Spring Break 2014

Typically we expect April showers, but where we were at, we got snow instead.  We were on vacation in South Lake Tahoe beginning with Easter, Sunday, April 20th.  We visited our favorite K-Mart on Monday and found out many fishing stuff were on "clearance."  What a great way to prepare for the opening fishing season of Carson River nearby.  We can legally fish in Carson River on Saturday, April 26th.  So JU was able to pick up a few fishing items:

With the exception of the fishing lines, most items were under $1!!!

We woke up Tuesday morning to a wonderful 4-5 inches of snow covering the fish mobile.  The younger children played in the snow while the older children and adults read inside the cozy cabin.  Since my sister's family also vacationed at Harrah's in town, the children got a chance to swim as well.

Enjoy a beautiful light snow day in South Tahoe:

Then on opening fishing day, Team United went to Carson River.  There were many people there and the fish were heavily pressured.  However, we did manage to limit out and released some...

Needless to say, we avoid fishing on that side of the river.

It's gonna be a good fishing season.

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

Released two 25 pounders; kept 2 pounder???

Yesterday was a super windy day to go fishing.  The water was very brownish due to the recent rain.  We went to the usual Liberty Island to troll for striped bass.  Immediately, on the first pass, JU landed a 21-incher with his new setup: a Bomber 16A with a 7-inch pearl trailing tail.  The waves were very rough at the trolling location.  The wind was around 13 mph.  We survived a total of 2 loops of trolling without any other hits, but more importantly without getting motion sickness.

Replaced 3 treble hooks with 2 single hooks

Keeper

We then went to our favorite sturgeon fishing hole at (according to California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife) location code 03: Sacramento River. Knights Landing to Rio Vista.  The waves were calm, but the depth was 50 feet.  We had a hard time setting anchor with a 100-foot rope.  Any of you expert fishermen know why?  Eventually, we did manage to anchor up.  We were using ghost shrimp and salmon eggs.  We got around a dozen hits within a couple of hours!!!  JU missed all three hits?!?  The sturgeon hits were very light like a crab gnawing at your bait.  The team did manage to land two that were released.

Released

Released

Let's Make Our Own Fish

Last Saturday, 2/22/2014, the weather was fantastic.  We decided to take a trip around the mountain.  We visited one of our favorite fishing holes, Indian Creek Reservoir.  We got there around noon.  The entire reservoir was surrounded with fishing people, some on float tubes, some on boats, and most fishing from the banks.  We found our spot opposite the group campgrounds.  We tested the water with two poles baited with power balls.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get our bait out far enough due to the lack of heavy sinkers.  We fished for 20 minutes, then picked up and went to Carson City, NV, then around back to South Lake Tahoe, and finally home around 9 pm.  Although we were not successful hooking fish, we did see people in float tubes landing some.

Beautiful Carson River - not legal to fish until the end of April

We saw big fish swimming around

The reservoir is typically frozen around this time and you can walk on it

Fishing is legal year round for this reservoir

Since we didn't catch any fish, it reminded me of the time Ms. Mystic made these awesome jellos in fish shapes.  They tasted yummy!

Let's make our own fish :-)

Let's Go Fishing

With no water and warm weather in the Sacramento area, the brothers decided to go to the mountain instead.  Darn, I missed out...

Fish Whisperer fishing report:


We arrived there around 3pm on Friday & setup camp.  To our surprise the entire lake was iced over except by the dam. On my first cast I caught a nice rainbow.  The fish hit in less than a minute.  Next thing you know a few minutes later my buddy got a bite and from there we had 10 fish before the sun went down.  These rainbows were beautiful & strong fighters.  As for the weather it was nice when the sun was out, but as soon as it went down the chill was very strong.  We had a nice camp fire & started dinner: grilled carne asada, veggies, & tortillas.  After dinner my third friend showed up and we got his tent set up in the dark.  My buddy that arrived later was so excited to get on the fish he woke me up in the morning on first light.  Immediately we were on the fish as we had triple hook ups.  As the sun came out it melted some ice by the dam so we went over there with lures.  Brother this is when the trip became special.  We started hooking good sized cut throats on z-rays & kastmasters!  We had 30 fish in less than an hour on the dam.  We had so many fish that we started releasing anything that looked under 2lbs.  We quickly got the bbq grill going so we could eat some fresh fish & go back to complete our limits before going home.  I just couldn’t believe how hot it was.  Even got to watch them take my zray just feet from the shore.  I’ve never fished a trout hatchery before, but I imagine it must be like that.  All I can say is blessed is the man that fishes the lake as soon as the ice thaws. 

10 fish before the sun went down.

Derby winner

Entire lake was iced over except by the dam.

We quickly got the bbq grill going...

In one word was “awesome”!

Need I say more?

American River Level Still Low

Some pictures by Gritsmill...

Where to, when the water is low?

Stock up on more fishing supplies?!?!?