Northern California Trout

Almost To The End

2012-02-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

8 days to go until the demise of this portion of Northern California Trout.

I'm sounding like a nag, but I don't want to lose anyone.

The new home of NCT.

http://www.northerncaliforniatrout.com/

See you there.

Mark

The End Is Closing In

2012-02-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

Twenty three days and counting.

Don't forget to change your URL to: www.northerncaliforniatrout.com

Mark

Time Is Running Out

2012-01-27T06:58:00.000-08:00

I really want to make sure everyone has moved with me over to the new and improved Northern California Trout. This site will be going away March 1st (whether they do it or I do it) and I don't want anyone left behind. According to the Stats, yesterday 111 people stopped by and 51 already today.

Here's the new link: http://www.northerncaliforniatrout.com/

Don't forget to join as a follower because I can't move the ones on this site.

Please come with me. I have lots of stuff to write about and don't want you to miss a thing.

Mark (Shoreman)

I've Moved

2012-01-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

I'm no longer shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com. I'm now offically northerncaliforniatrout.com.

I've got everybody on my blogroll moved, but I can't move followers, so when you stop by the new digs, please join the new family.

Here's the link to make it easier for you to get there.

http://www.northerncaliforniatrout.com/

See you there.

Mark

All I Want For Christmas

2012-01-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

Was a fish without bugs, or at least I thought.

Headed out to Lake Camanche North Shore this morning with the idea of fishing a few hours and running some errands in town. Got to the lake just before 0900 and put two lines with Power Bait, in at the sandy cove across the pennisula. I was fishing with a 18" leader, but found out the water was a lot shallower than last time. Being the determined person I am, I held out for an hour with out a bite. I was set for the long haul though. I had water, peppered ham, Havarti cheese, Ritz crackers, chocolate chip granola bars, and of course coffee from Starbucks.

Packed up and crossed to the lake side of the pennsula at the spot with two buoys. The place where the pink Kastmaster worked so well. Couple of guys to my right (down a ways) had caught one, so prospects looked good.

Set out one rod with Power Bait and my little Okuma with the pink Kastmaster. Fifteen, twenty minutes and nothing so I switched to two rods with Power Bait. Then I had one of those light bulb moments. An 18 inch leader probably wasn't getting the PB up high enough, so I re-rigged with a 30 inch leader and a little Sweet Corn on one and Anise on the other.

First fish came at 10:35 on the Sweet Corn. It had that bacteria look on it's sides like someone grabbed it with dry hands and then released it. Cut it loose so it could spend the rest of it's (and I'm sure, short) life in the lake. Put both rigs out with Sweet Corn. Second fish came at 10:50 and this one had slimy dots on both sides. Double click on the picture below and look by the tail, you'll see what I mean. This fish was #3 at 11:15.

I wasn't sure what the slimy dots were, so I cut it loose too. Number 4 came at 11:35 and number 5 at 12:15. All had the slimy dots on them so I cut them all loose. With all five having those slimy dots, I decided just to call it a day. No sense trying for any more.

Bouncing around in my brain, I was thinking Cope Pods, but it's winter and there shouldn't be any. Whirling disease? Slime disease, what the hell is that? Not Quagga or Zebra Mussels. Not the Australian or New Zealand snail thing, what ever that is. I had no idea.

So, on the way out, I stopped and talked to Aaron at check-in and he said that the slime spots are from Cope Pods, but it's what Cope Pods leave behind once they depart from the fish. It's on the skin, but doesn't penetrate the fish and the fact that these fish have the slime spots means they are hold overs that have passed the summer with the Cope Pods and survived. They are also OK to eat. Learned something new.

So the moral of this story is: "If you don't catch something in one spot, move, re-rig, change flavors, flip a coin, do a fish dance" anything that will entice the fish.

That's it for today. Rain late next week, maybe. You know how those weather guessers are. Promises, promises, promises.

Till the next adventure.

Mark

Today's Tuesday

2012-01-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new followers.

Howard (Wind Knots & Tangled Lines) has a challenge out there about your fishing career since day one. I could go through and list decade by decade, but that would take me thinking about those years and when I got current, the short term memory loss would just screw things up anyway. So let me do a short list. I started fishing in the early 1950's. As of today, that would make my fishing career just short of 60 years. There you go. Maybe some day I should do an autobiography.

Sunrise this morning. Nice, huh?

This morning I headed out to the vampires (yes it's doctor time again) for the usual gallon or so of blood and pee in the little cup. Blood letting this morning was a fasting one. Since they don't allow you anything to drink (or eat) after midnight, how much pee could you have in you? Not very much. Hope it was enough.

After the blood letting, I stopped by the donut shop (I could hear cardiologist screaming in the background) and got a BIG cup of coffee and a couple of maple bars. Don't they always give you something sweet after giving blood? Then I headed out to Lake Amador to partake of some of those big Cutbows.

Got to the lake at 0800, signed in, and headed over to the spillway. Oh wait, I have pictures I have to go downstairs to download them. I'll be back in a few minutes.

OK, that's better. Now, I fished from 08:15 to 10:00 and got nary a bite on Power Bait or Kastmasters. I also tossed a Red Sonic Roostertail to no avail. Currently I'm writing an article for the paper about fishing myths. One of those myths is that you can't catch fish the day after a full moon. Last nights full moon, this morning.

It's now 10:00am and I've been fishing for about 2 hours without a bite. Will the myth hold up?

Are you kidding. You know we all catch fish on a full moon. The first Cutbow came at 10:15. I played around with it on my Okuma and 2# test while I got out the camera. A couple of shots with one hand while holding the rod with the other. Got to get me a cameraman/woman. I used to have Bob, but he's been indisposed. Maybe a bikini clad woman in waders?

The second one came at 10:20. It hit the lure just as the lure hit the water. Both were caught on a 1/4 oz Kastmaster in the Brook Trout color. Rainbow Pink and Firetiger didn't get any interest. This color has been good in the past so I kept using it. Both fish were released, in fact the second one, because I was messing around with the camera so much, broke the line and took off with my lure. That's OK, I had a spare.

div>

The third fish was a drive by, but only because I ran out of water. What do I mean by ("Ran out of water"? The third fish chased the lure right to the shore to a point I had no where to move the lure to continue interesting the fish. He went about his way.

A couple of casts later I got two hits on the same retrieve, but wasn't able to hook up either one. Might have been the same fish. That was it for the day. I fished until Noon and called it. I had been standing since 08:15 and when I do that, my back hurts something awful. It's hell getting old.

It turned out to be a fish catching, myth crushing, sun bathing, kind of day at Lake Amador. Water levels? Lowest I've ever seen them. We need some rain, badly.

One other thing, they've stocked 61,000 lbs of those big Cutbows. The two today were right around the 1 pound size. I did hear some shouting across the spillway about a 4 or 5 pound fish being caught. Yesterday a regular at the lake caught a 10 pounder from a float tube. A lot of pontoon boats, a few Yaks, and a bunch of boats. Word from the boats was night crawler behind flashers and Rapala's. That's it for today.

Till next time, thanks for stopping by.

Mark

It's A New Year

2012-01-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

I'm not talking about 2012, I'm talking about the beginning of year 4 (today) for Northern California Trout.

Yes, three full years (minus a couple months due to my stupidity) of blogging my little heart out, but the thanks goes out to all the readers of this humble blog. When I had my lapse in judgment last year, the readership dropped to less than 10 per day and now we're back up to 100+ per day. Thank you all for hanging in there.

I don't plan on any razzle dazzle changes in the look of Northern California Trout except changing the header picture occasionally, just to keep things interesting. I also plan on keeping the advertising out and information coming.

This is also an anniversary of sorts on my writing articles for the local newspaper as well. I'm now settling into year two as their sports writer for fishing and related stories. You'll remember that I started Northern California Trout because the newspaper didn't have anyone writing for them that actually fished and I wanted to get that information out. My last article that was in the paper was the satire on combat fishing (you saw it here first), placed at the top of the sports page.

I'm also closing in on 50,000 hits, but I'll let you know when that happens.

So, for an anniversary present to myself, I think I'll go out and get one of those bullet proof vests (for combat fishing of course) that has Blogger on it instead of Writer like the one Castle wears on the TV show. Maybe I should get one that says Blogger/Writer. Better yet, maybe put it on the back of my fishing vest. Probably a lot cheaper, besides I'm not getting paid for any of this writing stuff, yet.

To all my friends out there: Thank you for your support (Bartles & James too). I'm looking forward to many more years sharing what has been held close to the vest by the many and shared by the few.

Out to the lake tomorrow. Till then.

Mark

A Christmas Present

2012-01-06T09:23:00.001-08:00

Back on May 8, 2010, I was fishing for Shad on the American river and I mentioned that a hatch of this bug was all over the place. Remember this photo?

For Christmas, this year, my wife got me "The Complete Book of Western Hatches". With a picture printed off the new printer (came at the same time the computer came) in hand, I was determined to find out what it was.

The best match I could come up with is (and you're going to love this from Mr. Entomology Stupid):

Family: Baetidae

Genus: Baetis

Common Name: Blue-winged Olive

Mel (Ranbow Chaser) was right with the Mayfly response. Without putting it under a microscope the best I can come up with, from the pictures in the book, is a Dun.

So, scary as this might seem, maybe I can shave a little of the edges off the"Mr Entomology Stupid" guy and actually understand some of what you dedicated match the hatch guys are talking about.

Now, what a Blue Winged Olive is doing around the American River is still a mystery to me. Maybe the Steelhead eat them? They are just a Rainbow Trout, after all. Another mystery to be solved.

Mark

2012's First Fish

2012-01-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

After stopping for coffee at Cook's station, I headed up the hill in search of open water. First stop, Silver Lake. That's all ice out there and since Silver Lake was iced over, made no sense to drive any further up the hill toward Caples or Red Lake.

After turning around, I headed back to Bear River Reservoir. When I was in Cook's Station, I talked to a guy I've talked to before and run into fishing at Bear and he said that violation of the closed road to the lake was a $500 fine. Last time I was up there, I just drove around the gate. This time I stopped and took a look at the sign. It mentions California Streets and Highway
code 942.5 & 942.6 which by themselves don't mention any fine, BUT if they write you a ticket and the judge's gavel goes BANG, you get to give them $500. So I decided to do the Cardio Walk down to the lake.

Once I got to the lake, I took a little shot across the lake to show how low the water level is. You can see a lot of shoreline across there.

To give you a little more impressionistic view, this pile of rocks (On my left when I'm fishing next to the dam) is usually underwater.

OK, so how did the day go? Got to my spot next to the dam at 0915 and set up one rod with Power Bait (Rainbow of course) and my little Okuma with Kastmasters. I won't go into the colors of Kastmaster, let's just say they didn't work.

Did I tell you I replaced three of my reels (I'm tough on reels)? I went to Fisherman's Warehouse last Tuesday (remember?) and talked them into a deal so I didn't have to drive down during the ISE show and purchase them there. I bought 3 Diawa Sweepfire 2000-2B's and new line for each. My two rods with 4# got Trilene XL and my Okuma got 2# Yo-Zuri Fluorocarbon.

First Rainbow came at 0930 and was lip hooked, so the first fish of 2012 went back for another day. It was about 10". Only fair to put the first fish of the year back. Second fish came at 0940, it was about 9", lip hooked too, and went back for another day. Only fair to put the second one of the year back too. I'm just a fair kind of guy.

I hung around for a couple more hours, but didn't get any more hits. I tried a couple other places, but nothing there either. Then the Cardio Walk back out. The last time I did this walk, I had to stop 4 times and rest before getting back to the truck. Today, only one stop to rest. Wow.

That's it for this week. I think I'll mosey down to Lake Amador next week and see if I can partake of some of those big Cutbows. You like that mosey stuff? Got it when Jimmy Carter was in the White House. It's a Southern thing.

Till then.

Mark

Chrome, Still Elusive

2012-01-03T14:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, here's how it went. Left home 0730 and drove down the hill to Sacramento. With this to do and that to do, I started at Starbucks for a cup of coffee and a stop at American Fly Fishing Co for some leaders and tippet. They are right next to each other.

Then on to Walmart for a couple of tripods to make some custom fishing rod holders. More on that when I get them fixed up. Custom stuff takes time.

Third thing on the agenda was to stop at Fisherman's Warehouse (they open at 10:00am) for a couple new (cheap) reels and some new line. I'm extremely hard to three things. One, my glasses. Two, my watch (which is the reason I don't wear my good watch fishing), and three fishing reels. I've just about destroyed the reels on my 4# test rods and the one on my Okuma rod with 2# test. I have a habit of dropping them when I have a fish on another rod. OK, now you can yell at me.

Now it's just after 10:00am and I'm on my way to the Department of Parks & Recreation (they open at 10:00am too) for the annual river parking permit. Why pay $5 a pop when a $50 permit will allow you to park all year?

Then on to the American River at Gristmill Access to try a little Steelhead fishing with a spinning rod instead of fly rod. Change of year, change of tactics. Guys at Fisherman's Warehouse said try Little Cleo's in silver/blue and silver/green. Think they'd have any in stock? Not on your life.

I hit the river (Ok, walked down from the parking area) at 10:30 and fished from:

Up there,

To down there,

with a silver/blue Kastmaster, silver Little Cleo, and a burgandy/bronze Little Cleo.

Once I got back to where I started, there were a couple of guys doing the Spey Rod thing and you know how I feel about Spey Rods. If you've forgotten, remember the Deschutes adventure in October of 2009. On top of that, they had a couple of black Labs running across the river, just above the riffles. Any Steelhead around there were long gone.

It's now Noon and I decided that since I'd been wandering around all morning and need some food, I wrapped it up for the first day of fishing 2012 and headed for Micky D's for a burger and fries. Then headed home. Next time I'll get here a little earlier.

If you double click on the top picture, you can see the guy standing in the river. Across the river from him is Harrington Access where I've fished before and will probably try next time.

Steelhead, I'll get one of those suckers, yet.

Mark

The Kids

2011-12-31T15:50:00.001-08:00

I had to put something up here on New Years Eve, so I thought I'd just post pictures of the three most distressed cats in Volcano.

Enough with the pictures already.

Happy New Year everybody.

Mark

It's A Wrap

2011-12-29T16:18:00.000-08:00

My wife had to be at work at 0445 (get up at 0215) this morning, so being the loving husband I am, I got up with her, got her off to work, and being that good loving husband, went back to bed.

I rolled out of the sack at 0730, jumped into the shower, made a ham sandwich (on Miltons Multi-Grain Bread [very healthy]), wolfed down a bowl of cereal, threw the sandwich, two chocloate chip granola bars and a half dozen Lendor Truffles (both unhealthy) into the cooler and headed out to Lake Camanche. The Float Tube Cumberland and all the related accessories was already loaded.

Got to the lake at 0915, after a quick stop at Starbucks for coffee and launched. In the picture below, I headed for the point at the right (water temperature 49 degrees), then across the lake to the p oint on the left, then back in to the launch area. I fished the Thinmint, black Wooly Bugger, a purple Wooly Bugger type fly with striped legs that came from Dave Swart up in Oregon, an Olive Wooly Bugger, and then finished up with the Thinmint again. Absolutely no interest in any flies.

I've fished this area quite a few times in the past year and I thought, for sure, that the area I tubed would produce fish. I've never seen a boat in this area, I've caught fish here on a regular basis, and just to rest my mind, once I got in (1100) and loaded the tube and related accessories into the truck, I got out my two rods for Power Bait, my chair, net, stringer, and lunch.

Fifteen minutes later, I had the first fish to hand. It looked like someone had grabbed it and then put it back because it had, what I would call a bacteria spot, right behind the head so I just cut it loose. At 12:20 I landed the second Rainbow. Put it on the stringer after looking to see if it had any bugs in it's mouth. It was clean. Then at 1:20pm I had another hit, but missed setting the hook. From then until I left at 2:00pm, it was social time. Lines were out and the fish were gone. At least for me. There were a couple caught by the folks near by.

I'm ending the year on a high note. It was a good year, but not a great year. When I started keeping track of the number of fish I caught each year it breaks out like this.

2008 - 131,
2009 - 246
2010 - 292
2011 - 183

I know a lot of you don't fish by the numbers and I don't either, but I do use the "Fish to cost of license ratio" as a journal of sorts and in doing so, it keeps a total fish count. It tells me how I did at a certain place, at a certain time. I know I couldn't keep those kind of statistics in my head. Hell, I can't remember my name most of the time.

The last thing this year is the results of my New Years Resolutions.

1. Change my tactics for catching Steelhead and catch one. Nope, didn’t catch a one. Another Steelhead card goes back to the DFG with all zero’s on it.

2. Go back and fish Heenan Lake. Nope, didn’t complete that one either.

3. Beat my personal best trout which was 4lbs 13oz. Yes, tied that one with a 4lb 13oz Cutbow, then beat it with a 5lb 2oz Cutbow and then beat it again with a 7lb Cutbow all from Lake Amador.

4. Attend the Fly Fishing Show in Pleasanton. Got snowed out. We had a very cold storm scheduled for that weekend in February, so my son and I decided to forgo the show in lieu of staying home shoveling snow. What a couple of great guys.

5. Fish Alpine Lake off Highway 4, East of Angels Camp. Well, I didn’t get to Alpine Lake, but I did fish White Pines Lake (Also off Highway 4 East of Angels Camp). Does that count?

Since I only made 1 out of 5, I think I'll pass on New Years Resolutions this year.

So, Happy New Year to all my friends out in the blogosphere. I'll be back next week with a trip to Sacramento in pursuit of those damn Steelhead. New year, new tactics.

I'll see you next year.

Mark

Lake Camanche Once More

2011-12-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

Man, this new computer is FAST. Santa brought me (besides the computer) a wireless keyboard and mouse. Makes typing and mousing a lot faster. It still has a couple of problems to be worked out, like the revolver map that doesn't work and a few problems with Internet Explorer 8, but I'm sure the IT Guru (wife) will get those fixed.

Other than that, I left the house at 0730 with a temp of 33 degrees and drove down the hill to Lake Camanche. My plan was to launch the Float Tube Cumberland, but I had too many things that needed to be done to make it all come together, so rather than stay home and work on the problems, I went to fish from the shore. I'll float tube on Wednesday or Thursday depending on some other stuff going on.

Got to the lake at 0845 and set up my chair, two rods with Rainbow Power Bait, and my cup of coffee from Starbucks on the way. How's that for luxury fishing?

First fish came at 0910, second one at 0920 that broke the line. A fray in the leader, I think. Third fish was at 0935, then a bite and miss at 0940. Then it got quiet. Nothing until 11:15 and then the fifth one. Numbers six & seven came between 11:15 and Noon. The five brought to hand were gently released. Today was a catch and release day.

Below is a shot of the houses that border the lake across from where I was fishing. You can see the cove I was fishing in (The same place, to the exact chair indentations, as Tuesday) and I think you can understand why I want to put the Float Tube Cumberland in there.

Down to the left of where I was seated. You can see the nice sandy beach compared to the other side of the pennsula that is rocks and clay to the shore.

So the 2011 fishing year is winding down rapidly, but I think I can get one more day on the water before the end comes.

Before I left this morning, I had one of those wild ideas I get once in a while. That being "Hey, everyone should be shopping or at work and there probably won't be anyone out there". Huh, you say. I, being retired and to which a day off has no meaning, didn't know that today is the holiday for Christmas. The place was packed. Can't tell by the picture, but the other side of the pennsula was wall to wall people. Nothing close to combat fishing mind you, but a lot of fishermen. On our side, it was me and two other guys to my right. I think we caught more fish that the whole group on the other side, too. We'll just keep that a secret.

Ok, that's it. Stuff to do around the house and it's almost time to feed the kids (cats). You know how they are. They don't get fed by 3:30, it's another call to the SPCA about cat abuse. They now have the SPCA on speed dial. And you thought they couldn't get those little clawed toes on the phone keys.

Till the next adventure.

Mark

Holiday Greetings

2011-12-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to be able to get out again this week, with the finishing up Christmas shopping, family coming over on Saturday, and off to my son's on Christmas Day so I wanted to wish everyone:

Merry Christmas

Mark

Tuesday

2011-12-20T15:01:00.003-08:00

Thanks for your comments on the trashing of our Aspens. We lost 2 of the three, but I think I saved the third one by putting a fence around it. They've been in the ground for 7 years and were only 12 feet high. Hurts a bit to have them trashed after all the work getting them that big, but I take all the blame because I was the one that removed the fences earlier this year. Thanks to Daniel for the link to that article. Pretty informative. Blake, I have a gun. A really BIG one.

Fishing Tuesday. Left the house at the usual 0730, stopped at Starbucks for coffee and got to the North Shore of Lake Camanche at 0845. Set up at my usual spot (since I was the only one there) with one slip sinker rig and my Okuma with Kastmasters. Did a fan cast with Brook Trout, silver/blue, and Rainbow Pink. Didn't get any interest so I put out a second rig with Power Bait.

I came prepared to go the distance. I brought an ice chest with two ham & cheese sandwiches. Two chocolate granola bars, and two bottles of water. And don't forget I had a full commuter cup of coffee. I put out my red camping chair, had my cup of coffee, and a book to read. Lake fishing at it's finest.

Good thing I had all that, because I sat and read from 0900 to 1100 with nary a bite. I figured that since I'm already skunked, what would it hurt to try some place else. A year ago this past summer, my friend Yuki and I fished on the other side of the pennsula and down a ways. We had some luck at a particular spot, so I pitched my rod holders in the sand, set out my chair, and put one rod out with Power Bait and a little spot of sweet corn Pro-Cure scent. I didn't have any expectations because the water in that area is generally shallow by lake standards.

I figured that since I was on the point of the pennsula, I might as well take my Okuma and walk around the point casting a Rainbow Pink Kastmaster just to see what happens. On the fourth or fifth cast, my new Rainbow Pink Kastmaster went out about 200 yards. Great distance, but it would have been even better had the lure still been attached to my line. Oh well, hazard of the game. Walked back to my tackle box, put another one on, and continued around the point.

When I got even with where I parked my truck, I walked back across the point and noticed my rod (with the Power Bait) was bouncing (really bouncing hard) around in the rod holder. The fish was so tired by the time I got to the rod, all I did was reel him in. You know he must have been on the line for a while because a 1 lb 11 oz fish would normally give you a pretty good fight.

Things were definately looking up. So being the die hard lure fisherman I am, I put a second rod out with Rainbow Power Bait, but this time I added a spot of Anise to it and put the Okuma in the truck. Once I stuck the first rod back out with PB & a little sweet corn I settled into my chair for the wait. didn't wait long. In a matter of minutes, the rod with sweet corn was bouncing again. Second fish on the stringer. Then I put out both rods with PB & sweet corn. Then a third one and a fourth one on the stringer. Then nothing. The first four came in 45 minutes. Did I mention it was getting a little windy and a bit chilly.

With both rods out and the wind making my chest cold, I walked up to the truck (about 10 feet) and got my parka out (be prepared in winter, for anything). I put it on and walked back (another 10 feet) to my chair and one rod was bouncing again. Guess if I would have waited a couple more mintues, I wouldn't have had to make that long trek (all 20 feet of it) to the truck because that made 5 on the stringer and that's all you get. I'm trying to keep Bob supplied with fish, because it just might snow one of these days, maybe.

So here's a picture of today's catch. I have them in order by size starting from the right: 14oz, 1lb -9oz, 1lb -10oz, 1lb -11oz, and 1lb -11oz. Not a bad haul for a day that started out with a two hour skunk.

That's it for Tuesday. Don't know if I'll get out again before Christmas, but if I do, I'll let you know how it goes.

Till the next adventure.

Mark

Problem Solved

2011-12-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

Lost the second tree last night. This morning I took a stroll around the property (gun in hand) and heard the teeth clacking (Black Bear) again. Talked to a couple of neighbors on the hill behind me and they've had bear sightings in the last couple of days.

I'm not sure why the trees have been attacked, but I've put a fence around the last one and will fence the new ones (those replacing the ones trashed) when I get them.

UPDATE........

Steve, our local UPS driver had the answer. Since he had the same problem and actually saw it happen, I'm taking his answer as gospel. Apparently it's rutting season and the bucks are using my wife'a Aspen as a rubbing post. Being such a little tree, all they are doing is trashing the it. I've put a cage around the other tree in hopes it will survive.

Fishing tomorrow.

Mark

I Need Some Help

2011-12-18T09:55:00.000-08:00

Before I get to my request, I just wanted to let all of you know, that Internet Explorer 9 is not compatable with Blogger.

Last night, something trashed one of our Aspens. There are three in a triangle, but only this one was destroyed.

These two pictures are from the front and back of what is left of the stump.

This is the bottom of the top part. The tree was about 12 feet tall.

These are 5 pieces stripped from the tree.

I can not find any teeth marks on any of the pieces. A beaver would have cut the tree and taken it, but it was just laying on its side. The 5 pieces were scattered in an area of about 15 feet.

It looks like something maliciously trashed it and just walked away. Why one and not all three?

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Mark

Top Ten Reasons Why I Still Fish Part 2

2011-12-17T07:05:00.000-08:00

OK on to reasons 5 through 1.

5. Newspaper articles. Again, if I don’t fish, I won’t have anything to write about. I’ve been writing articles for the Amador Ledger Dispatch (http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/) since the end of October 2010. I’ve written about everything from fishing the upcountry lakes to being sure you have what you need when you venture out to fish in the winter. Fishing = articles in the paper. They have a blog, too.

4. Fly fishing. Going back to #9 in part 1, I got started fly fishing just before that trip. When we signed up, they told me I needed a fly rod to fish for Steelhead. Ok, I got one because it was the same cost as renting one from them. I did a little research and ended up with a rod, reel, and all the accessories necessary to stand in the river, waving a stick. Before we went to Oregon, I thought it would be prudent to do a little practice with the fly rod. In the stuff I got when I purchased the rod, was flies. Having no idea what I was doing, I drove over to the West Fork of the Carson River and tried my luck. To make a long story short, the first two fish I caught on a fly rod were 18” Rainbows and I was hooked for life. There is no comparison to fishing a spinning rod to a fly rod. Even though I fish with both, a fly rod is way more fun.

3. Friendships. Since I started writing about my fishing, I’ve come into contact with a lot of people both through my blog and people I meet while fishing. I’ve made some good friendships and some good fishing partners. They are the kind of relationships that you can call someone up and say, “Hey, let’s go fishing” and they are just as ready as you are. Some are close by, others are states away. Those that are farther away are the kind of friendships that make swapping fishing ideas an open discussion rather than the closed mouth way a lot of fishermen are. The one thing I’ve learned about fishing; is that you never know it all.

2. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Thanksgiving week this year has held both of these feelings. On Monday of that week, I fished Lake Camanche and caught two Rainbow Trout that went about 3 pounds and 4 lbs - 15oz. I had another one on that stripped line off my reel for about 20 or 30 feet and then gave me back the lure. That was the thrill of victory. That same week, I fished the same place, with the same lure, and caught nothing. That is the agony of defeat. What that kind of week does, is keep you going back for that next thrill of victory. It’s the excitement of the chase.

1. Communing with Nature. Fishing gets you out of the house. It gets you away from the hustle and bustle of city life. It gets you away from the daily grind (this is the way my friend from Wales describes his job). A lot of people that fish go to the lake, stream, or river and never look around at Nature. You should take in the wild flowers, the beauty of mushrooms growing on trees and out of the ground. Just stop and take a close look around. There is beauty everywhere from the small Garter Snake you jump while walking by (Yeh, I know. I hate snakes too) to the little bug that lands on your arm. Probably something that is hatching and that is making the trout go “buggy”, but being Entomology stupid as I am, I can only appreciate the bug itself and not how it relates to the fish, its Latin name, or for that matter, its English name. You know, Caddis, Mayfly, Nymphs, and all that stuff. If nothing else, when you’re sitting in your camping chair on the side of the lake and the fish aren’t biting (which is more often than not), take a look around you. You just might be surprised at what you see. This is why I still fishing.

That's it. Thanks for taking the time to read them.

Mark

Top Ten Reasons Why I Still Fish Part 1

2011-12-16T12:27:00.000-08:00

This is part one of an article I've written for the local newspaper.

10. Beautiful sights in Nature. Some years ago, I was camping up with some friends at a place called Gold Lake in Plumas County. The area is peppered with small lakes. One in particular is Upper Sardine Lake. We decided to take a drive over and do some fishing in this pristine high mountain lake. To get to the lake, at that time, there was a short but extremely rough four wheel drive trail from the lower lake to the upper lake. Now, all you can do is hike from one to the other. The reason is that, once you started up the trail you couldn’t stop until you got to the top and then you had to jam on the brakes or end up over the top and into the lake. Being the good guy I am, I let my friend go first. I’d already been up there a couple of times so I knew what to expect. Up the hill he goes, low range and spitting rocks all over the place. He gets to the top and what does he see? There was a young lady lying on a towel, soaking up the sun, without a stitch of clothes on. You have to believe both were surprised. My friend was so shocked, that he almost, almost ran into the lake. She, on the other hand, scrambled for her clothes. So I keep fishing in the hopes that I too, will come upon a fair maiden, devoid of clothes, lying on a towel, soaking up the sun, on some high mountain lakeshore. One can hope, you know.

9. The elusive Steelhead. I started after chrome in October of 2009 on a trip to Oregon to fish the Deschutes River at Maupin. The trip, as far as the Steelhead fishing goes, was a disaster. You get a short sighted guide that will fish one way, and one way only, you tend to disparage the whole Steelhead fishing thing. On the other hand, I’m a trout fisherman and what is Steelhead? It’s nothing more than an oceangoing Rainbow Trout. Here in the Sacramento area, we are at the bottom of Steelhead country, but we still get out share in the American River. In the past, I’ve concentrated on Steelhead on a fly rod, but next time, whatever it takes. So, for reason 9, they are still out there, and I will be back out there after them. They say Steelhead is the fish of 10,000 casts; well I’m close to 20,000 so it’s my turn. Watch out Steelie, I’m coming to get you.

8. Berkeley Rainbow Power Bait. I’ve got so many bottles; I have to keep fishing so I don’t waste it.

7. The cost of each fish. The cost of my fishing license in 2010 was $63.47. This includes the standard license, a second rod stamp, and a Steelhead report card. I maintain what I call a “Fish to license ratio” spreadsheet. It does several things. One, it keeps track of the number of fish I catch. Two, it tells me what the cost per fish is (this is only the cost of the license vs. number of fish, but doesn’t include gas, entrance fees, etc). Three, it tells me (Ok I have to read it) what I caught where. Kind of like a journal.

6. Blogging. If I don’t fish, I won’t have anything to write about. I started my blog in January 2009 and once you start a blog, it gains a life of its own. I started it, mainly because there weren’t any reports around that told local fishermen what was being caught and where, and that is exactly what I wanted to do. Since then, it has 139 followers from around the world. Just to name a couple of places that people stop by from: Malaysia, Wales, Fiji, and South Africa.

Part 2 tomorrow.

Mark

One Last Shot At Red Lake

2011-12-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

Shot out of the house at 0730 and after stopping at Cooks for coffee, drove up the hill in hopes that there might be one small Brookie waiting for me at Red Lake.

Passing Silver Lake, on the way, should have been a clue as to what I was going to run into. Silver Lake was frozen over. So was Caples. But, the blasting guys at Carson pass were gone, yeh.... All I had to do was drive a little way over the pass and I could see that there would be no Brookies this year. Red Lake was frozen over too. Must have been those 18 degree mornings. They do it every time.

A quick u-turn and back down the hill (When you live in the mountains, you tend to think of an 8000 foot pass as a hill) and a turn at Bear River Reservoir. Got to the gate at 10:00 and sure enough it was closed. It is December after all. But would that stop a guy with 4 wheel drive? I think not.

Apparently I wasn't the only one the gate didn't stop, because when I got down to the lake (After driving over the hill beside the gate) there were 4 other trucks parked. Two guys were fishing in the spot I normally fish, so I took up residence next to, but far enough away not to interfere, where they were.

Since they had just gotten there, there was no way to tell how the catchin would be. They were fishing meal worms under bobbers and Power Bait on a two hook rig with a 1/4 oz sinker attached to the line. I put out one rig with PB and sweet corn scent on my usual slip sinker rig and the pink Kastmaster (small sized 1/8th oz) on my Okuma with 2# test. No interest in the Kastmaster, so I put a second rig out with Power Bait.

Sitting there in the sun, somewhat warm, catching three small (11 inch) Rainbows while my neighbors caught one a peace. At 11:30 the wind started to blow and it got real cold, real quick. I estimate the temperature dropped 15 degrees between 11:30 and Noon.

My neighbors pulled up stakes at Noon and since they had one fish each, it didn't do them any good (You know what I mean), they dropped them off for me to take to Bob. We had talked about Bob (I plow for fish) during our chatting. You know me, I'm always chatting with those close by.

Since I now had 5 on my stringer, I didn't have any other option but to pack it up too and head home too.

I really, really, really wanted some Brookies to smoke. Guess it'll just have to wait until next year. Sure hope it's better Brook Trout fishing than it was this year.

Till next time.

Mark

Meet Sparky

2011-12-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

As you all know, my wife has been on a baking jag for a while now. We've had White Bread, Rye Bread, Harvest Grain Bread, and most recently Oat Bread. Did I tell you she got a bread maker too?

The next logical step is Sourdough Bread. Enter Sparky.

Sourdough starter is like a child, it needs to be fed, watered, and nurtured. When you get yours from King Arthur Flour, you are required to name it, just like you would name a child. We named ours Sparky. Why, you ask? Who the hell knows.

Sparky is a descendant of a starter that began its life over 250 years ago. Sparky arrived at our home via UPS yesterday in the container below and came all the way from Vermont. A very long trip in a very small container for a Sourdough starter.

Of course, having made that long a trip, Sparky needed to be fed. Once fed, Sparky requires time to digest dinner. Actually Sparky requires 12 hours to complete his (Why his? Why male? I don't know, doesn't Sparky sound male?) first meal.

This is what Sparky looks like after the first meal. Then you have to feed him again. He's gotten pretty hungry after that long trip. But first, you have to divide him in half, then feed him. What do you do with the halves? One you feed, the other one, you can give to someone else or just chuck it into the trash. Seems a little cruel huh. Cut your child in half and throw half into the trash. I know we've all wanted to at one time or another. That's the price you pay for being Sourdough starter.

Now Sparky has been fed the second time and is happy, as far as Sourdough starter is concerned. Then you put him in his own Sourdough Condo and then in the refrigerator. This is Sparky's condo.

Ok, so now you're ready to make bread. First you have to take Sparky out of the fridge and feed him again, but this has to be done at least 12 hours before using him. But before feeding him you must, again, take a cup out and throw it away or you can always put it into a container and put it into the freezer (Sparky freezes well) just in case something terrible happens to the original Sparky, you have backup. Sparky is a fragile child. Once fed, he has to sit for an additonal 4 to 12 hours.

Once you use the amount of Sparky you need for the recipe, you have to feed him again and allow him to sit at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours. Then back into his condo and back into the fridge until next time.

Seems like a lot of work, but remember, Sparky is part of a 250 year growth and has many relatives out there being fed, split, discarded, or given away, and used for Sourdough Bread.

Part of California history is Sourdough bread. I'm sure you've all heard of San Francisco Sourdough. Going back to the gold mining days (1849 & 1850), if a person had sourdough starter and could make sourdough bread (a staple of the gold miners), that person was sure to make loads of money. The gold miners weren't the ones making a fortune, it was the merchants who sold them supplies and the ones who fed them.

So, I would suspect that Sparky will get his first workout this weekend. I'll try to get a picture of the first loaf of Sourdough bread and give you a review. Sorry you won't be here to share, but you'd probably have to fight me for it anyway.

This morning I took a drive up the hill to see what the lakes looked like. That post will be for tomorrow.

Till then.

Mark

Santa Comes Early

2011-12-10T15:02:00.000-08:00

I've been using, on occasion, my wifes laptop to do this and that. Recently, I got yelled at for uploading a few applications I needed for something or another. Things like Google Chrome.

Well, Santa decided I needed my own laptop so I'd leave her's alone. Well, here it is.

It's a Dell XPS with Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9, and a bunch of other stuff, but I have no idea what it is yet.

Now I'll be able to blog from anywhere there is WIFI, although I've already been told that I'm not to take the laptop out on the Float Tube Cumberland. Darn, I had such high hopes.

Just a short update. As Martha Stewart would say "I'm so excited". You had to be there to get the full effect.

Hanging out for the weekend and will be back on the water next week.

Till then.

Mark

The Surprise Post

2011-12-07T08:47:00.000-08:00

This post, is post number 400.

When I started this blog on January 7th 2009, I didn’t have any intention that it would be anything more than information for local fishermen.

Here is the short, first post:

A New Year

This is my first shot at blogging. I've been fishing all my life and wanted to share my experiences with all my fellow fishermen. I contacted a local news paper about putting this information on their website and they pretty much blew me off, so I started this blog.

I've lived in Northern California since 1975 and have mainly fished streams and rivers for trout.
In 2007 I discovered lakes. OK, I know a lot of you fish streams and lakes and want to know what this guy knows that I don't. For some, probably nothing, for others maybe I can help them catch more fish. I figure if I put out here what I do and how I do it, it will help somebody have a nice trout dinner once in a while.

Last year I had a major surgery at the end of May. Before and after I did as much fishing as I could (I might note that I'm currently retired) until the snow hit in December. So for the time being, I'm doing some other stuff around the house that I've let go, we live on 5 acres in the mountains, but fishing is always on my mind. Did I mention I caught 130 trout and 1 Small Mouth Bass last year? A lot of the trout were catch and release. One can only eat so much fish. The Small Mouth Bass was a quirk. I was fishing for trout and it hit the lure. He got to go home too.

OK, I could go on and on, but then it wouldn't leave anything for another day. Just remember, "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work".

I’ve learned a lot since then about fishing, writing, and friends.

I’ve gone from spin fishing streams, to rivers, to lakes, and on to fly fishing. I’ve caught little fish and big fish (A 7 lb Cutbow from Lake Amador is my personal best on spinning gear and a 2 lb 8oz Rainbow from the Camanche Trout Pond on a fly rod).

I’ve written 399 blog posts, 25 articles in the local newspaper, and several posts on the newspapers blog.

But it’s the friends and followers of what I write that are the stars. If you didn’t read what I write, what would be the point of writing in the first place? Just yesterday I was picking up a prescription and the girl behind the counter said “Hey, I saw the inside of your truck”. She had read the article in the local newspaper about being prepared for winter fishing. I had added a picture of the inside of my truck with my parka, rain suit, hoodie, and all the gear I carry. It puts a smile on your face to hear someone say something like that.

I know I made a mistake and I freely admit the error when I said good bye in June. When I returned in July I realized the mistake was much, much bigger than I could have ever imagined.

I went from over 300 hits a day to just over 80 a day, currently. I want to personally thank each and every one of you that stop by. Without you, there would be no Northern California Trout.

I’m not looking for praise or thanks from you, the thanks come from me, to you for being loyal readers. I’ve also mentioned to several of the bloggers I read, that were considering quitting, to take a break, but don’t quit. Let me be an example of what happens when you try to make a comeback.

So here is post #400. A little rehash of what’s occurred in the last three years (year 4 starts January 8th 2012) and you can be assured, I will be posting at the same pace in the future as I’ve done in the past. Hey, it gives me a reason to go fishing all the time.

All I can say in closing is Thank You, Thank You, and Thank You.

Mark

Two Day Update

2011-12-06T14:55:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I had to take a run into town (Jackson) to pick up some prescriptions, so I thought I'd drive out to Middle Bar Bridge and if anyone was fishing, see if anyone was catching.

When I got there, I saw that the bridge was empty and nobody was fishing. I probably should have realized that before I got there, when I saw a 6 point buck run across the river.

The picture on the left is what the river (or arm of Lake Pardee how ever you want to look at it) looked like back in May and the right is from yesterday.

Upstream

Downstream

I figure no one was fishing because the water was somewhere around two feet deep. I would find it hard to fish from a 15 foot bridge into two feet of water. My friend Yuki says they do still fish, but were probably weenies and didn't want to be out in the cold. I would be concerned that, with the water level so low, the river regulations (as opposed to lake regulations) would be in effect (closed since November 15th) and the fine is too great to take a chance. So I went home.

Today I drove out to Lake Camanche. Against my better judgment, I opted for the Trout Pond rather than North Shore where I've been fishing. Quite a few people out there and the pond was stocked last Thursday.

I arrived at 0845 and set up one rod with Rainbow Power Bait and Sweet Corn Pro-Cure Bait Scent. The other rod was set up with a floating bobber rig from Lake Amador back on the 28th of November. I had my Okuma with 2# test set up with that good old pink Kastmaster, so I started setting up my other rod with a slip sinker rig too. Before I could tie on the hook, I had a fish on. It was a one pound Rainbow and since I haven't gotten Bob any fish lately, it went on the stringer. This was at 0900. I was still trying to tie on the hook and landed the second Rainbow that went 2 lbs 2 oz on the Handy Dandy Berkeley Digital Scale. Time 0910. This had the outlook of a good day.

I almost forgave the management at Lake Camanche until the stock truck pulled up at 1030. As it backed up to drop the fish, the beeping from backing up (you've all heard the noise) was like a beacon to the pelicans. He barely got the fish into the water before the pelicans started slurping them up. One pelican grabbed a fish so large, the bird was half underwater trying to get it down it's gullet. You could mark the school by where the pelicans were swimming and eating. Maybe a dozen (could have been more, I don't know) managed to get away, but you can be sure the pelicans chased them half way across the pond.

The rest of the day (I left at 1:00pm) was sit, sit, sit with the exception of one quick hookup and spit out using that pink Kastmaster and a couple of drive by's. Nothing else on Power Bait.

A little duck love.

Next post (Tomorrow or Thursday) will be one of those surprise posts. Stay tuned.

Till then.

Mark

Christmas Lights

2011-12-05T06:33:00.000-08:00

My wife said "We live at the end of a road in the middle of nowhere. Who would see our lights?"

I can't imagine.

Mark

Satire

2011-12-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

Combat Fishing

Definition of Combat Fishing.

Combat : A fight or contest between individuals or groups.

Fishing : The sport or business of catching fish.

This is a situation every fisherman has run into at one time or another. In the winter, there are certain ponds that are stocked by the California Department of Fish and Game that fall into this category. To name a few of these places, Hagen Park Pond, Howe Avenue Pond, and Oak Grove Regional Park Pond.

To fish these ponds, one must be attired, in such a way, as to be able to fish and not suffer bodily harm. To do this safely one should always dress in the best SWAT body armor one can find. I would suggest, at a minimum, a tactical entry vest, or a bulletproof Special Forces vest. That will protect your upper body from unwanted lures slung in your direction with no regard to your whereabouts. One could always wear your fishing vest over this, but it just wouldn’t be fashionably correct.

A small addition you might want to add, instead of your normal ball cap or your favorite bucket hat is a Kevlar Helmet with a clear face cover. Helmets don’t have any place to hang your lures or flies, but we’ll cover that later.

The one thing that is a “must have” is the Sam Browne belt with all the cases that are attached. You’re not going to use them for the purposes they were intended, like hand cuffs, extra ammunition clips and stuff like that, but they do make handy holders for your lure and fly boxes.

Since you’re not carrying any extra ammunition clips, there won’t be a need for your standard armament (A .40 caliber Sig-Sauer handgun or an MP-5 submachine gun with noise suppressor. This is COMBAT fishing after all), but it has a space for a good 4 cell Maglite for those dark mornings and evenings and a nice extendable steel baton. They come in several sizes including 16”, 21”, and 26”, the 21” being the most popular size. One of these might come in handy when that one person decides they want to fish where you’re standing. The belts I looked at don’t come with a D-ring for your net, so you might have to fabricate (Necessity is the Mother of invention) something, so it’s handy when you start catching those planted Rainbows.

Now, if you’re one of those folks that bring your dog along when you go combat fishing, you might want to invest in a K-9 Body Armor Vest just to keep your pooch safe while he or she is lounging around and you’re fishing. Unfortunately they don’t have helmets for your pooch, so you’ll just have to wing it.

About the only other thing I can see that you might need are knee pads so you can sneak in between all those people and get a good spot, but those I would list as optional equipment.

Properly attired, you grab your fishing rod and off you go. You get to your favorite pond and push your way up to the shore. You note that as you are pushing your way in, there are lures bouncing off your new Kevlar helmet and you’re happy you spent those $$$$ for the protection.

You reach into a case on your Sam Browne belt, pull out a lure and fling it into the pond. Don’t fling too hard because the pond is only the size of an Olympic Swimming Pool. As you’re reeling in your lure, getting tangled with all the other “Combat Fishermen & Fisherwomen”, you notice all the yelling and shouting when others manage to land that 25th fish (Limit 5) because there isn’t a Game Warden closer than 100 miles.

After minutes of fishing and catching your limit or more of those planters, you decide to call it a day. Bull your way out of the maddening crowd, make it back to your vehicle, and when you get your sweaty, hot body out of all that armor, you wonder “What the hell is the matter with me”?

I’m so glad you could come along.

Only The Lonely

2011-11-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

I guess I was the only one dumb enough to be out in this weather.

Left and right from where I was parked. I don't see anyone, do you?

I had a couple of errands to run in town (Jackson) this morning and since I couldn't do anything until about Noon, I took a run out to the North Shore of Lake Camanche. In case you don't know, Lake Camanche is just south of town, maybe 15 miles.

I would have taken my neighbor Roy along, but I didn't think he would appreciate me calling him at 0515 and saying "Hey, lets go fishing". To go was one of those "instant" decisions that happen.

It was foggy, wet, but no wind when I got there. We were expecting the wind to pick up later and blow out the fog. The wind did pick and by 1100 it was blowing steady at about 20 mph. The valley is expecting wind gusts up to 50+ mph today and tomorrow.

Since I didn't catch anything (I did get one bump at 0830), I guess the fish weren't even dumb enough to be out in this weather.

Enjoy the pictures and be glad you're inside where its warm and toasty.

Till next time.

Mark

Getting Skunked Is Getting Old

2011-11-28T13:42:00.000-08:00

Besides, who can catch fish in this weather?

And, I left the house at 0545, the middle of the night.

The wife had to be to work early this morning, so I just hopped into the truck and ran out to Lake Amador to see if I could catch a couple of Cutbows. I tried every color of Kastmaster (did get a couple of drive by's on Brook Trout and solid gold colors), Sonic Red Roostertail, gold Panther Martin and Rainbow Power Bait with corn, anise, and Threadfin Shad flavors.

The new thing I tried was a black Wooly Bugger on a 4 foot leader under a clear bobber 1/2 full of water. Supposed to be to go-to way for catching. Obviously it didn't go-to for me.

So it was yucky (weather wise) when I got there at 0630, the fog lifted a bit around 1000, and then the fog came back around 1100 and looked just like the picture again.

The joys of winter in Northern California.

I'm going to take a nap. Till next time.

Mark

ps, the new picture is of White Pines Lake last summer.

The Thrill Of Victory And The Agony Of Defeat

2011-11-25T15:45:00.000-08:00

Some of you may not be old enough to remember the American Sportsman TV Show, but if you do, you know what the title means.

Monday was the thrill of victory with those two big Rainbows.

This morning I set out for Lake Camanche with the Float Tube Cumberland at 0800. My plan was to get one of those big Rainbows on my fly rod and beat my personal best for flyrod which is 2 lbs 8oz. I left a little bit later than normal, but I had trouble getting my turkey and trimmings body out of bed. Over indulged yesterday on all the goodies. The other thing was that I didn't stop to get any coffee (would have been Starbucks) because I wanted to spend more time flippering than having to run back to shore to take a p... every half hour or so. Coffee does that to me. I should have known better.

Got to the lake at 0900 and got the Float Tube Cumberland aired up, all the gear in, and on the water in about 15 minutes.

My first direction was the buoy I had such good luck by on Monday. I had to flipper out beyond the buoy into no man's land (out beyond the 5 mph zone) and fished back toward shore. There were two guys fishing where I was on Monday and I wanted to be out beyond their zone. I figured my best bet was the tried and true Thinmint. I didn't get any interest, so I put down my fly rod and used my Okuma with a new rainbow pink Kastmaster. Nothing again.

Set out for the point and fished the Thinmint all the way. Got to the point and did a 360 making sure I covered all the area, like I did the last time (where I had two on and lost both), then proceeded back toward where I put in. Not so much as a bump. I watched the people fishing from the shore (and there was bunch of them), but I didn't see any fish coming to hand. Got back almost to put in and finally got the first and only bump of the day. I sat there for, probably a half hour spinning 360's and trying to find the one that bumped. No such luck.

By that time it was Noon, my feet were cold (forgot to put on my wool socks), my legs were starting to cramp (lack of flippering practice), and my stomach was growling (you wouldn't think, after all that turkey I ate yesterday), but I put in and hauled out the Cumberland.

Since I was already there, I pulled out a couple of my rods with 4# and slip sinker rigs, my red chair, and tacklebox and sat for an hour or so with Power Bait on one and Kastmasters on the other.

Today was the agony of defeat. There wasn't a fish to be found. Felt kind of like that guy on The American Sportsman who wiped out on the ski jump. He lived, by the way.

It's a good thing I'm an optimist. There's always next time.

Till then.

Mark

For Tomorrow

2011-11-23T19:50:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.............

Mark

Pink, The Color Of The Day

2011-11-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas dinner, anyone?

Growing up in Winconsin, my father was a hunter like most of the neighborhood fathers in the 50's. On Easter we had ham, on Thanksgiving we had turkey, and on Christmas we had Goose. I think the Goose looked like these.

The morning sun over Lake Camanche. T-shirt weather by 10:00am.

What can I say, target practice. Got within a foot on several casts. Need more practice. They were getting much too close to where I was fishing.

OK, back to the title. Pink, and it's not even October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month).

Got out to Lake Camanche at 0830 (after coffee at Starbucks) and found the spot I was looking for. If you look at the sun picture, you can see a buoy in the distance. It's out 150 feet or so from shore. I put out one rod with Rainbow Power Bait and Sweet Corn bait scent. On my Okuma with 2 pound test, I put on a silver Kastmaster.

I covered about 180 degrees from where I was sitting (lazy bum that I am) with 8 casts. With no interest, I changed to gold. Same process. Then changed to silver/blue, Brook Trout color, Fire Tiger color, and last, but not least, orange. When I didn't get any interest in those colors, I walked back to the truck and out of my "backup stock" tacklebox I got a Rainbow Pink one.

All these Kastmasters I'm throwning are 1/4 oz on 2# test Fluorocarbon. Good thing it's strong. The one thing I do when I have two rods out, is that while I'm reeling in the one with a lure, I watch the one with Power Bait in case I get a hit. When you're doing that, a hit on the lure is a surprise. OK, any hit on a lure is a surprise.

Then the fun began. On the 4th cast, that would have been straight out from where I was sitting (lazy bum that I am. Wait, I already said that.), the line stopped dead in the water and the fight was on. Wasn't much of a fight and if you double click on the picture below, you'll see that there are "things" on this fish. I don't know if it's a fungus or maybe Cope Pods or what, but it didn't put up much of a fight. Kind of lethargic. Since it was kind of "skaggy" looking, I put it back to live it's life out in the lake, probably not very long. Time: 0930 and the weight was somewhere in the area of 2 1/2 to 3 pounds.

15 minutes later (0945) I hooked up with another that took 20 to 30 feet of line and then gave me back my lure. Mighty nice of it to do that.

Then around 1030, I hooked up again. This one was no slouch. We rocked and rolled for about 5 minutes until I got it close enough to put the net on it. Well, put the net on part of it, as it was too big to fit into the net. Note to self, get a bigger net. The best I could do was scoop it from the back and pitch it up on the bank. The hook was badly embedded in it, and by the time I got it out, the fish was bleeding too bad to put it back.

I stuck it on the stringer, took a weight reading with my Handy Dandy Berkley Digital Scale and it came in at 4 lbs, 15oz. You can see by the picture of the lure how bad it mangled the hook. Notice the tail is worn down. Hatchery trout.

After that, I got a drive by at 11:00 and another one at 11:10. That was it for the day. Since I only had the one, I stopped by some fishermen down the shore a bit and asked them if they wanted the fish to add to their stringer. Since they only had one, they said "sure". Two big trout make a nice dinner.

That's it for now. I might take a run out to Amador on Friday and give the wife some peace and quiet and a little time for herself. I'll let you know if I do.

Till next time.

Mark

Lake Amador Today

2011-11-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

Skunked

That about covers it.

Mark

ps, you know I threw everything I had at them.

Give "Em What They Want

2011-11-15T18:18:00.000-08:00

Since I'm meeting Rich at Lake Amador tomorrow, I decided to take a quick run up to Bear River Reservoir and see if the gate (supposed to close on November 1st) was still open.

After the usual coffee stop, got to BRR at 0815 and the gate was open. Drove down to the shore and walked to my usual spot about 100 feet from the dam. I was the only person up there with the exception of one boater, so I had my choice of places. Put out one rod with Rainbow Power Bait with Sweet Corn Pro-Cure scent because I've had such good luck with this scent the last couple of times I fished here. I put a gold Panther Martin on the second rod. Didn't get any interest in the PM, so switched to a Brook Trout colored Kastmaster. Nothing there either, then I switched to a Rainbow Pink one. Nada there too.

By then I figured that if I was going to get anything on Power Bait, I would have, but I didn't. Tried new Power Bait with Anise and then with Threadfin Shad and there was just no interest in any Power Bait what so ever.

On my other rod I put a silver Panther Martin and hooked up a 10" Rainbow. Because it was small and lip hooked, it went back for another day. After a bunch more casts and no more interest in the PM, I switched to a silver 1/4 oz Kastmaster. I landed and released two more small 10" Rainbows and that was all the interest I got for the day. It seemed that the hits came from the shaded area next to the dam or just a little out in the sunlight.

You just have to be prepared to give them what they want. Today is was silver and not scented Power Bait.

Just before I left, I moved to a spot by my truck and got out my red chair so I could soak up a little sun (it was just a little bit windy and chilly) as well as a little Vitamin D. Two rods out with Power Bait in a little different area, but nothing there.

I suspect that this will be my last trip to Bear River or any of the other upcountry lakes until next spring since we are expecting a good, cold, winter storm starting Friday and running through the weekend with snow levels below our house.

So tune in tomorrow and see how Lake Amador turns out. Till then.

Mark

OBN Writing Prompt

2011-11-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

It was done last Wednesday and since I was down with a bad tooth, here is an article I just published in the local newspaper.

Preparation essential for cold-weather fishing trips

Kautz’s king cab is filled with essential equipment and supplies for a cold-weather venture into the fisherman’s world.

With November here and December right around the corner, the weather is going to be a bit chillier. If you are an all-year fisherman, like I am, you need to take some precautions when you’re out chasing fish.

One of the big words is “layer.” Never a truer word has been spoken. You can always take off a layer or two, but you can’t add layers if you don’t have them. When I head out for a day of fishing, my truck is full of clothes. Because I drive an extra cab pickup doesn’t mean I have tons of space in the back. In fact, when you add in three tackle boxes, two buckets — one for fish and the other for bungee cords — a chair pad, a camping chair, tarp, first aid kit — handy to have if you stick a hook in a finger, as I did earlier this year at Lake Amador — and a big net, it doesn’t leave much space for clothes.

OK, I’ve got a tonneau cover on the bed, but it tends to leak when it rains a lot. It’s old, and all the molding around the edges is gone. So I just throw all the clothing on top of the tackle boxes and hope I can find it when it’s needed.

Let’s take a look at the conditions one at a time.

We’ll start with rain. I’m a weenie when it comes to fishing in the rain. Back on Oct. 10, while I was fishing at Lake Camanche, it rained for the final two hours I was there. That was OK — it was warm and the rain was warm. I don’t mind getting a little wet. Heck, I was raised in Florida. It rains all the time down there. I used to wear swimming goggles when I rode my bike to the beach, so I could see where I was going. But in the winter, that’s a different story.

You get caught in a winter rain and you can get into trouble in a hurry. Ever heard of hypothermia, which is subnormal temperature of the body? It can be deadly. You want to make sure you have proper clothing. I carry a rain coat, rain pants and a fleece hoodie to wear under it, as well as top and bottom thermals.

How about snow? I have a fleece-lined parka, two fleece watch caps, ear muffs, three types of gloves — neoprene, fleece-lined leather and fingerless fleece, with finger covers — and chemical hand warmers. I carry all this, with the exception of the parka, in my backpack that is always with me. I also have a blanket in the truck, stashed under the back seat.

One more thing about snow: you always want to make sure you have extra food and water with you. I have an ice chest that fits behind the passenger seat, in which I carry several bottles of water, a couple of sandwiches, half-a-dozen granola bars — I like chocolate-coated, chocolate chip ones, from Quaker — and a thermos of coffee. Sounds like a lot, but how long would it last? You can always take it home, but, if you need it, you can’t always get it.So, there you are up at, say, Red Lake, and there is six-inch-deep snow on the ground. The lake is still open, you’ve caught a nice limit of brook trout and you find yourself stuck in the snow. You’re sure glad you have that folding shovel you carry with you all the time and are able to dig yourself out. In the winter, I also carry a plastic snow shovel in the back, even though I have four-wheel drive and good, meaty snow tires.

To answer your question, was I a boy scout? Nope, but I can’t say enough about “being prepared.” If you’ve got the room, take it along, even if you don’t think you’ll need it, because you just might. One other thing you might do is make a list, so you can check off the items you think you might need, so you won’t forget anything. If you’re like me, put that list next to your chair in the living room and, when you think of something, it’s there and handy for you to write it down.

One last thing, remember to always, always, let someone know where you are going and when you plan to return.

Mark

Red Lake or Bust

2011-11-10T16:04:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the last post, I wanted to head up the hill and see the lakes looked like. Well, I hit snow at about 4000 feet, before I ever got to Highway 88. I'm not sure if this was a good or bad omen.

First stop was Bear River Reservoir (after stopping for coffee, of course). The gate is still open (don't know for how long, because there is snow on the road), so I drove over to the dam. My goal was Red Lake (Brook Trout for the smoker) so I just took a quick shot of the shoreline and headed back out. I could always stop on the way back if nothing happened further uphill.

Silver Lake was much easier as I could scope it on the way by. The lake level is way down as it usually is at the end of Summer, but no ice that I could see on the lake.

Caples lake was the same way. Water was clear and the lake level was down some but not very far. There was a lot of snow on both sides of the lake.

The blasting at Carson pass is still going on and the wait going over was only 20 minutes, so I waited. Once over and down the hill to Red Lake the snow was a little deeper. Parked as high up the road as I could (don't want to be climbing in snow covered slopes any more than necessary) and grabbed my gear.

Set up (carefully) at my usual spot. Noticed small areas of ice on the lake. Won't be long before it's iced over. By now, the Brook Trout HAD to be in a spawning mode and SHOULD be biting. One rod out with Power Bait and the other for lures. I tried every color of Kastmaster, gold and silver Panther Martin, bumblebee color Roostertail, and red/bronze Little Cleo. I never got a hit, follow, bump, yes, I, or Boo from a fish. Two hours of sitting on my but, in the snow (On a chair pad. You don't think I'm that dumb do you?) and NOTHING.

Now, did I mention the tooth ache I had on Tuesday? Well, it went from dentist to endondontist to root canal yesterday. Now the endondontist said I would probably experience a little after pain from the shots, drilling, and the infection for a couple of days, but a little pain never slowed me down. Little being the definitive word here. I had taken Tylenol (or a reasonal facsimile) at 0500 and 0900, but by Noon I thought my face was going to fall off the pain was so intense.

Packed up, drove down the hill (the wait at Carson Pass was 25 minutes this way) straight home for drugs more powerful than Tylenol. Finally got the pain under control around 4:00pm. I'm staying home for a couple of days.

I don't know why the Brookies are not biting at Red Lake, other than the DFG has not planted this year, but I do know that there won't be any smoked Brook Trout.

The next trip will probably be to Lake Amador. Got an email from my friends Rich & Mark and they are ready for a trip out there. Don't wait for me guys, might be a couple of days.

Till the next adventure.

Mark

Camanche Lake

2011-11-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

I've been dealing with a tooth problem for the last couple of weeks. I originally thought it was a sinus problem radiating into my teeth, so I went to my doctor to have him prescribe an antibiotic to see if the problem could be corrected. It hasn't and I'm off to the dentist tomorrow morning to have him fix me.

So what does this have to do with fishing? Plan A was to take the Float Tube Cumberland out to Camanche and test a couple of larger Tunsten Beadhead Thinmints in size 6 that I put together. Only problem is that the more I walk around, the more the mouth hurts. Flippering around the lake would have probably sent me screaming back to the truck. This put plan A on hold.

Plan B was to put out my fishing chair (you know, that cool red one), two rods with Rainbow Power Bait, and quietly catch fish. Don't move, don't hurt. Works for me. The first two came at 30 minutes into the day. The picture below is the first one and the second one looked just like it. Something close to 1-1/2 to 2 pounds. Both went back for another day, same as would have happened from the Float Tube Cumberland. The water is colder than it's been, but still in the high 60's and I think, too warm to keep the fish.

From there on, it was sit quietly because the fish were not disrupting me in any way, shape, or form. Decent of them, don't you think. Those two were it for today, but I did see 10 or 12 more caught by other people fishing.

I also checked on the Trout Pond (you remember that place from last year) and they haven't even started stocking it because the water is too warm, BUT they are making an attempt to deflect the Pelicans and Cormorants and allow the fish to make it into the pond. We'll see.

Weather Channel says we're supposed to get some rain on Friday so maybe I'll take a run up the hill on Thursday. We got our first snow last Saturday night. Just dusted, but a bit early in the year for snow. I would suspect that with the cold nights we've been having, the lakes are going to start icing up pretty quick. Probably should get one more fishing day in, upcountry, before it's too late.

Till then.

Mark

I Just Should Have Gone To Bear

2011-11-02T14:45:00.000-07:00

The blasting at Carson pass was supposed to be completed by Monday 10/31/11. Happy belated Holloween.

Plan A: Left the house at 0730 and stopped for coffee at Cook's Station. All this time I've been talking about them and I've never shown you a picture. What a bonehead. Here you go.

With coffee in the cup holder, jetted up Highway 88 to Red Lake to see if there were any Brookies showing up. It should have dawned on me when I passed several trucks coming down the hill full of big rocks, but I'm an optimist.

Got to the pass and there were 25 or 30 cars & trucks waiting to go through. One truck even had it's hood open and the driver was working on his engine. Not a good sign. I drove into the rest area, did an about face, and headed back down the hill.

Plan B: Stop at Caples and fish the dead tree. The fact that I didn't see anyone fishing Caples on the way up should have told me something too. Ok, I'm a little dense, but I'm an optimist.

It must have been a mighty chilly last night. You can't see very well in the picture, but the rocks are covered with ice.

In the picture below, if you look at the little rock sticking out, you can see the icicles hanging off it.

Not to be deterred, I put out two rods with Rainbow Power Bait and sat in the sun. That's all I did was sit in the sun because there wasn't a fish to be found. Caples has not been very good this year. I'm not sure why, but there isn't even any chatter on the local forums about any of the upcountry lakes.

Plan C: Bear River Reservoir. Chances were good that I'd at least find a fish there. Last couple of trips have been pretty good. I got there at about 1100 and set my new fishing chair out, one rod with Rainbow Power Bait and a dab of Pro-Cure Sweet Corn. Before I could get the second rod rigged, I had a fish on the first one. Lip hooked and back for another day. Got that rod out and the other one and hooked up on both. Oh, this was LOOKING GOOD. Both were lip hooked and back for another day. Rods back out and another one, but this time it was a good 12 incher. I kept that one. This happened in the first 10 minutes I was there. Then it got quiet. Half hour later, I put one more on the stringer, but this one a bit smaller, maybe 10 inches.

I'm not fishing where I usually fish (100 feet or so from the dam), I was a good 500 feet or more from the dam. There was a guy fishing in my usual spot already, but I wanted to fish near where I fished on October 28th anyway. When I was there on the 28th, I mentioned a guy fished in this spot, but didn't catch anything. I wanted to see if I could do any better. Here's a shot from where I fished. Along the shore and over the big rocks is were I usually fish.

After the first 5 (2 on the stringer and 3 released) it got quiet. Really quiet. In fact I didn't get another bite until about 1230. It was a smaller one (maybe 9 inches) too, but I put it on the stringer anyway. Ate a couple of granola bars, drank a little water and soaked up some sunshine.

Sitting, waiting, sitting, waiting. twiddling my thumbs, picking my, nevermind I don't want to go there. So I reeled in one rod and put on new Power Bait, cast it at a 45 degree angle toward the dam and hoped for the best. It kind of went like this: cast, splash, bite, fish. Cast, splash, bite, and second fish. Five on the stringer and time to go home.

The one thing I stressed on the October 28th post was the Pro-Cure flavor of the day. Today there wasn't a favorite. They hit on Anise, Sweet Corn, and Threadfin Shad, but they wouldn't hit plain old Power Bait by itself.

I just went over on the Pro-Cure site and there are 53 different scents. A couple of cool names like Butt Juice, Carp Spit, and Salmon Slammer. You know how I am with cool names.

All right, 8 for the day with 3 back for another day and five for Bob (I plow for fish). We are expecting rain to start tomorrow and the possibility of snow (down to 3000 feet they say) at our house by Friday morning. Let's hope not.

Probably won't get out again this week, so until next week.

Mark

Slip Sinker Rig ReDoux

2011-10-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

In my travels, I run across a lot of fishermen especially out at the lakes. When I ask what they are using, the answer is usually Power Bait. "Are you using a slip sinker rig?" Most say yes. "Are you catching anything?" Some say one or two or nothing yet. I try to explain what I use, but it's hard without a picture of some kind, but I always leave a card (An Avery business card stock with the name and URL for Northern California Trout and the newspaper I write a column for)and say "Stop by and check out the blog. A lot of good stuff there".

Then there are times when I sit within a 100 feet of a guy fishing with a "slip sinker rig and Power Bait" who catches nothing while, I walk away with a limit. I know I've said it before and I'll say it again that I feel bad when that happens. My mission and the mission of Northern California Trout is to help other people catch fish.

So I wanted to do another post on the slip sinker rig on my rod with 4# test line and add in things that work for me.

Here is a picture of my slip sinker rig. Double click so you can get a good look at it.

Start with the sinker: Egg or sliding sinker in 1/4 oz, 3/8 oz, or 1/2 oz depending on how much wind is blowing.

Barrel swivel: #7 gold barrel swivel. You can get them anywhere. Why #7? Seems to work the best with all three sizes of sinkers.

Leader: 4# fluorocarbon leader 18" to 24" depending on how far out you are fishing. If you're fishing in a lake with a lot of undergrowth, you can always lengthen the leader to 36" if necessary. I use Trilene 100% fluorocarbon and Maxima 100% Fluorocarbon Leader. I've been asked why I don't use 2# and the reason is that I've had it break too many times fighting a fish. The only time I've used 6# was in the Camanche Trout Pond when the fish were consistantly running big. I had a 6# leader snapped by one fish in the pond.

The hook: You can get gold treble hooks in various sizes. #18 (smallest), #16 (bigger), #14 (bigger yet) and so forth. A #18 is my hook of choice. Why, you ask? When fishing Power Bait (lets mention that I always use plain old Berkeley Rainbow Power Bait), all you need is enough to cover the hook (the ball should be about the size of a pea). Fishing with Power Bait, the phrase "bigger is better" does not apply. I took my Grandson fishing up at Red Lake one fall and he got into the "bigger is better" syndrome. Being a smart Grandpa, I gave him a bottle of Power Bait that I didn't use and said, "have at it". By the time he was done, the bait ball was the size of a golf ball. He didn't catch anything on it, but had a really good time.

Now comes the kicker. When I first started (I should say got back into) this fishing thing, I came across a guy out of Lake Tahoe by the name of Mark Wiza. Mark is a great fan of Pro-Cure bait scents. In many of the stories he wrote, he talked about this scent or that scent and the fish he caught using it. So, being a listener to those who know, I stopped by Fisherman's Warehouse in Sacramento and picked up a half dozen bottles.

Anise was always a good scent for trout. Back in the day, before Berkeley Power Bait (you might not be old enough to remember), we used to make our own floating bait out of Velveeta cheese, anise oil, and a packet of stuff that made it float. Throw it all in a pan on the stove (without telling the wife), heat it up, stir it around, and let it cool. Floating cheese bait.

Sweet Corn, well you've heard in the last bunch of posts how that works. Trophy Trout flavor. Haven't caught anything on it, but the cats like it. I also have a shad flavored one and a krill flavored one, and one or two more.

The scents come in a squeeze bottle and are easy to apply to your power bait. Could make the difference in being skunked and catching a limit. One other thing, when you apply, don't be shy. Hey, poetry..........

I hope that helps someone out there. I was approached at the supermarket yesterday by a gentleman I've talked to for years and is just now retiring. He wants me to teach him to fish. We'll be starting, probably in spring, and wants to learn everything. Aaah, a clean slate with no previous bad habits. I can't wait.

OK, enough blabbering. Till next time.

Mark

The Lazy, Hazy, Crazy, Day Of.........Fall?

2011-10-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Planned to go up to Bear River with Roy, but he bailed, so I went alone. Since I was going by myself, I waffled about staying home, no I'm going, no I'm staying home, OK I went.

Out the door at 0730 and stopped at Cooks for coffee. Got to Bear River Reservoir at 0815 and drove down to a level spot by the lake. The place I usually fish is on a slope and I wanted to try out my new Coleman fishing (most people call it a camping chair, but this one is specifically for my truck and fishing.) chair. To do that I needed a kind of flat place.

Here's the new chair. I'd tell you what model, but I think it was made especially for Walmart (where I bought it), but I couldn't find it on their website.

So, let's define the title of this post. This is the Lazy part. Sit in a comfortable fishing chair with bottle holders in each arm. Works good for a water bottle, but too small for my coffee mug. I'll keep it anyway.

Now for the Hazy part. They have these things (best as I can describe them) called prescribed burns. The California Department of Forestry (referred in the future as CDF) picks an area and burns all the undergrowth and pine needles. This helps with controlling a future wildfire as long as this burn doesn't get out of control. Oh yeh, they have in the past and probably will in the future. By doing this controlled burn, it causes a bunch of smoke in the area, hence the hazy part.

Now for the crazy part. After I got the chair planted and my butt in the chair, I put out two rods with Rainbow Power Bait on a slip sinker rig and, of course, sweet corn Pro-Cure gel. There was no plan to catch anything, I was soaking up the sun, vitamin D, and generally relaxing. Then there is the best laid plans of mice and men. The first twenty minutes of sitting there soaking and relaxing produced two 10" Rainbows for the stringer and one that broke the leader (I think the leader was frayed a bit). A bit crazy, three fish in 20 minutes. The other 3 for the stringer came between 0835 and 1015. A limit and I'm on my way home. So much for lazy.

The Fall part, around 30 degrees when I got there. Line out and hoodie on with my hands in the pockets. By the time I left, it was 50 something and t-shirt weather. That's Fall at 5850 feet.

Roy and I will hit Bear again early next week. Hopefully it'll be just as good.

Till then.

Mark

Roy Scores At Amador

2011-10-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

Since I did the post on the hatchery at Lake Amador last Wednesday, I wanted to take a try at swinging a Thinmint at those big Cutbows out there. They've planted 10,000 pounds since the plant started. The other thing on the agenda was that the last time Roy and I fished, he made the comment that he had never caught a fish on a lure.

With Roy's son John up for the weekend and leaving today, we hooked up yesterday morning and headed out to Amador for a days fishing. The plan was for Roy to fish lures until he caught one. We got to the lake at 0830, signed in and headed over to the spillway where we usually fish. Sunday night I had put together a lure box for Roy with the best lures for Amador and the ones I've caught fish on before.

This is what it contained: 1/4 oz Kastmasters in gold, silver, silver/blue, and firetiger. Rapala F7 in firetiger. 1/4 oz Red Sonic Roostertail. To finish off the box, I put in a couple of small black snapswivels for fast changing of lures.

While Roy and John fished lures, I worked my way around a couple of points with my fly rod and a thinmint. It was a bit windy, but not so much that I couldn't get a good roll cast that put the fly out about 35 feet. I got a couple of good bumps right off, then nothing. After a while, I changed to an olive Wooly Bugger and then black, but nothing. One would think they'd be hitting the crap out of the flies since the fish were jumping all over the place, but it was not to be. After a while it got windy enough that my roll casts were hitting 20 feet out and then 15, so I quit with the fly rod.

In the couple of times I had talked to the people at check in they told me that the fish were in
2 - 3 feet of water and to fish the surface. I went by the truck and picked up two rods with 4# and headed back to Roy & John. I put on a 1/4 oz Kastmaster in Brook Trout color and caught the first fish of the day. Not the big one I was looking for, but about a pound. Roy snapped some pictures and back into the lake it went. No keeping any fish until the water cools down. Still running at about 70 degrees on the surface.

After a couple of hours of casting lures and flies, I put both rigs of Power Bait out (definately not in the top 2 or 3 feet of water) and waited. First fish was another pounder, snap a picture and released. Then I decided to get my Okuma with 2# and my crappie jigs from the truck and left Roy to tend my two rods. As I returned, Roy was reeling in a pounder for his first fish of the day.

I left one rod out with power Bait and fiddled with the Okuma and crappie jigs for a while and then went back to two rigs with power Bait. Caught and released one more and then Roy scored his first on a lure. The Red Sonic Roostertail did the trick. The interesting thing is that lure is the same one I caught my first two Cutbows at Amador on.

The count for the day went like this. Roy caught two (one of PB and one on the lure) and I caught four (one on the Kastmaster and three on PB). John, unfortunately got skunked, but not for not trying. He casted his little heart out, but it was not to be. Maybe next time.

Roy has all the basics now and teaching class is over. We're going to hit Bear River one more time before he heads back to the Bay Area and we'll see how he does.

Till then.

Mark

Fisherman's Elbow

2011-10-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

For the last 3 or 4 months, my elbow has been hurting like hell. I've had this before, but not for a long time. Back then they called it tennis elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis - you try to pronounce it, I can't). I've only played tennis a couple of times in my 65 years so to call my problem "tennis elbow" is a bunch of hoke.

So I had this brilliant idea that I'd call it Fisherman's elbow and in doing so, I had to give it some really unpronouncable latin name. With that in mind, I went to Google and did a search for fisherman's elbow. What a crock, somebody had already idenitfied it, but they haven't given it a cool latin name. They'll probably use the same one as tennis elbow. Yeh, they did. I found it on another website.

I did come across an interesting article on a website called FishingBuddy.com and if you want to read it (there are some pretty funny parts), here's the link.

http://www.fishingbuddy.com/fishing_elbow_is_a_pain_in_the_angler

OK, so what do you do if you have this affliction? You can get one of these handy little things that wrap around your elbow (I have an Ace one) and press on the muscle so it keeps the pain away or you can do drugs. I vote for drugs.

OK, I thought it was a good idea when I started looking into it. So what does Shoreman do when he is afflicted? He goes fishing, of course. Not going to let a little thing like fisherman's elbow keep me down.

Pulled out of the house at 0730 and stopped for coffee at Cooks Station (tired of hearing this yet?) and got to Bear River Reservoir at 0815 (it's not very far). There were a lot of people fishing, but nobody in my usual spot. They must have known I was coming. Never mind, it's a fathead thing.

Put out one rod with PB and set the second one up with a gold Panther Martin just to see if anything would hit. Nothing did, so I put the seond one out with PB too. Somewhere around 0900 I caught one in the 10" range. After that, I didn't get much interest for the next 45 minutes, so I decided it was time to experiment. I'm the one who lives to the code of "give them what they want and they will come". On one rod I put on fresh PB and added some Pro-Cure Anise for a little licorice smell. On the other one I put fresh PB and added some Pro-Cure Corn smell.

Corn was the trick this morning. In the next 30 minutes, I put 4 more on the stringer for a limit and packed up. I walked up and down the shore to see what others were catching and it was one or two per stringer. I did what I could to help them, but without the Pro-Cure corn (today's key to Bear River) it was going to be a slow day.

When I stop for coffee I always talk about going fishing, but it never crossed my mind to ask them if they want any trout. This morning I did and since they said "sure" they'd love some, I dropped off the five for them.

That's it until the next adventure.

Mark

Lake Amador Hatchery

2011-10-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

Back on the post dated October 6th; I mentioned that I might get the chance to tour the hatchery at Lake Amador. Today I got that chance.

First I want to note that the test they ran the week of October 9th; was a success and they began stocking those beautiful Cutbows or Donaldson Trout that inhabit the lake. They’ve made a little change in how they stock compared to years past. Instead of stocking 5000 pounds each Wednesday at 10:00am, they are stocking 1000 pounds daily (I’d tell you where, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy), but at different times. The problem with the previous stocking program was that even though it was posted that no fishing was allowed until 5:00pm on stocking day, fishermen would run over there as soon as the stock truck was out of sight and start fishing. This way the hopes are that more fish will make remain in the lake and not be caught, right off the bat. As of today, they’ve planted 7000 pounds of fish ranging from 3 to 6 pounds. The biggest caught so far this year was last Sunday and it weighed in at 6.23 pounds.

I met with Lee Lockhart (head hatchery guy) at the check-in and we drove over to the hatchery. I would tell you where it is, but I’ve been sworn to secrecy on this too. I will tell you that it is not the place you pass as you drive up the dam to the lake. That is a Sturgeon farm for caviar.

I did more of a pictorial review of the hatchery rather than a lot of words. You know how the saying goes, “A picture is worth a 1000 words”. So, I’ll start out with the “little guys”.

Their first "real" home.

These are “fingerlings” about 6” long and this is their first stop on the long (about 2 years) trip to the lake. Notice the netting over the tanks. It keeps the Cormorants and Kingfishers out. It would be a bird smorgasbord. Even though the net is there, the birds still manage to sneak in once in a while.

When they get a little larger they are transferred to these bigger, round tanks for the next phase of growing. The ones in these tanks are about 2 pounds.

Here’s a little video of a tank full of 2 to 3 pound fish.

They are appreciative little guys. If you’ve seen that little “feed the fish” thing on the side of several blogs, you can imagine then, that when a human walks by the tank, the fish immediately swim to that side and get all excited. Kind of like Pavlov and the dog thing.

Then the last stop before the lake is this holding pond with fish from 3 pounds up.

In the past, eggs were purchased and the trout were raised in the hatchery, but recently they have been keeping brood stock and raising the trout from the eggs harvested from brood females and fertilized with males kept in an adjoining pond.

Here is the tank with the females, many are ready to spawn.

In the tank next to it, are the males.

Let me tell you, these are some BIG trout. Most are 5 pounds and above, and I mean way above. There was no taking my fishing rod out of the truck while I was there either.

I’ve been to the hatchery at Natomas where they grow Steelhead and Salmon to put into the American River, but this was where the fish I caught, the beginning of last year, were raised. To recap what I caught, it went something like this: 4lb – 8oz, 3lb – 15oz, 2lb – 15oz, 4lb – 12oz, 5lb – 2oz, and my personal best, 7 pounds. Some of the ones I saw today would top 7 pounds, easily.
I’ve heard several guys complain about the $17/$18 to fish here, but I can tell you it’s a lot cheaper than the hundreds to thousands that some pay to fish at those fancy lodges and catch fish that are a lot smaller.

Then let’s talk about Mark (post dated January 25, 2011) who is 9 years old and caught his first fish at Lake Amador. I estimated it to be around 4+ pounds. Well, his Dad sent me an email and it turned out to be 5lbs and 21” long. I’m sure that set him to be a fisherman for life.

So if you’re in the area, why don’t you run out there and cast a lure or two. Want some hints? Try Kastmaster in gold, Brook Trout, or Fire Tiger colors. Try a Rapala F7 or F9 in Fire Tiger or maybe just a plain white Crappie jig. There’s a lunker lurking in the depths with your name on it. Better go get it.

Till next time.

Mark

Red & Silver

2011-10-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, weather's nice, time to go fishing.

Left the house at 0730 and stopped for coffee at Cooks Station. I know you guys are going to think I'm a glutton for punishment, but I have high hopes for Red Lake and Brook trout. I managed to get past the Carson Pass blast area with only a 15 minute wait. Got to Red Lake at about 0845. My plan was to see if I could rustle up a Brookie or two on Kastmasters and if I could, the switch to my fly rod.

All I managed to rustle up were those little Cutts that are around 6". Three to be exact. As has been my experience with Red Lake, if silver doesn't work, try gold. Well I tried all the colors in my tackle box and both colors of Panther Martins to no avail. I just can't get a Brookie to show it's face up there.

So I headed back down the hill. This time the hold at the blast area was 25 minutes. Made me wonder, since I was the first car in line, why the flag guy kept looking at his watch. I think he was timing the wait.

Next option was Caples. As I passed the lake, it had whitecaps on it, so I opted for Silver if it wasn't too windy. As it turns out, it was calm and glassy. I went out to the rock I normally fish from and set out two rods with PB. As I was sitting there, I noticed several pretty good sized trout cruising by about 5 feet off shore. They seemed to be surface feeding, so I took my Okuma with 2# and tied a #18 gold treble hook on the end (no sinker). I put a small dab of PB (I'm still using rainbow) on the hook and waited for one to swim by.

The first one came by and I dropped the PB three feet in front of it's nose. It made all kinds of dashes at it, but wouldn't take it. Same thing with the second one.

OK, time for plan B. I walked back to the truck and swapped my Okuma for my fly rod with floating line. My first shot was with a size 16 stimulator. It just swam by and didn't show any interest. Second try was with a Thinmint. Nada. Guy across the way made some mention about grasshoppers. Ok, Dave's Hopper. Nope. Last on the list (and I was getting tired of standing in one spot looking for fish) was a Black Gnat (Sorry Bill, didn't have yours with me) and once again, nada.

Couldn't get any interest on flies (what they seemed to be feeding on was a small gnat of some type. You guys know I'm Entomology stupid), but I did get a bunch of casting practice. I have a marking on my fly line at 35 feet and I was consistantly casting past that. You know, that old
10 & 2 thing, with one back swing and then lay it on the water.

I did manage one 10 incher on PB and gave it to a couple fishing next to me. They didn't speak English too well (Russian, I think), and I had some trouble explaining that one fish wasn't worth taking home. But I finally made myself clear and they added that one to the 4 on their stringer. Today was a day for slinging flies and practicing casting.

Wasn't a particularly productive day, but I did manage some sun (we always need a little more Vitamin D) and added a little color to my truck driver tan. Don't want to be running around with out a shirt when your a geezer. Scares away the other fishermen and the fish.

Onward to the next adventure. Till then.

Mark

A Star Among Us

2011-10-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was reading through my new copy of Fly Fisherman Magazine and came across this section. It's one of those "letter to the editor" places although they call it Tight Lines. You know how I am with names of articles and names of flies. What caught my attention in this "letter" was the fly called Two Bit Hooker. Hmmmm, interesting.

When I got to the bottom of the "letter" I noticed who sent it in. Yes, it is our fellow blogger Cofisher from Wind Knots & Tangled Lines, Howard.

Double click for a good read.

Now, I didn't just run out and write this without consulting Howard. I didn't want to embarass him without his knowledge that I was going to yell this across the blogosphere.

A big thanks to Howard for talking to us lowly bloggers, now that he has published (somewhat) in a really big magazine. We are awed by your friendship.

Mark

Float Tube Cumberland At Camanche

2011-10-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

Ever since last year I've wanted to put the Float Tube Cumberland in Lake Camanche from the north shore. I mentioned in the post last Monday that I might and today I did.

I left home at the usual 0730 and drove directly to the lake. No coffee, no nothing. Got to the lake at 0845 and aired up the FTC, gathered my fly rod (with intermediate sinking line), couple of boxes of flies, and all the other stuff that goes with float tubing.

Pushed off at 0900 and on the way out, snapped a photo of Shoreman's truck from about 300 feet out. I always taking pictures from shore, thought I'd give you a change of scenery.

Had a specific path in mind and headed to the right from here. I got a new rod holder (you know, the kind that straps to the float tube) from Bass Pro Shop and set it up with a spinning rod and a #7 Rapala in Fire Tiger color, just to trail behind and see if anything showed interest. Just to be done with this rod, nothing did.

About half way to my turn around point, I got my first hit at about 0915. I'm guessing a pretty good sized fish, but in screwing around with trying to reel in the excess line and not paying attention to keeping a tight line (the bane of every fisherman's existance) it managed to send the fly back at me.

At the turn around point, I did a 360 turn and casted in all directions just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. As I started back the way I came, I saw a fish roll about 40 feet to my left. I was hoping for just that, because they did a lot of surface feeding on Monday when it was raining and I wanted to give sight fishing a shot.

The cast was just across where the fish had rolled and I didn't get to strip the fly more than about 2 feet and it hit. The fight was on and then the fight was gone. When I stipped in the line, the line had broke at the double surgeon knot, but on the tippet side. This was about 0930. I have to think the tippet might have been worn, old, frayed, who knows, but lesson learned. Tie on new tippet at the beginning of every trip. It was a big one too. Maybe 3 pounds.

Flippered back across and did another 360 and flippered back to the other turn around. A distance of maybe a quarter mile. Flippering back toward where I launched, one of the shore guys yelled at me that I was crossing his line. Like me on the surface was going to effect his rig on the bottom. Besides, I was 150 feet off shore and I doubt he could even cast out that far.

Just after our little sparing session, I hooked up again. This time I didn't have to worry about the slack in my stripping apron because the fish took all that line and then some. I worked it in and got it into the net as soon as I could. Pulled out the fly and with a quick photo, back into the water it went.

Not the most perfect picture, but you get the idea.

I estimate about 19 inches and around 2 pounds. Didn't want it to be out of the water any more than necessary since the water was still warm. It did swim away, back into the depths for another day. I wrapped up the day at Noon and headed out for some lunch.

So, what was the magic fly? What is my first choice when fishing a lake? A Tungsten Beadhead Thinmint of course. Today it was a size 10 and worked wonderfully.

Till the next adventure.

Mark

Invasion of The Turkey Vultures

2011-10-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden they decended on the pond. Must have been 25 or 30.

Double click for better view.

Then they were gone.

Mark

Columbus Day At Camanche

2011-10-10T14:10:00.000-07:00

Back on the 6th, I wrote about the down country lakes. Since then, I've heard a couple of good reports on the local forums about Camanche Lake, so I decided to give the North Shore a shot.
Left the house at the usual 0730 and after running a couple of errands (gas in the truck, coffee at Starbucks, and a stop at the auto store to pick up an air freshner, because the one I had was out and the truck smelled like fish) I headed out to Lake Camanche.

Got to the gate at 0845 and a spot to fish at 0900. Put out two lines with Power Bait and proceeded to set up my camping chair. I wasn't planning on too much physical fishing today. It was a holiday, after all.

Nothing much happened until 1000, then it started raining. Oh, I knew it could happen, but the weather guessers said most of the rain would be in the foothills which is the reason I went downhill rather than uphill. Huh, what do they know.

On a positive note, as soon as the drops started to hit the lake, the fish started feeding on the surface. I brought one rod in and put a gold 1/4 oz Kastmaster on my Okuma with 2# test and let it fly. Gold was not the color of choice, so I switched to Rainbow Pink (Kastmaster calls it Rainbow Trout color) and on the third cast, got a hit. When landed, the Rainbow was about a pound and a half and about 18 inches long. I didn't want to hold it very long. I wanted to put it back because it had a "sore" (best way I can describe it) on one side. The "sore" was about the size of a dime and looked like it was bleeding. I didn't think the fish would last long and thought it would be better to live the rest of its life back in the lake. I wasn't sure what the "sore" was, but didn't think human consumption would be a good idea.

After that, pink was no longer the color of choice so I switched to silver. The second hookup was somewhere in the area of about 2 or so pounds. I got to see the fish, but it decided it wanted to stay in the lake and threw my lure back at me. Then the rain got heavier. Fortunately it was a warm rain because I didn't have a rain coat, just my hoodie. I wasn't expecting rain, uphill remember.

I fished until Noon and finally gave in to the wet shirt, pants, and hoodie and called it a day. The only thing that I considered detremental to the lake was that the water was still pretty warm. I didn't have my thermometer, but would guess at the water temp being near 70 degrees at shore. My assumption (hate using that word, but it fits in this sentence) is that even if fish were caught, they would be "mushy" because of the warm temperatures. Good time of the year for catch and release though. Might be a good time of the year to put a float tube in the lake because there was a lot of surface action and some of them were pretty good size fish.

Going to try to get one more day in this week. Maybe go back to Camanche and put the Float Tube Cumberland in and trawl a rapala, now that I have a rod holder for the tube and throw a Thinmint or Wooly Bugger and see what I can scrape up.

I'll let you know if it happens. Till then.

Mark

Oh The Snow

2011-10-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

On the last post, John and Howard wanted to talk smoking. We've gone over the Tri-Tip, chicken, and trout. The next thing to be smoked was pork chops. We got a deal at the supermarket on "almost" boneless pork chops so I bought a, what are they called, bonus pack. You know the ones I'm talking about that have 50 pork chops in the package instead of two. This particular package only had 8 in the package, but they were the size of a dessert plate. About 8 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch thick.

The cook put them in a brine (don't ask me what was in it besides salt) and then in the smoker for 1 hour. We used Cherrywood for this smoke. They were wonderful, sorry you missed them. That's it so far for smoking.

I headed out of the house at 0730 this morning with the intent of hitting Bear River Reservoir for a quick fishing trip. Stopped for coffee at Cooks Station and headed up the hill. The snow started showing at 5500 feet, so I expected snow at Bear (5800 ft) and wasn't disappointed although there wasn't that much. The higher up peaks had a lot more and the ski resorts are now making snow for those downhill folks.

Arrived at 0815 and with one rod with Power Bait out, used my Okuma with 2# test and a gold 1/16th oz Panther Martin. With no interest, I switched to a silver 1/16th oz Kastmaster and then gold. Still no interest. As I was fiddling around with lures, I caught one on the Power bait that was 13 inches and put it on the stringer. I switched to a Rainbow Trout 1/8th oz Kastmaster and the third cast produced one small (10") Rainbow put back for another day.

Then I caught another one on the Power Bait, but was lip hooked so it went back for another day, also. Then one on the Kastmaster which did that "flip off the hook, back into the lake" trick.

The rest of the two hours I was up there (0815-1015) was two rods with Power Bait and me sitting on my butt. In those two hours I caught six more and was able to release two more putting a total of five on stringer. Two of those six were hooked at the same time. That's fun. You're reeling in one and your other rod is bouncing around in the rod holder.

Not a bad morning. Two hours of fishing and home in time to do chores. Chores? Who wants to do chores. What the hell is wrong with me? I should have stayed up at the lake and did some more catch & release. Next time.

The five I brought home, I kept cold with Natures ice (snow). Saves a few bucks by not having to buy ice from the store. Dropped them off at Bobs to build his stash.

Next week we are expecting mid 80's in Sacramento so the weather up here should be very nice. Just might have to go fishing again.

Till next time.

Mark

Winter Arrives

2011-10-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

The storm hit last night and is was a pretty good soaking. I would guess upwards of two inches of rain.

This is mostly for the locals..........

Yesterday I had errands to run down in Sacramento, so I picked today for my trip to the down country lakes for a seasonal update. Besides, yesterday it rained all day and today was supposed to be intermittent showers and I had a few errands to run in town.

My first stop (in the pouring rain) was Lake Camanche. They have not started stocking trout this year, but will be starting in a week or two. They are having their 2nd annual Derby Day coming up on October 15th and want to have some fish in the lake. They will be stocking the Trout Pond at the south shore entrance at the same time. People are already filling the camp grounds in anticipation of the first stocking. As for the Trout Pond, if you’ll remember last year, the pelicans were in mass and as they dumped the fish out of the stock truck, the pelicans were scooping them up as fast as they hit the water. So far this year the report is that there are no pelicans to be seen at the pond. One can be hopeful.

Now for Derby Day, October 15th, it starts at 0700 (or safe light) to 3:00pm.

There will be 10 tagged fish, including one with a $25,000 tag on it.

Prizes will be awarded for the 5 biggest stringers.

$10 big fish option (90% payback). Not sure what this means.

Includes a BBQ lunch.

And a raffle benefiting The Ed Waldo Children’s Fund.

Tickets are on sale now.
· $30 if purchased by October 7th (that would be tomorrow).
· $40 if purchased between October 7 – 14th.
· $50 if purchased on the 15th.

Good luck to everyone participating. As for me, I won't be there. The best bet for a derby like this is from a boat and as you know, I'm Shoreman.

Stop number two was at Lake Pardee (it was still pouring, maybe intermittent pouring?). As of September 30th they have stocked 77,000 pounds of Rainbow Trout. They will be closing on November 6th, but will reopen around February 17th or so. This year I'll be there on opening day.

The last stop of the day was Lake Amador (yes, it was still pouring). You know, where we got those big Cutbows this past January & February. So far, in 2011, they stocked 113,300 pounds of Trout. Starting next week they plan on doing a test stocking of about a dozen small trout just to see how they will fair. If they do well, the stocking will resume shortly thereafter. There is a chance that yours truly might get a guided tour of the hatchery. If that comes about, I will surely share my experience with all of you.

If you don't remember this picture from last January 7th, this is the spillway at Lake Amador where we did most of our fishing. Notice the buoys. Today it was dry (Ok, it was raining) all the way to the right of the buoys at least 30 feet. Sorry I didn't get a picture, I left the camera at home, but you get the idea.

That’s it for today’s adventure. As the upcountry lakes start winding down, the down country lakes are starting to ramp up. As for the weather, our intermittent showers are still pouring and upcountry, the snow level (per the Noon news, you didn’t think I was going up there too, did you?) is just below 5000 ft (we are at 3215 ft). The next seven days or so are supposed to be warmer, so I don’t have any expectations of the snow staying for very long, at least at the lower levels.

Till next time.

Mark

Comments

2011-10-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

I don't know if any one else is having the same problem I'm having, but I'm just about ready to trash both Blogger and Google.

I've put several comments on blogs that are on my blogroll, and when I press "Post Comment" they just disappear. This is not something new, it's been happening for some time now. I've logged out and re-logged in and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

So don't dispair. I am reading your posts and I'd love to make some comments, but this crappy system sucks and just won't let me. It's really frustrating to write a 5 or 6 paragraph comment and have it just disappear.

I'm out there, I'm reading your posts, and I'm trying to let you know I do, but if you don't see anything, the next time you see Blogger or Google, shoot it.

Thanks,

Mark

Winter's Approach

2011-10-03T14:24:00.000-07:00

Sitting here typing this post, I'm listening to Boomer Radio. If any of you Geezers out there don't know about it, here is the link: http://www.boomerradio.com/. All oldies and the great thing, it's FREE.

We are expecting rain, starting this evening, so I thought I'd take a shot at Red Lake before the snow, yes snow, gets here. I'm hoping that the approach of this storm would trigger the Brook Trout spawn at Red.

Rolled out of the house at 0730 (as usual) and stopped for the standard cup of coffee at Cooks Station. Blew by Bear River Reservoir and stopped at the Peddler Hill Overlook for a panorama shot of the lake for your enjoyment.

Here it is..........

Sorry, it was a little foggy up there.

Now, remember the blasting area at Carson Pass was to be completed by September 30th which would make it a good day to take that shot at Red Lake without waiting the nominal two hours. I even stopped at the rest area, to go to the bathroom, so I could jet right over Carson pass and drop down to Red Lake. They weren't done........ Got stuck in line (at the stop light) from 0835 until 0900. From what I could see, it'll be next September when they are done. Good luck when it starts snowing.

OK, got to Red Lake and since the wind was blowing 15 to 25mph with gusts to 45mph, I opted for one rod with 1/4 oz Kastmasters. I walked from the left side of the dam about 1/2 mile along the shore. I worked the Kastmasters like this. In about a 150 foot span, I fished a silver one, then a gold one over the same area and finished up with a silver blade Panther Martin (the one with a yellow body and red dots). All three have been good at this lake. Then I'd move 300 feet to the right (back toward the dam) and do the same routine.

At my first stop I noticed a little Fall color so I took a shot for you.

I worked all the way back and across half of the dam and I didn't see anything that looked like a
Brook Trout. All I got for my efforts was two of those little (6"-7") Cutts I've been getting there all Summer. Probably the same two I caught before. While I was standing on the dam, I took a picture back toward Carson Pass of some of the clouds from the incoming storm.

At 1015 I packed up and headed back over the pass. Coming over the delay was 35 minutes. Going back the delay was 50 minutes. Finally got through and on the way by, I noticed that Caples and Silver Lakes both had whitecaps on them, so I passed and headed for Bear River in the hopes I could tuck into the side of the dam and maybe fish without the hurricane winds. Wait, hurricane winds are from 75mph up. Ok, so Tropical Storm winds.

Got to Bear at 1130 and parked at my usual spot with two rods out with Power Bait. I fished from 1145 to 1245 and put 5 on the stringer for Bob and lost one to that old "flipped off the hook and back into the water trick". Just as I was leaving the helicopter below was landing in the parking lot on top of the dam. I think it's used for maintenance/inspection of the lake. I've seen it on several occasions, but not that close. Wonder if one could trawl with it?

Well, that's it for today. Oh yeh, the storm is due to start tonight, but the snow is due on Wednesday (depends on what TV station you listen to) down as far as 6000 feet. That would cover Red Lake, Caples Lake, and Silver Lake. Going to be white up the hill. Later this week I'm going to take a run out to the lower lakes to see what the outlook is. I'll let you know.

Till the next adventure.

Mark

Roy Still Needs More Practice

2011-09-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

My neighbor Roy (you know him from previous posts) is up from San Mateo, so we planned a day up at Caples.

Rolled out of the house at 0730 and stopped at Cooks Station for coffee. This time I let him buy because he blamed the last crappy trip on the fact I paid for coffee. Coffee in hand, we headed up the mountain for Caples Lake.

I picked the same place (the dead tree) as I fished in the last post (http://shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com/2011/09/day-in-life.html) so maybe we'd catch a couple of fish. We got there at 0830 and I didn't even bother with lures, just put out two rods with Power Bait and Roy put out one (he only has a one rod license until next year).

I took first blood with a 11 inch Rainbow. Roy took second, with one the same size. Things were looking good because it was only a half hour into the day. Then I took #3 and #4 for the stringer. We hung out until 1030 then decided to run down to Silver Lake and fish the rocks. We had decided that if Silver Lake didn't pan out, we could always run down to Bear River and try there.

We got set up on the rocks and I had barely thrown out my first line and I had one on. Then I caught the second one and a third one. In between fish, I was over yakking with a couple of guys next to us. You know me, get me near another fisherman and the next thing you know we are deeply into swapping fishing stories.

I walked back over to where Roy was and he had caught one and put it on the stringer. I caught one more and at this point we had five on the stringer. Since we already had four in the bucket and five on the stringer (you only get 5 each), I pulled in my rods and let Roy have at it. Good teacher and neighbor and all that.

Now comes the controversy. I put one line back out and Roy put his out and they were this far apart.............. Roy got a bite and when we got the fish in, my line and his line were tangled. Once he got the fish off, I got his rod and my rod to separate the lines and guess what? The hooks were tangled together. So the controversy is: was the fish on his hook or on my hook? We'll never know, but he takes credit for the fish. I concede, it was probably on his hook, maybe......

OK, so a much better day because he bought coffee. I'll know better in the future. Next week Fall is going to roll in here like a herd of elephants. They are saying rain at least Monday through Thursday. Might put a damper (yuk, yuk) on fishing.

Till the next adventure, remember, a bad day fishing is better than any day at work unless you're a fishing guide.

Mark

A Day In The Life

2011-09-23T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Friday September 23rd, 2011 and this is a day in the life of Shoreman. The wife is off today so what should Shoreman do? Go fishing of course. It's a two fold idea. One to let the wife be home with out my smiling mug around and get out to the lake, since I've been housebound for the last week with a remodel of the kitchen floor.

0545 - Rolled my lazy butt out of bed. Turned on the coffee maker and ate a bowl of cereal, a banana, and took the necessary medications I do each morning.

0630 - With a commuter mug of coffee in hand, kissed the wife goodbye and hit the road. On a side note, it's still a bit dark at 0630 in beautiful Volcano (not downtown, we're up on what's called Shake Ridge).

0715 - Got to Carson Pass and was only held up about 2 minutes (remember the 2 hour delay because of blasting rock was still in effect).

0730 - Arrived at Red Lake (which is still green).

0745 - Parked my butt by the lake with one rod out with Power Bait (as usual) and the other with 1/4 ounce Kastmasters. There turned out to be no interest in Power Bait nor with 1/4 oz Kastmasters, so I changed to my Okuma with 2# test and 1/16 oz Kastmaster in silver. Between 0745 and 0845 I landed two small (about 6 inch) Cutts and had two hit and runs. A little photo of Red Lake for your enjoyment. Looks pretty much like all the others I've taken during the summer, huh?

0900 - Wandered over to the West Fork of the Carson River where Highways 88 & 89 meet. Been some big Rainbows taken according to the local forums, so I thought I'd give my Okuma and a 1/16th oz Panther Martin a shot. From what I could see, it looks like the stock truck comes and dumps right under the bridge and combat fishing occurs. There is a hole right by the bridge and as far as I could see, it was the deepest part of the "river". The rest of the "river" is around 2 to 3 inches deep. Waste of time.

0930 to 1030 - I spent driving on some pretty good 4wd roads trying to find a place called Scotts Lake. I went as far as I felt safe driving and turned around at a creek washout that was too deep to try and get my truck across. It was by dirt bike or horse from there.

1030 to 1040 - Waiting for passage across Carson Pass blasting area again. Ten minutes wasn't too bad. Could have been two hours.

1050 - Arrived at Caples Lake at the dead tree, set up one rod with Power Bait and the second one with Kastmasters. No interest in Kastmasters so I put the second one out with Power Bait also.

1130 - Caught one 12" Rainbow and as I was putting it on the stringer (for Bob), caught a second one on the other rod. it was about 12" too.

1140 - Missed a hit.

1145 - Missed another one.

1210 - Caught number 3.

1240 - Caught number 4.

1:15pm - Note I've gone off military time. Packed it up and called it a day. Stomach growling and in need of sustanance. A view of Caples from where I parked my truck. Note that it is September 23rd and there is still snow on the mountains.

1:30pm - Caples Lake Resort Store for Diet Coke and Famous Amos cookies. They don't have a lot of stuff for consumption.

2:15pm - Stop at Bob's for a bucket swap (drop off the fish and get an empty bucket for next time).

2:30pm - Home.

4:25pm - Writing this post, kids (cats) fed, and Shoreman signing off.

Till next time.

Mark

Background Picture

2011-09-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

In honor of the last post, the background picture is Silver Lake.

Mark

I've Got Worms

2011-09-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Not those kind, get your mind out of the gutter. I've got nightcrawlers. Real live ones. This time I checked and made sure they were alive. So, 0730 and I'm off to Silver Lake to catch those big ones that are biting on blown up nightcrawlers.

Got there about 0815 and with sunshine and blue skies, the outlook was good.

Did a little more research and thought I'd try the West Lake Road. Nice road, nice cabins, no access to the lake. Back over to the East side. Now everybody (maybe one or two people) said to fish the inlet. Ok, have no idea where the inlet is, but maybe somewhere on the East side? Got to that side and all the access points are nice sandy beaches, that are about a foot deep, out 100 yards or so. Great if you're swimming, lousy if you're fishing. Kept going and came across a small (truck width) road I've not been on before. Follow it to the end and there's a nice parking area with another truck and three guys getting ready to walk down to the lake and fish. "Good place to fish?" I ask. "Yup". "Mind if I wander down and drown a couple of nightcrawlers?". They turned around and walked away. Didn't even answer. Friendly sort, they were. Must be that undesirable fisherman thing.

So I grabbed my gear and walked down to the lake. It was about 1/4 mile across big boulders and some scrub brush. I just followed the path and ended up at a nice rock and wouldn't you know it, right next to the inlet. The three guys? Never saw them.

It's now 0845 and with one rod with Power Bait and one with a blown up nightcrawler, I was set to go. At 0910 the rod with Power Bait went "twang (you understand twang)" and I put a 11 inch Rainbow on the stringer. Figured I'd better keep some for Bob. Winter's coming. At 0920 I put the second one (about 14 inches) on the stringer. It came on the Power Bait too. From then until 1030 all I did was soak Power Bait and drown worms. There were no fish to be had.

Packed up, hiked back up to the truck, and drove out to Ferguson Point to try there. Someplace different. Fished until Noon and then moved again. All I got on the two rods was crap off the bottom. My next stop was that rock I fished back on September 1st, but this time I didn't have to wade out to it. The lake had dropped some and I could walk to the rock. There were a couple of girls fishing on the rock to the right, but they said they hadn't caught anything. More about them later.

I set both rods out, one with PB and the other with a blown up nightcrawler. Didn't get any interest on either rod, so with past experience on my mind, I set up both with Power Bait. The school went by and I had one on and then the second rod hit. I reeled in the first one and put the fish (still on the hook) in a little indentation in the rock (filled with water) and reeled in the second one. As I was unhooking the one I just reeled in, it flipped up and back into the water for another day. Too bad, it would have gone a good 14 inches. The second one went on the stringer.
By this time the clouds were starting to gather. Remember, we've had thunder and lightning storms for the past 5 or 6 days. Then it started to rain. It looked like this.

Then it stopped raining. Then it rained again, then it stopped. Then the school came by again and I had another one on the stringer. Then it rained again. Then the school came by and I had the 3rd and final one I could take today (I already had two in the bucket, in the truck, on ice).

Two of the three girls from when I got there, came back and were fishing again, but still hadn't caught anything, so I went into teaching mode. They were waiting for me to leave, so I had them come over and rigged one of them up with my slip sinker rig and while I was rigging the other, the first girl caught a fish. We talked about pliers for taking out the hook, I gave them a jar of Rainbow Power Bait, having rags to wipe off your hands (I left a couple), and this blog, for future information.

I hope they caught more because that's what we're out there for. Things are definately looking up.

Till the next adventure.

Mark

Snuck Out To Wet A Line

2011-09-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Last night was interesting to say the least. All day it was overcast and the wind was blowing, but when the sun went down, it got really interesting. In all the years I've been listening to weather forecasts, I've never heard any of the weather guessers mention wind being pushed in front of a storm system until yesterday morning. So yesterday evening I paid attention and sure enough, as the storm approached, the wind picked up.

Now, you say, "What's the big deal with a little wind"? Have you ever watched a little wind blow a 200 foot tree back and forth across an area of about 15 feet? Kind of makes you hold your breath and hope that sucker doesn't snap. I'm not talking about one tree, I'm talking about 40 or 50 trees all moving at once.

That's what it was like last night with the addition of a lot of lightning (according to the weather reports 200 - 300 strikes per hour), a bunch of thunder, and a whole lot of rain. You guys back in the Mid-West know what I'm talking about.

I changed the background picture to reflect how it looked here this morning. Since the sun was shining, I decided to run up to Bear River Reservoir (20 miles from the house) before this afternoon's deluge comes. I stopped at Cooks Station for coffee and hit the lake at 0830, at the usual spot by the dam. I would have picked up some crawlers, but they were out, so it was Power Bait and lures.

One rod out with Rainbow Power Bait and I used my little Okuma with 2 lb test and a small Brook Trout Kastmaster. Nothing on the Brook Trout Color, so I changed to gold and then to silver. Third cast with the silver and I had a nice 9 inch Rainbow on. Got it in (lip hooked) and gently released it for another day. After that, nothing on Kastmasters.

Then came the fun part. Put on a Rainbow Trout color F-9 Rapala to see if I could get any interest. Well, that went south when it got tangled in a bunch of line and broke my line. It was only 5 feet or so off shore, but deep enough that I couldn't get to it.

Plan B - tie a "crap" Kastmaster on the rod with 4# test and retrieve it. Good plan, but the 4# broke leaving the "crap" Kastmaster with the Rapala.

Plan C - go back to the truck and get the rod with 6# test and retrieve both lures. Tied on second "crap" Kastmaster and managed to get it tangled in the line, but pulled it in close enough to grab. Line broke, but I did get something for my troubles. A couple of small egg sinkers, a small split shot, and one of those 8" wire leaders with a barrel swivel on one end and a snap on the other (fodder for the window sill). A second cast and I snagged both the Rapala and the "crap" Kastmaster. Mission accomplished. One other thing, while I was walking around throwing the small kastmasters, I found a very tiny red/white bobber that will also be a part, on the window sill.

The rest of the morning produced nothing on Power Bait and nothing on any lure I threw out there.

That's it for this adventure.

Mark

Not About Fishing, Mostly

2011-09-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

We've lived here in Volcano for seven years this last July and gardening had been a nightmare. We have an area off to the right of the house that fenced (to keep the deer out) and has a sprinkler system installed. The first two years I tried the usual stuff. tomatoes, Zuchinni, Bell peppers, chives, and such. It was a disaster. The ground is bad, the sun doesn't shine there very long, and the only thing that has survived is the little bunch of onion chives. We even put in a box system to no avail and then tried containers with "garden soil". Still couldn't get anything to grow.

This year, as a last ditch effort, I put three pots on the porch and put three different types of tomatoes in each. Early Girl, Roma, and Beefsteak.

Take a look........

I'm astounded at the number of tomatoes on each plant. The plants themselves are just about six feet in height and this is the beginning of the mass of tomatoes turning red. I guess you just have to find the place they like the best. Too bad they can't tell you and you spend so much time testing. We also have a half barrel of Basil for Pesto. That will be next weekend.

So, fishing. Last Monday (Labor Day) I must have pulled a muscle in my neck. I wasn't able to turn my head to the left, even a little, until Friday and then only a little. Since Friday we've been having those afternoon thunder storms in the mountains and for some reason, in Amador and Calaveras Counties, earlier in the day. Now, I'm not a chicken (you know this because I've gone face to face with the bear, almost), but when it comes to lightning the last place I want to be is sitting on a rock, out in the lake. This thunderstorm thing is supposed to last through Tuesday, maybe Wednesday so I think I'll just hang out at the house and wait it out. We've had thunder already this morning. Oh, and the stiff neck, still there but getting better.

I'll be back to fishing shortly, so hang in there. As soon as I can, I'm headed back to Silver Lake to try the blown up crawler trick, but this time with live ones.

I'd do something on the 9/11 thing, but all you have to do is turn on the TV and you can see all you want. By the way, I did have a friend that was in one of the towers when it happened. He lived to tell the tale.

Till next time.

Mark

Winery Saturday Part 2

2011-09-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

John, WINE dog. Not Whine.....

Part two starts at Fitzpatrick Winery also in Fair Play. You can tell by the name, it's all Irish. It's also a lodge, so if you want a nice place to stay in the Shenandoah Valley, here's one of them. This is the main entrance and the wine tasting room is on the right side. This was a short stop for one bottle of red and a glass with the winery name to replace one that got broken.

A couple of scenery shots from the deck, of the surrounding hills.

Our next stop was Granite Springs Winery just down the street. Zipping along we went by this winery and that winery, but didn't see Granite Springs. Turning around and going back, Ron being the navigator guided us to a turn off only to find they weren't there any more. Too bad, used to be good wine at this place.

Since Granite Springs was gone, we stopped at a winery called (get this) Toogood Estate Winery. Driving up to the wine tasting area, we passed several signs that said "Toogood Caves". Not going into no stinking cave...........

This is what the front of the place looked like. Looks like a cave to me.

The had a small tasting area in front, but you ahd to go insdie to purchase the bottles, so in through the door we went. Can you see that little light way in the back? Yup, it's back there.

Grabbed a couple of bottles of Muscat Canelli and then it was time for dinner. This is another winery with cool names for wine. Here's three: Foreplay, a provocative red wine. Bomb Diggity, another red, and Who's your dude?, red again.

We had reservations at a restaurant in Placerville called Sequoia (by the way, the Sequoia [tree] is the only tree with all the vowels in it's name. A little trivia for you.). Like Maranello's, a very nice restaurant. Katherine and I started with caesar salad, Ron had soup (house soup) and Suzanne had fried sweet potatoes. For dinner I had Black & White. It was a small filet mignon with a couple of huge prawns on top with a side of garlic mashed potatoes and vegetables. Katherine had crab stuffed garlic prawns with rice and vegatables. Ron had lobster that was one of the daily specials with rice and garlic mashed potatoes and Suzanne had (I believe) Mediterranean Artichoke Chicken with summer roasted potatoes. I had my nose stuck too far into my filet, to pay too much attention to who had what. This is our third or fourth time eating here, and each and every time, it was to die for. If you get out Placerville (also known as Old Hangtown) I would recommend the Sequoia Restaurant. And no, I got nothing for this endorsment.

Fishing will be in short supply next week as I have two trips to Sacramento and one to the dentist that will take up 3 of the remaining 4 days of this week. If I can make it Friday, I'll let you know and if I can't, Sunday for sure.

Till then.

Mark

Winery Saturday Part 1

2011-09-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

A lot to report about yesterday and our semi-annual winery trip with our winery touring friends, so I'm doing it in parts.

We met up with Ron & Suzanne in the McDonalds parking lot in Placerville at 1300 and headed out. Ron was navigating and our first stop was at Holly's Hill Vineyards in Placerville. Since I am the designated driver and don't do any tasting, I had time to wander around and shoot some pictures.

Here is the 2011 crop or future wine on the vine. OK had to put that in. Cute huh?

Some more grapes.

And some more.

A bottle of white and a bottle of dessert wine and we were on our way.

Second stop was Oakstone Winery in a little town called Fair Play on a road called Slug Gulch Road. Got to love the name. As you know, I always like wines with neat names. Remember Brayzin Hussy Red from Bray Vineyards? Well, Oakstone has a Slug Gulch Red. No pictures, but the most expensive stop of the day so you know the wine was good. By the way, I was the guy with the credit card and the designated pack mule since I wasn't tasting.

Third stop was Colibri Ridge Winery also in Fair Play. In the past I've mentioned dogs I've met. trout dogs, striper dogs, well yesterday I met a wine dog.

Meet Rufous.

And yes, Rufous has a wine named for him. Rufous Red. We didn't get any Rufous Red, but then I don't get to pick because I don't drink it. While I was wandering the tasting area, I took this shot of future releases.

To get a shot of all the barrels, I wasn't able to get a closeup of one with Rufous Red on it, but I know there were a couple, at least.

So, that's part one of the tour. Tomorrow I'll post part two which is the rest of the wineries and an outstanding restaurant where we had dinner.

Till tomorrow.

Mark

The Background Picture

2011-09-02T08:08:00.000-07:00

I change them every once in a while just to keep everyone interested. This one is of the East Fork of the Walker River near Bridgeport, California. Bridgeport is on the Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada's, south of Carson City, Nevada on Highway 395.

East Fork is one of those protected trout places. You can only fish artifical lures with barbless hooks. The bag limit is 1 from the last Saturday in April until November 15th. The fish has to be a minimum of 18 inches. From November 16th through the Friday preceeding the last Saturday in April, the bag limit is 0.

I fished this river last Summer and if you remember the post, I mentioned the guy walking right down the center of the river? Well, I think the guy in the picture is him.

So keep watching as I change the picture from time to time.

Mark

Thank You Trout Gods

2011-09-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Monday I received an email from a gentleman that lives in one of the neighboring towns with thanks for the columns I write in the local paper. He also wanted to let me know that he and his daughter had one of their best fishing trips this summer at Silver Lake (pictures of the trout included in the email). He used a slip sinker rig with a pumped up (air) crawler.

If you've followed along for any time, you've noticed that I rarely fish Silver Lake. Why, you ask?. Last time I fished there, it was off a place called Ferguson Point picnic area and all was well until 10:00am when 9 cars arrived and a million people (maybe 30 or so) ran from the cars and jumped into the lake right where I was fishing. Put a bad taste in my fishing mouth.

But based on Brian's email, I thought I'd better give Silver Lake another try (just in case I was missing something). With errands to run on Tuesday, I picked up some cat food (stops them from gnawing on my legs), a few other things, and on the way back I stopped and picked up a box of night crawlers.

I did a little research on Silver Lake on the Fish Sniffer website and picked an area to try.

A shot of Silver Lake from my perch (to be explained later).

There isn't a road that goes all the way around, but if you don't mind walking, there are trails. I picked a spot that wasn't too far from the road, but not a distance I couldn't negotiate. Got down to the lake and found the water was very shallow out to an outcroping of rocks and then deeper from there out. I walked to the best looking rock and it wasn't too bad, the water was only a foot deep at the deepest part and parked on a rock similiar to the ones in the picture below. Actually I was right next to these.

Now I'm ready. Take one rod and put on some Rainbow Power Bait on a slip sinker rig and cast it out. The other rod, I changed the #18 gold treble hook for a #6 bait hook and got ready to put on a nice big juicy crawler. I opened the top of the box and all I saw was mold and slimy, what was once crawlers. Note to self and others: Check them suckers when you buy them to make sure they are alive. I didn't because I've always gotten good crawlers from this place. Won't happen again.

So, I fished with one rod with Power Bait and Kastmasters on the other. Kastmasters didn't produce anything nor did Panther Martins, but the Power Bait did. I got there at 0830, had one on the stringer by 0900, the second one by 0930 (by this time I had both rods out with Power Bait) and between 0930 and 1130, I put three more on the stringer for a limit. I'd show you a picture, but you've all seen dead trout before.

A couple of guys came and parked on the rocks in the picture using pumped up crawlers and managed one while I was there. A couple of guys over on another set of rocks were using Power Bait too and landed one, but missed several hits.

Thank you Trout Gods. Now I have seven for the smoker and will be firing that sucker up this weekend. Saturday is out because we are meeting our wine tasting friends for a trip to the wineries and dinner, but there is always Sunday & Monday. I'm not sure what recipe we'll be using that's a decision for the cook, but I'll let you know how it turns out.

Oh yeh, remember that post from July 31st about the Maranello Restaurant? This is the email from our friends.

"We went to Maranello's Saturday night for dessert. We were quite surprised when Maria the manager came out to visit with us. She remembered the four of us dining with them. Especially, since Mark's blog made it all the way back to the Owner's daughter and Maria had printed out the blog and posted the review in the Kitchen. She wanted to let you know the blog made her and the pastry chef's day!! She even brought the copy from the kitchen out for us to see it!!! They are trying very hard to make Maranello's a fine dining establishment and getting those kinds of reviews make there jobs so much more enjoyable. They take their reviews very seriously. You really made their day!!!"

Not that the Shoreman doesn't already have a fat head, being a Leo and all.

That's it for this adventure.

Mark

Smoking Trout One Fish At A Time

2011-08-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

Early this morning I checked a couple of the local forums to see if anybody caught anything over the weekend. Since I was going to make a run up the hill this morning anyway, I figured I should find out if anything was happening.

One particular forum showed a bunch of pictures of BIG Rainbows being taken on the West Fork of the Carson River.

Plan A - Drown some crawlers in the West Fork of the Carson River. If nothing happens, take a run up to Upper Blue Lakes and soak some Power Bait. If all else fails, stop by Red Lake and see if the Brookies are biting yet.

Always good to have a plan until you run into that damn construction on Carson Pass. Last time it was 10:00am until 1:00pm and hang out until the stop light turns green, then jet through. Not today. Now it's from 3:00am until 12:30pm and 2 hour delays while they blast rock to do, what? Avalanche control, falling rock control, screw with the fishermen, who knows. When I got to the pass, the line of cars waiting for the flag guy was about 20 deep and didn't look like it was going to be moving any time soon. You get this impression when the drivers are walking around their cars with that 1000 yard stare.

Plan B - Take a stroll down to where the creek out of Woods Lake runs into Caples and fish for Brookies. Parked, grabbed by Okuma with 2 lb test, my tackle box, and my net. Started down the hill, and down the hill some more, and further down the hill until I could hear the creek. The further down I went, the more I became concerned that I would be able to walk back up the hill. I calculated I was about half way down when I turned around and went back to the truck. I was weezing and gasping for breath when I got back up the hill. Good thing I didn't continue down. Man's got to know his limitations (Clint Eastwood - Magnum Force).

Plan C - Fish Caples Lake. Good thing I have backup plans. 0830, picked a spot on the highway side where I had caught fish in the past (there were a couple of guys fishing the dead tree) and set up one rod with Power Bait on a slip sinker rig and my Okuma with a crawler on a #6 bait hook, no weight. Proceded to get the crawler caught in the rocks, so the next one went 30 inches under a bobber. About 0900 I got a good bite on the crawler, but missed the hook set, so I tossed it back out in the same place and within 30 seconds a 13" Rainbow was on. I got one other hit a little later, but it, that was it. Pulled out just after Noon.

Took this shot of the hills behind Caples. Keep in mind that today is August 29th and there is still snow on the tops of the hill, OK mountain. A very rare occasion, indeed.

So, now I have 4 fillets in the freezer as I continue to collect enough trout to smoke, one fish at a time. It would be OK with me if we could speed things up a bit, hint, hint, Oh Great Fishing Gods.

Think I'll try Bear later in the week since it's just up the street. Let you know.

Mark

A Bear Encounter, Almost, I Think

2011-08-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

You all know from previous posts that I've had some bear problems in the past. Most recently Tuesday the 16th.

Since that time I've been vigilant about watching my surroundings when I'm out on the property. This morning I went out to the hot tub, that we never use because it's too far from the house (about 100 yards), to see if there was any water in it. I've had it covered for the last two years, but the tarp is showing signs of deterioration and might be allowing water into the hot tub. When I pulled the cover off I found water in the hot tub, in fact it was full. It was a bit dirty, but nothing green and slimy growing in the water. So I drained it.

It took several hours, during which time I did some cleaning of the tub and the grounds around the area. The last of the water needs to be almost sponged out. While I was doing that I heard something up the hill, across the creek from where I was working. It sounded like teeth clicking.

Out on Flicker.com there is a video of a Black Bear making a noise they call clacking their teeth or jaw popping. This is exactly the sound I heard. First up on the hill behind me, then again out aways from where I was, but down the hill on the same side of the creek I was on. They say Black Bear do this when they are agitated or nervous.

I never saw the bear, if it was one, but I think it's time to start carrying a sidearm when I'm walking around the property.

What do you guys think about the sound I heard?

Mark

Followers

2011-08-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

I put it back and it seems to be working. Keep your fingers crossed.

Mark

Fishing Is Like An Ice Cream Cone

2011-08-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Fishing is like an ice cream cone, once you think you've got it licked, it drips all over you. To put it another way, just when you think you've got the key, somebody changes the lock.

Tuesday I thought I had the key to Bear River Reservoir. Today, somebody changed the lock.

Picked up my neighbor Roy and headed up to Bear River Reservoir for another day of, how did I phrase it on Tuesday? "A little sit on my butt fishing". Yes, that was it.

Stopped at Cooks Station for coffee and got there at the same time (0815). Sat on the same rock as Tuesday. Fished in the same approximate area and caught nothing. Well, that's not entirely true. I did catch one Rainbow about 14 inches, but that was it for the day. No more bites and Roy didn't get any either. A guy I met last year sat in the spot that the guy next to me was in Tuesday. He fished the same places and used the same bait (crawlers) and he got skunked too.

So, what was different today, than two days ago? I've already told you. Somebody changed the lock. I don't know....... Fishing Gods hate me today? I bought coffee instead of Roy? That's what he says because he always buys. I had a light blue t-shirt on instead of dark blue? Who knows. Tis the way of the fishing nomad.

So, instead of continuing to whine about how crappy the fishing is in Northern California (the forums will back me up), I'll just show you pictures of our new babies.

This is Jasmine.

This is Sophie.

Jasmine is a prim and proper little girl and Sophie is a tomboy who has adopted Jasper. Where Jasper goes, so goes Sophie. Well, he needed some company since we lost Smudge and I guess he got more than he asked for.

Till next time.

Mark

A Morning Of Trash Pickup And Fishing

2011-08-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

When I got up this morning at 0455 I noticed the motion sensor lights behind my shop were on. Nothing unusual because the deer set it off, the foxes set it off, the raccoons set it off, so I didn't pay it much attention other than listening if there was anything going on. I didn't hear anything, so I went back to bed for another 15 minutes of "I doubt I'll get any more" sleep.

Got the wife up at 0515 (this is our normal time to get up), had our coffee, and listened to the news as we usually do on a weekday morning. After I got dressed I continued to do my morning chores like watering our trees and three huge tomato plants (that's another post). In the back of my mind was that nagging light from 0455, so I wandered down to the shop and around behind.

Since all the trash from the trash can was on the ground in a big heap, one can only assume a bear decided I needed something else to do this morning. Now, the trash can (one of those green 90 gallon things with wheels) is chained to the shop. It also has a chain is wrapped around the can and both are held with padlocks. The bear managed to get one paw inside the can and pull everything out. Guess the motion sensor light doesn't scare him any more. Bet my .357 will.

Once the wife was off to work, I drove to Cooks Station for a cup of coffee and then on to Bear River Reservoir for a little sit on my butt fishing. Put out one rod with Rainbow Power Bait and the other with a blown up mini-crawler on slip sinker rigs.

The first fish came about a half hour after I started fishing on the crawler. After that it was all Power Bait. Since I haven't caught many recently, I kept all five for Bob. Got to keep him in fish. After all, Winter is coming. The key to today's catching was pitching my bait as far out as I could. I estimate I was fishing at about 150 feet from shore. I would have made Tim Lincecum proud. What! you guys don't watch the San Francisco Giants. Get it? Pitching - Tim Lincecum. You guys are a tough audience.

That's it until the next time. Oh, no dip in the lake this time.

Mark

A Comedy Of Errors

2011-08-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, August 8th, my 65th birthday, retired, old, and going fishing.

Plan A: Hit Caples Lake on the sandy side of the spillway, plop my butt on a rock and soak some Power bait.

Stopped at Cooks Station for coffee and assurance that I would catch a limit (the old superstition thing). Back in the truck I passed a sign that mentioned the road work at Carson Pass (beyond Caples) with up to 2 hour delays from 10:00am until 1:00pm. It's only 8:00am and I can get past the road work, sit for 3 hours fishing at Red Lake (five nice Brookies for the smoker was just too much to resist) and cruise back after the 1:00pm cut off time. Cool. Scratch Caples Lake.

Plan B: Screaming up Highway 88 at a blistering 45 miles per hour (in some places and 35 in others), I stopped at the rest area to take a l... and back into the truck. Up the road to Carson Pass and in the middle of the road is a stop light. What the hell is a stop light doing in the middle of Highway 88? And of course, I hit it just as the yellow turned to red. There I sit, waiting for a green light, waiting to drive down to Red Lake which is just a couple of miles ahead, and sitting at a red light in the middle of an interstate highway. How weird is that? Four minutes later I get a green and I'm off. One half a mile down the road is a light for the traffic coming the other way. Wonder what they were thinking. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Sorry, sometimes my mind just slides into the gutter.

Got to Red Lake and grabbed my tackle box, two rods, net with stringer in it, and pad for my boney butt. Walked to the place I usually fish and started down the little, rocky slope to the waters edge. Now, you're going to love this. The first rock I stepped on gave way, I slid down the side of the dam, hit the bottom and was immediately catapulted 5 feet into the lake. That would have been good on You-Tube.

Wet from head to foot, I stood up, threw my two rods up on the shore and grabbed my tackle box before it could float away, which it was trying hard to do. Stuck it up on the shore and grabbed my net, which was now empty, picked up my stringer and crawled out of the lake. Sure glad it wasn't November or December. The water wasn't bad except it was a bit green (algae).

Back to the truck, pulled off my t-shirt, squeezed it out and laid it on the truck hood to dry, put on my hoodie and back to the lake to fish. Not much stops an old Geezer from fishing. Reached for the clippers on my license lanyard and discovered, no lanyard, license, or clippers. Back to the truck to see if I left it there, but it was not to be found. Keep in mind, I've yet to wet a line unless you consider it was wet from our little dip. Back to the fishing spot and scan the water. Can't see the bottom a foot from the shore. Put on a Kastmaster with a treble hook on the end and slowly retrieve it hoping to snag the lanyard, but no such luck.

Crap, I'm fishing anyway. Out with Power Bait and Kastmasters on the other rod. suddenly a shift in wind and I see my pliers (which I didn't even know fell in) laying on the bottom, three feet off shore. I'm already wet, so I walked in and grabbed them, but no sign of my license.

In the second half of the second hour the wind started to pick up, as it usually does up there, and with wet jeans, socks, and sneakers, I started to get chilled. Packed up and headed home for a warm shower and some dry cloths.

Now I had to deal with the construction at the pass again and it was nearing 11:00am. Was I prepared for a two hour wait? Probably not, but when I got to the stop light (that is really weird having a stop light in the middle of the highway) it was green and I blew through, well I actually went slow because there was a bunch of people in front of me, and rolled down the road.

When I got home and unloaded some of the stuff, I found that my license had fallen down in front of the seat and slid under. I must have taken it off when I pulled off my t-shirt. They say your mind is the first thing to go. Want to know what the second thing is? I didn't think so.

Oh yeh, and I didn't even get a bite.

Till the next idiotic adventure.

Mark

Smokin'

2011-08-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well, Shoreman turns 65 on Monday. I'm not looking for happy birthdays (but if you want to leave one, I won't mind), but what I am looking for are those good smoked trout recipes you guys have.

My wife couldn't wait for Monday to give me my birthday present, so here's a picture.

Looks like a trash can, huh. It's a Masterbuilt 30 inch Electric Smokehouse Smoker. As I type this, it's sitting on the porch going through the curing process.

If you'll remember the post about the Maranello Restaurant and my wife having the grilled prawns with the applewood smoked bacon on them, I think the smoker is for her as much as it is for me.

So, if you have a good smoked trout recipe (or any other good smoke recipe, for that matter) and you think I should have it, why don't you shoot me an email at mkautz@volcano.net. Better to do it that way than clog up comment section of Blogger.

And Bob, I know you'll see this and think your trout days are over, but I plan on sharing the smoked trout with you and some fresh too.

Till next time.

Mark

Some More Slabs

2011-08-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

I had plans to make a run out to Rancho Seco Lake yesterday, but circumstances beyond my control, prevented me from getting there, so I headed out there today.

Since I had so much fun with the little Crappie, Blue Gill, what ever they were, up at White Pines Lake, I wanted to try for some on my fly rod at Rancho Seco Lake. There are rumors that record size Crappie lurk in the lake. I wanted to find out if there was any truth to the rumor.

I launched the Float Tube Cumberland at 0830 next to the dock in the picture below.

I did the usual worm under a bobber to locate the school and found them in the cove to the left of that point you see off the end of the dock. As soon as I did, I put on a black gnat with a red tail, that I had tied, under a thingamabobber. They seemed to like that and I landed and released several. Now was the time for the black gnat that Bill Trussel (Fishing Through Life) sent me. Damn if they didn't stick their noses up at it. Sorry Bill, but I keep trying. It's hard to understand how they will take one fly and ignore another that looks almost exactly the same. The ones I caught were in the 4" to 6" range, but nothing that would lean toward a record.

My next thought was to work the reed bed on the right side of the dock area. That's the picture below.

I fished all the way from the dam back to the dock and there wasn't a thing there that resembled a fish. Go figure.

I did use the Handy Dandy William Joseph point and click thermometer to check the temp and it varied from 70 to 73+ degrees. It actually got a bit warm in my waders, but I'd be hard pressed to flipper around all that growth on the bottom with out the waders on, because some of it is just inches below the surface. Last thing I want to do is have my bare legs in that gunk. You become a weenie when you get old. No booing or hissing please.

Well, no record Crappie today, but a bunch of fun catching those Crappie, Blue Gill, what ever they are, on a fly rod. I'll be back to try another part of the lake on another day.

Till next time.

Mark

Maranello Restaurant

2011-07-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

I normally don't endorse places we eat, but this one was especially good. If you're in the Sacramento area or planning to visit Sacramento, I recommend you have dinner here.

We met our wine tasting friends at their home in Gold River for a little catching up and then dinner at Maranello Restaurant.

We started with appetizers of House Cut Truffle Asiago French Fries and Dungeness Crab and Brie Dip. I was full and ready to go home then, but wait! there's more.

For dinner I had house smoked chicken risotto. roasted summer squash, yellow corn, heirloom tomatoes (both yellow & red) and basil salsa, balsamic, black pepper marscapone.

My Wife had grilled prawns with Nueske's Applewood Bacon.

Our friends had the house special of the day. I can't tell you what it was, but it was raw. Some kind of Sashimi kind of thing. OK, I was nice. I didn't say anything about being raw and belonging on a hook.

Since I don't drink wine, the three of them split a nice Viognier from Cedarville in El Dorado County (right next to us) followed by a small glass of Port with dessert.

For dessert, I had Peaches and Cream Pie. It was more like a peach cake with ice cream. My Wife had Tiramisu and Ron had Chocolate Mousse. Suzanne had a spoon and some of each.

Sounds like a normal dinner except we (and we were the only ones that got this treatment) had a table visit by the restaurants General Manager and the Pastry Chef. Why they picked us, I have no clue, but it made us feel pretty special to be singled out.

When that happens to you, you have to let people know about the place. If you want to take a look, here's the URL.

www.maranellorestaurant.com/index.php

So, if you're ever in the area, try it. You won't be disappointed.

Mark

A New Place To Fish

2011-07-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I won a contest that Rebecca (Outdooress) put on and had the option of two or three different prizes. I picked this picture that was done by Joel over at "A Year On The Fly". I had it framed and have already sent Joel a thank you (yes and Rebecca too), but didn't show you guys what it looks like, so here you are. I have to tell you, it looks great hanging on the wall in the nerve center of Northern California Trout. I love it.

Yesterday my plan was to drive out to a lake I haven't fished before. I've been watching the planting schedule and as the DFG plants Angels Creek they have been planting White Pines Lake too. I hit the road at 0730 when my wife left for work and by the time I stopped at Starbucks for coffee and a coffee cake, I managed to get to the lake around 0915. It's a rather long drive out there.

I took 15 minutes or so to do a recon of the lake and see where the best place to launch the Float Tube Cumberland was. Turned out that the best place was right around the corner behind that bush over there. There was a concrete launch ramp and all.

Got the Float Tube Cumberland in the lake and did a 360 taking pictures for future reference. Here are a couple so you can see what the lake looks like.

The one thig I noticed is that the weed bed on the bottom was only two feet below the surface. Was this going to be another Mather Lake with every cast coming back with weeds on it? No, it wasn't. Once I got out a hundred feet or so the lake deepened and the weed bed faded into the sunset. Ok, maybe there was just more water over it.

Since this was a new lake and I didn't have any idea what to expect, I figured I'd put out a mini-crawler under a bobber and pull it around the lake behind me while slinging a Tungsten Beadhead Thinmint on my lake fly rod. Hooked up the crawler and laid the rod across my lap with the bobber and crawler in the water. No sooner had the crawler hit the water, the bobber started going under. I hadn't even had a chance to pick up my fly rod and this lunker was hooked.

Now, if the hook I was using was a Mustad Super Marlin hook size 14/0 that would have been a REALLY BIG, what is it, a Crappie, A Blue Gill. Something like that. As it turned out, the hook was a size 6 bait hook (all I had with me) and the fish was only 4 inches long.

Ok, I wanted to do some fly fishing so I put the spinning rig away and continued with the Thinmint. As I was flippering out across the lake I noticed I had a following (all bloggers like to have a following), but in this case it was a bunch of those little, what ever they are. I dug into my nymph box and put on some little gray nymph of some sort (I have so many of those things I can't keep up with what they are named) under a Thingamabobber and they murdered it. Then everything stopped because I flippered away from the school.

Changed to a Red Copper John, found the school again and they murdered that. Changed to a Copper, Copper John and they murdered it again. This was a blast. They were all in that 4 inch range, but put up a good fight on a fly rod. I also tried the Black Gnat that Bill Trussel sent me, but I must not have been in the school at the time. Sorry Bill. I will keep trying.

After messing around with those little guys for a couple of hours, I got back to trout fishing. I noticed that most of the people fishing were over by the dam, so I flippered over in that direction. Talked to one guy on a pontoon boat and he said those fishing on the bottom were catching a trout or two, but that was it. Could be that the water was too warm near the surface. I did take the water temp with my Handy Dandy William Joseph point and click thermometer and it was 70 degrees. Just a tad warm for Rainbows.

By then it was getting near time to put on the old feedbag, so I turned around and headed back toward the launch area. I fished the Thinmint on the way back and got a couple of good hits although I don't know if it was trout or those little, what ever they were.

On the way back to Angels Camp and Mickey D's, I stopped at Angels Creek just to see if anyting was happening. I came across one guy fishing at the pool at Tryon Park and he was not getting anything, so rather than wasting time at the creek, I went to lunch and then went home.

I'll be back to White Pines Lake, if for no other reason than to fiddle with those little, what ever they are. They are a blast on a fly rod. Might even sink to putting a crawler on a #10 bait hook on my fly rod.

Till next time.

Mark

Take A Friend, And A Friend Of A Friend, Fishing

2011-07-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

My neighbor Roy has a friend, who has a cabin up Highway 4 around the Arnold area. We hooked up with Alex at Mickey D’s in Angels Camp for a little Power Bait soaking on Angels Creek.

Now, according to the Department of Fish & Game planting schedule, they were to plant Angels Creek every week for the last, hell I don’t know, bunch of weeks. This would make one think that there should be a whole lot of fish in that creek even if the fishing pressure was enormous.
Sworn to secrecy, I took Roy and Alex to the “secret” spot. You know the place down on Finnigan Lane. I let them fish the deep hole in hopes that they would nail one or two. T’was not to be. In fact, I didn’t see anything that even looked like a fish.

OK, plan B. Well, not exactly plan B, more like move to another spot on the creek. We had planned to hit all three holes anyway, so we moved to the hole by the recreation area. Almost immediately, Alex drew first blood with a small, but feisty little Rainbow about 9 inches in length. Within a minute or so, Roy hooked up a Rainbow about 11 inches. Me, I’m sitting upstream watching fish being caught while I continue to twiddle my thumbs.

I left them to continue catching in that hole and I walked downstream to fish another calm area. Guess that’s why they call it fishing and not catching, because all I was doing was fishing. Since I didn’t “catch” anything there either, I wandered back to the guys to see if they had caught anything else. It looked like there was only those two fish in that spot.

I wanted to fish the other spot across from the fire station, but Alex called it a day. Roy and I drove down there and I fished a silver Panther Martin for a while, but didn’t see any fish at all. At that point, Roy & I called it a day and headed back home.

If the DFG planted the creek last week, I don’t know where the fish went. If they are still going to plant this week, Friday should be hot. At this point I think the water and I didn’t have the Handy Dandy William Joseph point and click thermometer (it’s attached to my fly fishing vest) with me to check the temperature, but the water just might be getting too warm to do any more fishing in the creek this year.

That’s it for “Take a friend, and a friend of a friend, fishing”. Alex scored, Roy scored, and Shoreman got skunked. That’s OK though because it fulfills my mission statement. Help others catch fish.

We did stop at the Mokelumne River at Electra Road to see if the river had gone down any.It had, but still a whole lot of water coming down the river and it's still not safe to be anywhere around the dam. I'll have to wait a bit more before I give that a try.

Till next time.

Mark

Shadless Thursday

2011-07-15T07:23:00.001-07:00

My plan for yesterday was to drop by the lab and give the vampires some blood, run down to Sacramento, meet my son for breakfast, and hit the American River for shad. The best laid plans of mice and men comes to a screeching halt.

Part one went as planned. Got to the lab at 0730 and was 4th in line. Good thing I got there then, because right after I got there, 6 more people showed up. Would have been there forever then. I have to say that the people at Quest Diagnostics are quick taking blood. So after 4 tubes of the red stuff and pee in the bottle, I was on my way.

The plan was to meet Ken at the restaurant a 0930 and since I got to Sacramento at about 0845 I decided that I needed to go by American Fly Fishing Company and pick up a couple of flies. Fill in the holes in my streamer fly box where the flies that were in there were eaten by trees, bushes, and the like. Thirty-five bucks later, I was back on the road to the restaurant.

Got to the restaurant at 0918, called and left Ken a message I was there, and with coffee on the table commenced to read a book. The video conference that Ken was attending was going well and he was just about ready to jam out of there when his boss entered the conference at the Southern California site. So, the conference that was supposed to be out at, oh say 0920, turned out to be in session until about 1020. I mean, you can't just run out of a meeting with the boss to have breakfast with dad, can you? By the time he got to breakfast and we talked, it was just past 11:00 when we finished.

With a couple of errands yet to run, I had to decide whether to run the errands or fish. All the reports said that shad weren't hitting mid-day, so it was errands. Besides, it was errands that had to do with our wedding anniversary.

I'm tied up all next week, so I guess shad fishing will be a bust this year. Too bad, because the water level in the river was down below 5000cfs yesterday. Would have probably caught something. Oh well, maybe next year.

Till next time.

Mark

All's Quiet On The Upcountry Front

2011-07-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

Since the 4th weekend has passed and most of the hoard has gone home, I decided to take a drive upcountry and soak some Power Bait and drown a couple of night crawlers.

My main goal was to walk over to the sandy side of the spillway at Caples Lake, park my keister on a rock, and put out two rods, one with Berkley Rainbow Power Bait on a slip sinker rig and one with a night crawler under a bobber.

I parked in the lot below the spillway, grabbed my gear, and walked up the hill. I was not expecting to have to crawl over 3 foot high piles of snow on the way through. Come on, its mid-July, but a fisherman has to do what a fisherman has to do. The lake level is going down. The spillway was overflowing in a big way when I was up there last week, but today it was just a trickle. This is good in two ways. One, it will make it safer if you want to put in a kayak or float tube and two, if you fish Silver Fork Creek (like I do later in the year), it will be a slower and safer water flow.

This is a little shot of the surrounding hills. Got snow?

I found a nice little cubbyhole under a tree, put out the two rods and let the fish do their thing. In this case, it was their nothing. Then the wind started blowing. I had expected the wind to blow. I anticipated the direction it would blow from so that my back would be to the wind and I could fish calm water. Nope, it blew right into my face and kept pushing my bobber back to shore.

OK, plan B. I packed up and drove over to the other side. Set out my two rigs with the wind behind me. All was well and a 10 inch brown decided that my night crawler would be lunch. Got him in, snapped a picture, and put him back for another day. I think this was the same brown I caught last Tuesday. Really, like Tweety Bird and Larry Bird "They looked an awful lot alike". Ok, if you've never seen the commercial, forget it.

Then guess what? The wind was back blowing in my face. In my face from the left, in my face from the right, I just couldn’t win.

This is across the lake just above where I was first fishing. I believe they call the snow on the top, a cornice. This is the kind of stuff that when it breaks off, causes an avalanche.

Double click on the picture and you can see it better.

After a couple of hours of wind in my face, I packed up and drove down to Bear River.

Last time I was at Bear River on July 5th, I got skunked. The time before that, on June 16th, I caught 4 on night crawlers under a bobber and today, nothing. I tried crawlers under a bobber, Power Bait on the bottom, and just a crawler on a hook. Not a fish was interested.

Since ice out, the upcountry lakes have been extremely slow. I don't know if it was the long winter, the water is still too cold (I keep forgetting my new Handy Dandy William Joseph point and click thermometer), or the fish have that "stick your nose up at the fisherman" thing down pat. Any way you look at it, it's a challenge.

Thursday I'm off to Sacramento to try and catch a shad or two before they are all gone. The water in the American River has been running so high, that it's not been safe to go near it, let alone stand in it, to fish. Yesterday is was at 5200cfs which is just about right. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Till next time.

Mark

Rebirth Of A Blog

2011-07-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

I said good-by on June 15th, but found I couldn’t stay away. I just missed you guys.

When I did that post I was just finishing the bathroom remodel, summer was settling in, and I guess I was just overwhelmed with the prospect of all the work I had to do around the house. Posting, reading everybody’s blogs, trying to get the work around the house done drove me to a point of breaking. I had to minimize my time and the one thing taking up a big chunk was posting and reading, so I bailed. I’m so ashamed. Kind of like fishing with a fly rod and a night crawler.

In the last three weeks, I’ve managed to get a lot of the work done, granted there is a lot more to do, but I’ve also managed to get in a little fishing too.

Last Tuesday I met my friend Glenn (retired Alameda County Sheriff) at Bear River Reservoir for a day of fishing and catching up. I waited for the hoard from the 4th weekend to go home with the hopes that it wouldn’t be quite so crowded. Turned out it wasn’t too bad. More on that story later.

To bring you up to date on what’s been happening, I should start with Jasper. Since we lost Smudge, Jasper has been sad, lonesome, unhappy, distraught, and a downright grump, so we went to our local animal shelter and got him a sister. Our vet said that if we could get past the initial hissing and spitting and they could bond, everything would be OK. When we got to A-Pals (the shelter), we got Jasper a sister, in fact we got him TWO sisters. Both are Calico with Jasmine being the orange, white, gray that Calico’s usually are. Sophie, on the other hand, is gray with brown markings on her. Why two, you ask? When we picked Jasmine, the other two were gray and I didn’t want another gray cat (Smudge), but (and there always is a but) one of the grays was running around the cage, making a lot of noise, being aggressive and all that, and Sophie was just lying in the back of the cage being quiet. Didn’t feel we should leave her there, so we took her home too. Man, she saw us coming. Got her home and she moved in like she owned the place, but I have to say, except for her little squeak voice, she’s quiet as is Jasmine. Jasper is getting used to them and once they get bigger, we can stop being so vigilant about keeping Jasper from beating the hell out of them. He does weigh around 17 pounds and the girls weigh in at around 3 pounds.

On the fishing front, I have to say I’ve met my first asshole fly fisherman. I ran into this guy up at Red Lake on my first trip up after ice out. He was float tubing and when he got back to shore, I asked him how he did. He had caught a few, so I thought I’d ask if he’d seen the Thinmint. He said he hadn’t so I started to explain what it was. I guess he wasn’t interested because he threw up his hands and walked away as I was explaining what it looked like. Too bad for him. That day I fished Red Lake and caught two Cutthroats, both on Kastmasters. I fished Caples and got nothing.
The next trip up which was the weekend after Memorial Day, I fished Bear River Reservoir because the gate was open and I didn’t have to walk to the dam. I managed 4 Rainbows fishing with a half of a night crawler under a bobber. Then a week later my neighbor Roy and I hit Red Lake for one Cutt (gold Kastmaster) and Caples for one Brown (silver Kastmaster). Power Bait is just not producing anything at any of the three lakes.

Back to fishing with Glenn. While we were talking, he mentioned that he only followed two blogs. One from the guys he’s been fishing with forever and mine. He said he finally figured out how to comment on a blog and now I had quit. Bounced me out of my stupor and got me thinking about doing Northern California Trout again. Of course, all of you had some influence on my decision too.

So, here’s my deal, I will post as I fish or if there is something important I think you might want to hear about. I will keep up with as much of what you write as I can and the rest of the time, I’ll probably be splitting wood, cutting down trees, raking pine needles, or whatever else needs to be done around here and God knows there’s a lot.

I’ve also removed the shopping places since you already know about them and I removed the follower’s gadget because it doesn’t work anyhow.

I hope you’ll come back and read what I write and if you feel so inclined, put a comment on the post, if for no other reason, than to let me know you’ve stopped by.

Thanks in advance.

Mark aka Shoreman

The Final Goodbye

2011-06-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

Mission Accomplished

Back in January 2009, I started this blog it was with the intent of letting local trout fishermen know where I’ve fished, what I caught, and where I caught them. The mission statement at the top of the blog is what I’ve tried to follow over the past 2 ½ years.

A Blog designed to share my experiences as a trout fisherman and some other stuff. To let fishermen and fisherwomen everywhere know where I've fished, what I caught, and what I used to catch them. Knowledge that has been held close to the vest by the many and shared by the few.

Since then, I feel I’ve accomplished that mission is spades. But, on top of that, Northern California Trout has taken on a life of its own and gone in a bunch of different directions. Agreed, I do the posting, but it was never my intention for Northern California Trout to do this. I’ve resisted, for the most part, representing anything for sale, indorsing anything, and delving into politics (with the exception of the Jane Fonda thing).

I’ve met a lot of great people from all over the world via this blog. Thank you, to all 126 of my followers, for reading what I’ve written. Thank you all, for commenting as often as you’ve done. Thank you all for being my friends.

But I’ve come to a point where I think it’s time to turn off Northern California Trout, California Dreaming, and get out of the blogging business.

Why you ask? Good question. I find myself spending so much time in front of a computer; I don’t have time to do what needs to be done around here. My health being what it is (and don’t worry, there is nothing wrong) only allows me a certain number of hours a day to do anything and then I’m done for that day. Many of those hours are taken up with the business of blogging and I need to apply them elsewhere.

So, for the last couple of months I’ve been struggling to post something, just to keep the blog going. This is not what Northern California Trout was supposed to be, so I’m calling it quits. I may be back in the future, maybe not. We’ll see.

In the words of Edward R Murrow (who, when joining CBS in 1935, had only one person on his staff who was, coincidently, named Bob Trout):

"Good night and good luck."

Mark aka Shoreman - mkautz@volcano.net

The Finished Product

2011-06-13T14:38:00.000-07:00

Since I talked about the bathroom remodel so much, thought you'd like to see the final product. Remember, I took the walls all the way down to bare 2x4's and built them from there.

Mark

80's Week, The Second To The Last Day

2011-06-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

The 80's were not pleasant. I'd just as soon forget about them. Interesting how, when your my age, you can forget about a whole decade.

Yesterday I took the day off and met Yuki at the Mokelumne River on Electra Rd. If you want to see pictures, go here: http://shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com/2010/08/new-place.html

We fished the same place I talked about in that post and had the same results as I had in that post. Nada. The only positive was that a girl came by and said that there were a bunch of fish at the power house, but they couldn't hook them either. By that time my "get up and go" had "got up and went" so I made a note to fish there another day.

Now it's back to the remodel. Almost done. A little caulking, a little painting, a light over the sink, and a trip to the dump. As soon as it's complete, I'll post pictures. Then I'll get back to fishing on a regular basis.

Mark

WCWS Game 2

2011-06-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

The party began last night as Arizona State defeated Florida 7-2 to win the Women's College World Series. Mike, the football team wouldn't have helped. Didn't seem like Florida, in general, could get anything going in either game.

Howard, you have to remember, we've had snow all along and as recently as day before yesterday, AND we've not had any warmth, to speak of, since last summer. No hallucinogenic experience here.

Ed, this is the post from 4/18/2011 (last time I was up there) and they still look just like this.

http://shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com/2011/04/opening-day-is-going-to-be-drag.html

Even though Bear (elevation 5850') was open, there was still a lot of snow on the ground.

We are expecting mid to high 80's in Sacramento this week and into next. This should start breaking up all that ice upcountry.

Till next time.

Mark

WCWS Finals Game 1 & Fishing

2011-06-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

Game 1 goes to Arizona State by a score of 14-4. Game 2 is on now.

Took a run up Highway 88 this morning to check out the lakes. With the exception of Bear River Reservoir, all the lakes are still frozen. To fish Bear River it would have taken a 1/2 mile walk because the gate is still closed. I wasn't up for the hike, so I passed. Looks like it'll still be a couple of weeks or possible more until Silver, Caples, and Red Lakes are fishable.

Mark

WCWS The Finals

2011-06-06T02:41:00.000-07:00

What the hell am I doing up at 2:45am? Wife has to be at work at 0345 and I keep her company as she gets ready.

WCWS (Women's College World Series), the finals start today at 8:00pm EST on ESPNU. The field has been reduced to the two final teams. The Arizona State Sun Devils vs the University of Florida Gators in a best of three matchup. Game one is today, game two tomorrow, and game three (if necessary) on Wednesday. You should watch, anything could happen.

Fishing tomorrow.

Mark

June 6th

2011-06-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is June 6th. D-Day the 6th of June 1944. The invasion of Normany, France and subsequent liberation of Europe and the fall of the Third Reich. Hug a WWII Vet. There aren't many left.

Tomorrow (June 6th), I'm putting away the snow shovels, ice melter, and ice scrapers (that sit on the front porch throughout the winter) for the year. About damn time. I hope I'm right.

Tuesday (June 7th) I'm on my way up the hill to see what's open. I'm back up again on Thursday with Yuki to do some fishing. Hey, it's National Fishing and Boating Week. I'm trying to do my part. Oh, I'll probably do some fishing while I'm up there on Tuesday too. How can I resist?

Let you know how it works out.

Mark

Fly Eater

2011-06-04T08:36:00.001-07:00

Had to make a run to Sacramento yesterday and decided to hit the American for Shad while I was there. Went to our usual place and parked just as one of the drift boat guys came into the lot. He said they caught a couple.

I got wadered up, got my vest on, strung my fly rod (the one with intermediate sinking line) and grabbed my spinning rod (just in case) and set out for the river. The release was jacked up about 2000cfs (7000cfs) more than I like it (I like it at about 5000cfs) , but I gave it a shot anyway.

Got to our spot and it still looked OK, like the picture below. A tad deeper, maybe.

Tied on one of the Shad flies I got last year and commenced to cast. I'd strip out some line, do a roll cast to get the fly out a ways and then a double haul to get it out farther. Once I determined where it would land, I'd let it do it's thing and then strip it in. While it was doing it's thing, I'd pull out a couple more strips of line and the next cast would put it out a little further. That's the only way you can attempt casting in an area that's about as wide as your bedroom hallway.

The fourth time I'd add line, the cast would put the line out, but there was no fly on it.

See that little bush in the upper left hand corner of the picture below? Well, that was last year. This year it's about 1/3 bigger and I noticed as I looked for the fly, that it's a holly bush (thorns on the leaves) of some sort. A great fly eater. Now you have to know, that the flies I was using were, florescent pink and florescent orange and could I find them? Oh hell no. I looked for 15 minutes right where they should be. No such luck.

After losing several flies, I put up the fly rod (note to self: find some place to fish where you have space behind you) and got my spinning rod with that pink grub that works so well.

After 2 hours of standing in the river waving a stick, my back started cramping (from a back injury a couple of weeks ago) and the fact that I can't stand on my feet for very long without my back hurting anyway, I called it a day. And yes, I went home fishless.

I think there were several factors involved in why I didn't catch any fish. One, the river was high, I couldn't stay very long, and the river was too stinking cold. I had wool socks on my feet and they still froze. Could be we could use a little warm weather too. Could be I just got skunked, although I got an email from Rich (of Rich & Mark) and they think the water temp has something to do with a slow bite. Who knows, only that I will be back again soon.

At least I got out. Till next time.

Mark

WCWS

2011-06-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Last year I did a couple of posts on woman's college softball and the little league world series. The time has arrived for the Woman's College World Series again this year. Starts today at 1pm Eastern time on ESPN. If you are any kind of baseball fan, and I know a bunch of you are, you should take in a couple of these games. You will not be disappointed.

The playoffs to the final games are a double elimination, that being the team has to lose two games to be out of the tournament. Again, they start today and the championship games begin Monday June 6th at 7pm (central time as the games are played in Oklahoma City) all on ESPN. Don't miss them.

As for the Little league World Series, not yet, but I'll let you know. This is softball and little league baseball at it's finest.

Nothing to be gained except recognation. A little tune (ala Howard) that applies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ijkYkJfg0s

Mark

No Snow

2011-05-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

As Porky Pig would say, that, that, that's all folks.

Mark

Remodel Update

2011-05-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know I've caught up on all the posts, but I'm not (for some Blogger reason) able to comment. When I try to comment, Blogger sends me to Google to sign in and then I try to post the comment and Blogger sends me back to Google to sign in again and so on and so on. Catch 22 in a big way.

I want to especially thank Ed at http://thewanderingfisherman.blogspot.com/ for the trip back to the 60's with the link for the Loving Spoonful and Daydream. I couldn't comment, but thanks man.

I know you don't care how it's coming, hell no body should. Remodeling is a pain in the ass, so here I go. Removed all the fixtures and all the dry wall (remember the wall paper was pulling off the paper on the sheet rock). The plumber updated the plumbing for the shower and installed the new fiberglass shower. In the following week, I had to put up the sheetrock around the shower. If you've never done this, the sheetrock comes from the ceiling down to the lip on the new shower. That's when the problems occured. To correctly install the shower door, it needed to be plumb. This required shims behind the shower making it 1/4 inch from the wall. That in turn required installing Hardie Board on the walls to make it even, then sheetrock. Then, of course, I had to install Hardie board on the rest of the wall to make it all even. Shower door got installed a week ago last Tuesday.

OK, sheetrock is installed on all the walls, taped and mudded, and now I'm spraying the skip trowel (spray on mud and let partially dry, then run the trowel over and create the texture on the wall). Once it's painted, all I have to do is reinstall the toilet, and all the new fixtures and it's done. I did take half a day off, today to catch up on all my reading.

Pictures to follow once it's finished.

Finally, it's raining again and there's a chance of snow tonight. Will winter ever go away?????? Maybe I'll take a day next week and run up the hill. See if any of the lakes are open. If I go, I'll let you know. Still more work in the bathroom.

Mark

Off The Radar

2011-05-27T07:36:00.001-07:00

I apologise to all for my lack of everything. I've been butt deep in this remodel and haven't had time to post, read other posts, or fish.

I will be back.

Mark

Take A Friend Fishing

2011-05-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Back on November 19th, last year I did a post

http://shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com/2010/11/take-friend-fishing.html

of Roy (my neighbor ) and I fishing. It was a humorous writing because the photo's were done on different days, but I thought it would brighten your Friday.

Yesterday our plan was to head upcountry and try a lake or two up there. When we got up, it was still snowing at 4000 ft which made it a waste of time to go up there. So we drove down to town, stopped at the donut shop for coffee (and donuts) and headed for Angels Creek. DFG was supposed to plant again this week.

I aimed for the usual hole, only to find 3 guys already taking up the good spots. One, in fact, was Casey who caught the 3lb 4oz one (was probably the one I lost) on opening day. He already had 4 on his stringer. This was about 0830. The outlook was good.

Roy and I wandered down stream looking for a hole that we could fish. Came across one with only one guy and asked if we could join him. He was fishing in one spot and there was a few other places we could put in some Power Bait. We fished for about a half hour and didn't get anything and then the stock truck arrived. He dumped 4 buckets of fish right into our hole.

Nothing happened for about an hour. Then Roy landed the first one and the second one. He was making me look bad. You know me better than that. I was there for Roy to catch fish and catch fish he did. I did catch the next one. Between 0930 and 1130 we each landed 5 (a limit). Take a look.

You have to remember that as old and grizzled as he looks, he's still in training. I guess his training paid off since all I did was set up his rod with a #18 gold treble hook, a little split shot sinker, and off he went. I know there are only 9 on the stringer, but I gave him credit for his 5th because I should have gotten the net, but just old him to yank it up on the bank. Hook came loose on the yank.

I put some more pictures of the creek over on California Dreaming (http://californiadreaming-shoreman.blogspot.com/) so take a look.

The day was sunny with some clouds moving through. Maybe low 70's and t-shirt weather. Just as we were leaving, it started to sprinkle and by the time we got home, it was raining, so we hit it just right. Roy's happy with fish for dinner that he caught and Bob's happy because he got some for his freezer. I'm happy because of both.

That's it for this adventure. Will try again next week and maybe take a run upcountry.

Till then.

Mark

Noodling, The Rest Of The Story

2011-05-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

As you know, my wife had her foot operated on last Friday. While I was in the ICU waiting room, a young man was waiting with his Sister? Wife’s Sister?, not sure, but he was waiting for his Wife to get out of surgery. I had been talking with the volunteer lady about fishing. You know me, once I get into talking about fishing, it could go on for hours.

The four of us continued chatting and then Daniel asked if I’ve ever been noodling? I think you know my reply. I’m not going into dirty water and sticking my hand in a hole to grab, what? A Catfish, Snapping turtle, Rattlesnake? I don’t think so.

Seems Daniel had done some when he was back in Kansas. He sent me this photo of his 45 pound Flathead Catfish he caught in the Arkansas River.

Daniel said his Dad was noodling out at Lake Amador and when he stuck his hand into a hole, he got bitten by a rattlesnake. See.......

There you have it, my friends. A noodler in the flesh.

Tomorrow, take a friend fishing.

Mark

Noodling

2011-05-17T09:03:00.001-07:00

I met a real live Noodler.

Story to follow.

Mark

May 15th Snow Storm

2011-05-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

First, thank you all for your kind words. I have to tell you, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

Yesterday we woke up to this.

Mind you, it's the 15th of May. Only 12 days to go until Memorial Day Weekend. It's also the first snow on the wife's new car.

But, on a positive note, the Dogwoods are in bloom. I took a picture so you could see the blooms. You can see them, can't you?

Of course you can't. Whole damn tree is covered in snow. You'll just have to take my word for it. That should do it though. One snow on the blooming Dogwoods and Winter is over. Yeh............

OK, trying to get a day fishing this week. The Wife's foot operation went well and she's recovering, so I should be able to get out, maybe Wednesday or Friday.

I'll let you know.

Mark

A Sad Ending To A Crappy Week

2011-05-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to let you know of sad tidings in Volcano. Late last week, we lost one of the girls next store (from a post on California Dreaming) to a Mountain Lion. I don't know all the details so I can't pass anything on. A sad day. She'll be missed.

Last Sunday I posted about our little boy Smudge going to the vet emergency room and being diagnosed with asthma. it turned out to be more than just asthma. Thursday afternoon I had to take him again to the Vet with breathing problems. I had left to run over to the hardware store in Pine Grove (about an hour round trip). When I left, he was fine. When I returned, he was laying in the hall barely breathing. I got him to the Vet and she was concerned that the strong doses of medication he was getting should been enough to stop any asthma problems leaving her to think that he was much sicker than we thought. We had the option of taking him to Sacramento to get an EKG, but the Vet didn't think he would be strong enough to make the trip. If the EKG came out that he had heart trouble, he would have had a short life on many medications. If he didn't, he would have had a slightly longer life, again on many medications. The only diagnosis the Vet could give us was that he was a very sick boy and would probably not get better. It would not have been a very good life. We decided that it would be best to end his suffering. We miss him very much.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the May 15th snow storm.

Mark

What A Blast

2011-05-11T16:10:00.000-07:00

As you all know, I'm in the middle of a bathroom remodel. Monday was the bug guys. Yesterday, the plumber put in the new fiberglass shower. Today, I went fishing. What? I can't remodel all the time.

Right out front, I want to remind everyone that I'm entomology stupid, so when I explain my methods, you'll know that there is no rhyme or reason for them.

I looked at the DFG stocking chart and it shows that Angels Creek in Angels Camp was to be stocked again this week. You'll remember that the DFG stocked the week before opening day and the kind gentleman from Angels Camp paid for, and dumped a load of 16" to 20" Rainbows in the creek. Well, the DFG stocked again the next week, this week, and will again next week. How could I pass that up?

I got out to the creek at 0830 and walked from my parking spot downstream to the bridge which is about 3 blocks and back again. Didn't see fish any holding in any of the pools. I went back to the spot I fished on opening day and there were two guys soaking power bait and hauling in one fish after another. I went back to the truck and rigged up my fly rod with floating line and a 9' - 6X leader with 6X tippet.

I started with a fly I got from FlyDeals called a Caddis Pupa Brown. First two to hit it, snapped the tippet. Oh, did I tell you that I could see about 50 fish holding in the pool? I added an indicator about 8 inches above the fly because I kept missing hits. The next fish took the fly and the indicator both. Then what I did then was snip off the 6X tippet and replace it with 5X. I managed to land two on that fly. When the bite stopped on that one, I switched to the Black Gnat I got from Bill Trussel (Fishing Through Life), but couldn't get any interest. Sorry Bill.

Tied on another one I got from FlyDeals called a Kistone Brown. No interest in that one. Then I tied on a Red Copper John. Landed one fish and then lost it in a tree. Tried a Red Naked Lady (love the name). Nothing. Zugbug, nothing. Put on a Beadhead Red Fox Squirrel Nymph and landed one. Total at this point was Shoreman 4 and trout about a dozen. Everything I caught today was catch and release. I had several errands to run afterward and didn't want to mess with bringing any back.

Next was a red San Juan Worm. Hey, I'm experimenting, OK. That was all the plan for today was, experimenting. Nothing on the SJW. Now I was going to get serious. On goes a Black Wooly Bugger. HA, Stuck their noses up at it. Water turned from somewhat cloudy to almost pure brown. Ok, Olive Wooly Bugger. That's the trick, landed one and then nothing. Goes to show you, you can't depend on anything any more. If a black or olive Wooly Bugger doesn't produce, might as well pack up and go home. I did try two of the flies that David Swart (up in Oregon) sent me. I'm not sure what he calls them, but they look like a Wooly Bugger with some kind of wiggly legs. I tried one in a brown and landed one fish and the other in purple, but it wasn't a color they were interested in. Thanks David for the flies.

So, I put on a size 8 tungsten beadhead Thinmint and away I went. Five fish later, one completely trashed fly, a couple of flies in the trees, and I called it a day. The count was now, Shoreman 11, fish about 15.

While I was there, I met a couple of young ladies from Southern California, up on vacation and gave them the key to catching. They soaked Power Bait and took 5 home for dinner tonight. I think they'll be back tomorrow.

That was sure a welcome respite from remodeling, but back to it tomorrow and Friday, the wife goes in for foot surgery, so I'll be grounded for a few days or until she gets tired of me and throws me out the door. Hey, then I can go fishing again.

I looked at the stats the other day and I'm truely amazed at the number of people that stop by. Thanks to everyone that takes a look at what I write.

Till next time.

Mark

Never Forgive A Traitor Part Deux

2011-05-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

As I said yesterday, I received this in an email a couple of days ago and just wanted to pass it along. Apparently it's not the whole story or the complete true story. The part about her sitting on an anti-aircraft gun, was true. The fact that she should be considered a traitor, is true. The fact that she was there at all, is true.

But based on the link I got on the first comment, you can decide for yourself how you feel.

Here's the link again.

http//www.factcheck.org/2010/11/blame-jane-falsehoods/

I've held this inside me for a lot of years and I mean a lot of years. That is all I have to say on the matter. Back to fishing, but not until tomorrow.

Mark

Never Forgive A Traitor

2011-05-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

I'm not normally a political person when it comes to my personality or this blog, but the other day I received an email and thought I'd put a copy on this post.

I'm 64 years old. The Army tried to draft me in 1965 when I was 19, in fact they tried 5 times, but couldn't because I have a kidney out of place and posed too much of a risk of permanent retirement, should I have gotten hurt. Had I been drafted, I would have gone and it would have been to Vietnam and I feel in my heart that I would have returned in a box, but I supported our guys there as I support our troops around the world today.

There was one thing that pissed me off then and still does to this day. I can vividly recall Jane Fonda sitting on an anti-aircraft gun in Hanoi, seemly aiming it at American planes.

So here is the email and think of it as you will.

Never Forgive A Traitor

For those of you too young to remember, Hanoi Jane is a bad person and did some terrible things during the Vietnam war. Things that cannot be forgiven!

and now President OBAMA wants to honor her......

In Memory of LT. C. Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton She really is a traitor. A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED.

This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear. Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.

'BARBARA WALTERS WRITES:
"Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam ".

The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, "a River Rat".

In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the ' Hanoi Hilton.' Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.

He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp commandant's feet, which sent that officer berserk.

In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton. From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the 'Hanoi Hilton', the first three of which his family only knew he was 'missing in action'. His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.

They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it , in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?'

Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper. She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper. Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.

I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years. I spent 27 months in solitary confinement, one year in a cage in Cambodia, and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot , South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs). We were Jane Fonda's 'war criminals....' When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as 'humane and lenient.'

Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane. I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me. These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of '100 Years of Great Women.' Lest we forget....' 100 Years of Great Women' should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots. There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them.

She needs to know that we will never forget.

RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343

OK, It's Been A Crappy Week

2011-05-08T10:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't been making comments on a lot of blogs this week, but rest assured, I'm reading as fast as I can. I've also not been out fishing since last Saturday because of circumstances beyond my control.

I started a remodel project on our downstairs bathroom. OK, simple enough project. Remove a little sheetrock, have a plumber replace the fiberglass shower, and install a shower head higher than the one that's in there, put a little sheet rock back and good to go. Here comes the formula! Time expected to complete the project x two, times 3. That should do it. Cost, same formula.

Part two was to repaint the ceiling that was dark blue. About the same color as the top strip of the blog. Then paint the rest of the bathroom.

Part three of the remodel was removing the wall paper. That ugly tropical fish junk. Getting the picture? Dark blue ceiling (water), Tropical fish wall paper (fish,OK I know you got that one), Brownish-orange tile on the floor (sand), and last but not least, a shell shaped sink and toilet seat cover. I think I'm going to puke.

Here is how it went. Remove the sheetrock behind the shower. Oh look, termite trails. Ever seen them? little dirt tubes that the termites run through, to the studs in the wall, which they eat. Remove the sheetrock at the end wall and wow, live termites. As Martha Stewart would say "I'm so excited". You have to hear that in her monotone to really appreciate it. Now, I remove the sheetrock on the wall behind the left side of the shower. Guess what? You got it, more termite trails. What else? Part of the 2x4 studs are eaten away. This just gets better and better. I spent part of Friday replacing the six 2x4 studs in that short wall.

Called the termite guy, he came out and inspected the damage, and let me know they would be here Monday (that's tomorrow) to take care of it, to the tune of $1200.00. There goes my new fly rod.

Back to the wall paper. Most of the time, you can wet the paper with a solution of vinegar & water and peel it right off. That's if there is only one layer of wall paper. Not here. Not one, not two, but three layers and the third layer is some heavy glued, brown striped crap that when you pull it off, it also takes the paper off the sheetrock. So now I'm removing all the sheetrock in the bathroom and will be replacing it with a new and improved sheetrock designed for bathrooms.

On the bright side, removing and replacing the new sheetrock will help in several ways. It'll make it easier for the contractor to install a new fart fan. and a new window. The old window is aluminum and I'm having him put in one of the new dual pane vinyl jobs. It will also let me install the medicine chest in the wall instead of on the wall. I'm also insulating all the walls, interior and exterior. It also gives the plumber plenty of space when he puts in the new shower.

Then to add another element into the mix, Smudge (our little gray 19 1/2 pound kitty) got sick yesterday. Started to have trouble breathing in the morning and by dinner time we had to run him to the vet emergency clinic. As of this morning, he's doing better. Had we not taken him last night, we probably would have been burying him this morning. Seems he has asthma. Yes, he will have an inhaler for any future episodes. He'll be home this afternoon.

So maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get out to do a little fishing, maybe as soon as Tuesday. I'll let you know. Just wanted to let you know I'm still here.

Mark

Trout Season Opener 2011

2011-04-30T15:28:00.001-07:00

Today is Saturday April 30th, 2011 and it’s opening day of the general trout season in California. As I wrote in the post last Wednesday, I wandered out to Angels Creek in Angels Camp, California. I had expected the place to be packed. What I found was an almost empty parking lot. That was a surprise.

The time is 0830. The creek is surrounded by a lot of trees, so I decided to take my Okuma 6’6” rod with 2 pound test and a small Panther Martin in gold with a black body and walk the creek just to see who was there and what was being caught. In one of the pools I passed, you could see the trout holding is the quiet water.

Double click on the picture and you should be able to see the fish.

I came across a gentleman using a Tenkara setup. He had caught 4 fish already and was working on #5 as I passed. Mike at Troutrageous, this picture is for you.

I walked up as far as you were allowed to fish, to the Utica Power Station and did an about face and started back. I stopped at the first pool I came to and a gentleman was fishing with Berkley Gulp Trout Dough (looked like white) and hooked one as I was standing there.

After his fish was landed, he and I got talking and swapped cards, mine for the blog and newspaper, his for his limo service. Noticed the name on his card was Joe Teixeria. Last name look familiar? Joe is the cousin of Mark Teixeria, first baseman for the New York Yankees. Small world out there.

I kind of dabbled while Joe was still fishing and when he left, I put on a #18 gold treble hook, split shot, Rainbow Power Bait and tossed it into the hole. It wasn't long before I had a hookup. It fought, it jumped, and it came upstream. I thought I'd hooked into a 10 pound trout. Then I saw it. Maybe 2 to 3 pounds, but hooked in the tail. Must have taken the bait, spit the hook, and then got snagged. Well, once it saw me, it was gone in a shot. My only hope was to break the line because this trout was going down stream at about 100mph. After I tightened down the drag and the fish made it about 150 feet down the creek, the line finally snapped.

I re-rigged and shortly there after, I landed this one. It went about a pound and a half to two pounds.

For the next couple of hours, I had bite, after bite, after bite and couldn't get one to stay one the line. A couple of guys joined me at the pool and soaked Power Bait, threw Panther Martin's, and put a few on everybody's stringer. I had one hit and it was big, but snapped the line. Shortly after that, the young man standing next to me landed the fish below. Weighted in on the handy dandy Berkley Digital Scale at 3 lbs 4 oz. I think that was the one that broke my line. Pretty sure it was. Looked just like that one. OK, probably wasn't, but one can wonder.

Turned out to be a bit slippery.

Then he got a good hold on it for a good photo op.

I hung around for another hour or so, then called it a day. I would say that the rumors of 16" to 20" trout in the creek was correct. And yes, there are still a bunch there. Might just have to wander out there next week after everybody has to go back to work. I'll let you know.

Till next time.

Mark

OK, It's Hump Day

2011-04-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

Middle of the week and closing in on opening day of the general trout season this coming Saturday.Yesterday I worked outside. First day that it's not been cold, raining, or snowing in a long time and I took advantage.

Out yonder (yonder can be anywhere in a 5 mile radius), a Cedar broke off during one of the past storms. I noticed it a while ago, but it was just too wet to get down there and see what wood was available. I backed the truck about 100 feet off the drive and walked the last 50 feet or so to where the top of the tree was. The part that was still standing was about 30 feet high and approximately 18" at the base. The rest was in a pile on the ground. After breaking off, it took out a pine and part of an oak on the way down. What I faced was a big pile of tree, branches, and brush. Why was I even messing with this? Cedar smells very nice burning in the wood stove. Besides, I need wood for next winter. I cut and stacked brush, cut and stacked, cut and stacked. I ended up with a truck load of wood and there is still more to go.

So, what does this have to do with today? Remember, I've mentioned that my mind is
35 and my body is 64. Well, I just not smart enough to stop before I do too much. Which brings us to the pain in my body yesterday afternoon. Yup, I hurt. I decided that instead of continuing today (since I still hurt this morning) and if I stayed home, I would be out there again. Stupid me who doesn't know any better.

So, I went fishing. Packed a turkey & cheese sandwich, couple of chocolate granola bars, and 3 bottles of water in the ice chest and drove out to Lake Camanche. I waffled about Middle Bar Bridge, Lake Pardee, or Lake Camanche and ended up at Camanche because I can park right next to where I fish. The convenience factor. Arrived at 0830, set up my chair, put out two rigs with Rainbow Power Bait on a slip sinker rig, stuck the ear buds of my MP3 in my ear and listened to a Lee Child/Jack Reacher book on MP3.

The shore at Camanche is very rocky and the pole holders I have will not go in the ground, so I got a bucket out of the truck, put a couple of big stones in it, and set my rods against it. By 10:30 I was still listening to the book and the rods were still sitting there. I changed one to a Brook Trout Kastmaster and started casting. All of a sudden, the rod against the bucket slapped the ground and started out into the lake. I dropped the rod I had and grabbed the other one, reeling in an 18" Rainbow. On the stringer for Bob since I've having been bringing him any fish lately, I figured he needed a few for his freezer.

Back out with the Power Bait and back out with the Kastmaster. Again, the rod slapped the ground and was on it's way into the lake when I grabbed it, thi8s time reeling in a 16" Rainbow. It too when on the stringer for Bob. Both came in less than 15 minutes. From then until I left at 1:00pm, I got two more hits that pulled the rod off the bucket, but this time I was ready. I missed them both. Go figure.

Saturday I'm off to Angels Creek in the little town of Angels Camp. Place will probably be a zoo, but I'm going anyway. Besides the editor at the paper wants a story from there. I must comply. So I'll let you know how it turns out.

Till then.

Mark

My Favorite Outdoor Food

2011-04-23T20:07:00.001-07:00

I've been running like a madman for the last week. My wifes car decided to take a crap and with repairs looming on the horizon to the tune of a several thousand dollars, arrangements have been made to get her a new car. This, my friends, is the reason I've taken so long responding to the challange.

Mine is simple, BBQ. I run the BBQ 12 months a year. If it's sunny, great. If it's raining, stand closer to the house and reach out to turn what ever is on the grill. If it's snowing, brush it off, or in some cases, shovel it off, and keep cooking.

Oh, I don't charcoal. Mine is a propane, two burner, BBQ. I can whip up some chicken tenders for a Caesar Salad in minutes or burn them to a crisp in an hour, while being distracted by blogging. As recent as yesterday I managed to char 4 chicken tenders while being distracted by OwlJones.com listening to Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt sing "Don't know much" 4 or 5 times.

So there you are. My favorite outdoor food. I'm going to try to get out once this week before general trout season opens on Saturday (April 30th), then hit the Mokelumne on opening day and see what I can scare up with a fly rod.

That's it for now. Till next time.

Mark

Opening Day Is Going To Be A Drag

2011-04-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

A week from Saturday (April 30th) is opening day of the general trout season in California. I've not been up the hill to check out the lakes since about November last year. Today seemed like a good day to take a trip upcountry. Right out of the starting gate, the electronic notification board, as I hit Highway 88, said "Chain Controls before Kirkwood Ski Resort". Kirkwood is between Silver Lake and Caples Lake. I did stop at Cooks Station for coffee, just in case.

Cruised up to Bear River Resort (elevation 5850 ft) and the only water I saw was a small patch near the dam. It would take a snow mobile, Quad Runner with chains, or snow shoes to get anywhere near the water. I moved on.

Above - No fishing at Bear River anytime soon.

Next I drove up to Silver Lake (elevation 7261 ft). This time, no open water at all.

Above - No fishing at Silver Lake anytime soon, either. Drove over Carson Spur (elevation 7990 ft) and by Kirkwood Resort without encountering any chain controls and continued to Caples Lake (elevation 7806 ft).

Above - No fishing at Caples Lake anytime soon.

Past Caples Lake, the road started to get a bit slippery. 4 wheel drive was in order. Made it over Carson Pass (elevation 8650) and stopped for a photo of Red Lake (elevation 8200).

Above - Red Lake from the turn out at Carson Pass. No fishing here.

My take on the lakes up here is that it'll be June before any serious fishing will happen. Stop over at California Dreaming for a shot of my truck at 7000 ft.

Two more things and then I'm out out of here. One, it was snowing at 8000 ft and two, there are bud on the Dogwood. No flowers, but buds. I'm hopeful.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mark