O, Blessed Day!

The Pro and I got an opportunity to redeem ourselves this morning.  Remember last Sunday when I got two hookups and no salmon?  Remember the entire 2013 salmon season when I still skunk with no salmon landed?  No more....

I arrived at our usual fishing spot in the American River thinking that I was the first one there since the Fish Mobile was the only vehicle in the parking lot.  I looked at the time with my forehead flash light: it was 5:55 am.  Since I was to meet the Pro at 6 am, I thought I had a little time to kill.  Quickly downed my "number 2 with no meat" from Mickey Dee.  Checked the time again: it was 6:04 am.  It occurred to me that the Pro may already be by the River although it was pitch dark.  I went down by the river, and sure enough, the headlights of the Pro's vehicle was on while he was wrapping Kwikfish.  I hurriedly went back to get my gear.  Sunrise was to be at 7:28 am.  So we were in the water past 6:30 am when it was legal to fish.  Once again, we were the only ones fishing :-)

The second pass around the hole where we got two hookups last week, bam!  Fish on!  A twenty pounder was in da boat by 7:30 am.

In the kisser where we like to see 'em

20 pounder 1st salmon for JU in 2013

Around 8:00 am another drift boat joined us on da river.  It was one of Pro's acquaintances.  We left and move further downstream where we were the only game on da river again.  However, after the first pass, we decided to get back to where we belong, upstream where we landed the first one.  Since Pro forgot his trolling motor, he pulled us back to the fish hole the manly way, manual power, baby.  At about the same location, bam!  Fish on, again!  This second salmon in the boat at 9:30 am was 22 pounds.

Barely got this one.  Hook feel off while he was in the net.

22 pounder!

Fresh salmon stakes.  These are small portions from the tail end of the 20 pounder.

Near 10 am we had a take down.  Just as I removed the rod from the holder, it let go.  However, a few seconds later, it chased down the lure and took it down again!  Unfortunately, it let go again....

More pictures from today:

7:06 am

8:13 am

The Pro with the 20 pounder.

The salmon slayer rod of the day: Berkey Cherrywood, Medium-Heavy 7'

Johnny Who?

It was Sunday, October 20th, when JU and the Pro got another chance to drift through the fish lane in the American.  We could have gone upstream by the hatchery where the salmons stacked up in the river this time of the year; but, we would have to share the river with a bunch of other boats....  Johnny opted for fishing where we're the only boat around.  Armed with an awesome new/used one piece 8'6'' Fenwick spinning rod discovered at a thrift shop for $4.95, Johnny was ready.  We pulled plugs from 10:30 am until 3 pm.  Right around 11 am, Johnny got a monster take-down.  When he went to set the hook, the drag could be heard screaming.  As it turned out, Johnny forgot to set the drag.  The salmon took the plug, tugged the plug a few times, and then let it go :-(  Doh!!!  Thus, Johnny tighten up the drag real good.  There was not another bite to be had until 2:30 pm.  This time again, the rod bent way over.  Johnny removed the rod from the holder and set the hook hard!  All of the sudden, the entire line went light, much to Johnny's surprise.  By the time the line was reeled in, the plug was gone because the line broke! It was just one of those days.  Both take downs were on the new/used Fenwick rod, using sardine wrapped size K14 silver Kwikfish.  Maybe Johnny United should be bitten by a radio-active monster fish instead of just getting scratched by the scales of one :-)

At least my brother the Fish Whisperer did much better; he wrote:

As for my steelhead I went out to my favorite spot down river of sunrise.  I did some errands before going so it wasn’t until around 1-2pm when I finally arrived with my brother in law.  We fished until sunset.  He caught a steel head on a spoon lure I let him borrow.  About an hour later I caught mine on a big Kastmaster that I found on the E Carson.  These were both smaller hatchery steelhead with adipose fins clipped.  We saw DFG coming down the river on kayaks & they said the action was slow on kings.  They said there were a lot in the river, but most upstream were pretty dark.  They said that steelhead action been more consistent.  However that was almost 2 weeks ago(Oct 5^th) as I haven’t fished since.

Fish Whisperer with American River steelie!

On a Kastmaster?

Yummy...

At Carson River

It's a good thing we live 2 hours' drive from Carson River, near South Lake Tahoe.  We can afford to go fishing early in the morning and be back before the Friday evening traffic starts.  Such is the case this morning when JU and da Wiz hooked up.  We left Sacramento at 5 am and arrived at our fishing hole around 7 am; the temperature was 30 degrees F.  We also visited other fishing spots.  At one location, we saw a big 10 pounder Alpers trout.  We used all the weapons we had, but it would not be captured today.  We took off when the temperature increased to 42 degrees.  We got back to Sacramento around 1 pm to temperature of 80 degrees.  We did catch a few rainbows.

Zoon in to the lower right corner of the picture :-)

Red Lake

Only A Turtle Showed Up

Can't ask for better weather today on the American River.  The Pro and JU fished from 10:30 am through 3 pm.  We were in search of salmon.  We were pulling wrapped sardine plugs; however, we had no takers.  We saw two other boats the entire day, and they didn't get any hookups either.  The Pro did catch and release an undersized striped bass.  But soon....  because it is, after all, the ProFisherman and Johnny United Drifting Through Fish Lane.  We are back, baby.  Fish on!

Very low water level and not enough current

Nice sun bathing turtle

The Pro just released an undersized striped bass.

A Tale of Two Days

I was at work on Friday, 9/20, when I received a text message from the Wiz.  Although, there was no text communicated, there was a picture attached.  It was difficult to concentrate after that....  "Where?"  I inquired.  "One of our favorite fishing holes."  Came the replied.  Here's the attached picture from the Wiz:

Half of the school of trout, the other half was upstream.

Day One - Saturday, 9/21

It just happened that we will be near the fishing hole the following two days.  Through the generosity of my sister, we got an offer for a free stay at Harrah's Lake Tahoe for Saturday, 9/21, and Sunday, 9/22.  Included was $150 credits for food and a yacht ride on Lake Tahoe!  Wahoo!  Views from our seventh floor room:

Looking East

Looking West

While we settled in around 1 pm, the clouds were building up.  Mrs. Miracle, MT, Ms. Mystic, and JU were not to be threatened by the clouds.  We headed out around 2pm to our fishing spot.  The rain arrived.  We came to our fishing spot and found the Wiz' fishing report was still the same even though it was the following day.  MT fell as sleep as the therapeutic sounds made by the rain drops bounced off the Fish Mobile.  Mrs. M volunteered to read her book and keep an eye on MT while Ms. Mystic and JU braved the pouring rain down to the fishing hole.  We first tried the Thunder Bolt.  It took about half a dozen casts just to land one trout.  We then tried Power Eggs and got no bite.  We put on real worms wacky style on number 6 hook.  We landed another after about 3 tries.  JU decided to try something new.  Then it was a fish for every drop.  You must read on to the next day to find out what it was.  The results:

'Nuff said!

On the way back to Harrah's, we were treated to a spectacular snow falls.  It was not even 5 pm yet.

The day before the First day of Autumn 2013

Will we get back in time before chains are required?

We are warm-weather creatures.  So can you say, "Ccoold?"

Day Two - Sunday, 9/22, First Day of Autumn

Did it not just snowed yesterday?  What a difference a day makes!  The First Day of Autumn arrived with fantastic weather for warm-weather creatures.  We began the day by giving thanks to God at Our Lady of Tahoe Catholic Church.  The Church was surrounded by pine trees, located in beautiful rustic surroundings.  The eight of us took up the entire pew!

Breakfast followed.  Then it was time for a cruise on Lake Tahoe via the Bleu Wave.  Free buffet and two complementary drinks per passenger were included with the cruise.  The relaxing trip was two hours in duration, from 11 am through 1 pm.  Scenes:

Triple decker yacht

I'm ready.

Wait, who took the picture?

This way to the bar

Drinks on the house

Even Ms. Dixie II came to join the party.

Left over snow from yesterday

Famous Viking Castle at Emerald Bay

JU on the Captain's chair?  Indeed.

After the cruise, we came back to Harrah's to find the kids swimming:

"I didn't get to swim," said MT.

What's two plus two?

Is it safe to come out yet?

I give up.

Hello.

What!?!

We gotta go now?

Let's go fishing!

Let's go hide....

JU woke up from a nap: "Hey, is it fishing time yet?  We gotta go home soon."  Thus, JU and his Angels hastily packed up to go back to the fishing hole.  It was the top of the Divine Mercy hour (3 pm).  The weather was fantastic as compared to yesterday.  Who brought the sunshine?  Using the newly discovered method, JU and his Angels limited out easily.  Look at one of the following pictures to learn the new secret weapon.  Note: JU got skunk with the fly fishing pole...  again.  However, Miss Mystic landed a 17-inch, 1 and a half pounder rainbow with a tiny imitation fly hooked to its mouth, showing that it escaped a fly fisherman.  Maybe JU will do better next time with the same fly :-)

My first fish!  Too small.  However, by the end of the day, I landed 7!!!  Released 2, of course :-)

New secret weapon: pink hot dog?!?!?

JU's Angels

I say, "Fish."  You say, "On!"

Can you say, "Mountain Climber?"

Introducing..... "Miss Sunshine!"

And where was Number 1?  Miss Princessa?  Oh, well.  Camp central was at Harrah's after all....

Feather River

The Pro and JU hooked up to do some salmon fishing in the Feather River.  Pro caught his limit on the opening day in the middle of July.  This was the first time fishing at the Feather for JU.  We got to the fishing hole before sunrise.  We didn't have any flash lights, so we waited until we could see.  We did see another boat launched across the river; they had lights.  A few minutes after, we launched also.  Before we got near the other boat, we heard: "Fish on!"  This was music to a fisherman's ears.  We anchored next to the only other boat on the river.  Within five minutes, the first salmon was landed by the other boat.  We had a feeling that it was going to be a great fishing day!  We quickly let three sardine wrapped flat fish out.  We waited... and waited... until the sun came up.  As it turned out, that was the only fish landed by boat that we witnessed all day.  We tried every thing we knew such as drifting roe, back and forward trolling sardine wrapped flat fish, bottom bouncing flat fish, Jet diver flat fish, flying C's,  and finally jigging.  All for naught.  The amazing thing was that fish were rolling all around us, and the fish finder was going bonkers with the fish indicator.  It was a rare occasion for the Pro not to land a salmon.  We got two grabs, but no hookup :-(  JU never had a bad day fishing.  Just hanging with the Pro was a great blessing.  The old adage was true that day: "That's why we call it fishing, not catching."

Way before Dark Thirty

Sunrise at Feather River

Beautiful water and fish jumping all around

The only boat with one landed

Featuring: The Fishmobile!

 "To the Batmobile! Robin." Said Batman.

Wonder Woman has her invisible plane.

Now, JU and the Miracle Squad have...  yes...  the Fishmobile!  What better way to find out if it works by giving it a test run.  Remember the trip when the seven of us slept in a seven-passenger van?  The same van is now converted.  For the entire summer, JU and the Miracle Squad worked on its conversion.

Last Friday, 30 AUG, we pulled the Fishmobile to the side of the house for a test run.  At first, five volunteered to sleep in the Fishmobile.  But around 11 pm, only three hard cores entered:  JU, Mrs. Miracle and MT.  JU got the front quarters while MM and MT slept in the back room :-)  Five minutes in, MM could be heard snoring.  MT felt trapped and was finding a way out.  she managed to climb to the front quarters and looked out the side windows searching for the stars.  Near midnight - that's an hour of star gazing - she said, "I am bored, I want to go inside the house!"  Her wish was granted.  This gave JU an opportunity to sneak in the back room and snuggled up for a good night's rest.

Front quarters

Added padding for support

Back room

Look at all the spaces underneath

4' x 6' bed

Aahh...  Rest at last