Home
I know this is mostly a southern California fishing forum but I just got back from a three day fishing trip with my dad in Northern California and I had such blast I have to share it with you guys.
Fair warning, this will be a long post. Sorry for wall of text in advance.
4/17/15
I drove up from LA on the 16th and met my dad in Lodi where we stayed the night. We woke up at 6am the next day and headed out to the Delta for a guided trip fly fishing for stripers.
The guides name was Toby and he was just about the coolest guy there could be. My dad fishes with him a bunch and he comes highly recommended. If you guys are ever in the area and looking for a guide PM me and I'll give you his info.
Here is a picture of his boat.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Note: you can click on these thumbnails to see full size images
We hit the water around 7am. The water temp stayed around 64 degrees, air temp ended up around 80 but it didn't feel too hot. I did get pretty burned though. The clarity ranged from nill to 2 to 3 feet depending on where we were. Apparently what has been happening is that the agriculture people are complaining about the weeds gumming up their pumps, I think due to the low water levels. So they (not really sure who they is) are dropping some kind of weed killing pellets into the delta. As the weeds die and decompose they are totally clouding up the delta and making the fishing really tough.
We were using Shad imitation fly's, mostly white with a streak of chartreuse
Anyway, we spent the majority of the morning on the Georgiana Slough. We found this opening to a marina where the fish were schooled up. I got 5 or 6 and my Dad landed 8 that included a small LMB. They were all dinks and the guide was just throwing them back so I didn't get any pictures but here is a shot of where we were fishing.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
After lunch we left the slough and headed out on the Mokelumne River. We fished various spots, a dock, a few rock walls and a weed line or two. We landed some more dinks and then towards the end of the day I got a nice three pounder. Not big at all by striper standards I know but he put up a good fight. He took off running two or three times and I had to play him for a few minutes before I got him in the boat.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
All said and done my Dad and I landed nearly 30 fish between us that included two LMB. It was a pretty great day and we left feeling great about the start of our trip.
Here is a picture of me casting that I think just looks cool. Casting those baits took some time to get the hang of but once you got it down it is a really great feeling. It is a workout though, I was pretty sore when the day was done.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
4/18/15
We left the Delta and drove up to my folks place in Pioneer. The next spot was a local pond near there. I don't want to blow up my Dad's spots so I will just say it is about 30min from Jackson. If you are in that area and want to check it out PM me and I will get you the info. I can hit up my dad to see how it is fishing as well.
Water temp was between 68 and 70 and water clarity was around 2 to 3 feet. Air temp in the 80's. The pond had the most strange color to it, like I said the clarity was good but the water color was totally brown.
Here is a pic of the pond.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
This day did not go so good for me. I spent the whole morning chasing topwater and reaction bites and got nothing, not even one bite. There was fish rising too, but they just didn't want anything I had. When I finally switched over to plastics after lunch the action in the pond had just died.
My dad did okay, he got 3 bass, two small and one 1-2lber and one bluegill all on a green and brown woolly bugger.
This report doesn't do this place justice because when the bite is on at this pond it is ON! And the average size is between 1 to 2lbs. We have nicknamed this place the flying bass pond because they bass there, no lie, will jump two and three feet out of the water to get dragonflies. Some will even jump 2 feet high and 3 feet wide, like freaking shamoo at seaworld.
4/19/15
We left the not so flying bass pond and headed to Merced for the next stop. On Sunday we got up at 6am and headed out to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], the spot I had been waiting for since we scheduled this trip.
Here are some pics of the lake. I love this place, the scenery is beautiful and it is on an 8000 acre cattle ranch. Being there just feels special.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
We hit the water around 8:30 am, it was just my dad and I and two older guys in a boat. Water temp was between 68 and 71, air temp ended up in the high 80s and clarity was about 1 foot. It was pretty dirty water.
I started with a popper and buzz bait but it became very apparent quickly there wouldn't be any topwater action so I switched to a rat-l-trap on my caster and a texas rig senko on my spinner. I was just kind of fishing the edges and making my south along the western shore not really getting anything. Kelsey has a lot of half submerged trees in about 5 to 8 feet of water so I spent most of the day fishing the structures. Like I said I wasn't getting anything so I tied on a gray Z Man curly tail on a jig head and boom nailed a 16" bass around 2lbs.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
We stopped for lunch the same time as the other two guys and got to talking to them. Turns out one of the guys owns an Almond processing plant and has been processing almonds in that area for 50 years. He said he had been fishing "with the Kelsey's", as he put it, for 30 years. He hooked me up with some MMIII roboworms and small jighead hooks and said that was the ticket.
Got back in the water and on my first cast with the old guys setup I hooked up with a nice bass. I didn't have him hooked well and he jumped out of the water and spit the hook out. That sucked.
So I kicked back over to the south west corner where the structure was that I was fishing before. I tell you one thing about fishing structure with a jig head, you get hung up a TON.
I through out my worm near an exposed branch, let sit, pulled on it and felt it hang up on a branch. Turned around to kick over to unhook and the line went between my legs. OH S**T Fish on, and he wanted to fight! I had to let out my drag and play him for a bit, I didn't want him to jump out of the water and spit out the hook. He took three or four good runs but lost in the end, I landed him, a solid 4lber by my estimation.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Fished the rest of the structure without any action. It started to get windy and I was getting tired of all the kicking so decided to call it a day around 3:15pm. I hooked a small one on the way back to the dock, but I wasn't paying enough attention and he jumped out and spit the hook. Oh well, I was really glad to catch that bug guy.
My dad got two, one small one and one 2lber on that same green and brown woolly bugger.
...
In the end this was probably the best fishing trip I have ever been on and I got to do it all with my dad which was really cool. The drive to Kelsey is only about 4 hours so I will definitely be back there in the fall. If anyone wants to go let me know and we can make a trip of it.
Cheers guys and thanks for reading.
Fair warning, this will be a long post. Sorry for wall of text in advance.
4/17/15
I drove up from LA on the 16th and met my dad in Lodi where we stayed the night. We woke up at 6am the next day and headed out to the Delta for a guided trip fly fishing for stripers.
The guides name was Toby and he was just about the coolest guy there could be. My dad fishes with him a bunch and he comes highly recommended. If you guys are ever in the area and looking for a guide PM me and I'll give you his info.
Here is a picture of his boat.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Note: you can click on these thumbnails to see full size images
We hit the water around 7am. The water temp stayed around 64 degrees, air temp ended up around 80 but it didn't feel too hot. I did get pretty burned though. The clarity ranged from nill to 2 to 3 feet depending on where we were. Apparently what has been happening is that the agriculture people are complaining about the weeds gumming up their pumps, I think due to the low water levels. So they (not really sure who they is) are dropping some kind of weed killing pellets into the delta. As the weeds die and decompose they are totally clouding up the delta and making the fishing really tough.
We were using Shad imitation fly's, mostly white with a streak of chartreuse
Anyway, we spent the majority of the morning on the Georgiana Slough. We found this opening to a marina where the fish were schooled up. I got 5 or 6 and my Dad landed 8 that included a small LMB. They were all dinks and the guide was just throwing them back so I didn't get any pictures but here is a shot of where we were fishing.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
After lunch we left the slough and headed out on the Mokelumne River. We fished various spots, a dock, a few rock walls and a weed line or two. We landed some more dinks and then towards the end of the day I got a nice three pounder. Not big at all by striper standards I know but he put up a good fight. He took off running two or three times and I had to play him for a few minutes before I got him in the boat.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
All said and done my Dad and I landed nearly 30 fish between us that included two LMB. It was a pretty great day and we left feeling great about the start of our trip.
Here is a picture of me casting that I think just looks cool. Casting those baits took some time to get the hang of but once you got it down it is a really great feeling. It is a workout though, I was pretty sore when the day was done.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
4/18/15
We left the Delta and drove up to my folks place in Pioneer. The next spot was a local pond near there. I don't want to blow up my Dad's spots so I will just say it is about 30min from Jackson. If you are in that area and want to check it out PM me and I will get you the info. I can hit up my dad to see how it is fishing as well.
Water temp was between 68 and 70 and water clarity was around 2 to 3 feet. Air temp in the 80's. The pond had the most strange color to it, like I said the clarity was good but the water color was totally brown.
Here is a pic of the pond.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
This day did not go so good for me. I spent the whole morning chasing topwater and reaction bites and got nothing, not even one bite. There was fish rising too, but they just didn't want anything I had. When I finally switched over to plastics after lunch the action in the pond had just died.
My dad did okay, he got 3 bass, two small and one 1-2lber and one bluegill all on a green and brown woolly bugger.
This report doesn't do this place justice because when the bite is on at this pond it is ON! And the average size is between 1 to 2lbs. We have nicknamed this place the flying bass pond because they bass there, no lie, will jump two and three feet out of the water to get dragonflies. Some will even jump 2 feet high and 3 feet wide, like freaking shamoo at seaworld.
4/19/15
We left the not so flying bass pond and headed to Merced for the next stop. On Sunday we got up at 6am and headed out to [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], the spot I had been waiting for since we scheduled this trip.
Here are some pics of the lake. I love this place, the scenery is beautiful and it is on an 8000 acre cattle ranch. Being there just feels special.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
We hit the water around 8:30 am, it was just my dad and I and two older guys in a boat. Water temp was between 68 and 71, air temp ended up in the high 80s and clarity was about 1 foot. It was pretty dirty water.
I started with a popper and buzz bait but it became very apparent quickly there wouldn't be any topwater action so I switched to a rat-l-trap on my caster and a texas rig senko on my spinner. I was just kind of fishing the edges and making my south along the western shore not really getting anything. Kelsey has a lot of half submerged trees in about 5 to 8 feet of water so I spent most of the day fishing the structures. Like I said I wasn't getting anything so I tied on a gray Z Man curly tail on a jig head and boom nailed a 16" bass around 2lbs.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
We stopped for lunch the same time as the other two guys and got to talking to them. Turns out one of the guys owns an Almond processing plant and has been processing almonds in that area for 50 years. He said he had been fishing "with the Kelsey's", as he put it, for 30 years. He hooked me up with some MMIII roboworms and small jighead hooks and said that was the ticket.
Got back in the water and on my first cast with the old guys setup I hooked up with a nice bass. I didn't have him hooked well and he jumped out of the water and spit the hook out. That sucked.
So I kicked back over to the south west corner where the structure was that I was fishing before. I tell you one thing about fishing structure with a jig head, you get hung up a TON.
I through out my worm near an exposed branch, let sit, pulled on it and felt it hang up on a branch. Turned around to kick over to unhook and the line went between my legs. OH S**T Fish on, and he wanted to fight! I had to let out my drag and play him for a bit, I didn't want him to jump out of the water and spit out the hook. He took three or four good runs but lost in the end, I landed him, a solid 4lber by my estimation.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Fished the rest of the structure without any action. It started to get windy and I was getting tired of all the kicking so decided to call it a day around 3:15pm. I hooked a small one on the way back to the dock, but I wasn't paying enough attention and he jumped out and spit the hook. Oh well, I was really glad to catch that bug guy.
My dad got two, one small one and one 2lber on that same green and brown woolly bugger.
...
In the end this was probably the best fishing trip I have ever been on and I got to do it all with my dad which was really cool. The drive to Kelsey is only about 4 hours so I will definitely be back there in the fall. If anyone wants to go let me know and we can make a trip of it.
Cheers guys and thanks for reading.
