Tuesday Morning

Trout season opened Saturday for most of the Sierra. Always check DFG regs before fishing a stream. I, myself, have not been able to get out yet, but that will change this week. I've been tied up with projects around the house, but when I was in Angels Camp on Saturday I did see a couple of guys walking down to the creek with fly rods. Hope they had a good day. Angels Creek is one of the creeks I've fished for many years and has always produced a good number of Rainbows, if not a limit each time. Unfortunately this is one of the creeks that is on the DFG's no stock list. Going to make it harder to take any fish because it's a widely fished creek. If you are out this far, New Melones is just around the corner on Highway 4 toward Sonora.

I have to go out to Angels Camp to pick up my chainsaw, hopefully later this week (in for a tuneup) and I'll give the creek a shot. I'll report later on that.

Now that the Sierra Trout is open, I'm going to put some time in on local creeks and rivers and see if anything is popping. I have some ideas for the South Fork of the American River at Riverton (where Hwy 50 crosses the river at Crystal Basin Rd). Tune in later for a report on this.

Well, off to Sacramento for more project material. Maybe I can sneak off and hit a pond or something.

Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day with the log splitter" which is where I spent yesterday.

Shoreman

Caples Lake & Bear River Reservoir

Just wanted to make a comment about those two fish I caught Thursday & Saturday. Apparently they are called Donaldson Trout. They are 50% Rainbow, 30% Cutthroat, and 20% Silver Salmon. Seems they are some what unique to Lake Amador.

This is Red Lake this morning. Not much fishing here yet.

I stopped at Bear River Reservoir on the way back. The gate is still closed, so a cardio walk was in order. I got to the shore about 8:00 am and tossed out a floating bobber with a meal worm. Then put a black Panther Martin on and casted out. First cast landed the fish on the top of the picture About 9". Berkley Gulp Trout Dough in Orange Pulp produced the one on the bottom about 12". After about 9:30 am they stopped biting. Couldn't get them interested in anything else, although I did get several bumps on a gold Kastmaster, but couldn't hook up.

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

Shoreman

Saturday

I had a couple of options of what I wanted to do today. My first option was to fire up the log splitter and bust up a bunch of pieces I've been cutting all winter. The second option was to go fishing. Since my Wife was not feeling very good and running the log splitter would have probably been annoying, I opted to go fishing. OK, I'll say it for you. "What a guy". So I jumped into the truck and drove out to Lake Amador. I thought I'd take a picture for those of you that are out of state or not near by. This is from the dam facing South East.

When I got there I put in a slip bobber rig with one of those big meal worms I get over at the feed store. Then tried the usual lures. Not even the red Sonic Rooster Tail produced anything. I did see a couple being caught on the other side of the dam and over on the dirt side. So, I switched to Mini-Crawlers on the slip bobber rig and tried the usual lures again. Again, nothing. By that time, my back was starting to give me some pain (the older I get, the less time I can stand, especially on rocks) so I put down my big rod and put some Rainbow Power Bait (Berkley Gulp Trout Dough in Rainbow Candy) on a slip sinker rig and threw it out. I started to sit down and before my butt hit the board, I had one on. I wanted to release this one, so I took a quick picture for the blog and got him back into the water. Unlike the one Thursday which was gut hooked by some other fisherman, this one was lip hooked and wasn't bleeding. He swam away just fine.

This one was also 20" and weighted just under 2 lbs. I caught this one on my 5' Ugly Stik and Mitchell 308 with the 4 lb Florocarbon line as opposed to the 7' with the Mitchell 300 and 6 lb line on Thursday. Really tested my abilities with a light weight rod & reel.

Well, that's it for today. Monday Morning I'm off to Red Lake and see if the ice is gone and maybe get a couple of those nice Eastern Brookies. OH yeh, one other thing. I know I've been whining about the snow and ice, I just wanted everyone to know, I turned on the A/C in the truck on the way back home.

Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than a day with the log splitter".

Shoreman

Lake Amador

I set out to try my new Rooster Tails I mentioned Tuesday. Since I've not caught anything at Lake Pardee and I did catch one at Lake Amador, this was the place to test them. Yesterday I had to go to the Lab to give blood for my semi-annual checkup, so I stopped at Fisherman's Warehouse in Sacramento and picked up 3 Rapala Clackin' Rap lures. I couldn't help myself.

When I got to Amador, I put out a slip sinker rig with rainbow Power Bait, then I tried the usual group first, just to see if anything was interested. Nope. OK, so then I tried the Rooster Tails (Worden's Sonic Rooster Tails). First white, then yellow, then chartreuse, and finally red. After 5 or 6 casts with the red, I got a good bump, but missed the fish. 5 or 6 more casts, nothing.

Then I tied on the Clackin'Rap with the Rapala knot. I only made 5 casts, and quit. Two reasons. One, I was fishing on the dam and didn't want a $9.00 plug caught in the rocks. The second reason, is that this lure is really heavy. 3 1/2 oz. Like throwing a freight car out there. I think I'll wait on these until I get a rod with 8 or 10 lb test. Should be shortly, I have the reel, waiting for the rod.

Then I tried the red Roostertail again. About the 5th cast, I got the same bump as before, but couldn't keep the fish on. These were pretty hefty bumps. Waited a while, messed with a couple of other colors of Power Bait and then went back to the Roostertail again. I find that if you give it a "rest", the fish will usually take another stab at your lure.

The 3rd cast produced this:











This little beauty is 20" and just a smidgen short of 2 lbs. On the Worden's Sonic Rooster Tail in red. First time out. Can't beat that. Well, that 's it for today, the Shoreman is back.

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

Shoreman

Tuesday

Nothing about going fishing today. I'm excited, I just got a delivery from Bass Pro Shop with some stuff I ordered. I got 4 Worden's Sonic Rooster Tail lures (Yellow, White, Red, and Chartreuse. They didn't have Black in stock). Read an article saying this is the lure for trout. Going to be hard to beat a Panther Martin, but I'm open for new ideas. I'll let you know how they work. Also got this thing called a Carolina Keeper. I don't know if you've seen them, kind of like a swivel, but no tying. It's plastic and plug shaped and crimps on your line for things like slip sinker rigs. If you haven't seen them, they carry them at Fisherman's Warehouse too. Also got split ring pliers and a supply of split rings in different sizes. I love Internet shopping.

Re-lined my Mitchell 300 and Mitchell 308 with Berkley Trilene Florocarbon. I can understand why the fish can't see this stuff. I could hardly see it to tie it on my reels. If it works better than regular line, I'll let you know. Just found a 10 buck rebate on the line I need to send in.

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

Shoreman

Ice House Reservoir yesterday

Met my friend Rob at a coffee house in El Dorado Hills yesterday morning. After getting a cup of coffee, piled his gear into my truck and off we went. Rain all they way up Highway 50 to Crystal Basin Rd. Rain up Crystal Basin Rd until about 4800'. Then it started to snow. Can't let a little snow stop a guy who hasn't fished since he was about 14. The road to the lake (elevation 5450') had some snow on it, but nothing my Chevy 4x4 couldn't handle.

Once we got to the shore, the lake was completely ice free, I put out a slip bobber rig with Rainbow Candy Gulp Trout Dough (fish were surface feeding) and commenced to get Rob set up. All his gear was new so we got everything hooked up and put on a silver/blue Kastmaster. The last report said that this was what was catching fish here. I put on a silver Kastmaster. Didn't get anything so we switched to gold and orange. Still nothing, so we went with Panther Martins. Rob took gold/black and I took silver/yellow. Still nothing. I switched my slip bobber to Orange Pulp and tried a Little Cleo silver/blue on Rob's rod and burgandy/bronze on mine. Still no interest. So I went back up to my truck and got my slip sinker rig and put out a mini-crawler.

Low and behold, the little buggers found some interest. I switched Rob to the same rig and a mini-crawler. My line straightened and I set the hook. A little slow because there wasn't anything on the hook. I reeled it in and as as it came close to shore, the little bugger was continually hitting the worm, but my "worm in the mouth to setting the hook" was a little slow. He turned and ran. I sent the worm back out and there he was again. Still my "worm in the mount to setting the hook ratio" was slow. He just kept mouthing and spitting. I reeled in and put a new mini on and set it back out. While I was doing that, Rob got a hit and after an excruciating 1/2 minute of waiting, set the hook. I nice 9" holdover Rainbow was landed. Again his first fish since he was 14.

The day was a success. After a little while, we decided to call it a day since we've been snowed on since we arrived. Although snowed on is a bit dryer than rained on, we'd had enough. I did have one of my fishing "epiphanies" while I was walking back and forth to the truck. If you're going to fish when there is snow on the ground (you know how it packs and becomes a slide), football cleats would be the way to go. Keep you from taking an unwanted dip in the lake.

Well, I guess Good Friday was a good Friday. Broke the 2009 no fish jinx. Warmer weather and nicer days are just on the horizon.

Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work". Fortunately Rob is one of those California state workers with furlow days, so we should see more fishing for him in the future.

Happy Easter to all.

Shoreman

Highway 88 Lakes

I took a stroll up the hill this morning to see what the lakes looked like further up from Bear River Reservoir. Made my usual stop at Cooks Station for coffee and rolled on up the hill. As you might guess, the snow is still a bit deep. A while ago I ran into a guy that said Silver Lake (elevation 7261) had open water. Looked frozen over to me. Caples Lake (elevation 7806) is looking pretty sad. What little water there is, is still frozen. Red Lake (elevation 8200) is still frozen. I stopped at the overlook and could not see any open water, so I just turned around. On the way back, I was going to take a look at Kirkwood Lake (elevation 7600). The road was not plowed so I couldn't get down there. I will take a good look at this lake come Summer. Rumor has it, "there be Brookies there". Thanks, Scottie.

Good cup of coffee and a nice ride on a Monday morning. I suspect it will be at least another month before we see any water at these lakes since we have another storm coming over the next 3 days.

This Friday, I'm taking a guy I used to work with up to Ice House for a day of fishing. He hasn't fished for a long time and reading my blog, wanted to get back to it. He even went out and purchased a rod, reel, tackle box, and some gear to get started. Like he said, "Good Friday, perhaps it's good for fishing". Everyone keep your fingers crossed.

I'm shutting the computer down while I'm gone to keep those darn cats off it. Till next time, remember: "A bad day fishing is better than any day at work".

Shoreman

More Cat Humor

Dad has gone fishing again, so here we are.

Hi, I’m Smudge. Remember me from that other post? I’m the gray one. Jasper, that’s my brother says I’m fat, but I just consider myself healthy. “Get away, I’m doing the words”. Brothers, he’s a pain in the butt too.

The other day, Dad said he found a blog about a cat that chases squirrels. We have a bunch outside, but we’re not allowed to go out except on the back porch. It’s screened so me and my brother can’t get out any farther. We would like to go out an chase squirrels and there are some really big bugs we could get too. Then we wouldn’t need that guy that come and sprays the stinky stuff around the house to kill all those bugs that would be good to eat. Dad wouldn’t have to spend so much money on cat food either. kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk “Jasper, get off the keyboard”.

Yesterday Dad was painting again, he’s always painting something, and he’s really mean to us when he does this. All we want to do is walk all over it and smell it and sit on it, but Dad makes sure we don’t have any fun. So me and my brother just slept during that time. It’s something we do really well. That way we can be up all night and run around the house and make noise and bang stuff around. Chase balls across the wooden floor, wrestle, and stuff like that. Make noise all night and keep Dad and Mom awake.

Dad has a picture right above this desk I’m doing the words on and it says “I’m just a CAT and we’ll get along fine as long as you remember I’m not yours, you’re MINE”. My Dad belongs to me and Mom belongs to Jasper.

Wow, Dad says if I stop doing the words when he’s not home, he’ll take us fishing. What’s fishing? Fish, yeh we like fish. Go get fish? Cool. By the lake. What’s a lake? WATER! That’s not happening. Cats don’t do water. Guess we’ll just have to keep doing the words. “No Jasper, you can’t just ride along and stay in Dad’s truck”.

Guess we better go now.

Smudge and Jasper. Mostly Smudge this time.