Wednesday, November 8, 2017

A Scouting Mission

I sent Yuki and email asking if he'd heard anything about stocking of Lake Amador or Lake Camanche. He heard that they were indeed stocking Amador, but nothing on Camanche.

Since it's supposed to rain this afternoon. and I can't really do anything outside I thought I do a scouting mission out to Lake Camanche and see what was shaking.

Just as a side note, I take the recycle cardboard we have and cut it down and box it up. Then when Fall or Winter comes, I drop it off in the recycle dumpster at the County Dump off Buena Vista on the way to Lake Camanche. That was the plan this morning. So I threw my fishing gear in the truck and several boxes of recycle cardboard in the back and headed out.

I got to the dump, deposited the boxes, and then noticed my fishing license wasn't hanging around the back seat headrest as it always is. I had forgotten that, because my truck was in the body shop for the last two weeks I had taken my license out of the truck and hung it by the fishing rods in the garage so I wouldn't forget it the next time I went fishing. Apparently I missed that part because when I got back home a half hour later (can't fish without a license) it was hanging right there.

With license in hand I drove back out, past the dump, and on to Lake Camanche. At check-in the girl said that they had planted 4500 lbs two weeks ago at each of the three locations (North Shore, South Shore, and the Trout Pond) and 1200 pounds last week at all three locations. That's a lot of fish so I told her "Put me in coach".

I drove out to the peninsula where we usually fish and there was nobody there. They didn't know it had been stocked. 

Don't want to say that too loud. Next thing you know there will be thousands out there.

See, nobody
 \\


All by my lonesome

The usual setup
Being a bit chilly this morning I had a long sleeve T and my hoodie. It wasn't long before the hoodie was back in the truck and I was wishing I had a short sleeve T. It got rather toasty for a while then the wind came up. Then the hoodie came back out of the truck. I think the next time I might take my parka. 

During all this goings on, not a bite. Fished two rods with PB for a while. Threw Kastmasters for a while and then when the wind got to about 70 mph, OK maybe 8 or 10 mph I decided to call it a day.

Not calm by any means
Besides this was just a scouting mission and I had some chores to finish at home. It did tell me that downcountry fishing is back. I, too, will be back.

Stay tuned.

6 comments:

  1. Your word is good Mark! A scouting mission is just as important as actually fishing.

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  2. Mark
    I remember when I use to fish the Sipsey tailrace in Jasper; I would always call the guy at the bait shop and find out when they stocked as you do. The bait shop owner would always tell me that the best time to fish the tailrace after stocking was 3 or 4 days after the stocking. He said that the trout are getting use to their new environment the first couple of days and will be kind of dormant and not take an offering very well----but 3 days and there after they are looking for food and will hit much better. I found that to be true especially after I started calling the bait shop and finding out the stocking days.
    Just wondering if the fish hatchery there will give you the schedule of stocking of the lakes you fish?
    I've found that every bit of info helps!

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    Replies
    1. The lake management usually schedules the plants for Thursday. This I know. In a lake this big, the surface water temp. can still be at 70 or above this time of year which is why I drove out there (only about a 30 minutes drive) to see if they've started planting. OK, as mentioned above, BIG lake. The North Shore ramp is about a 1/4 mile from where I fish. I could fish closer to the ramp, but it's along haul from parking to the water. As the saying goes, "If you fish, they will come". Just a matter of time.

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  3. Those days. Wind is probably the biggest pain a fisherman must endure. I will not fish long when it kicks up.

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  4. Don't you just love 70...I mean 8 mph wind :)

    You'll get 'em next time!

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  5. As far as scouting goes, sounds successful to me. But wind, I hate wind. Sounds like some good things to come...

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