We arrived at 2 pm before the big forecasted thunder storm. We got our tents setup and secured just in the nick of time. The big storm did come at the Divine Mercy hour (3 pm) and ended around 5 pm. We were oblivious to the weather because we went to nearby Costco in Carson City, NV, to enjoy delicious pizzas and hot dogs and stocked up on items that we forgot for the trip. By the time we were back at camp central, the weather was fantastic. We got a great view of the lake and enjoyed a beautiful camp fire.
A million dollar view.
9 pm by the fire.
Monday - July 20th
The Wiz, Ms. Mystic and I started our first fishing trip at 5:30 am. We were casting for 15 minutes without a bump. So I told Ms. Mystic, "I don't believe I set the drag properly on your fishing pole, so you may want to reel it in to check the drag just in case we hook a big fish."
"Okay, daddy."
BAM! Fish on. Whoa, hold on to the fishing pole. Don't lose the fish. Drag is screaming. Hearts are pumping. "Let the fish run honey." Says I. Finally, the fish came to net. What a beauty. The first fish boated for ACT 2015 was a 21.5-inch rainbow! Caught by the silver Thomas.
"Okay, honey, don't reset the drag. It is just perfect the way it is."
First fish of 2015 ACT
You don't need to photo shop this baby.
We felt very blessed with this one fish that even if we didn't catch anymore for the day, we would be perfectly happy. The next 15 minutes of casting and it was back to all quiet on the eastern front. Then, the Z sprung into action. I was using a micro light pole with my favorite 1/8 oz. banana-red-dot Z when it happen. I had swapped out all the treble hooks with single hooks on my lures; thus, keeping the line tight was crucial to successfully landing the fish. When the fish came to surface, we were all shocked. Do we have a big enough net? Yes, but barely. We ended up boating a whopping 25.5-inch rainbow! This second fish of the day was boated around 6 am. For the next half an hour, we boated two native cutthroat with the Z, 14-inch each! What an awesome way to begin a fishing trip. Praise God forever.
14-inch native cutthroat.
Sun is peeking. Time to come in.
Look at all the teeth marks on the Z.
One content captain JU.
Catch of the day.
25.5-inch rainbow.
"Hey, you guys took my breakfast," complained the cormorant.
Guess what we had for breakfast :-)
Afterwards, we visited Caples Lake to test out our newly purchased crayfish trap. We used fish heads and guts from the fish that were caught in the morning as bait. We pulled the trap up every few minutes to check for crayfish. At the end of the day, we did not have much success. However, by tying a fishing line to a stick and the bait at the end of the line, the children caught a lot of crayfish. The score was: trap - 1 crayfish; kids - 25 crayfish. On the way out, a couple told us to use a can of dog food as bait and to leave the trap alone for at least 3 hours.
Caples Lake by Woods Creek.
Looking for crayfish.
Hey, there's one crayfish in the trap!
Um, I can taste the crayfish already.
Too many rocks! No fish.
All you need is a string tied directly to a stick to catch crayfish.
Caples Lake.
Is it crayfish or crawdad?
Hey, no slacking. Go get dinner :-)
Um, um, um.
View from the kitchen.
See any bugs that need zapping?
Sometin' about an open camp fire.
Tuesday - July 21st
Let's go catch some breakfast! One of the awesome things about camping next to a lake with a lot of fish is a fish-fry for breakfast, that is, if you catch 'em. Tuesday morning, there were several bumps, but the Wiz boated the only fish for the morning, a 14-inch cutthroat. It is a challenge to land fish on a single hook!
Victim of the Z and a great breakfast.
Lone fish of the morning.
Around noon, I saw a fisherman trolling the lake landing a huge fish. Therefore, it would make sense to troll also. I took the Ave Maria out with "Princess K" and "little j" on board. We trolled using the Z. After the first pass, we hooked into a fish. "little j" got to land it. It was a nice 12-inch rainbow. The second pass, we hooked into another fish. It was Princess K's turn to muscle the fish. "It's too heavy, Uncle JU," said Princess K. "You're doing fine. Don't slack the line." The drag was screaming! My goodness, what was at the end of the line? After a few minutes of fight, the line went limp and the fish was gone :-( We tried again for the third pass, put the fish were wise up to the Z. Then it was time to go in before we get toasted by the sun. On the way in, we got another hit! I made sure the fish was on before giving the pole to Princess K. After a while, the fish would not give up. I took over the pole to make sure the fish was still on. Yes, it was! I gave the pole back to Princess K with the instruction: "Okay, honey, don't slack the line." After a few more minutes, the fish wrapped itself around the weeds. I had to turn the Ave Maria around and head towards it. In the process, the line went limp and there went the fish :-( We got nothing but our Z back with a bunch of weeds, to which Princess K said: "I didn't know fish were that smart." "That's how they get big," said I.
Since another thunder storm was to arrive at dinner time, we went into town and have dinner at Denny's. Another great reason to camp just close enough to S. Tahoe. Of course we had to stop by our favorite K-Mart in S. Tahoe to check out the clearance in the sports section. There was a huge blow out on fishing gear. The Wiz and JU fell victim to the sale! Bought more flies and fishing gears that I don't need :-) The Wiz purchased quality fishing lines for less than 2 bucks!
Anyway, after dinner, we went back to camp central and the weather was beautiful again. We went out for an evening fishing trip. Fish were jumping all around us feeding on bugs on the surface, but none fell for our offerings, which consisted of everything, but the flies that were purchased and was left on shore :-( Oh well, God is great!
Check out the JU logo on the oars.
You can taste the smoke with your tongue sticking out.
Does this mean the fishing will be feeding all night?
Fishermen by day, goofy guys by night :-)
At 10:30 pm at night, we were enjoying a camp fire when da Wiz observed a vehicle going down the hill towards our camp. "Hey, do you hear sometin'? I betcha it's Mr. Pickles!" Sure enough, Mr. Pickles made it to camp with a truck load of fire wood. We helped him setup and he was all situated by midnight!
Wednesday - July 22nd
Is it breakfast time yet? Let's go catch breakfast! I guess the quarter moon didn't impact the fishing in the morning any because by 6:30 am, da Wiz and I managed to boat three fish, a 14-inch rainbow, an 11-inch rainbow, and a 14-inch cutthroat!
Another productive morning.
Nice looking fish.
They look better in this 15" frying pan!
By noon time, we decided to go catch dinner at Cave Rock Beach. Once again, we put the crayfish trap to the test. This time, we bought a can of dog and perforated it to use as bait. Will it preform better this time? We left the trap untouched the entire time we were there and the children were catching crayfish using the same technique as the day before. After several hours and a pleasant picnic, we concluded that the crayfish trap needs much more modifications to be useful. The score for this trip was: trap - ZERO crayfish; children - more than 50 crayfish!
Cave Rock.
Mrs. Miracles.
The gang.
Wait, is that an iPad that you're carrying, Mr. Destroyer Fisherman?
I don't see any crayfish down there.
The jamming crayfish crew.
No rain for this evening, so we went back to camp central to prepar dinner. We were pleasantly greeted by Mr. Stamina Fisherman (Refer back to my August 6, 2014, post to identify my Warrior Fishermen) and his two adorable kids. They arrived at camp a few minutes before we came back from Cave Rock beach. For a splendid dinner, we enjoyed a combinations of spaghetti, meat balls, tomato sauce, alfredo sauce, and crayfish.
After dinner, Mr. Ace Fisherman showed up with another truck load of fire wood! We had a supply of wood for another week of camping :-) Not wanting to waste any fishing time, Ace took the canoe out and caught and released a 10-inch trout.
Thursday - July 23rd
At 5:30 am, I took Mr. Pickles fishing at our favorite spot where the 25.5-incher was caught on Monday morning. I told Mr. Pickles to start fishing as I set the anchor down. First cast and bam! Fish on! Unfortunately, after a few seconds, the fish went airborne and spit the hook out. Yes, Mr. Pickles was using my earlier invention of the yellow Z with a double hook instead of the treble hook.
Soon it was my turn. Fish on! The fish was hooked. The tip of the fishing rod was bent and the drag screamed. Then, it happened. The line went limped. But I knew the fish was still on because I was very confident I set the hook well! Thus, I knew what the fish was doing. It charged at the boat and I called it. I told Mr. Pickles to check out the action as I tried to reel as fast as I could to keep the line tight. We both saw the fish as it was inches away from the boat and spit the hook out! The fish swam faster than my retrieve. It was such an awesome experience - that fish deserve to live another day! Of course I believe the fish also had help that I use a single hook versus a treble hook.
After the first hookup, it took a long time before Mr. Pickles was able to get more action. He ended up with two more hookups, but both times the fish were able to spit the hook out.
Finally, I had one more hookup. It was a 14-inch cutthroat. So full of myself, I thought I could just lift the fish into the boat without using a net. I was wrong. As I lifted it off the water, it managed to wiggle off the hook!
By 6:30 am, we came in with no fish boated, but the experience was unforgettable! I felt super blessed for the lessons learned.
After breakfast, Ace, Mr. Pickles, Wiz, and I went to checkout E. of the Carson River. The water was super low as compared to previous years. Ace and I managed to catch and release a small rainbow each.
Ace at the rock showing us how it's done.
When the scouting trip was over, we decided that it was not worth exploring E. of the Carson River anymore for the remainder of the trip. We came back to camp central before lunch and met Mr. Steel Fisherman waiting for us. He stopped by for a day trip.
From left to right: Destroyer, Steel, JU, and Ace.
What a tremendous blessing to be united with my brothers for the day. We went hiking from the edge of the campgrounds to the Carson River (~1 hour round trip hike). Since it was the final camping night, Mr. Destroyer Fishermen treated us to Prime Rib dinner at Bodine's in Carson City, NV. Being a pescatarian, I had an awesome scampi dinner instead.
At night time, the three older children decided to sleep by the open camp fire and to gaze at the stars.
Who needs a tent when the weather is so nice.
Friday - July 24th
Yes, it was time to catch breakfast again. Da Wiz and I fished from 5:30 am to 6:30 am. We landed three fish: one 20-inch rainbow, and two 14-inch cutthroat.
Victim of the???
Breakfast coming up.
The children are still asleep when we came back from fishing.
JU signing out and thanking God for a blessed ACT 2015.
Children from 5 to 19 years old.
"God has made everything appropriate to its time, but has put the timeless into their hearts so they cannot find out, from beginning to end, the work which God has done. I recognized that there is nothing better than to rejoice and to do well during life. Moreover, that all can eat and drink and enjoy the good of all their toil—this is a gift of God." --Ecclesiastes 3:11-13
I was going to post these pictures yesterday, but I didn't want you all to have an unproductive Monday :-). These are pictures from the Purist's recent trip to Manitoba.
