Is summer really over? For me, this may be the last day of summer. The children are starting school next week. As a last opportunity to fish with my three older girls before school starts, we put in two hours at the dock.
Thursday, 8/24
We were fishin' in the mornin' sun; we were fishin' on the dock of the Sac River. :-) Just my girls and I. We (well almost all of us) fished for two hours straight from 7 AM to 9 AM.
Number One smugly bragged that she cast for two hours straight without sitting down on the camping chair.
Number Two proudly confirmed that she too cast for two hours straight and was the FIRST one to sit on the camping chair. Somehow, it was more comfy to use the chair. She also somehow managed to whack herself on the forehead with her fishing pole and has a welt to prove it. It was an "ouchy."
Number Three can truthfully attest to almost fishing for two hours and if you press for more info, she may confess that she took numerous breaks--but only because she was tired.
JU - I am a happy camper.
The salmon going back to their spawning grounds were fortunate they did not cross our path.
One blessed JU :-)
Friday, 8/25
Today, I got an offer to fish with my dad and big bro in the Delta. The Captain just purchased another boat and this was the first time I got to go on it. I even got to drive it! This new boat rode very smooth as compared to the old boat. For around six hours, we were trolling for striped bass! There were a ton of weeds!!! We spent lots of time removing the weeds from our lures, which shortened the time that the lures were actually in the water :-). At the end of the day, we were blessed with one keeper.
Keeper!
Short video:
So, this week, I got to go fishing Monday though Friday. That's one busy schedule you won't hear me complaining about! I am one blessed JU!
Just when I thought I wouldn't be able to go camping before the end of summer, Brother Damon aka Freestyle Fisherman and I were able go on a three day camping trip!
Monday, 8/21
We got to our campsite, quickly set up, and started fishing right away! The fish were biting, so we couldn't stop until an hour after sunset :-) Thus, dinner began at 10:30 PM. But it was well worth the wait! Brother Freestyle is such a great cook! I have not had a camping dinner this good in all my years of camping!
Lots of stuff for to bring :-)
At Shot Rock Vista Point, saw a good design for a canoe.
I thought I saw a strange looking hummingbird. Do you see it?
A keeper at 7 PM.
Clam baked dinner! Yummy, yummy, yummy!
Tuesday, 8/22
What else is a brother to do when camping? Fished again at Dark Thirty! Caught more keepers by 7 AM. Went back to camp for breakfast, which consisted of coffee, oatmeal, and cinnamon rolls which were baked in a Dutch oven! Very delicious, but I think my float tube sunk into the lake a bit more after breakfast.
Nabbed these by 7 AM.
We went float tubing before the storm rolled in. I used the same setup that I use for steelies in the American River! It worked for trout too! Caught and released two, while Freestyle caught one on the Z and released it also.
Awesome setup. Make a note of it.
Freestyle went tubing for four hours!
JU on the water for 2.5 hours.
We decided to eat an early dinner since a storm was brewing. We cooked the trout that we caught. And since the frying pan was 10 inches, we had to cut off the heads and tails of the trout to make them all fit. What a great problem to have!!!
10-inch frying pan.
Then the rain came!!! It poured and poured. We ate and watched the rain until we couldn't take it any longer. The sun was going to set soon and darkness was approaching. We decided to brave the rain and fish just once more before it got dark. What a great blessing!!! While it rained, the bites were super duper hot!!! At one point, we got a triple take down. Since I have a two poles license, I had to run back and forth between my poles. Another time, I had to clamp one pole with my knees, while using my hands to land the fish on my other pole! Again, what a great problem to have!!!
When will the rain stop?
Thank God the rain didn't stop :-)
Today, Wednesday, 8/23
We fished again from 6 AM to 7 AM, with only one nibble. The fishing was slow, so I went back to camp to make coffee. Freestyle came to camp at around 7:30 AM and told me that after I left, a guy showed up in the same spot that I was fishing and landed a nice trout on the first cast! What! That can't be right! And... he used some strange setup. If you know me, you know that I would lose sleep wondering about what this strange setup could be! So I went to meet the man.
First, a woman dropped him off with an electric cart. Then she came back with his chair! He told her to pick him up after 3 hours of fishing :-) I am not going to write more and get Brother Freestyle and myself in the dog pound :-)
Super duper nice dude, a three time purple heart recipient for his services in the 'Nam. When I came by, he already had one on the stringer. As I was talking with him, he caught and released another five within five minutes!!!!! Thanks be to God, he took a liking to JU and started to share his knowledge and setup. For what it's worth and for Brother Freestyle's and my reference, here are pictures of his setup.
Had the opportunity to venture out to the salmon hole this morning and start casting at around 7 AM. Met Javier aka Smooth Operator. We were joined by Mike and Roger. At 10 AM, I went to say good bye to Smooth Operator and that's when it happened. Just TWO feet in front of him, a salmon came up and grabbed his Flying C!!! It was incredible to witness. After a short fight, I netted the fish for him. It was a 24-inch, 7-pound, hatchery hen. After all the excitement, I had to fish for extra half hour. By 10:30 AM, there were no additional bites :-( They are coming in slowly, but surely!
I went fishing with Grandmaster Fisherman (GMF) and his son, Young Master (YM), this morning at the salmon hole.
I fished from 7 AM until 7:20 AM by myself until GMF and YM showed up. Within a few casts, just like that... Fish on for GMF!!! Hey, it was not the salmon that we were after, but it still counted because it was landed :-)
Fish schooled by GMF :-)
What kind of fish is this?
We tried until 8:30 AM with no salmon; however, YM broke out his bass rod and whacked a few bass!!! This young man is incredible when it comes to fishing.
Then, I took them to the dock. There were more fishermen there than yesterday. With the three of us, there were eight fishermen, give or take.... Fortunately, my good friend RainbowTroutMan was already there.... We fished until 9 AM. No one caught anything except for YM, landing more bass :-)
I made a new friend at the dock. He showed me how it was done and gave me some tips of what to do when there are too many fishermen on the dock... sometimes THIRTY fishermen?!?!?! I am going back to my salmon hole :-)
Tony landed 21 salmon last season on this dock!
Time to head home for some yummy homemade scones.... I can't seem to loose weight when my daughters are home from college. God is good!
Hey, when my dad says he wants to go fishing with me, I am super elated. Then reality sets in. My dad is 89 years young. All these worry thoughts going through my mind such as will he be able to walk down the embankment and will he be able to cast. But nothing like some prayers and preparation won't cure.
I arrived at the salmon fishing hole at 7 AM and my brother the Captain was already there. We helped dad walked down the embankment and set up his fishing rig. He looked twenty years younger. It was all worth it. I brought a camping chair with me, just in case he got tire. It was a
good thing because after an hour, he said he was done. He wanted to sit
and watch his sons fish. We fished for two hours with no hookups.
Opps. Pressed the capture instead of video button :-)
He looks seventy :-)
Still not tire yet.
Then we were joined by Roger aka RainbowTroutMan! He said he was fishing at the dock all morning with no bites. He got up from his chair to move to a new location. A guy came over by his chair, made two casts and... BAM! Fish on! Salmon landed.
So we took dad over to the dock. Met the guy that landed the salmon, with fresh blood still on the dock. I made three casts with no bites. It was time to head home and count my blessings.
If you are an avid fisherman in SacTown, you know that the salmon fishing season officially opened on July 16th in the Sacramento River where JU fishes! And if you read this blog, you know that JU has struck out in four tries :-)
But today... that's another story!
JU went to his favorite salmon hole from the banks with his homemade lures and was pleasantly surprised that no other fisherman was there. He started fishing at 7 AM and using the Pinky that he had almost lost last time.
Pinky SIREN
About half an hour later with no results, he switched over to Chartreuse and fished for another half an hour with the same result, which is "nada." So he switched back to Pinky. But this time he added a little tail that he used for trout.
Added a little trout bait :-)
A few minutes later, he felt that familiar soft tug. Set the hook, baby! BAM!!! Fish on!!! It was difficult netting the fish by himself, but God is good!!! He landed a beauty 31-inch, 12-pound, wild hen that still had scales on!
Here's a selfie of JU holding the prize for the day :-)
Look at the scale flakes on her.
The meat looks great and JU and family can't wait to have some for dinner tonight.
Yummy, yummy, yummy. Well, at least at dinner time.
Thanks be to God, the GoPro was on too :-) Here's the video.
Yesterday, Mrs. Miracles and I went to a retirement party. What a pleasant experience to wish my dear friend a happy and long retirement. He will be doing more fishing in the near future... so watch out fish!
Even the fruit display looks like a fish :-)
I am told that you can order this cake at Sam's Club.
'Mo fishing limits with the missus :-)
May God grant you many happy years of retirement and fishing!
The weather is great. The lures swim as they are designed. The company is awesome. Yet, for two hours of casting and retrieving, no bumps. Well, Lucky did get one bite, but didn't get a chance to set the hook. I almost lost my pink lure... twice!
First, we are blessed with a visitor from Minnesota. I have been instructed that her fishing name is FarmFresh Fisherwoman! So welcome to California :-)
On Wednesday (8/2), we showed her around the South Lake Tahoe area. We "hiked" to Glen Alpine Falls; actually, we "biked;" honestly, we drove :-)
Ms. Mystic and FarmFresh
Can you spy them?
Today, we got to take her on our Family Fishing Day: destination, Ice House Reservoir (IHR). I have never caught any big trout out of IHR. Today is the exception.
By the way, parking used to be free, but now it is $8.00 per vehicle per day.
We parked by the dam and fished in front of the picnic tables. We fished there for an hour with no action. So WizTech and I decided to hike the entire dam while fishing with lures. We did not get a nibble. But we did notice schools of bait fish swimming around. We decided to move our rigs to the dam. Here's the secret: use 3-foot leader, sliding sinker and Berkley PowerBait 3" Floating Mice Tails (Pink tail & white head).
The incredible thing is that these "hawgs" were caught between 11 AM and 1 PM.
Here's the video of da big one!
Oh, yes, we had fun escaping the heat, enjoying nature, and swimming too :-)
