That's A Wrap, 2016 Is In The Books

Wanted to get one more day in before the year expires.

Headed out to North Shore, more to give the wife a day to her self since she's off work today than anything else. But how better to accomplish that than to go fishing. Sneaky bastard.

Got to the lake about 9:00 and found the place packed. It was not just where I was, but the parking lot for boat trailers looked like a Walmart the week before Christmas. There was barely a place to park and get my fishing permit.

With permit in hand, I drove out to the usual spot, found an open space, and dropped in two lines with rainbow Power Bait. That is becoming the usual method with the cold weather settling in so I can enjoy my coffee (this morning from the local donut shop). Yes, I brought along glazed donuts as well (and shared them). 

I sat from 9:15 until almost 11:30 and watched those around me catch fish. Yuki showed up about 9:30/10:00 and he also had out two rods.

Me sitting and Dave in the background

Yuki sitting

Dave, in the picture above (with the yellow and red jacket), is from Folsom and drove out to spend the day enjoying the calm and serenity of North Shore. He also came to catch fish and he caught a couple. 

Right around 11:30 I noticed the line on one rod was straight out. Not doing the "fish on" bounce, but just straight out. I picked up the rod and sure enough there was a fish on it. The one in the picture below. Came in at about 2 pounds. Caught it on rainbow Power Bait.What else?????

Fish #1

Shortly after the other rod did the same thing. Line straight out and another one on. This one also about 2 pounds, but on white Power Eggs this time. Don't ever say I'm not diversified. The picture was an after thought while it was on Yuki's stringer. The first one I gave to Dave.

Within about 15 minutes, we saw a swirl just in front of where my rods were and one of the other guys we were talking with reached down and grabbed my rod and yanked it (I guess he thought he was setting the hook) and then laid it back down. I kept saying "I've got it", but he did it anyway AND, as it turned out, the fish was gone and my rig was hooked on the bottom. I won't say anything further. FYI, Yuki didn't catch anything today.

Well, that completes 2016 and the most dismal catching year I've had since I started keeping my journal in 2008. I won't throw out numbers because they aren't that important.

Did I mention it was cold out at the lake? Did I mention it's supposed to be in the high 30's several days next week? Did I mention that it might snow at the house (elevation 1200 ft) next week? Good, because I wouldn't want you to think I'm whining.

Happy New Year everybody. See you next year..................

The Trout Pond

You probably can't see the ice on my truck, but it was 28 degrees when I left the house this morning.

Icy Float Tube

More ice

I wanted to float around the pond one more time before the year ended. Float around the pond I did. I did a complete circuit of the pond. First I used the Thin Mint. Then the pink/black Woolly Bugger. Tried a big fat bead head nymph. Then the one that caught the big Rainbow over in the Mokelumne River. When nothing showed, I even tried a purple streamer. Sometimes those work, but not today.

Water temp: 49 degrees. 

I got back to launch and Yuki was fishing off the bank, so since he didn't bring his yak, I tied on the Thin Mint and started a second trip around. I got about 1/3 of the way and my legs started cramping so I turned around and headed back. It got to the point that I wasn't sure I could get back. The legs were tightening up rather quickly, but I made it.

Trout Pond fish - 1, Mark - 0

When I got home there was a package in the mail box from Alan over at Small Stream Reflections. I had forgotten I'd won the fly box with some of Alan's flies in it.

I have to compliment Alan on a really great job. The fly box is awesome, The flies are, well, small (they always look so big in his pictures), there is a lanyard to carry it around your neck, and I can't wait to try the flies come opening day next year. My 3 wt, a light leader and I'm off. I have the exact place I plan on using them and hopefully the little native Brookies with be cooperative.

A big thanks Alan, well done.

Winner

I think I'll try one more time this year and see if I can add a fish or two to this years dismal record. I still have 4 days before the year runs out. 

Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Holidays

It's 9:00 pm on Christmas Eve. We've just finished watching A Christmas Story for the 18th time. It is a family tradition. I was introduced to it when Katherine and I first met. She, on the other hand, has watched it for many years prior to our first time. In case you want to watch (if you haven't already) it's running on both TBS and TNT every two hours until tomorrow afternoon.

I could have gone out and commented on every ones blog, but I know you'll visit and see this.  

I wanted to wish every one that visits this blog a very Merry Christmas (I threw in Kwanzaa just in case) and I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season from our home to yours.

Have a good one and stop by next week. I'll be tubing on the Trout Pond Tuesday even though it's going to be in the low 30's first thing in the morning.

Note: Shoreman has been retired. You just get me now. 

Stay tuned.  

The Joke List

I know that here are a lot of you out there that visit this blog on a daily basis. The stats show approximately 250 hits a day.

What I wanted to offer is a chance to see some of the jokes I forward to the current group (only 17).

Keep in mind that some are jokes, some are political, and some are a bit on the "dark side".

There are actually two groups. The current group and a group for guys only. The guys only group is generally jokes with, well you get the idea. Sometimes they tend to lean toward rude, crude, and abusive.

Here is one based on fishing that I forwarded this morning.

 Fly Tying.



What I'm saying is that if you'd like to be included, send me your email address at:

markkautz1946@comcast.net

I'll include you in the jokes group and if you want to be included in the "guys only" group (remember, rude, crude, and abusive) tell me that also. 

 I'll gather names and the distribution will begin next year.

You Couldn't Ask For A Nicer Day At The Lake

My wife was planning to go to Sacramento to do some Christmas shopping so I did the only logical thing, I went fishing.

When I usually go, I leave when she does for work, but today her being off, by the time I got ready to leave, it was the same time. Go figure.

I want to note that it was warmer this morning compared to Tuesday. Tuesday it was 28 when I left. Today it was 29. When I got to the lake on Tuesday it was 37, today 39. We're definitely in a warming trend. Not. We have a storm coming in tomorrow that should (according to the weather guessers) drop the snow levels to about 3000 ft. As much as 2 feet in the passes. 

OK, so let's talk about the lake. Got there at about 9:00 after picking up coffee at Starbucks. Two rods out, one with rainbow Power Bait and the other with a orange/green mice tail, at about 50 feet. Reports say the fish are cruising the shallows.

Parked here

I parked (since I had the whole peninsula to myself) a little further toward open water.

Where I was Tuesday.

Where I usually park.

How could you ask for a nicer day. The sun was out, it was pushing the mid-40's, and nary a breeze. So nice, in fact, that I was down to a long sleeved tee shirt buy 10:00.  Back in my hoodie by 11:00. Wind came up. Back in the tee by noon. Wind went away. 

I worked the peninsula with Kastmasters in the following order. Pink, Firetiger, orange/silver, German Brown, and for the finale, the Magic Bullet (replaced after the last one was lost) in green/yellow. There wasn't a fish to be found.

Somewhere around 11:30 I reeled in one line and restrung it with about 3 feet of leader and slung that sucker out as far as I could. It barely hit the water and "fish on". Goes to show you just can't trust the reports.

There were a couple gentlemen across the peninsula (having arrived a half hour or so earlier) so I asked if they wanted what ever was on the end of the line and they said sure. New friends made.

Since they were keeping the fish, out came the handy dandy Berkeley Digital Scale and the little gem in the picture below weighted in at 2 pounds 5 ounces. Had they not been there, I would have snapped a shot and put it back. This one was planted this year unlike the one Tuesday that was a holdover. How do I know it was a holdover? Copepod slime.

No skunk today

On a side note, I gave the guys a card for this blog and one asked if I wrote for the local paper. He recognized the name. Small county this Amador is.

So once again the one fish a day rut continues, but with fish this size, who cares.........

Next Tuesday the Float Tube Cumberland will be launched in the Trout Pond for the final trip this year.

One more thing before I go. There was a young man, his wife, and small child in a boat cruising by and none of them had PFD's on. Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

Stay tuned.

I'm In A 1 Fish A Day Rut

The last seven times I've gone fishing, on six of them I caught ONE fish. The seventh was a bust. I'm not complaining mind you because one is better than an eleven trip skunk I experienced earlier this year, but come on for a guy who usually catches multiple fish, one a day is kind of slim.

Today was no different. I left the house at 8:15 and was at North Shore Camanche (I really like this spot) by 8:45. I had to stop for coffee Starbucks.

I wanted to get in a day of fishing before Winter sets in tomorrow and it gets cold. Ha, ha, ha, ha. I'm sorry, those of you in the center of the country probably don't think 28 degrees (when I left home) is cold, but when you're sitting next to a lake with the wind blowing it tends to makes us Geezers cold. Yeh, yeh I have the parka, gloves, hats, and hand warmers, but it's still cold.    

When I got to North shore, there were people in the spot I usually fish so I set up on the cove side of the peninsula.

Facing the North Shore ramp

I put out one rod with rainbow Power Bait and the other with orange Power Eggs. Both seemed to work in the past and by having two "soaking" rods I could enjoy my coffee before getting down to hard core fishing. 

At 9:15 the Power Bait rod started bouncing. I set the hook and the fight was on. Took me a bit to bring it to hand and one of the young gentlemen next to me came over with their net which I have to say was bigger than mine and a good thing too because the fish would not have fit into mine. This has been an ongoing problem and Yuki reminds me I should get a bigger net every time I catch a fish that won't fit into my net. 

I asked the young man how much he thought it weighted. He guessed 4 pounds. 

4 pounds???

I asked if they wanted the fish and they did so I got out the handy dandy Berkeley Digital Scale and this baby came in at 7 lbs. 11 ozs. Not a personal best, but it did place second. On the other hand, if you take into consideration that my personal best was on a fly rod, that would make this a personal best on a spinning rod. OK, I'll take it.

I hung out at the point for another couple hours working the pink Kastmaster, Firetiger Kastmaster, and the green Magic Bullet all around the point, but there was nothing to be had.

About 12:30 I decided to drive out to the far point and work the Kastmasters in some deep water. 

Out there

I worked several colors of Kastmaster all along the area to the truck and past.

The furthest out you can drive

On the other side of the truck was the furthest point accessible. I worked both sides, but again...nothing. I know I said I wasn't going to do as much walking, but some of us just aren't very smart. I'll pay the price tomorrow. 

So that's it. The one fish a day rut continues, but hey..who's complaining about a 7'11" fish!

I think Yuki and I will be out on Thursday for another try. They are stocking the c..., s..., h..., out of the lake this week and next. Hopefully it will be a hot bite on Thursday.

One last thing before I go, if you've followed this blog for any length of time, you know I've found a lot of stuff as I've fished. Today was not different only today it was a blue glass marble. Who would have a blue glass marble out at the lake? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Stay tuned.

In Between Storms

Plan A was to go out to Lake Camanche North Shore on Saturday. A good plan except for one thing. The weather Guessers who said it was going to be nice on Saturday were, once again, wrong.

It rained. I mean it really rained. In fact it rained so much that Folsom Lake (the lake covers 976,000 acre feet of water), between Saturday and Monday, the water level rose 15 feet. Granted Folsom Lake is fed by the three arms of the American River, but none the less, that is a lot of water.

Plan B was to go on Sunday then. The wife was going to Sacramento to lunch and shop with a girl friend that she's known since she was about 19. First thing in the morning we have coffee and catch-up on the news. I got up to go get ready to leave and (I don't know how) I pulled a muscle in my lower back. It hurt so bad that I couldn't even stand up straight. I spent the day being one with the heating pad and by days end, still couldn't stand up straight. If you've never experienced this, I highly recommend you don't. Even drugs didn't take the edge off.

Plan C would have been to go on Monday, but it was my wife's birthday and I thought it rude to "I'm going fishing honey, see you later" go.

Which brings us to today. The back is considerably better (three days of drugs will do that for you) so I packed up and headed for the lake when the wife left for work. I didn't have any exact plans because I didn't know how much water came into Lake Camanche or where I would need to be to fish. We also had this little problem of another storm coming in this afternoon that is supposed to last until Friday afternoon.

Got out to the lake and the guy at check-in said they planted last Friday. OK, good. Got to the North Shore Day Use area and the spot I've been fishing in was under about two feet of water. I picked another spot on that same peninsula and put out one rod with rainbow Power Bait. I put the second rod out with two green Power Eggs and one orange Power Egg on the same hook.

I waited a half hour and then reeled in the Power Egg rod so I could start throwing the pink Kastmaster on my new little Okuma. Just about 9:25 the rod with power Bait started doing the "fish on" bounce.

I estimate this one to be between 17" and 20". Just a quick photo and back for another day.         

Bigger than 17" for sure.

When I got to the lake, it was a bit chilly, but doable.

Not to bad weather wise.

Around 11:00 the wind picked up and the temperature dropped like a rock. So cold that I went to the truck and put on my parka and gloves (like a Boy Scout, be prepared). The lake changed from blue to gray very quickly. A good indication that the rain was on it's way.

Really cold and windy.

Being the die hard fisherman I am, I continued to fish. I worked one of the lures called "Magic Bullet". On one retrieve it stopped dead. I thought it was finally the first fish on the little Okuma. Nope, more like a bush or a rock in the water. There went a $4.00 lure.

Tied on a new snap swivel and started working the pink Kastmaster. On one cast I got this nice little "ping". Ever had one? It's when your lure sails 400 feet or so out into the lake, but isn't attached to your rod anymore. Yeh, that "ping". There went a $6.00 lure, but hey, you have to expect that kind of thing to occur when you're throwing a 1/4 oz. lure with 2# test line. As they say, "dodo occurs".

That was the so called "straw that broke the camel's back". I was cold, the wind was blowing, and I'd just lost 10 bucks worth of lures. I called it a day.

Rain probably the rest of the week so I don't think I'll be out again until next week.  

Stay tuned.

Marisa's 2017 Calendar

Once again, Yuki's daughter Marisa has produced an exceptional calendar for 2017.

Add caption

Go here to get yours. I got two, you should too.

I've gotten these calendars for several years and I've not been disappointed. I can't say enough about how good a photographer she is. They are only $15.00. I'm sure you can afford at least one. 

Monday = Zero Fish

My plan was simple. Find out where the trout were holding at Lake Camanche. OK, you can stop laughing now.

Last Thursday when Yuki and I were at the pond, they stocked the North and South Shore ramps. Both got 750#. Sometimes I feel that when my ship comes in, I'll be at the airport.

The fish have to be somewhere so today my plan was to start at the North Shore ramp, walk the shore casting a plethora of Kastmasters, and find out where they are.

I started over by that white houseboat. I would have gone over behind the docks, but they had the area roped off with signs about being drawn and quartered if you're found inside the rope. Thought it best to just pass on that area. 

North shore launch ramp

I continued in the direction in the photo below and worked my way around the cove, but there was nothing to be had there.

The cove to the right of the launch ramp

I got back to the truck and drove over to the Day Use area where I caught, well you remember this guy. It's where we've had the most luck recently. Put one rod out with rainbow Power Bait first, then orange Power Eggs, and finally white Power Eggs.

The Day Use area.

There is a little cove on the other side so I worked that, the point, and this side, but again nothing.

While I had one lure out, my cell phone rang. Now I usually leave it in the truck, but I'm waiting for a call so I had it in my back pocket. Turned out it was some robo-call and I ended up losing that lure to the bottom of the lake. Yes I was pissed. Once I got home and did a reverse phone search, it's a spam number. Pissed me off even more. Think I'll send them a bill for the cost of the lure.

Anyway, I threw just about everything in my tacklebox, but there wasn't a fish to be found. The only positive for the day was I found a Hula Popper.

Hula Popper

Looks just like this, but with only one hook. They are about 6 bucks so I guess I traded one for another.

Working on the gutters the next two days, then rain Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Guess that's it for the week.

Stay tuned.

Foggy And Cold

What started out the day was a trip to Yuki's mechanic to drop off his truck and find out what color Kastmaster his mechanic used to catch a bunch of Crappie at Lake Camanche South Shore launch ramp. He used silver and gold, but what we didn't know, and found out was he didn't catch them recently, but last Summer.  

We were closest to South Shore and since they stocked last week there might be a small chance of catching a trout or two there.

It was pretty close to 10:00 by the time we checked in and got to the ramp. It was still foggy and cold. You can see in the photo's below just how lovely it was, not. It was 48 degrees on the drive home at 2:00 pm. 

It was pretty shallow, but since we were already there, tried to make the best of the situation.

The dock and ramp

Across the lake

A little further to the left.

Down the lake to the left.

Yuki went up to the truck and took the photo below of yours truly (the little spot of a guy in the middle of the photo) working a pink Kastmaster.

From the top of the launch ramp

The only fish taken was this Largemouth and just so you know it's not the same one, I included the one from 11/14.

Today

11/14

 And yes, it was also caught on a pink Kastmaster.

After a while we threw in the towel and wandered over to the Trout Pond with hopes it might be a bit better.

Me doing what I do best.

We had quite a few follows on Kastmasters, but no takers. We did see several taken mostly on Power Eggs and man, were they footballs. Most we saw were in the 20" range and two pounds or better. Yuki had one on orange Power Eggs and lost it, but nothing else for us on Power Eggs. Considering they hadn't stocked the pond since last Wednesday, it wasn't a bad showing.

Remember the little Okuma I had? Well I virtually destroyed it. The reel was beat to shit, the rod tip broke, and it was rendered useless. Well, I found another one at (please note I shopped with my eyes closed. What, you've never seen the photo's of Walmart out on Pinterest?) Walmart.

It's a 6' ultralight rod and I put 2# Fluorocarbon line on it. Look out trout, here I come. Should be some fun there. 

Stay tuned.

The Death Of Fidel Castro

Just in case you missed it, Fidel Castro passed away last evening at the age of 90.

Fidel Castro

As a kid growing up in South Florida, I was probably the closest to the "action" as one could be. In 1959 Castro over through General Fulgencio Batista.

In April 1961, the CIA launched what its leaders believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba to remove Castro by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. I would assume you know how that turned out.

Bay of Pigs

There is a point to this story, not just his death. We were living in South Florida in 1959 and I remember one of the neighbors (across the street and down a couple doors) had a house in Cuba. He was relieved of the house and property and never got it back before he died. I don't recall his name, only that he had a dog with a French name so I would assume he was French also.

What I wanted to get at is the "Cuban Missile Crisis" in 1962. In July 1962 Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev reached a secret agreement with Cuban premier Fidel Castro to place Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter any future invasion attempt. Didn't sit well with President Kennedy. On October 22, he ordered a naval “quarantine” of Cuba. The use of “quarantine” legally distinguished this action from a blockade, which assumed a state of war existed.


In South Florida and in Cuba, the missile crisis put millions of people on what seemed like the front lines. At bases in the Everglades, Carol City and west of Kendall, missiles were raised to the go position and tilted in the direction of Fidel Castro's island. There, the Kennedy Administration had learned from spy plane reconnaissance, the Soviet Union was building what looked like an offensive missile base near San Cristobal.

In south Miami-Dade County, thousands of Army troops moved to and from encampments that sprang up in tomato fields and cow pastures. Portable Hawk anti-aircraft missiles were set up along beaches from Miami Beach to Key West.

How would you like this on your beach?

In schools, students became accustomed to air raid sirens and were drilled on "duck and cover" techniques.

We would stand by Federal Highway (Highway 1) and watch truck after truck of soldiers heading South. There were machine guns, barbed wire, and soldiers on the beach. It was two months after my 16th birthday. The country was facing Nuclear Armageddon and we were smack in the middle of it.

Looked like this all over the place.

I was there, I saw it, and it was really scary for a 16 year old. It lasted 14 long days. 

Cold And Windy At The Lake

My wife spent most of yesterday cooking our Thanksgiving meal. I wanted to give her some quiet time at home, so I decided to spend the day at Lake Camanche. What a great guy huh.

Tuesday when Yuki and I were there, as we left he went by the cleaning station and found a couple guys cleaning more than 20 huge Crappies. He said they were caught on Rapala's although he didn't know what color or where.  They probably were in a boat.

When I left home it was 32 degrees. When I got to the lake it was 41 degrees and the wind was blowing pretty good. After check-in and finding out they planted Wednesday at South Shore and the Pond, I wandered out to my usual spot at the North Shore Day Use area.

As I pulled in, there was a man and his son fishing on the opposite side of the peninsula. The had caught a couple on white Power Eggs so I put out one rod with white Power Eggs and put a Firetiger Rapala on the other rod. Wanted to see if I could rustle up a Crappie or six. Apparently Firetiger wasn't the flavor of the day so I switched to a rainbow trout colored Rapala. Not that flavor either.

While I'm writing this, I'm working on a piece (about 5" square) of my wife's famous Coolwhip pumpkin pie.No, I can't share the recipe. It's a secret like the secret lake.

Cold

Since there was no interest in the Rapala's, I tried a new color Kastmaster. I rummaged through my "new lure" tacklebox yesterday and came across an orange/silver Kastmaster. My logic was that if they were hitting orange Power Eggs, why not an orange Kastmaster?

Apparently not.  

In between, while I rested my aching back, I used rainbow Power Bait and orange Power Eggs on the slip sinker rods. Nothing there.  

Windy

Now I got serious and put on the ever faithful pink Kastmaster. I figured I'd start out on the point and work back to my spot. Didn't take but four casts and I had the first fish on. Another one like the 17" ones from Tuesday. I didn't even have to take the hook out. Once in the net, the hook came out and after a quick photo, back into the lake for another day.

Big fish, good fight.

Unfortunately that was to be the only fish. Somewhere around 11:15 (I got to the lake at 8:00) I decided to drive over to the South Shore and take a shot at the pond. It's not very far, maybe 6 miles.

The first time I drove from North Shore to South Shore the girl at check-in said to just turn right at the stop sign, turn right again, then another right, and finally a fourth right to the South gate. I came around the corner and check-in looked like the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. It was packed 8 or more deep in all lanes. I did the only logical thing and that was to make a U-Turn and go home. I wasn't waiting in that line even for a stocked Trout Pond.

So that's it. Probably be back out there next week.

Stay tuned.   

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

If you haven't been over to Howard's place, you'll get a good laugh. I especially like the 5th one, but I'm a little weird.

Eat turkey, watch football, and nap. As it should be.

From our house (don't forget we missed Thanksgiving last year because of the demolished kitchen) to yours.

Fishing tomorrow.

One Apiece Is Enough

I planned on a little sit and let the fish come to me out at Lake Camanche this morning. Yuki wasn't sure he could make it, so I headed out of the house at 8:15. By 9:00 I is was parked and had two lines in the water with rainbow Power Bait.

Yuki did make it around 10:00 and since where I was fishing was rather shallow, moved to the same spot as the last two trips out.

I won't go into a lot of detail so the first hit was on a Firetiger Kastmaster, but must have been barely hooked as the fish was there and then gone.

Yuki took first blood with a 17" Mt. Lassen Rainbow on a three orange Power Egg set up.

Sometime later in the day I hooked up, again on the Firetiger Kastmaster, a nice 17" (no it wasn't the same one Yuki caught because his was on the stringer) Mt. Lassen Rainbow. 

17"

 Both fish gave a good fight and here they are. Yuki took both for smoking.

One apiece.

One apiece, but when they are this big, one is enough.

By the way, pink, green/silver, blue/silver, and German Brown Kastmasters didn't do a thing. Goes back to "Give them what they want that day".

OK, Here It Is

The Good:

This is the 1000^th post that I’ve made on Northern California Trout. It’s hard to believe that when I started this blog in January 2009 it was only to let locals know what, where, and with what I was catching a whole bunch of fish. 

These darn things have a life of their own and seem to just drag you, as the owner of the blog, along for the ride. In the past year I’ve related a lot of information about fishing, our escapades with the destruction of our kitchen in the new house, and the medical tests I’ve endured. 

I would also like to thank each and every one who has stopped by (all 426,000 times). Kind of goes along with the 1000 posts. 

The Bad:

From October 2010 to March 2016 I wrote articles for the local newspaper. I finally stopped because it became more of a chore than a pleasure. Basically I had to go fishing so I had something to write each week as an ongoing column requires. I was burnt out. 

Some have probably noticed that I no longer have the icon for Amador Fly Fishers on the left side of the blog. This too, I’ve backed away from because one, I’ve never been a joiner.  Two, I don’t feel that just paying the dues does the club justice if you don’t participate and I haven’t. I’ve not been to a meeting this year so I’ve basically “resigned” as of the end of this year. I don’t want to be in a position where I HAVE to go to meetings or participate in outings.  

 

The Ugly:

I think my age is catching up with me. If you read Mel’s blog or Howard’s blog you’ll see that they’ve slowed down a lot. We’re known as the three Geezers and once you hit 65 or so, it seems your body just doesn’t have it anymore. I think I’ve been pushing it too much. 

Here’s couple of examples I’ve experienced in the past couple months. You remember the post (Big River, Big Fish) about fishing on the Mokelumne River. A long hike down to the area we fished and after walking up and down the river over mostly river rock from pebbles to ones the size of a football, and then a long hike out. That little trip took me almost 3 days to recover. The post on Monday November 14^th, took me the better part of Tuesday to recover. All the walking around over “river rock” and the slippery clay on the shore of Lake Camanche is what did it. Again in the post SLDD took me a day to recover. I have to face the fact I just don’t have it anymore. My wife has even commented that I look like I’m having trouble walking. 

That said, am I going to stop fishing? Absolutely not, BUT I am going to tone it down a lot. Will I still be fly fishing? Maybe, but not hiking up and down a river bed. I might still float around in the Float Tube Cumberland occasionally. I’ll have to see how that goes. 

How about other lake fishing? Sure, but not someplace I have to walk a long way to get to. Drive to a spot, set up a chair and let the fish come to me. That is what needs to happen.  

Am I still going to post on this blog, you bet, but not at the pace I’ve done so in the past. Ten to twelve posts a month is what the pace has been in the past. Again, I feel I must fish to have something to post. The future will be considerably less, but I will keep everyone apprised of my adventures. 

I’ve still got a lot to do on the house that takes a hell of a lot energy. Currently I’m putting up gutters on the part of the roof that there never was any. To do this, I also have to replace all the fascia board (primed and painted) first. What’s up there is bent, warped, and lacking any kind of a decent paint. The other current project is finishing the, once demolished kitchen. It all takes time and energy that I don’t have much of lately. 

Since neither my doctor nor my Cardiologist can find anything wrong with me, I guess my age is just catching up with me. Although I have to admit that my brain has almost caught up with my age. My brain used to think I was still 35, but now it thinks I’m 60, could be 70. 

Getting old sucks. 

Stay tuned.