Where Are You?

Plan A was to meet Yuki and Jim at the Angels Creek area of New Melones Reservoir.

From the Glory Hole Sports fishing report: Bank fishing was a little slow this week with only a few fish being caught per angler. Maybe I should have stayed home.

Yuki said to look for Jim's burgundy Ford so I drove out to the Angels Creek area only to find the gate closed. OK, I'll drive out to Glory Hole Point and see if he's out there. Yuki would be along later because he has to feed the animals in the morning. he's got horses and cats and stuff.

Got out to Glory Hole Point and checked all the parking lots, but no Jim. Tried to call Yuki, but couldn't get enough bars on my cheapo Walmart Tracphone so the next move was to drive over to Tuttletown and see if the meet was moved there.

Pulled in at Tuttletown and no Jim. OK, on to Plan B. I hauled my gear down to the "good" (the spot where we've caught the most fish in the past) spot and set up two rods. One with the usual rainbow Power Bait and the other with something different. I removed the #18 gold treble hook and replaced it with a #6 bait hook.

I had stopped at Glory Hole Sports to pick up some small treble hooks to put on a few lures that Howard sent me from WDSTK 3 Handcrafted Lures to try in the lakes around here. They will get tried another time. GHS is the only fishing store that I thought might have them and while I was there I picked up a box of Mini-Crawlers. You never know what they will bite on today.

Back to the second rod. With the #6 bait hook, I put on two florescent White Power Eggs. Slid them past the hook and then threaded on a crawler. Just as I lobbed that one out, my cheapo Walmart Tracphone rang and Yuki was on the other end. He and Jim were at now over at Angels Creek and let me know what parking lot.

I told him I was going to hang out where I was because I had my rods in the water already and I'd catch up with them in an hour or two. Just as I hung up the rod with the crawler started bouncing. I picked it up and when the line straightened, set the hook. The rainbow wasn't the biggest I've ever caught, but it did manage to swallow the crawler and both the Power Eggs. I put it on the stringer and waited for the next one.

Forty-five minutes later and no new hits, I decided to head over to where Jim & Yuki were. I want to note that while I was packing up my gear, the Park Ranger was making his rounds and we struck up a conversation. If you'll remember the float tubing days over at the Camanche Trout Pond when I talked to the Park Ranger I always got skunked. See below.

I drove by a burgundy Ford in a side parking lot, but didn't see Yuki's truck so I kept going out to Glory hole Point, but nobody there either so I went back to where the burgundy Ford was and called.

Yup, that was Yuki and Jim down by the lake. They were so far away they look like they were about 1/2 of an inch high. I grabbed a minimum of equipment and hiked the 25 miles (OK, maybe a 1/2 mile) down to the lake. I set up two rods the same as above and commenced to socialize.

A couple of hours later and fishless (no doubt the fault of the Park Ranger. See I told you.) I started the climb back out. Once I got back to the truck (after stopping three times to rest) I added some ice to the bucket I had the one fish in and left it for Yuki to add to the one he caught. Maybe they caught more after I left. He'll let us know, check the comments section.

Next week, maybe I'll wander back out to Lake Pardee and see what's shaking. Should have the hooks on those lures from Howard by then.

Mark