A Mark Update

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I'm having some computer problems.

Remember a while back I mentioned that I've been engrossed in this whole Genealogy thing? Well, I ran into a small problem a couple days ago.

Seems my computer decided to dump all my research. That would be a 29 tab Excel spreadsheet I've been amassing for the last three months.

Needless to say I came close to using a hammer on this computer BECAUSE that was all it dumped.

It could have looked like this

So now I'm in the process of rebuilding all my backup. My wife is also re-installing Windows 10 because my computer is just plain screwed up. I have no idea what that will bring. Fortunately we have all out files on an external drive so I should be OK. Don't want to lose my score on a Solitaire game called Adelaide. I'm currently at 976 wins with zero, none, 0 loses. That would really piss me off.
So, never fear, I am going fishing. It looks like Saturday because it was raining again this morning and then the wind (from the North which is usually high) is supposed to start blowing this afternoon and all day tomorrow to the tune of 25 to 30 mph. Makes for crappy fishing so I'll wait for Saturday and cruise out somewhere.

Lake would have looked like this

Thanks for being patient.

Stay tuned.  

Ever Feel Left Out ??

Yesterday morning I did the neighborly thing. I picked up my next door neighbor after having minor surgery and gave him a ride home because his wife doesn't drive.

I got him at 8:15 am, home at 8:20 am (the surgery center was just around the corner) and was out to North Shore Lake Camanche by 9:00 am.

My friend Rubin was there and already had one in the cooler. I set up next to him with two rods of rainbow Power Bait (he caught his on chartreuse) and drank my Starbucks coffee. Made sure I didn't drop it this time.

Then around 10:00 Rubin caught his second one. Remember now, I'm fishing right next to him.

Rubin's second

Then he caught his third. I'm still sitting right next to him.

Rubin's third

While all this is happening, the two guys that were out here last time I fished North Shore were behind us pulling them in one after the other.

I tried adding garlic and sweet corn to the Power Bait, I tried silver, pink, green/silver, Firetiger, and even gold Kastmasters. I even tried Crappie Jigs. WHAT THE HELL !!!

Not a bite. At Noon I went home.

Now, a little info on the Crappie Jig. This is a set up that Bill Trussell sent me, seems like a year ago or maybe even longer. Jigs, hooks, and some some stuff called Crappie Nibbles. Since I've been lax in trying out this rig, the nibbles dried out and to get them on a hook, I needed a drill and small bit. So I''ll have to get some fresher ones and give it another try. Going to do some warm water fishing this summer. See if I can scare up a Crappie or two.

Last week Yuki and I went to South Shore in search of Crappie. There was nothing to report so I didn't report. The previous pigs that fished there left a bunch of empty beer bottles and one unopened bottle of Corona. If they were going to leave one, the least they could have done was leave it on ice. A slice of lime would have been nice too.  

Stay tuned.   

It Was Not About The Fishing

My first 30 years of employment were spent in warehousing. That would have been 18 to 48 years old. Young enough to think I was bulletproof and/or indestructible.

Now that I'm old, I'm finding out what the payment is for that period of my life. Part of that payment is little, if any, back muscles. But before I get into the explanation of the title of this post, I wanted to show you what it looked like at La Casa Kautz on Sunday the 5th.
Some hail, some corn snow.

Across the street

By the way, they finally sold the house on the left. Be vacant since Nancy passed away on December 24, 2015.

Down to the left.

Our back yard. Note no pine needles.

Front view.

During one of the recent storms and I can't remember which one because they seem to all run together, our fence blew down. Took out one full section including the post and demolished the gate.

Now, this is for all you folks out there that don't know how to build a fence. The post on the side of the gate was a fairly new post. That means someone recently (in the last 17 years. the house was build in 1999) replaced that post. They did what most unknowing people do and that is to dig out the old concrete and instead of putting the new post in correctly, just filled the hole in with concrete.

After digging around the concrete and wiggling it loose, I had to use a chain and my truck to pull it out of the ground. No way were we (myself and Dan across the street) going to get that approximately 300 pound chunk of concrete out.

To replace the post, I put in a 12" tube and back filled the dirt. then put the post in and filled the tube with 200 lbs. (4 - 50# bags) of redi-mix concrete making sure the post was level front to back and side to side. Once the concrete set, about 24 hours, it took me the last 4 days to replace the rails and put on the boards.

Here is the part where people go wrong. Put the top rail (2x4) across from post to post "flat". Put a second 2x4 across, under the top rail, but up and down. This will prevent the top rail from bowing from the weight of the front boards. The bottom rail goes the same up and down as the 2x4 under the top rail giving you and even space to attach the front boards. It should be somewhere between 12" and 18" off the ground not smack on the ground as it is with the rest of my fence. All to be replace at some future date. 

The finished product

I wanted to show you the gate because I've done gates in the past and this one is really slick. You can get it at Home Depot for about $60. It comes with all the hardware and expands from about 3 ft to about 6 feet. Mine was 45 inches. Put this together and add 2x4 top and bottom, attach the cross wire for stability and you're ready for boards.

One side note, once you've put the gate together, you can't adjust it so make it good the first time. I tried to adjust it and had to take it all apart and start over.

The gate. 

Which brings me to this post. The payment for the last week was little or no back muscles so I decided (with a little encouragement from my wife) to go out to North Shore Camanche and sit in the sun. If I wasn't home, I couldn't do anything, right?

Got to the lake at 8:00, had two lines in the water, one with rainbow Power Bait and the other with orange Power Eggs. I did stop at Starbucks and got a cup of coffee, but proceeded to drop it as I took it out of the truck. Yes it went all over the place, but outside the truck.

I sat for 4 hours (for the most part) in the red Coleman camping chair and relaxed my back. Took a few photos of the lake just to show you what the lake looks like at 51 degrees at 8:00 am. That also me sitting with only a tee shirt on. It was that warm.When I left it was 74 degrees. Almost had to fire up my A/C in the truck.

The lake was down about 5 feet.

The outer peninsula is starting to show.

Just before 9:00 I got the one and only hit. It was the Rainbow in the picture below. About 2 pounds and a hold over because of the Copepod slime. The guys next to me were keeping fish and because this one was bleeding, I gave it to them.

2# or so.

Then I went back to sitting until Noon and called it a day. Now to show you why I'm so stupid some times, I came home and mowed and edged the front lawn. It's no wonder I hurt all the time. How stupid is that ????

Don't know if I'll be out again this week. I'm back to the gutters tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

Fishing Was So Exciting I Forgot To Post

Yuki and I decided to run out to New Melones Reservoir on Monday. First we tried the Highway 49 bridge. A little contrast in water amounts.

2/18/2015

Tuesday

I first fished the road. It was only about a foot deep out as far as I could cast so we moved out to a point. The water was deeper, but there weren't any fish to be found. Then the wind picked up and blowing across that cold water into our face, it became miserable to fish. Since Tuttletown was close we decided to go over there.  

Tuttletown bottom launch ramp 2/18/2015

The road to the bottom launch ramp was blocked off probably because some idiot would drive down there and run his car/truck into the lake. We parked at the middle ramp, but the hike down to water would have way too hard for a couple of Geezers.

Lower launch ramp is down there somewhere

So we went to the Mexican Restaurant and had lunch.

We're going to try Middle Bar Bridge the next time. The Mokelumne River has slowed down considerably.

Stay tuned.