Finally A Five Pound Bow!

It's been a while since I headed out at 4 am to the Sierra, but that I did.  Dreaming about landing a big Rainbow on my first trip using the float tube kept me sleepless all night.  I was already up at 2:30 am anticipating the trip.  Punctual as usual when it comes to fishing, the Wiz picked me up.

We arrived at one of our favorite fishing holes barely before sun up.  We checked in with the Fish Whisperer's friends by the dam.  They were there yesterday and had 3 on the stringer already.  As we introduced ourselves, it was fish-on on one pole while another pole had a take down!  I could tell it was gonna be a beautiful day.  The fish landed was a beautiful 17-inch cutthroat caught on power ball.  It fell off the hook just as it was landed.  Yours truly got to assist and put it on the stringer.  During all the commotion, the other fish stole the bait on the other pole.

We said our "so long!" to Fish Whisperer's friends and went by the buoy.  It was also the Wiz' first time using a float tube.  We stumbled from the roadway to the water hauling the float tubes along like two penguins running to get supper.  Finally, we were situated and learning to paddle with our fins.  The Wiz threw out some power balls and immediately thought: "Darn, snag!"  Wait, the snag started moving; oh yeah, fish on!  I saw out of the corner of my eye as the fish surfaced: it was big!  First fish of the day: 20 -inch, 5 pounder!!!

The ruler is not long enough...

Good for dinner

Next to the 20-incher, the other 3 looked tiny :-)

 
Then it was my turn.  I used a Berkeley pink worm.  Missed the first take down, but the second was landed.  It was a beautiful 16-inch Rainbow.  The wind was not bad, but it managed to blow me towards the dam.  I paddled hard to try to get back to the buoy, and yes, another take down.  This time it was a 17-inch Rainbow.

First catch from a float tube

 The next couple of hours, I missed several more hits.  The Wiz broke out the Z and started getting hookups.  He missed two more hits, but finally landed a 17-inch Cutthroat.  We fished from 7 am to 10 am with a total of 3 Bows and Cut!  What an awesome time.  We went back by the dam to say our farewells to our new friends.  They were having an awesome day also.

Fisherman's Camp

What a great combo