Lake Amador In A Boat

Last week I saw a post on one of the local forums that they have started planting trout at Lake Amador. Wednesday I wandered over and talked to the office and sure enough they planted 3500 pounds on October 22nd.

Since today was the only day Yuki and I had open, we decided to throw his boat, yes Yuki has a boat, into the lake and see what we could scrape up. I use that phrase (scrape up) because there just isn't a lot of water in the lake.  That is until you get out into one of the coves and then you find there is really a lot of water still in the lake. Some of the coves were probably 25 or more feet deep.

We launched about 9:30 and headed up the first cove we came to. We just drifted. Yuki put out two rods with crawlers and I put out one with Power Bait and the other with a pink Kastmaster. We drifted. We drifted some more. Then the wind picked up and we drifted a little faster. 

Yuki in the drivers seat.

Yours truly waiting for the first bite

We drifted in and out of several coves and in one (I don't remember which one) Yuki got a bite. A big bite.

Yuki wrestling with what ever was on the line.

Yuki worked what ever was on the line for several minutes and then "hung up". My guess and I think his too, it was probably a good sized Bass (there are some big ones in the lake) and it ran him into a submerged tree. End of the "big" one.

For the next 3 hours or so we trawled back and forth on the lake pulling:
1. Crawlers
2. Salmon Eggs
3. Kastmasters
4. Rapala's
5. Crawlers under a bobber
6. Salmon eggs under a bobber
7. Flashers with crawlers
8. Flashers with a Rapala and a crawler

I don't think I missed anything. You can say we gave it our all, but there wasn't a fish to be found.

Finally with Yuki's back hurting and me having a muscle spasm in my left leg, we called it a day.

The only thing that was a real bummer is that fish were popping on the surface, but weren't interested in anything we offered. I did check water temperature when I was at the office and they said it was 65 to 70 depending on where you were on the lake. Lake Camanche said they aren't planning to stock until sometime in November.  I think it was just a little too early for downcountry lakes.

On the other hand, it is supposed to rain on Sunday with snow levels down to 5000 ft. That would be Cook's Station level. Might be the end to fishing upcountry, maybe. 

I'm So Disappointed

Monday they showed up to start the mold removal. First they sealed everything off. I thought they'd at least use clear plastic like they do on TV so I could watch, but Noooooo. They make it so you can't watch.

The kitchen behind the wall

The red thing is a zipper for entry and exit.

Down the side. This is actually the dining room.

So after they left for the day, I snuck in and took a couple pictures. It's not very often (and I hope never again) that you have one of those water/mold remover companies grace your presence.

Everything taped closed

The machine is a de-humidifier

The mold is hiding there.

Tuesday morning and all I got was the guys to remove the bad stuff with breathing masks. I was so hoping for guys in space suits, but I guess the mold wasn't the space suit type. I was so disappointed.  Probably a good thing because I'm sure the space suit guys were a lot more expensive, even though the insurance company was paying for it.

With everything removed and cleaned with mold cleaner, the testing company popped in at 4:00 pm to sample the air to make sure all mold was gone. A half hour of doing something inside the plastic, and about 40 minutes of testing (while driving to the next job) called and gave the ALL CLEAR.

So I thought the only decent thing to do was to open the plastic and take a look. I'm telling you this just in case you find a place where water has been leaking in your house for half the year. You will know what to expect.

The picture below is where the pantry (see picture 5) was and where the wall on both sides was moldy. 

Hole goes through to the master bedroom.

I also noticed that the kitchen floor was gone too.

Kitchen floor gone.

You can see the hole a little better here. Make the picture larger and in the center square is the culprit.

All clean

Time out. I'm stopping to listen to Jefferson Airplanes White Rabbit on Pandora. In case you're not one of the 30 million or so that have listened to it on YouTube, here is the Link.

OK, final picture. This is the "contained" pantry in my garage. I guess the contractor who will be fixing everything needs it. Better in the garage than in the house because it had the most mold on the back of the cabinet.

Pantry Coffin.

Maybe I'll be able to fish again one of these days.

Gone For A Bit

We've had a bit of a disaster at the Kautz household.

What you're viewing below is the water pipe going into the valve that connects to the ice maker in the fridge.

You know what this is

On the top side of that 90 you'll notice, what looks like copper pipe (straight to elbow) being attached together. Normally a plumber would use flux and then solder to make a secure seal. Seems the plumber forgot the solder. Subsequently the joint will leak and leak it did.

On Tuesday my wife thought she heard water running in the wall behind the bed. "No, I said" there;'s nothing on. So we started looking. Shut off the ice maker. Nope, no change. Then shut off the house water. That slowed the noise. Then opened the sink faucet. Shazam! noise gone. No pressure, no running water.

When our plumber got here to find the leak, he cut into the wall was was dutifully sprayed in the face (Note: the water was back on then). He cut the pipe (that was after I shut the water off again) to put a cap on and where the missing solder joint was, the pipe just fell off. He said this could have been leaking way before we bought the house in April and maybe as far back as when the house was built in 1999. According to the insurance company, unless the owners knew about it (which I don't believe they did) there is no recourse against them, the home inspector (who couldn't find his ass with both hands), or the Real Estate Company. Good thing we have insurance. Let this be a lesson for all.    

The next step was to call the home insurance company and report. They immediately jumped into action and yesterday just past Noon the damage control team showed up.

Here is what they found, water under most of the laminate flooring in the kitchen, some under the new wood floor in the dining room, walls in the kitchen and master bedroom were wet, and some moisture under the new wood floor (you don't want to know how bad that pissed my wife off that there was water under her new floor) in the master bedroom.

When they removed the molding around the cabinet and the wall behind the fridge, they found MOLD.   

Sealed against mold

The next step is the guys in the space suits to remove anything with mold possibly even the cabinet on the left in the picture above.

Obviously I have to be here for what ever the damage guys are going to do, when the insurance inspector comes on Monday, and when the replacement team (carpenters, sheet rock guys, flooring people), and whom ever else will show.

So for now, I'll just say I'll be gone for a bit, but I'm hoping to be back in about two weeks. If I can sneak out one day, I'll let you know.

Oh, one last thing, if the guys in the space suits find it's toxic mold, we'll be thrown out (insurance company says they deem the house unlivable) until repairs are made.

That's it for now.   

Last Trip To Upper Blue Lake This Season?

Upper Blue Lake, 8100 feet elevation, Winter is coming, and most of the campgrounds are closed. Yuki and I left the house at 0900 and with the road construction delays (apparently they haven't changed seasons yet), made it to Upper Blue Lake at 11:00.

IMMEDIATELY Yuki started getting bites while I untangled my three rods. Three rods travel together for any length of time and you end you snipping and retying which is what I was doing while Yuki was getting bite after bite. That's different.

Yuki re-baiting after many bites.

Finally I managed to get one rod in the water. Yuki kept getting bites. Notice I said bites. For some reason that neither of us could figure out, they wouldn't stay on the line. Might try Superglue next time. I got my second rod in the water and there I sat while Yuki kept getting bite after bite. I might note at this time he was using rainbow Power Bait.

Me sitting, no bites.

Still sitting, no bites.

I-Phone sitting, no bites.

Another I-Phone sitting with no bites.

OK, I got a couple, but couldn't keep them on the line either.

Mean while Yuki managed to put a 9" and 10" Rainbow on the stringer. Somehow he slipped in some Salmon Eggs which is what he caught the first one on. Looks like I was going to get the old skunkeroo.

Then I hooked one, only to have it drag me into the rocks and away it went. I was not having a fun day.

We decided to throw in the towel (that's a boxing term for those of you that don't know where it came from. ie throw the towel into the ring and give up.) The plan was to head back down the hill at 2:00.

At exactly 1:45 I got a hit and managed to keep it on the line long enough to bring it to shore. Yeh!!!!! I'll stop whining now. 

Almost to shore

Closer yet

Got him.........

My one and only fish about 10", but enough to beat the skunkeroo.Yuki took the first one and the second one, and I took the last one. That's different.

We're thinking we just might have to take another shot later next week. If we can still get up there we just might do a Float Tube Cumberland/kayak trip and give fly fishing a shot. I've been wanting to put the Float Tube Cumberland in Upper Blue Lake for some time now, but usually hesitate when I'm the only person up there. .

Stay tuned.