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Saturday, June 13, 2015

Fishing Fridays

It's getting to be regular and I love it!  Every summer Fridays, I'm planning to escape the heat in SacTown and heading up to the mountain in search of trout.  Such was yesterday while it was hot in SacTown, we headed up to the foot hills.  We first had to find the correct location, then we had to figure out what the fish liked, and finally, we had to catch the fish.

We used the map from the Department of Fish and Wildlife website to look for Angels Creek in Murphys, CA.  Big mistake!  We arrived at a location that was private and no public access allowed.  Fortunately, I found a nearby park with some trout in it.  They didn't look big enough to entice us to wet our lines.  So I attempted to swing from a rope instead.  Ouch!  Didn't know my hands would hurt doing it.   Finally, we came to the correct location around 9:30 AM.  Two fishermen already got their limits.  We looked down and saw a bunch of sizable trout.  We were excited.

Our excitement turned into disappointment as we threw all our usual at the fish and they were not interested.  We used worms, Z-Rays, spinners, spoons, power eggs, salmon eggs, just to name a few....  My heart sank when "little j" said, "Dad, I'm bored.  The fish are not biting."  I tried harder to find the right presentation since the time of day was way off for fishing (trout are active early in the morning and at sunset).  Two and a half hours later, I found the right trick.  It was all over the trout.  Every cast was a hit!  The lucky lure turned out to be a homemade rig with a yellow tip, white skirt, and pink tail.

Finally around noon, I landed a 12-incher.  I had the whole gang switch to the new setup.  Shortly after, Miss Mystic landed her first fish of 2015, an 11-incher.  After this, our fishing hole was invaded by tourists!  They jumped into the fishing hole and started swimming.  So we did the same thing, we put away our fishing poles and started swimming too: "When you can't beat them, join them."

We left early to try to find another fishing hole in the Mokelumne River.  We arrived at the bridge called Middle Bar crossing the river.  We were the only ones there.  We looked down and saw huge trout swimming around (5-pound plus for sure).  Once again we tried different techniques, but there was to be no feeding frenzy at this location.  We left for home trying to beat the traffic rush.  At least we found the location, discovered what the fish liked, and caught a couple to bring home.  What a great day.  Praise God!

About half a dozen trout swimming around here.

I got the best seat in the house.

We're going to the library.  Let us know when you figure out what the fish likes.

"JU, I thought you said the lure works!"

Now, I'm ready.

Testing force flash.  Hey, no shadows....

First fish of 2015.

Mokelumne River, North Fork.

Walk like an Egyptian?

Those are huge trout down there.

Can you see me?

Middle Bar Bridge over the Mokelumne River.

Two victims of the day.
It's a good thing the rope didn't break :-)

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