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You have been asking for this for a long time and I have finally gotten my podcast rolling! Here’s a snippet of Episode 1. To hear the full show, be sure to subscribe to the FishWithJD Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
I have a bunch of great guests lined up to chat destinations…techniques…fishery conservation and a lot more. This is going to be fun! Let me know what you think and thanks for listening!
Well, it looks like we’re all going to be doing a lot of holiday shopping online this year thanks to the pandemic and all, so I thought I’d help make things a bit easier and throw some suggestions your way. Happy Shopping!
Under $10
From Michael Zontos Art are these awesome little fishing-related gifts. MZ is a truly gifted fish artest/biologost from Eureka CA. $5 or any 5 for $18. Order via email: michaelzontosart@gmail.com
My wife can spend all day on the beach…so can I… as long as I have a rod in my hand! If you know someone like me, do yourself a favor and give them my slick little guide on how to catch surf perch. $2.99 BUY HERE
These are brilliant! Like socks your fishing rods, Rod Gloves are so nice for keeping things from getting all tangled up when transporting rods in the car and in the boat. I swear I must have like 75 of these things! (The also come in casting models too). $6.99 ORDER HERE
In the good old days as kids we used to carry a couple Pautzke’s salmon eggs and some splitshot in our bottom lips and head out for a day of trout fishing. But for under ten bucks the angler you’re buying for can be much more civilized — and actually keep their gear in a proper box! $9.99 BUY HERE
Wintertime bass love jigs slow crawled along the bottom and these babies are really nice quality and are my go-to models. Plus how can you go wrong with anything that has bass and football in the name? $2.49 – $3.09 BUY HERE
Under $20
Tube jigs will literally catch just about anything that swims: The smaller sizes will get you bass, trout, panfish and more and the larger ones can be used for everything from stripers to lingcod to tarpon and everything in between. $10.99-$19.99 BUY HERE
In the old days, we used to cut monofilament line with our teeth… but you’d have to have a set of choppers like a mako shark to get through braided line. That’s where these line cutters come in handy — your favorite angler will absolutely love these ( I have 4 pairs!)…and so will their bicuspids! $12.99 BUY HERE
One of the great fishing books of all time! $16.99 (paperback) BUY HERE
This is a fun gift for the live bait angler…or person who routinely comes home with tiny fish on your list. I know, a live well net doesn’t seem all that exciting but Beckman builds the best nets out there and this cute little guy will be a big hit. Every time I see one at the store I have to play with it! $15.25 BUY HERE
When big bass and stripers are on the menu, the erratic glide action of Sneaky Pete and his big brother, Pistol Pete are almost like having your own private fish whisperers! $19.99 BUY HERE
Give the gift of steelhead! Another one by yours truly here — close to 300 pages of hardcore-how to info in this e-Book to help your angler catch more steelhead..and be less grumpy when they come home from the river! $11.99 BUY HERE
Every angler needs a lucky fishing hat! So, if the rodsmith on your holiday shopping list has been striking out lately, maybe it’s time for a change. $24.95 BUY HERE
Cold winter fishing days can be made a little bit nicer with warmer hands. Your favorite angler can drop these in a pocket and have toasty digits all day! $22.99 BUY HERE
It’s always nice to have a water resistant bag on winter fishing trips, where you can carry all your stuff — rain jacket, lunch, extra tackle, inflatable fish for pix in case you get skunked, etc. $34.99 BUY HERE
Anglers are known to stretch the truth a bit when it comes to the size of the fish they caught. Well, you can keep ’em honest and get some accurate weights for your fave fisher if you stuff their stocking with a. $39.99 BUY HERE
All anglers need a nice set of pilers…and since these are aluminum, they won’t end up like most of mine…coated in rust and totally frozen shut. $24.99 BUY HERE
If you’ve got a steelhead angler on your list who is struggling to catch fish, my gigantic online course will help them immensely. Packed with over 6 hours of on the water video instruction, lectures, how-to diagrams and more…it’s got everything a beginner needs to start catching fish consistently. $49 when you use coupon code XMAS
Under $100
They won’t keep that fishy smell off your holiday angler’s hands but they certainly will keep them warm! Plus, with the finger tips cut off, anglers can still tie knots, etc. $51.71 BUY HERE
Well, when it’s gray, cold and dreary at home, a little something like these print can brighten the day and send your angler’s thoughts to warmer climes…you can almost smell the salt air (and diesel) can’t ya? $56.99 BUY HERE
Got a steelhead junkie you’re buying for? You can’t go wrong with some BnR Beads! The bobber doggin pack (if you’re not an angler don’t even ask :) comes with everything you need to get started — beads, weights, stops, swivels and bobbers. $56.37 BUY HERE
This portable little unit is more than just cute…its a fully functional fish catching machine and perfect for the angler who has a small boat. $73.11 BUY HERE
$100+
Inflatable lifejackets are a must-have for boaters and waders alike. When worn, they are comfortable and you hardly know you have it on. Go into the drink, however, they automatically inflate and can literally be real life savers. $114.99 BUY HERE
If you really want to spoil the trout fly fishing aficionado on your list, they’ll love this amazing and award-winning wand of fluff chucking nirvana. Nine feet long and as light as a feather, this thing is a joy to fish! $795 BUY HERE
How cool is this personal 11-foot fishing machine?? Drop-stitch technology makes this inflatable about as rigid as a hard boat…but this one’s packable enough you can throw it on a plane or the trunk of a car! $1,399 ORDER HERE
Got an outboard jet? Well you need the Jet Medic Tool! It’s the one tool that replaces all the ones in your emergency repair box. It’s such a cool and well-thought out design!
If you want one, head to www.jetmedictool.com and put “FISHWITHJD” in the promo code field.
Packed with full color photographs and diagrams, I go over everything from the basics to sophisticated tricks used by pro guides.
Get ready to catch more river salmon with my latest guidebook: Plug Fishing for River Salmon, now available for just $2.99:
Amazon Kindle
PDF format (digital download)
iTunes
I’ll help you understand why salmon eat plugs in the first place and then goes into great detail on several deadly techniques that will help you be more successful on the water.
You’ll learn how to back-bounce, flatline and hover – and several other related methods. I’ll also show you the tackle you’ll need and how to pick the right size, color and models of plugs for each specific technique.
Plug Fishing for River Salmon features close-up gear shots so you can see exactly what to use and how to rig it!
Also included are tips on how to properly rig plugs with different styles of hooks, how to properly tune your lures and the best way to fillet sardines and make bait wraps.
In it, I cover in detail Back-Bouncing, Flat-Lining, Hovering, Plug Wraps, Plug Selection, Tuning and a bunch of other cool stuff I employ every single day on the water!
The book will have plenty of helpful diagrams!
There are tons of color pics of gear and rigs (and fish too!), plus full color diagrams to help you understand the concepts.
Pick up your copy today!
Amazon Kindle
PDF format (digital download)
iTunes
Here’s a list of the chapters that appear in this guidebook:
If you could go back in time to the 1940’s and 1950’s, you would find a very different looking Los Angeles River than you see today.
Back then, the river was free-flowing and hosted a robust run of steelhead. Hard to believe these days since the poor dilapidated river has been reduced to a graffiti covered concrete drainage ditch in the heart of massive urban sprawl. Now, broken bottles and diapers are the norm…not chrome ocean-run rainbows.
But there are parts of the stream…upstream of downtown LA…that still kinda resemble an actual river. I spent some time exploring one such reach on Friday. It was exciting to see that there is still a bit of river left.
And it was thriving with waterfowl, plus many fish eating birds like cormorants, herons and egrets. In the slow pools, there were clouds of minnows and some slightly larger fish as well. In fact some folks were even fishing. I wanted to believe that the fish were schools of steelhead fry but I of course knew better.
As cool as it was to see so much wildlife mere feet from a e-waste recycling center and roaring I-5, it was also so damned depressing to see how destroyed this once amazing waterway is. So, it was with mixed emotions that explored this area. Here’s a photo essay of my trek…
