It will only scare the left swimming fish, but not the right fish!

Hat creek used to be one of my favorite places to fish. We stayed at Hat Creek RV Park and camp ground in Old Station. They stock the creek heavily in the park and I caught an 18" rainbow on a 5 wt rod drifting a imitation salmon egg because they ignored all my other flies. Use to be, because I moved to TN.

You must be holding it way out from your body because it looks like a 9 pounder !

If you are fishing near trees or bushes you probably should be short line fishing. If the stream is too deep or swift to wade out to the middle, the fish are likely within ten feet of shore. You can just fish with 10 to 15 feet of line out and flip your nymph out, let the current take it down stream, holding your rod high letting the fly sink. Follow the fly with your rod tip. At the end of the drift lift the fly and flip it upstream for another drift. You can flip it to a different part of the stream on each cast . Actually you probably need to take a class so you will learn how to set up your leader and tippet, where and what size weight and how to add an indicator on your line. All these are so very different than spinner fishing.

Those are perfect eating size, and Strippers are so tasty !

Yep that kid put his fish where his mouth is, but I thought it was supposed to be, put you money where your mouth is.

I suggest you use two or three rods if allowed where you live. Use different baits on each rod to find out what they like. I use baits that milk out like chicken livers, sardines or chicken breast marinated in cherry Coolaid. Oh you said you’ve been catching panfish, well a chunk or filet of panfish is maybe their favorite !
Cast out and wait 15 or 20 minutes, then cast to a new location. Btw I’ve caught catfish as close as 15’, so you don’t always need to cast a long way out. If they are hunting for panfish they might come quite close to shore. Don’t give up, no body catches fish every time out.

I’m I wrong, I thought you can fish today’s bait cast reels on almost any rod nowadays, especially a heavy duty rod ?

That senko is a great lure but you need to learn the different ways to fish it. I started out Texas rigging it with no sinker, just let it fall, you can pull it through grass, stumps, stick ups, almost any thing.
But fishing it wacko can also get you some big ones ! There’s dozens of ways to fish it and dozens of colors, have fun !

Left, I’m right handed and have fished spinning reels for over fifty years, so it feel normal to me. Besides I can’t see where it makes sense to cast with your right hand, then switch hands to reel in. And then, I like fighting the big one with my strong arm, not my weaker left arm.

Go to Lakeamador.com and look at their video’s. They plant these regularly. I caught a 2 pounder a couple years ago !

Hey Archie, I’m a handyman and get calls from old ladies who’s husbands have passed and they need some repairs done. Well one day while being shown what she wanted fixed in the garage, I noticed a quart jar with a bunch of old wooden bobbers. None like you mentioned, but when I commented that they might be valuable, she insisted that I take them !

Yeah Fredfish, I’ve noticed some trees grow several kinds of bobbers, different colors even !

Those simple bobbers are great for kids if the fish are no deeper than 3 feet deep. Any deeper and the long leader makes it hard for kids to cast. That’s when the slip bobber solves the problem. Slip on a bobber stop and set it at any depth. I know an old man and his wife that set the stop at 30 feet when the trout were that deep. That caught many big trout at Eagle Lake !

I’d try fishing a live bluegill under a bobber. They are most likely will fed eating the numerous bluegills and one acting injured just might be too tempting for them to pass up !