Black Friday

As you all know (how can you not) today is Black Friday. It started yesterday sometime and will continue until who knows when.

I decided that I was going to vacate the house in favor of my wife, having the day off, so she could have some time to herself without me hanging around and getting under foot.

Now, I could have gone to some mall shopping, but no one in their right mind would willingly experience something like that. Just look at the pictures below.

Some Mall

Another mass of people

So I did the only thing a sane person would do and that is go fishing.

This is what I was thinking. Most people were at the malls shopping, so there shouldn't be many at the lake, right? That's what I get for thinking.

Not that the parking lot was packed to capacity, but there were a good number of boat trailers there and during the time I was fishing, many more came and went.

Boat Trailer Parking Lot

Based on the fact that everyone that was fishing was male, they must have had the same idea I had. Don't go shopping, go fishing. Their wives must have been the ones shopping. 

My usual spot at New Melones Reservoir was taken so I set up a little to the right, but not intruding upon them. Attempting to beat the hex, I put out one rod with rainbow Power Bait and the other with Salmon Eggs (per the suggestion of Howard (Windknots & Tangled Lines) under a bobber. This worked OK for the first hour or so, but then the wind picked up. Using a bobber in the wind is a lesson in futility. I don't think an explanation is necessary. No bites either.

From then on it was PB, PB with garlic, PB with Anise, PB with Sweet Corn, and Kastmasters in numerous colors.

Almost four hours of sitting and nary a bite. There wasn't anyone in the area catching anything and there was a lot of anyone's within sight.  

I packed up a little after 1:00 pm and headed home. Maybe I should have gone shopping.

Stopped on the way home and took some pictures of more of the Historical Markers between the lake and home. Check back for those posts.

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody

Now I'm going upstairs to watch the Packers & Lions and then feed my face.

Y'all have a good one.

It's All Mel's Fault

I headed out to Lake Camanche this morning. I figured with the rain we had recently, the cooler weather, a nice sunny day,

Sunny day at Lake Camanche

and all the stocking going on, Lake Camanche should start producing some fish. 

After a couple stops in town I got to the lake at 0900 and put two rods in the water. You know, the usual rainbow Power Bait on a slip sinker rig. At 0905 the tip of one rod started bouncing. Huh, I was right. Huh, I was wrong. I got two bounces and then nothing. Bait was still on the hook so the only thing I can think is that something bumped the line on the way by and it wasn't a bite after all.

So I sat and sat and sat and while I was doing all that sitting, I had an epiphany. I haven't caught a fish since November 12th. On that post I mentioned the Yuki hex where he doesn't catch anything until I leave.

Well, Mel made a comment on that post, "Whatever hex you put on Yuki, better make sure he keeps it and doesn't send it back to you." and I haven't caught a fish since. I've come to the conclusion that it's not a funk and it's not loss of mojo, I've been hexed. And the only one I can blame is Mel.

Now all I have to do is get an exorcism to make the demon go away.

Oh, I also fished several colors of Kastmaster and even donated one to the lake. How does one donate a lure to the lake, you ask? Late last week I put new line on the three rods I use all the time. Something I do every year. I guess the line on my little Okuma got tangled around the reel somehow and when I threw out the Kastmaster the first time, the lure went out about 250 feet, but unfortunately it was no longer attached to my rod. It was far enough out and the water was deep enough that recovery without scuba gear will not happen, thus a donation to the lake.

I also broke down and put a #6 bait hook on and added two white and one red Power Eggs, but nothing there either. I even had the fleeting thought of putting a Power Worm under a bobber, but I didn't have a bobber in my tackle box, so I nixed that idea.

So now that I've figured out the problem, anybody know a good exorcist?

An Historic Site

Every time I drive out to New Melones Reservoir I go by a place called Carson Hill (population 37). Along the side of the road is one of those historical markers. You know the kind, a shaped rock with a metal plate glued to it.

Carson Hill is registered as California Historical Landmark #274. Volcano is an historical landmark too. A plug for our little town.

Unlike most of the places with "Carson" in their names in the American West, Carson Hill is not named after explorer Kit Carson, but instead it is named for Sgt. James H. Carson, a member of Colonel Jonathan D. Stevenson's Regiment of First New York Volunteers. Same guys that founded Volcano.

The Morgan Mine (at Carson Hill) was one of the richest mines in the area, so much so that the miners didn't even have to dig. They would simply blow up a vein and collect the pieces. The mine was also where one of the largest nuggets in the state was discovered, a 195 pound troy block of gold that was worth $43,000 at the time.

Let me explain this a little. there is 12 troy ounces in a troy pound rather than 16 ounces in what you would know is a pound. Going into a little more detail, a troy ounce is 31.10348 grams and a regular ounce is 28.3495 grams making a troy ounce a little heavier.

So let's break this 195 troy pound nugget into today's terms. 195 pound x 12 troy ounces per pound equals 2340 troy ounces. Still with me? OK 2340 troy ounces x $1242 oz (close of market today) equals $2,906,280.00. A little difference from $43,000.00 huh.

Back to Carson Hill. One of the Gold Country's more colorful stories is reported to have occurred here (although several other camps lay claim to a similar tale) during the early days of the gold rush. The tale goes that a man who had lost his life in a mining accident was being buried in the local cemetery. As the services were being held, one of the mourners noticed something glittering in the newly turned earth of the open grave. The ceremony was forgotten as everyone, the minister included, quickly located a claim.   

As with many of the places in the Motherlode, Carson Hill is considered a ghost town. Nothing unusual about that as most places in the Motherlode are haunted. The gold rush in 1849/1850 was a very violent time in American history. Just to give you a few examples of places just around here, the Volcano Union Inn, St. George Hotel (both in Volcano), The Imperial Hotel and Amador Hotel in Amador City, and the Argonaut Mine (47 miners died in a fire 4650 feet below the surface). All these places are considered haunted.

To add credence to this ghost story, Laurie Lockhart (owner of the Amador Lake Resort) was in the Imperial Hotel one night and a ghost of a cowboy walked up to her and poked her in the chest. She says it scared the hell out of her. 

Haunting in the Motherlode is just a fact of life.

I'm hoping you can read the two plates below.  

I just thought you'd like a tour of our rich history here in the Motherlode. If you like this one, I'll do some more.

I Got No Mojo

Personally, I believe most of my fishing and catching is based on attitude. Not the attitude of "Gee, I'd sure like to catch a fish". The attitude being that the fish are there, bite.
 
Lately I've been a bit in the dumps. If you'll remember I lost my brother last December. Well, about two weeks ago it would have been his 73rd birthday and now December is looming on the horizon. Then you'll also remember I lost my best friend growing up, Dave last February five days after his 67th birthday. I'm just having a little trouble getting past all that and it seems to be affecting my fishing attitude. All of a sudden there is the realization that I'm not immortal, bulletproof, and my time is limited. Pretty damn depressing.

Last Monday I went to Lake Camanche. The original plan was New Melones Reservoir, but I detoured to Camanche North Shore at the last minute. I really didn't care where I went (notice lack of mojo), just wanted to commune with Nature. I got skunked and it wasn't for lack of fish because Camanche is stocking on a regular basis, in fact the stock truck was driving through the gate as I was leaving.

Still in some what of a funk, I headed out to New Melones Reservoir this morning even though it had been raining and more rain was predicted. This seem odd to you since I don't normally fish in the rain? Yeh, me too. 

Got there just before 10:00, set up the red camping chair, and put out both rods with rainbow Power Bait. Now if you've been following Howard (Windknots & Tangled Lines) and his dream, his last comment was that we had a good time because he was out of Power Bait. I must not have had a good time because I still have plenty of Power Bait.

Just about 10:15 it started to sprinkle. About 10:16 it started to rain. About 10:17 it started to pour. I gathered up my gear and got into the truck. While the rain continued I drove around and looked at this and that and came back to the parking lot at 11:00. The rain stopped for the most part so I took my gear back down and put out two lines again. There I sat without a bite until 1:00 pm and packed up. It's not for lack of fish, there were several jumping right in front of where I was. It had to be my lack of interest is all I can think of.

Now keep in mind that it hadn't rained from 11:00 until I left at 1:00 pm, but it looked like it in all directions which is where the four pictures below come into play.   

North

East

South

West

I was standing in the parking lot for parking boat trailers after launching. This ramp is above the ramp where we usually fish, which is above the ramp where we are fishing now. My guess, maybe 150 feet above the water.

I didn't get a mile from the lake when it started raining and it rained all the way home. It's now 4:00 pm and it is pouring. I'm not complaining we need the rain.

I'm sure the mojo will return. In the mean time I'll keep trying. One other thing, I'll try to keep the Political crap out of the joke posts.  

Free Stuff

Disclaimer: These jokes are sent to me via email from a friend. I don’t make them up, I only pass them on. Some are politically incorrect bordering on rude, crude, and abusive. They are only meant as jokes and are not meant to offend anyone. If you feel offended, please just click off the blog for this joke, but please return because there will be more. 

The folks who are getting the free stuff don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, because the folks who are paying for the free stuff can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff.

And the folks who are paying for the free stuff want the free stuff to stop. And the folks who are getting the free stuff want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!

Now... the people who are forcing the people who pay for the free stuff have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff that the people who are PAYING for the free stuff are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So... the people who are GETTING the free stuff have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff by the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff and giving them the free stuff in the first place.

We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.

Now understand this.
All great democracies have committed financial suicide somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded.

The reason?

The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury by electing people who promised to give them money from the treasury in exchange for electing them.

The United States officially became a Republic in 1776, 236 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff.

Failure to change that spells the end of the United States as we know it.

ELECTION 2014 IS COMING

A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!