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