, are hard as a rock. I fish on an inflatable
pontoon boat for two and it's called a, it's
made by a company called Sea Eagle and it's a
Foldcat 375. It's actually 12 and a half feet
long and the Foldcat is the most easily out of
all the Sea Eagles. It's the only one that's
actually won awards. and but it can be fitted
so many different I have over a dozen rod holders
on my boat and I've got a fish finder and I've
got side imaging I've got anchor trolleys on
I mean it's just you can do anything you want
with a sea eagle foldcat and for 1500 bucks you
really just can't go wrong for a boat it is a
fantastic boat and it's and it's built solidly
20 years. I've never had a puncture in it. Secondly,
I think it had to be my fault in the way I stored
it, and I messed it up just a little bit, but
it's fixed. So, lakes. I am hearing good things
from Howard's Prairie, too. Howard's Prairie
is hitting pretty good, and I've heard doglake
Is doing is starting to act up just a little
bit. So I'll be out now out on the water more
and more and I do have some new designs on baits
and I'm going to be making some soft baits with
a new pigmentation and We want to be testing
those out and a lot of times in early season.
It's kind of fun for me to test out some of my
new designs on my baits. So I'm very excited
about getting out on the lake and throwing some
new stuff I've been working on over the winter
and seeing what we can do with it. So, black
and blue works really, really well this time
of year. So, if you ever, if you want to go bass
fishing or anything like that, try some black
and blue baits. Chatter baits work very, very
well. I did not bring my chatter bait box with
me this week. But jerk baits work very, very
well, evidently, according to my buddies. So
I would give that I you know I would actually
start throwing some jerk baits out there And
see if you can't get some smallies or some largemouths,
isn't it? They they caught those right in front
of the lodge. She's so no -secret spot They were
probably in about eight feet Look like they were
in eight to ten feet of water because I saw them
catch the three -pounder and So they wouldn't
have very far from the marina and I did sort
of circle the lake seeing if there were any hot
spots around the perimeter of the lake and I
think I was using the wrong bait and so I couldn't
find any hot spots although they did. I'm bringing
jerk baits next time. I really wanted to get
some footage of me catching. You know, I had
my action camera and stuff and I just, I was
ready. I was ready. Um, we are, I, I, I shouldn't
say we, I said I. I'm going to be doing some
more river fishing, um, this year, learning fly
fishing and, um, fly fishing is, um, it's hard
to learn something new when you're proficient.
something that's effective and so you have to
I have to sacrifice see a productive day for
a constructive day does that make sense so days
where I'll be catching stuff I have to go and
learn something to build the foundation to be
productive later and That requires, well, patience,
humility, patience, and more patience, and more
humility. Because I'm not, I am, well, patience.
You know, I've invested a lot of stuff and money
time and effort in bass fishing and To learn
a new way of fishing in different venues of fishing
Well, that's going to require That's gonna require
a lot in it And for all you fly fishermen out
there, and I appreciate you listening to my radio
show If you want to teach me how wear a win and
Just send me an email Okay at terrible at fishing
2019 at gmail .com so it's terrible at fishing
2019 at gmail .com now I will You know, the reason
it's 2019 is that's when I was paralyzed. And
that's when I started the channel. And so, believe
it or not, terrible at fishing was taken. So
I threw 2019 the year I started it. And I just,
it's amazing, you know, in six years, you know,
I could be up and about, but a lot of people,
they don't realize, you know, why I call myself
terrible at fishing. So, you know, silly me.
You know, when you couldn't speak and you couldn't
walk, you're terrible at everything. But I'm
very excited about having my boat back. So this
week and the following weeks, I'm going to be
testing some new formulations for my soft baits.
And I'm going to, you know, we're going to see
if I can get a chameleon Shad is really what
I'm working for. It's a chameleon shad. Something
that shifts color but within a translucent shad
design. And so I'm looking forward to playing
with my Plastisol and seeing what I can do there.
I'm very excited about not only the rivers opening
up, the lakes opening up, I'm very excited about,
you know, everything this year. We have more
water. I mean, if you go to the Great Meadow,
it's the Great Pond. People wonder, you know,
where that water goes from Lake of the Woods.
There is an outlet creek in the northwest or
northeast part that travels all the way down
to the upper Klamath, but it also flows into
the Great Meadow. And the Great Meadow is just
flooded. You know, it is just flooded. The Lake
of the Woods and every lake is spilling over
right now. And there is going to be great CFM,
you know, volume in our rivers and creeks. There's
going to be our lakes are going to be just spilling
over. The ODFW has done an aggressive job. at
stockings, so we're gonna have some great, great
fishing. I think in June, every week, Lake of
the Woods is getting some stock. So in our next
segment, so stick with me after the commercial
break here, stick with me because we're gonna
go over to the stocking schedules. for the area.
And I need you to remember to follow the stocking
schedules, not necessarily for the rainbow trout
that they're putting in, but for the things that
are going to be eating the rainbow trout. So
stick with me. We'll see you back in just a minute
or two. And we're going to talk about where the
greatest fishing is going to be on this rotation
of stocks. Out in the backwoods under the stars,
I turned in the radio from my old car. Gold Country
Radio on Friday night. Terrible at fishing, but
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locally and beyond. Welcome back to Chair Bullet
Fishing everybody. So, I know this is what you
all have been waiting for. Besides, you know,
figuring out my angst about catching nothing
and about my boat. So, you know, some of my viewers
have asked me to give you some updates on some
of the stocking schedules. So, we're going to
be talking about some of these stocking schedules.
Now, I will tell you that when they put a lot
of legals inside a lake or a water body, it excites
big fish that come up and eat them. And, legals
are just perfect fodder for those massive, you
know, brown trout and largemouth trout. So, we're
going to talk a little bit about these. Now,
some of them have always asked about Lost Lake.
Lost Lake is just one of those lakes that I don't
fish that very much. I should, but I don't. But,
Lost Lake, so we're going to talk about in the
next two weeks. And we'll probably do this as
a regular update now that the stocking schedules
are in full force right now So this is actually
pretty nice. So on May 5th to May 9th Lost Lake
is going to get 2400 legals 2400 legals 400 trophies
and 50 broods 2400 legals a lot of legals And
when they put legals inside a water body, they
basically get shocked, but they also talk. There's
a lot of noise. And so a lot of these fish, these
bigger fish are going to be coming up and hitting
them. This is a great way to follow the stocking
schedule. So May 5th to May 9th is, you know,
one of those. And they're going to repeat that
same stock. 2400 -450 for May 12th through May
16th and that's at Lost Lake. So this is a great
time to hit and fish those big guys. Now you
can fish the big guys with big jointed Rapalas
or swim baits or glide baits. Works really, really
well. And you want, you're going to match the
hatch. You're going to get one that looks, uh,
reflect a rainbow trout and you're going to try
to sneak it in there and try to get their attention.
So make it look like it's dying. These are great,
great. time to get some big fish. So, Lost Lake
has got nearly 3 ,000 plants in the next two
weeks, each week. So, I would tell you, you know,
if you like Lost Lake, work it! Work it! Alright,
so let's look at some other lakes. Again, Lost
Lake. got a lot of good stuff going in. Now,
Running Y has a pond. This is great for the kids.
They've been stocking a couple hundred legals
inside the Running Y pond. I mean, just go out
there with the kids, throw out some spinners
and some jigs or whatever. Really fun for the
kids to catch. Um, it's easy too. The Running
White Pond is super, super easy. It is open to
the public. Don't worry about that. And, uh,
you know, throw the kids, you know, have the
kids out there, have some pic, you know, have
a picnic. Really nice. Now Lake of the Woods,
uh, they're starting to get their stocking too.
So Lake of the Woods, um, from the May 5th to
May 9th, Is going to get 670 legals and 600 trophies.
So they're splitting boom boom, you know They've
been stocking at the main ramp because it's pretty
much the only ramp that's open right now Probably
Aspen will be coming open pretty soon. But 670
and 600 is their May 5th to May 9th Stocking
is pretty much what they did last week Again,
those particular fish will be holding over and
sort of stowed in. There's a divot right in front
of the boat ramp. You can always throw out there
and catch them. They like to hide underneath
the marina, which is all out right now. So real
easy if you want to catch the Brown's Troll early,
early morning and late, late in the afternoon.
and even at night, troll it around the marina
area and lodge area to the Green Gazebo and come
back. Try to stay within 10 feet. Actually, that's
a great way to work that area. So that's Lake
of the Woods, May 5th to May 9th, we'll be getting
another stocking. And again, if you just want
to have fun with the kids, go to the Burning
Y Pond. Phillips Reservoir is getting 9 ,500
legals. Phillips Reservoir is getting 9 ,500
legals. That's a lot of, that's a big dump, all
right? It's the largest, yeah, that's the largest
dump that week in this area of the state. So
Phillips Reservoir, 9 ,500, May 5th to May 9th.
And, again, great time to catch those, you know,
get the bigger ones that will be eating these
guys. Actually, it's not the biggest. Jackahominy
Reservoir is getting 60 ,000 broods. That's May
12th to 16th, but we're not there yet. All right.
So that's Phillips Reservoir, Running Y, Lake
of the Woods. Let's go to that next week, 12th
through 16th. Chickahominy is gaining 3 ,000
legals and 60 ,000 fingerlings. I'm sorry, 60
,000 fingerlings. Again, that's food. Okay, that's
food. Thompson Reservoir is not scheduled for
anything that week. So, but they're really stocking
Chicahominy with fingerlings. They're just doing
a lot in the next few weeks. Let's go down the
list here a little bit. Oh, Anna Reservoir. I
didn't talk about Anna Reservoir. Anna Reservoir
between 19th and 23rd will be getting $2 ,400.
Again, legals are a good wake up call for a reservoir.
So, I love following those. Alright, let's go
on to some of the other ones. So, again, I'm
just going through... That's not in that area.
I'm looking through, okay, Lost Creek Reservoir.
Yeah, Lost Creek Reservoir is got May 12th through
May 16th. They're gaining 10 ,000 legals and
1 ,500 trophies. It's 11 ,500, so that's a great
stocking. Lost Creek Reservoir, really good stocking
right there. um that's the 12th through 16th
also howards prairie the 19th through um although
yeah yeah the 19th through 23rd they're getting
7450 legals um again great great time that is
a great time for the bigger stuff to come up
and have and have lunch so or dinner or whatever
they want. This is really good. So Howard's Prairie,
19th through 23rd will be fantastic. Applegate
Reservoir, if you want to travel over there to
Applegate, they're getting 15 ,000. 15 ,000 legals
and 500 trophies in the week of 19th through
23rd. So that's... That's huge, huge stocking.
Fish Lake on the 12th through 16th, they're getting
4 ,500 legals and 500 trophies. So 12th through
16th, Fish Lake will be getting 5 ,000 fish dumped
into it. So that's a lot. Let's see. Fish Lake,
that's that. Looking through it, looking through
it, looking through it. You know, Medco Pond,
I never talk about Medco Pond. Medco Pond, you
can't put a boat or anything, but a simple area
to fish, nice picnic area. I mean, 2 ,000 legals
on the 12th through 16th, a great area. seldom
known by. So look it up, Medgo Pond. Really nice
little pond to hit. Nice area too. I mean, it's
beautiful, beautiful country. I mean, we have
beautiful country too. So I mean, what can I
say? Now Willow Lake is another one of those
lakes that I enjoy because such a simple lake
to fish. So the Willow Lake at 19th through 23rd
is going to receive 5 ,500 fish, 4 ,000 legals,
1 ,500 trophies. So 19 through 23 Willow Lake
is going to get a really good stocking. Simple
lake, two points, nice little cubbies, great
area to go fishing. I love that lake. The east
side of the lake is really good for bass, really
good for bass on the east side of the lake. So
give them a shot too. really fun time this time
of year. So, as kind of the stocking schedule
for the next few weeks, there are some hidden
gems, okay? As we get farther into it, Gerber
Lake is just starting to wake up. I mean, all
these lakes are spilling over. We are officially,
Oregon is officially out of a drought. and we
had suffered through a huge drought. I mean,
Hyatts and Howards Prairie pretty much became
non -existent, and now they're full of water.
They have been, as the dams were removed from
Klamath, ODFW was busy removing fish out of those
reservoirs and relocating them. And by relocating
it, it created a new game fish reservoirs in
Gerber, Willow Valley, Howard's Prairie. I mean,
where we weren't catching bluegill before, we're
catching bluegill now. Where we weren't catching
decent sized bass, we're catching decent sized
bass now. And crappie, good crappie. So we're
you know, they they relocated a lot of the crappie
from JC Boyle Which had really good crappie populations
and put them over into Gerber. So we got some
really good renewed fishing and if you've ever
been Excited about fishing This is a great time
to be excited about fishing because we've got
our reservoirs and our rivers are just busting
at the seams. It's like a whole new thing. I
mean, last time I was at Gerber, it was like
two ponds. It wasn't even a lake, because it
was so low that, you know, the divider of the
underbody had created two water bodies. It wasn't
very good at all. We're going to have a great
time. I Hope you guys are excited about fishing
in the area We've got great stocking wait till
June hits. I mean, it's just boom boom boom boom
boom. I mean, it's just fresh Fresh meat is being
dumped in all of these ODFW is busy busy busy
and just like I told you recently the Chinook
count up at Spencer Creek 192 and the winter
counts and Coho just over the border no steelhead
really yet but we're going to get there the Klamath
River is revitalizing faster than anybody and
to my dismay and pleasure the Klamath River is
is coming back And that is a wonderful thing.
New boat ramp over in the J .C. Boyle area. So
you've got yourself a pretty nice, really nice
things. So anyway, I want to thank you guys for
stopping in terrible at fishing this week. And
I hope. You guys have gotten some good ideas
of where to go and what to throw so have fun
Tight lines to all of you. You will see me out
on the water tight lines to you all That was
terrible at fishing the radio show with fishing
expert Michael Raffino Check out terrible at
fishing on YouTube Tune in next week for the
next episode and more great fishing tips terrible
and fishing Fridays at 7 p .m.. On Gold Country
radio