A Wandering I Will Go

Give me a good vehicle, a tank of gas, and I'll end up somewhere. This morning I was looking for some small creeks that I could include in my presentation on fishing small streams in Amador, Alpine, and El Dorado Counties tomorrow at the Amador Fly Fishers monthly meeting. 

Having been given some information on another "Secret Lake" I figured it would be a good time to check that out (which I found) and see if there were some small creeks in the same area that would work for my presentation.

On the way, I came across this water flume. It was such an optical illusion I had to show you. It looks like the water is running uphill. 

Water is running downhill.

The picture below is one of the many canyons along the road. There is a creek down there somewhere. I don't think I'd like to hike down to the bottom to find it.

After 20 some miles I finally came to the dam at Salt Springs Reservoir. I've never made it out here before and if you'll remember the trip last year Here where I ran into the cows, this is where I was headed. 

Dam at Salt Springs Reservoir

When you leave the base of the dam and climb the road to the top, I noticed this huge granite rock outcropping. I thought it worthy of a picture.

Granite outcropping

When you get to the top of the dam, all you have is a little spot that will hold a half dozen cars and a stinky toilet. 

Parking lot at the dam

Once you walk up the little hill to the access point to the lake, the only way you can get around this lake is on foot. There is are no other roads near the lake other than the one I just came up. 

From the access point to the lake.

Now this is the part I found interesting. From where I'm standing in the picture above you can see how hard it would be to get to the lake and keep in mind that the DFG stocks this lake. Yet, on a similar sign like the one below, there is a notation about using a boat on this lake and making sure it is properly registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles. It even gave an explanation of what type of boat needs and doesn't need to be registered. 

How in the living hell are you going to get a boat (motors are allowed except at the far end) in this lake when there is no launch facility and not even any access to the lake? But make sure your boat is properly registered before you put it into the water. HOW????

On the way out, I shot this picture of the rock face that was blasted out for the construction of the dam.

I did find a bunch of creeks and took pictures, but I'm going to hold them for another post and because I'm using them tomorrow for the presentation and don't want to give anything away.

Till next time.

Mark

Happy Father's Day

To all you Dads out there.

A New Place, Well Sort Of

I had no other plans this morning than to drive straight to Caples Lake. OK, I did stop for coffee at Cooks Station. I don't think I've mentioned in the past that other than good coffee, they also have really good food. They make a killer breakfast burrito that's even too much for me to eat.

Arrived at Caples at 0830 and planned to fish the sandy side of the spillway, but after a pit stop drove over to the dead tree. I didn't include any pictures because you've seen them all several times before.

Two hours of floating a mini-crawler off the bottom with a couple of white Power Eggs and a little injected air, then a mini-crawler under a bobber, and soaking rainbow Power Bait with out a look, I packed up and decided to fish a new place. First choice was the near side of the dam because I haven't fished there in about three years.

Of course the place I wanted to fish was filled so I passed by and went out to the tip of the peninsula. I've never fished here before and the only thing I could see that was detrimental was the depth of the water. It was a bit shallow out about fifty feet.

Now the problem you have when you fish with a bobber and it's windy (it's always windy at Caples) is keeping the bobber in the water and not hugging the shore. I solved this problem by fishing with the wind behind me. It's so simple even a caveman could do it.

With a mini-crawler under a bobber on one rod and rainbow Power Bait on the other, I parked in the red camping chair, in the sun. It was a bit nippy up there (elevation 7806) this morning and the sun felt good. Since I hadn't been in this part of the lake (it would be considered half way to the back of the lake) I snapped a bunch of shots for your viewing pleasure. I'll let the captions explain where and what they are.      

Directly behind where I was sitting

OK, I think you have this one.

That little spot of beige to the left of center is the public launch.

From the tip of the peninsula to the back of the lake

Still a little snow way up high (around 9000 ft)

Back toward the resort on the other side of the peninsula

The dam (not to be confused with the spillway)

Just a rocky mountain face. Note not many trees up there.

An hour after I got here, I put out one rod with rainbow PB and some sweet corn and the other with rainbow PB and garlic. In less than fifteen minutes I got the first and only hookup of the day on the garlic. It was a good sized Rainbow. Jumped a couple of times, pulled the drag a couple of times and then managed to tangle up the line with the other rod so that when it took off again, it broke the line. When I looked at the broken end it looked like the break was at the swivel, so maybe a bad knot.

At 12:30 I was hungry enough to pack up and head down the road a couple miles to Kirkwood Inn (where Juan and I ate when he was up) for a burger and fries with plans to come back for another go. When I got there, they had some construction going on inside and the only way to get anything to eat was via the patio and it was so crowded with tourists I just passed. I could drive all the way home and eat in the time it would have taken to get something from them and probably better for me than a greasy burger and fries too.

That's it, one hookup and a fumbled fight. maybe next time.     

Mark

Persistence Doesn't Always Pay Off

I was down in Sacramento a week or so ago and stopped by the American River where we fish for Shad, but I didn't say anything because all I did was look at the river. The output from Natomas Dam at the time was 1500 cfs coming off a long stretch of 1000 cfs releases.

For Shad to come up the river in good numbers the outflow should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4000cfs to 5000cfs. For the last three or four days the flow has been increased to 2500cfs and since I had to go down anyway, what better reason to wander over and take a peek.

There seemed to be enough water for a fish or two to make it upriver so I grabbed my spinning rod and net and walked to the "spot". On the way (it's about a quarter mile or more) I passed a guy on a bike who was riding up and down the river looking for schools. He wasn't seeing any which was not a good sign.

I kept going anyway. When I got to the "spot" I started swinging the pink grub we use and after 25 or so swings, set the rod down and picked up the camera.    

In the picture below (you need to double click and make it larger) to the right of the bush on the left and across the river is a triangle shaped bush. That is known as the sneaker tree. It seems that rafters going down the river stop by that tree and tie a sneaker to it. For what reason, I have no idea except somebody started and the rest followed. 

Downstream

I took a shot across the river and in this photo you can see how shallow the river is. The water is a foot deep and should be three or four feet.

Across

In this one, the gravel on the bottom right should be two feet or more underwater if the flows were where they are supposed to be.

Upstream

When one is casting for Shad, one becomes oblivious to one's surroundings. This was brought to my attention when I made a cast and a fish (could have been a Steelhead or a Salmon) about 26 inches long bolted as I cast. It was swimming a foot off my foot and I didn't even see it until it jetted. Note to self, PAY ATTENTION........

OK, last thing, the picture below is a flock of mute geese. Yes, I said mute geese. I've never known a goose (and God knows I've seen plenty) to shut up. Know what I mean? This flock never mumbled a sound the whole time it was within sight. I have no other explanation than that they were mute. Wonder if they were deaf too. Oh never mind.

Mute Geese

Shad wise, nada. I did come across one guy as I was leaving that caught one early in the morning, but that was it. There is still plenty of time to try again if the water release gets up where it should be. If not, maybe Shad season is over. Time will tell.

Mark

Where Do You Go Fishing When It's Hot?

I mentioned on Wednesday that it was going to be hot this weekend. The weather guessers have changed their guess a little making today still around 104, but only 106 tomorrow instead of 108. I just went out on NOAA and they said the high for today at La Casa Kautz should be 92. When I was on the back porch and looked at the thermometer it was already 94 and it's only Noon:45.

I had a couple of hours to hit one of the lakes this morning and with Caples Lake (Elevation 7806) in mind I headed up the hill. I stopped (This should not be a surprise to you any more.) at Cooks for coffee and in talking to the people was reminded that this is the weekend for the Bear River Reservoir's spring (if you can call 100 degrees spring) fishing derby. Oooh that means they stocked the lake.

Now, a smart person would go HIGH because of the heat, so being the smart person I am, I went to Bear River (Elevation 5850). OK, so I'm not so smart. 

I got there at 0830 and with the place packed to capacity I wandered down to the spot I usually fish. Why there was nobody there I have no clue.

One rod out with rainbow Power Bait and a little sweet corn bait scent (might as well just go for the throat) and a gold Kastmaster on the little Okuma, I went to work.

Here's what happened, nothing. Nothing on the Power Bait, nothing on the Kastmaster. OK, change of plans. One rod with plain rainbow Power  Bait and a rainbow pink Kastmaster on the other.

The first fish to come to hand was a nice 11 inch stocker on the Power Bait. Nothing I'd consider a derby winning fish. Second fish was a small 8 incher on the pink Kastmaster. The third and fourth fish I'm not even going to mention because they were so small they make the ones from Cat Creek look like lunkers. Oh, they came on a night crawler under a bobber. Couldn't figure out why the bobber kept dipping and I couldn't hook one. Now I know why, the hook was too big. Once I switched from a size 6 to a size 10 the two little ones I'm not going to mentioned came to hand.

While I was fiddling with the first fish one of the guys over on the dam had apparently hooked a good sized one, but couldn't get it up to the top. Guys should look into a pier net if they plan to continue fishing off the dam when the water is down where it was today.   

When the lake is full, the water is up to the dark line.

As usual when I'm standing or sitting around with my finger up my nose (that means I have nothing to do at that time, not that I actually stick my finger up my nose) I took a couple of pictures of the lake just like the ones you've already seen a dozen times.

Another across the lake shot.

Because I was on a time constraint with the furniture move this afternoon, I packed up and headed home at 11:30. It's nice to be able to run up the road the 20 miles to the lake and fish for a couple of hours and then just run back home.

In the picture below you can see the obstacle the guys on the dam were working with. You can also see how easy it would be to net a fish with a pier net. That's not the reason I took this picture though. I took it for two reasons. One, while the guy with the fish held it against the dam (and it must have been a pretty good sized one) while one of the other guys walked down the front of the dam holding a rope and brought the fish back to the top. I missed that action, but I did ask them if they would do it again so I could take a picture. Wonder why they laughed so hard?

The second reason I took the picture was the gentleman next to me said that was where the beer was. Had I been a consumer of adult beverages, I just might have joined them up top. 

This is where the beer was.

Enjoy your weekend and I'll be back on the water next week.

Mark

A Change Of Seasons

For those of you looking for a post about fishing, now is the time to bail.

First I'm going to talk about a phenomenon I first learned about in Minnesota back 30 years or so. Most people like to think that there are four seasons, but in truth there are really only two. Winter and road repair.

This phenomenon is true in most states, but more so in those states that experience that dreaded white stuff called snow. See, if you are in an area that doesn't experience snow then your road repair department (here in California it's called Cal-Trans [California Department of Transportation]) can screw up your commute any time of the year.

But what this post is about is the two seasons I experience here at La Casa Kautz and those are Winter and remodeling. Once again we have moved into the remodeling season because it's going to be hotter than hell for the next week or so. Kind of stupid, but it is what it is. We will not suffer quite as badly as they will down in the Sacramento Valley. Here is what they are expecting: Thursday upper 90's, Friday 104, Saturday 108, Sunday hot, Monday hot, Tuesday hot. OK you get the picture.

So I pick (with the help of my son) this weekend to kick off the next remodeling project. When we moved into La Casa Kautz in the Summer of 2004 it was listed at a 2 bedroom, 2 bath house. When you remove my wife's sewing room and the nerve center of Northern California Trout, it now becomes a 0 bedroom, 2 bath house so....... the downstairs area, that is now our bedroom (and I might note that it is about 15 degrees cooler than upstairs), will not be classified a bedroom until there is a closet. As in most places, if the room doesn't have a closet it can not be classified a bedroom even though we have a closet in the area (kind of a walkway) next to the bedroom. 

Besides when I get this done, I can have it changed to a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and it will be worth more because when the real estate crash occurred the value of the house took a dump just like everybody's.  
So I'm taking off the Shoreman hat (only for the weekend) and putting on the Remodeling Mark hat and away I go. 

Not sure if I'm going to build the closet (I can do that, I have the tools and I'm not afraid to use them) or go the IKEA route, but I'll keep you informed.

Step 1, moved around all the furniture so the area for the closet is clear. That's the plan for this weekend.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Mark

A Big Milestone

I've been watching the stats for a while because they were getting close to somewhere I never imagined they would be.

When I changed from the URL shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com to northerncaliforniatrout.com there were just over 50,000 hits. When I transferred the information to the new site they didn't carry over with the rest of the information.

This morning the hits are just over 50,000.

That is over 100,000 hits on Northern California Trout. I am flabbergasted.

All I can say is Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, to each and every one of you that visit this site and read what I write.

All I can hope for is that in the coming years I can continue to keep your interest and you'll want to keep coming back.  

Thank you to those, all over the world, from the nerve center of Northern California Trout in beautiful downtown (actually the suburbs if Volcano, population 103, has suburbs) Volcano, California.

OK, I'm done being mushy. 

Mark