Debra and I took the road bikes down to Monterey for a cruise of the waterfront.  We saw Jesus on the way dragging his cross across 2 lanes of very busy traffic.

Upon arrival we saw some sardine schools getting HAMMERED.

Carnage!

These poor fish were getting hammered by seals, cormorants, seagulls, dolphins,

seal lions, pelicans etc and moved a couple of miles around the harbor over the space of a half hour.

Sardine Factory

Skiffs were coming in early with White Sea Bass in the 30-50# class

Ghosts

We rode about 6 miles along the beach in beautiful weather. Saw this cute couple getting hitched.

Mr and Mrs Cabellero

Meanwhile back at Cannery Row there was a gaudy display of Altered American Iron. Took only interior or detail shots. No full on porn.

Wooden bike guy was pitching builds at $4000 a shot

Rat shots

More random goodness

Raffle prize

Elvez showed up

Plupurple

Honorable mention, Homemade Fins Category

Stomach growling

Nader Hater

Compensating for something?

Had some crappy lunch in the cannery and headed back to the car. Great bike ride as usual.

Julie Packards private back yard

And your little dog too!

Rolled solo last minute to Russos Sunday morning despite nasty wind reports. Took my time launching as I knew I would take a pounding.

Note blue flag cocked at 15 degrees

Ran all of a mile or so and picked up several schoolies on the lucky pointer

Diaper striper

Incoming tide and overcast. 10:00 AM. 20-25 MPH NW winds. Found a place to duck and started chucking the Bone. They were there and hungry.

Little better size

Ran around for 9 hrs getting my ass kicked in the wind. Mildreds and Mandy DEAD. Spent some time with the frog for zip. My worst year ever for froggin. Hit this 3 times and found willing TW fish each time.

Looks deceptively calm in this pic

REALLY wanted to run west but knew my back couldn’t handle the pounding.

Rolled out of the crib at 5:00 am with Dangerious Trickles on a quest for linesides. 2nd trailer in the lot at 6:00 AM.

Bit of wind and start of the incoming.

Russos

Ran short to a spot in north Franks that has been giving it  up for sunrise.

Gloriousity

Got humped several times for a few dinks.

ran to Sherman and Broad but blown out and dirty. Was jackass in broad with trolling motor cavitating and bow pitching. There were fish there but too roily. Hit the break and SJ for zip.

Near Lauritzens

Ran back to Franks and hit paydirt on the bone spook

10 plus

from there we worked Mandeville and Mildreds and finished up in Franks. Off the water at 3:30. Should kept the one for BBQ.

Randy and I launched at 4:00 from Russos to calm hot conditions. We decided to stay local for the evening. High tide was predicted for around 8:00 PM. Saw these bobber warriors on the way out.

Bobber Lobbers

Worked all the north openings for a number of rags. Several came on chrome/blue 3/4 OZ rattle traps.

Diaper Striper

Hooked an approx 10 # hot striper on the BOne Super Spook. After a few minutes of runs she buried herself in the weeds and popped off. Shortly thereafter Randy stuck a nice largemouth in the same general area.

Fatty

Cool shot of salad, spook and smile

Collage

Wind was picking up near sunset so I busts out the Baby Doc

Big Guns for Bigguns

Got pretty quiet so just sat back and enjoyed the scenery with and adult beverage.

You owe me $5 bro!

Sliver of Silver

Any day now….

Debra and I made the run to Moss Landing Saturday morning Wave  Walkers in tow.  We made the traditional stop at Phils Fish Market. Sandab sammys……

Launched at around noon with incoming tide.

Loving the fog on the skin

the Stacks

What’s that smell?

Furbag Rave

o no u ditnt

Made a left under the bridge

Avenida Uno

Headed about 2 miles up riding the tide.  Sea otters were thick

Shell cracker

Debra gets pulled over for speeding by Julie Packard Police

License and registration please

He really wanted to share his knowledge. He explained that all of the otters back in the slough were females and the rowdy young males guard the slough at the entrance repelling suitors. Gaseous horny leopard seals were everywhere. They have splashed close to Debra many times so she gives them her most potent stinkeye.

Leprosy seals

Made a left into a side slough that parallels the main slough for a couple of miles. This side slough is great for birding but don’t get caught there on low tide.

Side trip

Eaglet in japanese=egret

North American Whiffle Huffer

Tide dropping

Lunch dock

Finally broke back into the main slough and rode the outgoing back to the coast

Calder Sculpture

Fleet coming in

Heard many white seabastians caught today off the hotels. Saw the otter male gangs near the mouth.

Elkhorn slough paddle/pedal? Highly recommended.

Just returned from my annual boat in camping trip to Spicer Meadows Reservoir. An impoundment of the Stanislaus, Spicer is nestled at the base of the Dardanelles at 7000 ft.  We run up 3.5 miles of the 7 mile lake  about an hours pedal/paddle to an island on the south side before the two domes. This island can hold 6 tents and has a natural “harbor. We took 3 pedal yaks, a 14 ft alum and the bass boat.

Outbound beer barge

Lots of BARELY submerged boulders the size of school busses in this lake.

Typical Spicer Scene

The island pictured above will hold 3 tents.

Had my wife and 2 adult children, brother Randy GF Thelma and Thelma’s kids Sara and Tommy. Mike Schaefer the grill master joined us as well.

Manning up the O grill

I love camping with people that have the whole thing down. I asked Mike if he had a toothpick and…

Hernial Caber Toss

We splashed the fleet Friday at noon and powered back to our island and set up camp.

Island of Adult Beverages

Home

Peanot gallery

Our spot has decent shade and is easy on the eyes. Here is the view looking back at the dam.

Room with a view

What followed was a weekend of good food,

Cheesy poofs

great company, water play, firearms,

Marksmanship

Un-named shooter

She was chanting "Unicorns and Rainbows" while blowing holes in stuff

fishing, relaxing and an adult beverage or three.  Fishing was decent and Mike did real well at the headwaters. They bit Thomas Bouyants, Mepps, Panther Martins and kastmasters. I got a chance to play with my new sail which turned out to be quite a handful with 2 rods out. Clocked 4.3 MPH at one point. I could go back and forth across the wind but would lose 100 yards at each pass. Was able to tie the guy wires to my pole holder and fish hands free.

lazy sailor

Got this rainbow on the sail/troll.

din din

Lake was chock full and very beautiful. Hated to go home. Mike was sportin his new to him Hobie mirage decked out with all manner of gadgetry.  This load would be fun in a head wind.

Dangerous Trebles

Note Spicer can get mean in the wind late morning and the beat back to the dam fully loaded can be epic!  But if you leave by 9:00 AM you will get this

Stopped at Monterey Bay Kayak Saturday to look at kayak sails. Have been daydreaming about them since this trip on New Melones this spring.

Raincoat Jib

Checked out the Windpaddle and instantly realized it’s potential. My pedal yaks are battleships so I went for the largest model “Cruiser” rated for canoes and tandems.

Very easy to setup (two clips), quick to deploy and super light.

Initial deployment

Another look

Money Shot

View port is weak

Needs Botox

Does a wierd moebius strip fold and stows on the hatch.

Stowed in seconds

Windpaddle claims to be able to tack by allowing the sail to rotate.  Will test this weekend here:

Spicer

Spicer Meadows reservoir

Spicer can be quite the wind tunnel at times. Check back for on the water report!