That Was Almost A Bust

Back when Juan and I fished first Red Creek and then Upper Blue Lake, somehow my Shimano Convergence 6'6" (two piece) rod got broken. It wasn't just the tip, but the first 6" of the rod including the tip and the first guide. I'm sure there is a way to put this back together, but I rate it right up there with working on cars and I don't do cars.

So I ordered a new one from Cabela's and while doing so also ordered a new reel to replace the Shimano Sedona that has all the snags on the spool, with a Diawa Crossfire. The reel was slowly shredding the line each time I cast out.

I must not have been paying attention when I placed this order because what I got was a 7' Shimano Convergence one piece rod and a Diawa Crossfire 10003BI. The rod, I can live with, but the reel? It was so small that it would fit perfectly on a little 4 foot brush rod so I sent it back and got a CF2000 3BI. Still not quite as big as I would have it, but it will do the job.

So, this morning I headed out of the house at 07:10 to try the new rod and my goal was Caples Lake with Silver Lake as a backup.

Got to Caples after a coffee stop and night crawler purchase (wanted to make sure I had every kind of bait since fishing has be a bit thin lately) and the spaces by the spillway, the dead tree, and the sandy side were all taken so I drove over to the dam.        

I was so excited about the road work guys being gone I almost jumped for joy, almost. Whizzed right up the road and to the lake. Didn't see any of the construction equipment, no markers, no nothing. Life was good. 

There was a gentleman from Southern California fishing there, but I was able to find a small spot to put out my rods. David and his family were vacationing at South Lake Tahoe and he drove over before the crack of dawn. He said he had caught 4 or 5, but the were all small.

My spot by the dam

I put out one rod (the new one) with rainbow Power Bait and the other with a crawler and a couple white floaty things. The first catch of the day was a big Crawdad about the size of a small lobster. Keeping my fingers away from the pincers, I grabbed it with my pliers and once the hook was removed, threw it and my pliers back into the lake. So they slipped out of my hand. No big deal, got my net and scooped (with a little difficulty) the pliers up and had them back in no time.

About that time came the first (and only) bite of the day. It was a small Rainbow about 10" or so and it came on the new rod & reel. It was enough to beat the skunk though. After David left (I gave him the directions to the secret spot at Upper Blue Lake. He was taking his kids up there this afternoon.) I hung around for another hour or so and then decided I'd drive down the hill and give Silver Lake a shot by the dam where Yuki caught fish last week.

Packed up and headed back down the Highway and wouldn't you know, the road work guys were back and it was wait for the pilot car and follow it a couple miles. I was so excited. You'd have to hear that one verbally to understand the irony.

Got to Silver Lake check-in and damned if the lake didn't already have white caps on it. I drove down to the Day Use and talked to the host. She said that the lake had high wind warnings all day and that the wind was only going to get worse.

Since I had already scratched out Silver Lake and Bear River on previous trips, I decided just to come home. Wasn't a skunk, but not a stellar day by any means. So another carton of night crawlers goes into the 1/2 oak barrel on the porch. There must be 9000 night crawlers in that barrel.