One Day Late

Yesterday, the PRO and his cousin drifted.  The old adage of beginner's luck held true.  His cousin made it looked easy landing steelies in the American River.  I saw the pictures on his cell phone.  If he sends me copies, I'll post it here.

Today, we began our drift at the same time and location from Sunrise to Rossmoor, but the result was different.  We managed to hook the only fish of the day on worm behind a jet diver above the San Juan rapids.  The fish came off half way to the boat.  It was a tough fishing day for most of the fishermen we spoke with on the American River.  Weather wise, I'm glad I got sunblock on :-)

Until next time...

Upstream from San Juan rapids

Downstream from San Juan rapids

The following video shows me putting the roe smack in the hole below the San Juan rapids as we drifted through it.  I was attempting to hit a big steelie over the head, but missed :-)

Success = One Boated + Two Takedowns

I had another wonderful opportunity to drift through the American River with the PRO and the American today.  As usual, I could not make it out until around 10 AM.  I met up with PRO and the American at Rossmoor Bar.  The two were all ready and waiting for me.  Thanks fellas.

The game plan for the day was to drift from Upper Sunrise Park down to Rossmoor Bar.  The American was first up rowing.  He took the boat upstream to where we hooked two small steelies on the opening day.  We started out with the PRO drifting roe behind a diver; I drifted  a night crawler behind a diver; and, the American using the Green Pirate #30 Hot Shot.  There were already two boats upstream from us.  Also, there was a boat illegally using a gas motor in this section of the river making all kinds of racket.  Needless to say, the American was irritated.  After a short time, he said: "There's only small fish here.  Let's go on to the next hole."

Past the Fair Oaks Bridge and towards Sunrise Blvd. we drifted: this was the real first hole.  We all switched to plugs and let the American do his magic.  The first drift resulted in no strikes.  So the American rowed back upstream and had us switched back to roe and nightcrawler.  Near the end of the drift, I didn't even know what happened.  Before I knew it, the PRO was stealthily boating a beautiful 14-inch hatchery trout!!!  Way to go, my brother.  The amazing thing was that the American called it.  He said we would land something in that hole.  It was 11:25 AM.

We would work hard the rest of the day throwing everything we knew at the steelies, but no takers....  That was until we came near the end of our pick up point by the Sacramento Waldorf School.  The boat was anchored and the PRO and I were drifting roe and crawler.  The American once again called it!  He said we would hit something at this location.  Lo and behold, of all things, he used my favorite banana/red Z-Ray to boot.  On his second cast, he hooked into a big steelie!  The drag was screaming.  Back and forth the fish tried to escape.  It finally, went under the boat from the right of the bow to the left side.  It headed towards a known snag to the left of the boat.  It wrapped itself around a bunch of braided lines and boat ties and manage to live another day!  I got to see the size of it at least.  It was a beauty that got a taste of the Z!

Finally, at the final run of the day, while the PRO was at the helm rowing, I had one hard takedown with the Green Pirate... and the steelie laughed.

"Not today, JU!"  It spitted the plug right back at me :-(

Thank you, Lord, for a great time with my brothers.

Cool home along the river.

Smack in the kisser!

Pedestrian bridge downstream from Sunrise Blvd.

Can't believe we're in an urban area.

Another beautiful scene.

Happy New Year!

We started the fishing new year with a bang!

I got an invite to go fishing yesterday, the opening day of steelhead fishing in the Upper American River portion that ends at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery.

I met the Pro and the American at Sunrise Park to leave my car at a pick up end point.  We then went upstream to Sailors Bar to start the drift.  We started around 9:30 AM.  Boy, were there a lot of fishermen!  Vehicles with boat trailers were out in force!

At Sunrise Park

Downstream

Upstream

This is my first time fishing with the American.  Because his backyard faces the American River, he fishes a lot.  By fishing with other drift-boat guides along the river, he learned to row the boat very well.  I am impressed.  He practically rowed the entire day of roughly five hours of fishing.

Two hours into our drift, while managing the boat, the American saw his fishing pole bopped up and down.  "Fish on!" He yelled.  He dropped anchor and picked up his pole with lightning speed.  Then, the Pro dropped back to handle the boat and I was looking lost trying to video tape the moment.  It was a quick fight and I got to net the fish for a few pictures before it was released.  Great team work because we were in the middle of fast current!  The hen fell victim to the Green and Red Luhr Jensen Hot Shot lure.

Introducing: The American!

It was an amazing feat considering we started late and the water has been disturbed all morning!

We managed two more hookups near the end of our drift by floating night crawlers behind a jet diver.  They were small steelies.  Overall, the weather was fantastic and the company excellent!  Landing fish on the first fishing trip of the year is a good sign....