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Tag Archives: Fishing
Berryessa Bassin
65 degrees in January does not suck.
Don Pedro Family Reunion
I convinced my family years ago to spread my Mom’s ashes at Lake Don Pedro since she had a vacation home there. This of course has given me an excuse to continue fishing the lake. Nice change since I have been hitting Melones so hard. I knew Six Bit Gulch would have water coming in so this was where we headed
I had a HUGE rainbow flash on me at the creek mouth but failed to commit. Topline trolling was on with Kastmasters and Thomas Bouyants.
Stopped with 8 fish for the day. Been a couple of years since I fished DP.
Oroville Annual Checkup
3 guys , 3 days, 2 boats and hundreds of spotted bass. 167 miles of shoreline to explore. We fished all 3 forks of the lake but North was best if you could hack working windy walls. My first time all the way up the North Fork. Spectacular, makes you wish what it was like before the Dam.
Lake is down by design due to the dam repair, but plenty o water
Lupine show
Mr. T on my spot
Tiny boat
Bro with Spotted piggie
There were hundreds of bass under this logjam in the middle fork. Skipping jigs just under the log boom was money.
North fork tunnel to nowhere
My ride
SLOB….4 lb test on a microlight rod and reel!
A confused salmon went home with Turhan
Spectacular lupine blooms
Thought I saw a cowboy hiding in the tunnel
5 knot current up at the end
Crabbing out the Gate
Mike and Keegan met my son and I at Pier 40 Saturday at the gentlemans hour of 8. Overcast with little wind made the ride out the gate easy. We dropped 2 pots in 60 feet off of Baker Beach and turned the corner at Bonita. We offloaded the other 3 pots NW of Muir and set up for Salmon.
3 rods on the rigger and 1 on a diver. Very little life on the meter, few birds no whales and no nets flying. Some brown water and skiffs by Duxbury. The wind was cooperating and swell was nicely spaced. It was a minefield of crab pot bouys out there but we kept it clean. 3 hrs later we gave up without a scratch and pulled the 3 outside pots for a handful of keeper Dungies.
The pots at Baker beach were a little better and we had 13 crab to work with. We dropped 2 pots back in at Baker and drifted for halibut for an hour outside. One last pull for zip. Back under the gate
We finished up at the Rockwall for several drifts but it was not to be on the finfish side.
Debra made garlic butter wine shallots roasted crab to rave reviews. Thanks to Mike for running a crab deck, salmon deck and halibut deck.
Melones Rising
I made a list:
- Crabbing out the gate
- Delta Stripers in the mud
- Melones on the rise
- Melones won because I really wanted to see what the rain had done to the foothills.
We bought two dozen jumbo minnows at Glory Hole and launched off the newly submerged concrete ramp. We found spotted bass at the south end
I lost a bunch of Senko fish. We half heartedly trolled for trout but bass kept hitting the plugs.
Delta Deluge
Had my brother in law Ric out from Chicago and wanted to put him on the spring striper bite. We launched from Sugar barge at 7:30 to slightly jackass conditions, excellent cloud show and no rain. I figured and had friends confirm prior that finding clean water north, west or east would be tough so we started in North Franks. A very angry largemouth in 3 feet of water went for a early DWB in Bone.
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Had some swirls on top but I decided to roll the dice and motor up the South Mokulmne. Chocolate city and hour wasted. Off to Mildreds. We started getting some action in the stumps. I got treed by a 20 lb class fish who swam off with my aforementioned plug. Enormous tail on that fish. It was wrapped 5 feet away from the boat in plain sight. I thought about letting it swim out of the tree but horsed it instead. We fished all over Mildreds and Mandeville. It was a 4 bridge day. We finished up in Franks in the rain. Quiet on top so we busted out bass gear and caught a few in the tulies.
Great day on the water.
Delta 02-FEB-2016-Global Warming has it’s advantage
I fished south and east Feb 7 for a big fat zilch. Bass guys were doing ok. No pics, runs hits or errors.
I was able to squeeze in much needed water time on the Delta on Feb 15 after a week working a trade show in Anaheim.
Dangerous Dirigibles and I rolled over the Bethel Island bridge at sunrise.
Sugar Barge launch to clear skies and 60 degrees.
We headed northeast working likely spots on the San Joaquin. Incoming tide. All quiet in the usual spots. Further east we found birds, bait and a few lunging stripers working east of the Hwy 12 bridge. We commenced to pull on a few schoolies on swimbaits dragged right on the bottom. Spoon worked as well.
We did a lot of scouting down as far as Mildreds. Tons of bass boats up tight to the tulies but we wanted stripers.
I stopped on some of the holes draining out of Mandeville and worked a largemouth bite
Water temps ranged from 54-58 and clarity was still poor in most places. I will let the full moon pass before checking the delta again.
Delta Greenery
Murderous Trebles and I launched little red from Sugar Barge Saturday with high hopes and high clouds.
3 of 3 early DWB “The Pickle”
We navigated up the North Fork of the Moke hucking wood and other TW implements. Stripers were shy but the pickles wanted to play.
Swimbaits on the troll during lunch attracted some attention.
Traffic was heavy
We fished North and South Moke, SJ shoals, false river, Washington Cut, Mandeville, MIldreds, and finally Franks at Sunset.
One Lane Into Pyramid
Debra and I scrambled over Donner Pass Friday afternoon just as the storm was sputtering to life. We checked into the Silver Legacy after a stop at Cabelas. We met the Schaffers on the casino floor for some wagery. Dinner at Pearls Oyster Bar inside the Legacy (so so) and back to gaming. Debra did well on the slots as usual. Late to bed and 4:30 AM came too early.
Mike and I motored out Pyramid highway in steady snow. At one point the whole sky lit up green with snow lightning. It got more and more sketchy as we climbed up the ridge slipping and sliding in the pitch dark but we pressed on to Blockhouse.
I debated whether to park up top but figured the snow plow would bury the car so we slid on down to the beach fully expecting to be found there frozen to death several days later. 10 MPH winds, snowing full on, 34 degrees at lake level. PERFECT for fishing Booty style.
We threw hardware from 6-9:30 for one small fish.
Snowed hard the entire time. 4 other trucks there but we saw nothing caught. I had 2 BIG followers practically beach themselves chasing a green/white little cleo but they would veer off at the last minute. We made the call to head north.
The Nets were packed with ladder nuts surfing the rollers.
We left the ladders and waders behind so we headed past Crosbys
Snow let up but it still rained on and off. The views were grand.
Just before Pelican I spied off in the distance a fish being netted so we wheeled down to the rocks just south of the ramp.
It was on. We saw 40 plus (no shit, ask Mike!) fish caught in a 4 hr period up to 20+ lbs. Copper john and small green fly off a dropper loop under an indicator was HOT. I ran an F5 frog flatfish carolina rigged about 2.5 feet below a chain swivel 1/2 oz weight. Water was about 20 feet deep and I was crawling this over the bottom. This worked! Fish juggling ensued
HARD fighting fish in spawning colors. Mike switched to a flatfish and got on board.
A guy next to us whacked at least 15 fish including this 20 lber!
The drive back to Reno was awe inspiring with the desert covered in freshies.
All lights were green coming through Sparks. We celebrated that night at Ichiban in Harrahs. Not bad.Casinos Saturday night were PACKED and money was flowing. Had a few beverages…………
I woke up Sunday morning a bit groggy and pointed us up and over the pass it was great to see snow down to 4500 feet.
I feel lucky to have hit a hot Pyramid bite. I may go back next weekend.
joulebox 