Friday, January 7, 2011

Almost A Personal Best

Resolution #3. Beat my personal best (4lb-12oz). Almost did it the first time out of the gate.

Met Rich and Mark at Lake Amador this morning. Foggy, extremely cold, and damp. My fingers got so cold that when I warmed them up, they hurt. That's how cold. Right off the bat, Mark put two on the stringer.



Then it was my turn. We were standing up on a little hill about 10 feet above the water and waiting for the trout to show themselves. All of a sudden, two were swirling right off shore. I had just put on a red Sonic Roostertail (this is the lure I've caught the most fish at Amador on) and I threw it out just beyond the two. I slowly reeled it in and one of them turned a 180, swam over, and gobbled the Roostertail. A short fight and Mark had it in the net.



It seemed to fit OK in the net. If you'll remember some time ago, Rich and I had a discussion about the size of my net and a lost trout, that he claims was the fault of my net being too small. Worked OK this time, although Mark did waffle about the size, once it was on the stringer. This will be an on going dispute between Rich and I for a very long time and Mark has to side with his dad, or walk home. It's a long way to Lodi.
The rest of the day was nada. I fished Power Bait on a slip sinker rig and nightcrawlers under a bobber without results. Couple of guys from Sacramento, that were next to me, were fishing minnows under a bobber and had one on and missed a couple of hits.
Packed up and put the three fish in the bucket I carry with me. Might have to get a bigger bucket.


Mark donated his two to Bob so I can keep getting my driveway plowed. Been a bit lean as of late, so we fattened up Bob's fish stash.
Here are the three, and the weights are as follows from top to bottom. 4lbs 13 ozs (Mark), 4 lbs 8oz (Mine), and 3 lbs 6 oz (Mark).
Almost beat my personal best, but fell a few ounces short. That's OK, the year is young.
Till next time.
Mark

14 comments:

  1. Nice fish, Mark! And nice little buggy y'all had at the shoreline. Looks handy. Dandy of a fish, though, and I hope you'll get one bigger this year!

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  2. Mark, "ditto" what Casey said. There is a bigger one with your name on it out there somewhere just waiting to grab the Red Sonic Roostertail.

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  3. I love when they do the 180! It gets your heart going for sure! Nice fish.

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  4. That pig should keep your driveway plowed for some time! Very nice, if you're only going to bring one in, might as well do it in style.

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  5. Awesome catch Mark, you have me wanting to get on the water even more now, although we are expecting 6” of snow tomorrow and Monday, with some freezing rain. A few questions for you, I fish the Rooster Tail a lot with my micro light 7 ½ ft. rod and 4 lb. test line. What was the size of the Rooster tail, rod length and line weight? I love to use the long spinning rod because it gives a sense of using my fly rod when I am landing large bluegill and crappie. Enjoyed the post.

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  6. That is a cracker of a fish. Well done.

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  7. Very nice! Makes me want to brave the online system and get my pole out again for February in Bishop...

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  8. Man, anytime you catch something that big, it was good day!

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  9. Sweet!!...yep, yer gonna need a bigger bucket (thumbs up :)

    Congrats on an Awesome Catch Mark!...and Happy New Year!!

    My blog moved...replace fishing with adventures in the domain...that's code so I don't spam your comment section with a link ;)

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  10. Nice fish! Can you use live bait fish at any of the California lakes?

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  11. Buy a bigger bucket and they will come.
    Nice fish Mark!

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  12. Nice fish. A successful day in my book!

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  13. Cool fish! One of my favorite rooster-tails was a silver body and spinner with a red hair butt. Trout do love the rooster-tail spinners!

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