It’s been a few weeks since the boys fished. Lots of honey dos and commitments since the Montana trip but this week we were able to go camping with Mom (Melanie) and Emma included.
What a treat it was to have them along. The trailer was like a little doll house for Emma and she did not want to leave it!
The boys fished a few areas with limited success. They really wanted to catch brook trout and the reports have been heavy plants in Upper Hat Creek. We tried for one morning with no brookies. Small rainbows were caught but that was it.
That evening we fished the local pond at the RV Park and it was a bust there too. We did not see many fish in there and the ones we did see were small. The next morning we fished Hat 2 Powerhouse. Great fun for small fish on dries. Noontime took us to Burney Falls. Melanie and Emma took the 1.3 mile hike down to the falls and back around and the boys fished Burney Creek. I told them that they were not going to get anything because it was midday and it was hot and many people fished it earlier. That was not enough to deter them. After about an hour fishing the creek they came up the path with a nice rainbow! Wow, I was shocked. Leave it to them to get one out of a heavily fished area midday. That evening Matthew and I fished Bidwell Ponds. We arrived after 8pm and it was already getting a little dark. The fish were rising very steadily near the inlet. I tied on a #20 BWO and hooked a fish on the second cast. I gave Matthew the rod and he stuck 5 out of 6 fish before dark! That was a great evening. The next morning Michael joined us back at Bidwell but the fish were not feeding as well. Michael did manage to get a big fish on a #20 micro mayfly but after a long fish on 6X the fish shot through the tunnel and broke him off. Michael was not very happy. On the way out we fished Pond 4 for warm water fish with bait and they got their fill of bluegills and small bass.
It was a short camping trip but it was lots of fun. Can’t wait to go again!
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Let me first state that this trip was as good as it gets as far as fishing trips with the boys. Po Po was incredibly gracious for inviting us to fish with him on his “home waters” of south western Montana. This was the boys first trip to Montana and the Big Sky state did not disappoint.
On day 1 we fished the Big Hole and it was slow day overall with smaller fish in the 8 to 13 inch range on golden stone dry flies. More whitefish were caught than trout. Day 2 we decided to take it easy and drove to Virginia City for some site seeing and gold panning. The boys had a wonderful time there and insisted all week in going back. Day 3 and 4 took us to the Ruby River. What a spectacular small trout stream. It was loaded with very hungry brown trout and even one cutthroat. We fished small nymphs and threw PMD’s to the occasional riser. Day 5 we floated the Beaverhead below the dam and it was a terrific float. The guide said we would only land 20% of the fish hooked but the boys managed significantly better than that. The fish in that river were big and powerful especially in that fast current. Because the boys fished 3 and 4 weight rods, very few fish were broken off and not many if any hooks were straightened. Day 6 found us on Wheat’s Ranch. The lake was fishing very slow but the Beaverhead side channel was putting out some great dry fly fishing. Matthew did land a 27 inch fish on the lake and Po Po landed a 23 inch brown in the side channel on a dry fly. Two great catches! Day 7 we took a hike to Agnes Lake for graylings. The hike consisted of 1.8 miles of steep uphill grade and it took just about everything we had in our lungs and leg muscles to make it to the lake! We were told it was a short hike (under a mile) to the lake but I think they were high on some fermented huckleberries. It took us an hour and 15 minutes to reach the lake and it was ALL uphill! Once there the lake was beautiful and teeming with willing graylings. The boys caught fish after fish on dries and it was one of the highlights of the trip. During the week we fished Poindexter Slough 4 or 5 evenings. The fishing was actually pretty good there. The boys caught more than their share of fish on small CDC PMD’s with 15 foot leaders and 6X tippet.
Although I brought 3 rods of mine with me, I never even strung one up. I fished a total of maybe and hour or 2 during the entire 7 days in MT. Po Po fished very little too and we both agree that it was either the best or one of the best trips we have ever had. Watching the boys fly cast and catch fish after fish was truly a pleasure to watch. I will remember this trip for a long time. Thanks big time to Po Po, he made it happen!
We booked, what we have been told in the past by other guides, the best month for reds in LA. The weather was good, light winds and partly cloudy skies the first 2 days, but the fish were not cooperative. They were very spooky and did not eat as well as they are known to. Our guide Capt. Mike Helmer was great and knowledgeable but not a fly fisher. We enjoyed our time with him but it would have been cool to have more shots fly fishing. Turns out that it’s not June for the best fishing but October/November according to guides at Uptown Anglers.
The boys caught many species of fish during this trip. Catfish, redfish, black drum, flounder, mullet, gar and speckled trout. They fished hard during the day and then fished some more when we got back to the dock… and then fished some more after dinner all the way to darkness! This was their daily ritual, fish fish and fish.
Highlights of the trip was Michael’s 8 pound red on fly rod (his first one on fly), Matthew’s puppy red on fly, double hook ups with 11 pound reds, first gar for the both of them and first peckled trout.
The boys hardy fished with the fly rod due to the tough fly rod conditions. They fished primarily with jigs and spoons on bait-casting and spinning gear.
We ate very well while in Lafitte for 3 days. Everything is fried! No veggies at all. If you ask the cajuns what vegetables they eat, their response is “onion rings”. One night we brought our fresh catch to the local restaurant for them to prepare. That was a delicious meal. They also served bread pudding that I thought was the best I ever tasted…..until we went to New Orleans the last night and ate at Muriel’s. OMG the bread pudding there was spectacular, easily THE best I’ve had.
In New Orleans our last night we spent some time with family members (2 uncles,3 cousins,2 nieces, 3 aunts). It was the largest gathering of Syns in quite a long while.
Hopefully we will get to go back there soon but until then we have lots of great memories of a fun trip.
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We spent Memorial Weekend at one of the boys favorite places to fish. When we arrived the weather was OK but turning sour rapidly. By the first night we where getting a good dose of wind and snow. The next morning we awoke to a perverbial winter wonderland! The scenery was beautiful however it did effect the fishing quite a bit.
Our last trip here was Memorial Weekend in 2011 and we experienced the same weather, rain, snow, hail and wind! However, last year the fishing was fantastic throught out. This year we could tell something was not the same. There were plenty of fish caught but no where near the amount of last year. Perhaps less fish in the ponds? Who knows. It was still a very enjoyable weekend with Po Po, Uncle Meng and cousin Mark joing us.
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Late spring is the start of our shad run in the valley rivers. This year if the weather stays good it should be a really good year. The boys fished for shad at Verona the first week of May and did well. The next week we fished our stretch of the river and did even better, They are now casting 30 ft shooting head set-ups with 2 weighted flies. They lack a little strength due to their age but they can cast it far enough to catch lots of shad.
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We heard from Uncle Wesley that the fishing was very good at Lake Oroville for bass so we decided to meet him up there Saturday afternoon. I’ve lived in Orland for over 20 years and have never made a trip to Lake Oroville. My loss because it is a beautiful lake! The launch ramp is one of the nicest if not THE nicest launch ramps I have ever seen.
The fishing was slow overall but the boys managed to land 20 fish between the both of them. They caught some coho salmon too which was a nice bonus. The bass were eating 1/8oz. jigs with brown grubs. The coho were chasing just about anything were threw for the bass. Too bad the shad fishing is coming up, I would have liked to take the boys there again.
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We are back from our first ever Cancun trip. What a whirlwind trip. It all started out at 2am Monday morning. We left for the airport at 3am and after parking the car, arrived at the ticket desk at 4:50am. All was well and the kids were anticipating a fun flight to Cancun…. THEN…it happened. The gal at the ticket counter said “You don’t have tickets”. I said that is impossible, I called to confirm everything last night and I was even given our seat assignments too AND I have an email here that shows my ticket number and confirmation number for this flight. She said there was a mistake at AA Advantage and somehow the ticketing was not set complete and we have no tickets. Are you kidding me?? To make a long (and incredibly frustrating, irritating and maddening ) story short, we missed our flight and rescheduled for the next morning. To see the looks on the kids face when they were told we had to go home was so sad, not to mention how mad we the parents were.
We finally get there late Tuesday night. We were all incredibly tired from waking up at 2 and 3 in the morning the past couple days so we looked around the hotel for a little bit and called it a night. We lost one day of tarpon fishing due to the airline mistake so we only had three days to fish.
Day one we fished for only 4 hours in the Cancun lagoon and did not see many fish. The boys fed one and stuck 2 tarpon that evening. No jumps.
The next day we travelled to Isla Blanca and it was tough fishing there too. The wind was blowing at least 15 mph and we saw very few fish. By Noon I decided we better change gears and get some fish for the boys before they lose their attention. We fished for barracuda on spinning gear the last hour of the trip and they did very well. Michael landed the biggest at 10 pounds but Matthew got a good one at around 6 pounds. Together they landed 5 barracuda and lost as many.
The last day we fished the lagoon again in Cancun and it started out VERY slow. We didn’t see a fish for 2 hours but then we drifted slowly into a protected small lagoon and noticed some tarpon rolling near the mangroves. This is when all the chaos started!
Matthew hooked one immediately but lost it because he did not strip strike the fish. It was now Michael’s turn. The same thing happened, hooked and lost due to not strip striking. Turns out that this would be the exact same scenario for the next hour! The fish would eat the fly and the boys would continuously trout set and not strip strike so all the fish were lost. By the time we got to fish # 16, Michael hooked the fish and gave a half hearted strip strike but this time the fish stayed on and lo and behold he landed his first ever tarpon! As I unhooked the fish, I noticed the fish was hooked on the top of the the tongue which is the softest part of the fish’s mouth. Basically Michael got LUCKY! In that one small lagoon the boys went 1 for 16! They just could not perform the strip strike because all their fishing life they have been setting the hook by lifting the rod. Apparently a habit that was too hard to break.
After the fishing died down there, we left for open water and it was Matthew’s turn on the deck. We saw rolling tarpon again and Matthew got a good shot at one. We again reminded him to strip strike. He made the cast and the fish came over to the fly and followed it for a few feet then decided to EAT IT! As you may have already guessed, Matthew raised the rod tip as if he was fishing for trout and stuck the tarpon momentarily before the fish swam off on it’s own accord. Matthew felt terrible, he knew what he had just done and he knew that was was probably his last shot for the trip.
So we ended that day 1 for 17. The good news is that we got lots of chances for tarpon and the boys got to see what tarpon fishing is all about. The bad news is Matthew did not land a tarpon and they need to work on their strip striking.
For me it was such a great feeling to see the boys get so excited about tarpon fishing. They said they got really nervous when stripping the fly in when they knew the tarpon were there. I told them that I’ve fished many days for tarpon and that nervous feeling NEVER goes away.
Overall a very fun and short trip to Cancun. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Great experience for the kids and lots of things for the kids to do after the daily fishing is over.
It’s 8am on Saturday morning and the boys woke up with an urge to fish for stripers. Uncle Wesley fished the Feather a couple days before and did OK but it had slowed way down yesterday. Since the boys needed some casting practice we loaded up the Lowe and trekked 1.5 hours to Boyd’s Pump on the Feather River. It was a wonderful spring day with temps in the 70’s with a slight breeze to 5mph. The launch was 80% full with some anglers already pulling out. We fished from Boyd’s all the way down past the Hwy 99 bridge and the only fish of the day came downstream from the bridge. The boys cast for many hours for only one fish for the trip. At least we did not get skunked! Everyone we talked to were having a tough day too.
Next stop…. Isla Blanca on the Yucatan Peninsula! We leave Monday morning and hopefully we will have some good stories to tell you when we return.
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The boys received Honor Roll again on Friday so for their “treat” we hired guide Darrin Deel to take us out on the Lower Sac for a day of trout fishing. The day started at 9AM at the launch ramp and after a bit of shuttling cars and trailers we where fishing by 10am.The day was a near perfect March morning with temps in the high 50’s that peaked at 77 degrees during midday. The boys hooked up almost immediately but the fish was lost due to a snag but it did not take long after that to bring a few average sized Lower Sac trout to the net. Most of the fish came on small black caddis’ and small dark mayflies. The fish ranged from 14 to 19 1/2 inches. The boys landed 13 fish and lost a few others but four of the fish landed were in the 19 inch range. We did see a very heavy caddis hatch but that did not deter the trout from eating our nymphs. Our guide Darrin is very capable and knowledgeable and knows the river well. He was very helpful with the boys and they very much appreciated it. We pulled out around 3:45pm and from there it was off to the Oasis Fun Center! I think they had as much fun there in 40 minutes as they did 6 hours on the river. We met the Kanemotos for dinner at China Buffet for a great ending to a great day with the boys.
During the boys’ President’s Day week vacation, Po Po took the boys to a private pond near Arbuckle. It was a very warm and often times breezy day but the fish were very cooperative. They said they landed 15 or so fish EACH and that included a few crappies. Their first ones. Some fish were caught on flies but most were caught on terminal tackle that included jerkbaits and rubber worms. What a great way to spend a day with Po Po!
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