Sportsman Expo and Mather Lake

Went on Sunday 1/18. Had a little trouble finding the fishing area that was not for fly fishing or the hunting area. Turns out it was in the back with the boats. I went with my Son, and his Brother-in-Law both who fish with me when time permits. I'm glad we found it because I was able to pick up a reel for my new Ugly Stik I got for Christmas. I was able to purchase a Daiwa 1500B Sweepfire reel from Fisherman's Warehouse space at the show price of $15.00 and they paid the tax. A good deal since they retail for about $30.00. I was also able to pick up a couple of new lures from a company called Rocky Mountain Tackle Company out of Utah. They make mostly trolling lures, but check out their website. A lot of cool pictures (108 to be exact) of fish caught locally and in Utah. Here is the link. http://www.rockymountaintackle.com/ They have an online store. I met several of the guys from there and picked up some info about fishing a couple of local lakes that I haven't done very well at. So in the future, I'll let you know how the new lures work and how the information I got pans out.

I also met with a couple of guys from Fish Sniffer. If you don't know about Fish Sniffer, here is the link to them. http://fishsniffer.com/ There is a lot of good information on this website about fishing all over Northern California. They fund this website from subscriptions to the print edition, so if you can, subscribe and support them. You might also check out Cal Kellogg's book "The Trout Fishing Handbook". I bought this book as soon as I saw he had published it and was so impressed I bought a copy for my Son. There is a lot of great information on all kinds of trout fishing in the book. I might also note that I met Cal at the Expo. If you want to get his book, call him at 916-685-2245. He's since published a second book (The Delta Fishing handbook), you might want to check this one out also, just in case you fish the delta.

The rest of the booths had various products and a lot of the booths were outfitters. Many of them in Alaska. So that was the jist of the Sportsman Exposition.

Just a quick note, I went by Mather Lake this morning after a doctor appointment. Figured, as long as I was in Sacramento, might as well drop a line and see if anything was biting. To my disappointment, there was a lot of grass/weeds growing in the lake just like last time I was there. I wasn't able to cast out one time without reeling in weeds on my lure. After about 15 frustating minutes, I left. I talked to one other fisherman there and he was pretty upset about the weeds also. I wouldn't waste my time with this lake until the weeds are gone, if they ever are.

Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work".

Shoreman