Syns, Twins and Fins

 

I decided to take the boys to Black Butte Lake for some fly casting practice since they have not cast a fly rod in months. They need to develop more strength for the week we are going to spend in Isla Blanca (Yucatan) and Lafitte (LA.).  They were casting 8 weight floating lines to designated targets and I wanted to see how far and how accurate they are. Well, they are a little rusty. However, while Matthew was on the bow casting flies to “tailing fish”, Michael threw a rubber worm towards the bank  and scored with this 3 pounder fish. No skunky monkey for us considering we were only on the water for less than an hour.

 

  The boys celebrated their 10th birthday on December 27th and we spent the afternoon at the Redding Fun Center. We were joined by Po Po, Mo Mo, Pop B, Aunty Eileen, Mr. Ansel, Uncle Jon, Aunt Keely and Zany Zane. Between Laser Tag and Race Cars, I’m not sure if the adults had more fun than the kiddies! What a great way to end the year and we are grateful for such a wonderful family.

 

This morning the boys got up at 5:30 am to fish our last day of salmon fishing for the year. The season closes tomorrow but with church and honey-dos, we won’t be fishing. It was cold this morning but not as cold as last weekend. The boys dressed warm and with sipping hot chocolate on the boat they were perfectly toasty.

The fish bit at 9am and Matthew played the fish half way to the boat while Michael was anxiously waiting his turn. Michael took over and played the fish all the way to the net. It was so heavy that I had a little trouble getting it onto the deck. I knew it was over 30 pounds but when the digital scale read 37.5 pounds, it was hugs and high fives all around! The boys have been wanting to top their large fish of the season and they finally did. My 3 largest salmon on my boat this entire season was caught by the boys (26,26 and 37.5)! This fish was an exceptionally fresh river fish, lots of scales and meat as orange as can be.

What a great way to end the salmon season.

 

Only one more weekend left and the spectacular 2011 salmon season comes to an end. If we don’t head out next weekend, this fish will mark the end of a great season.   We were invited to fish with Mr. Mike and was told to meet at the launch ramp at 6am. The outside temp when I got up in the morning was 24.5 degrees. By the time we got to the launch it had warmed to 27 degrees.   The boys were dressed and ready to go by 5:15am and we were off to get fresh donuts and saw a great view of the lunar eclipse by 5:30.    The morning was cold but at least there was no wind. We backtrolled plugs and by 8am, Michael had hooked into a good fish. He set the hook good and played the fish for several minutes but it just melted away. Michael was not a happy camper.   About an hour later Matthew hooked a fish and played it to the boat like a pro. Turned out to be the only fish landed in our boat AND all the other boats around us. A nice 15 pounder.  I BBQed it for the boys that night to complete a great day!

For almost a year the boys have been waiting to go back to Eagle Canyon Trout Ponds. The weather was spectacular for this time of year with no rain and wind and temps in the low 60’s! The fishing however was not stellar but still OK overall. The boys managed to land some very large rainbows on flies they tied themselves just days earlier.   We were joined by Papa John, Uncle Meng and cousin Mark. Mark landed the fish of his life! It was an estimated 18 pound rainbow! What a way to finish the day Mark!   We all had a great time and we will again look forward to it next season.

This is why the Syn Twins–Michael and Mathhew are awesome fishermen.   As a good friend once told me,  “..you are only as good a fisherman as you can cast,  everything else is bullshit if you can’t cast….”    Those are Albright 350 grain intergrated shootingheads on 8 weight rods cast by little people to within 6 inches of the bank.    Check out Michaels back handed casting and Mathews Striper Strip.

Meng Syn

As I was packing the truck for our trip to the delta, last minute Emma decided to grace us with her presence! I packed her clothes and off we went. We met Uncle Wesley at the launch ramp the and he joined us for a great day on the water. The weather was near perfect but the fish did  not cooperate as well as I thought they might. First thing in the morning Matthew hooked and landed a 4.5 pound fish on a top water fly called the Pole Dancer. It was a spectacular grab! He had 2 other blow ups but they did not stick.  We caught fish here and there but we travelled  all through the west and north delta looking for fish.  Emma cast a swimbait all day and never got a bump. Emma was being very quiet all day and on the drive home she started to cough and had a runny nose. She must have been feeling sick most of the day. Poor Emma.   Towards the end of the day Michael hooked into a  good size fish and it gave him a great fight. The fish put him on the reel and  put a good bend on the Orvis Hydros 7 weight. It was a beautiful 7 plus pounder  and his largest delta striper on a fly! It was a great way to end the day.

The fishing yesterday was TOUGH!!! HOWEVER, Capt. Santucci wanted us to stay with top water all morning and that only yielded us 2 LMB. 

We finally went to subsurface (11:30am) and by now the wind was picking up a bit so they boys did not fly cast AT ALL. He put us on swim baits and that produced 2 small stripers. We fished areas that he said produced BIG fish and that 20+ pounders are caught here all the time. We never got a bump in those spots. It was an off day for sure.

 The places we fished looked really fishy and in some areas the depth was 8 to 14 feet. So at about 2pm I suggested to use fly for one of the boys. I cast for Matthew and he landed 1 striper.

At this time Michael had not caught a fish yet and he was fishing hard all day. So Michael came to the back of the boat with me and I cast the fly for him and he landed his first fish (small striper).

 All that being said… I think Capt. Steve is an excellent guide. He is VERY friendly and a gentle man. We talked the entire trip, (I don’t like to talk!) and he was very complimenting about the boys.  The first stop we made he gave the boys top water lures and wanted them to walk the dog. They both made a cast and started walking the dog… like pros! Steve could not believe his eyes. He kept saying he can’t walk the dog any better than that. Of course the boys do that all the time here on the river so they know how to do that.

 Anyway, back to Steve. He also fishes top water for a long time. He said the big fish crash top water baits all morning long. He also likes be in 30-40 feet of water and cast to a shelf on the bank. He said that is why he gets so many big fish because of the deep water so close by.

 We did not fish Discovery Bay like I wanted. We left the dock and drove about a half an hour before we stopped in a slough that he said he landed two 5 pound LMB last week. Matthew got one there and that was it. We then headed to Franks Tract and then to False River then to Brannon Island then to a side channel off the Sac. By now it was after 2 pm and he said he wanted to fish Broad but I told him that we can work our way back to the launch if he wants because I knew how far it was.

On the way back he sucked up a weed in his jet and it was not good. He had to get in the water to rake the weeds off the bottom of the grate. I have never seen a guy do that before!

 Overall it was a great learning experience and I got a lot of info on San Luis too. He is a super nice guy and I’m glad I got to spend the day with him.

 BTW, have you ever seen so much STUFF on the water?????!!!! I’ve NEVER seen it that bad.

 

Emma graced us with her pressence a few times the past 2 weeks!

The salmon fishing has just started to slow but prior to that, the fishing was amazing. Usually full limits for my clients and friends and when I took the kids, they never got less than 7 hook ups for a couple hours of fishing. The kids love to fish for squawfish so during the salmon outings we found time to hunt for the “junk” fish. The action is non stop and Emma loves it as you can see by her smile! 

Uncle Wesley joined us on Sunday and the kids really enjoyed his company.

Kids are off to Disneyland this week so no fishing for them until the 15th….. STRIPERS on the delta with Capt. Steve Santucci!

What a salmon weekend! Took the boys out on Thursday evening and they hooked 7 fish and landed 5–well actually Matthew hooked all 7!!!   Michael never got a bite.

Friday I was guiding 2 new clients and they went 3 for 14. Great day for hooking fish but the gal really had a hard time keeping them on.

Yesterday I fished 4 anglers and we went 8 for 21!   Again they could not get them to the boat. We had 7 or 8 other grabs too.

This evening I took all three kids out and we went 2 for 2. Matthew hooked both of the fish and one of them was a big 26 pounder. His biggest salmon and it was hooked and landed with ZERO assistance. I think he is ready to fish for some saltwater species! It is always great getting Emma to go out with us!

 WS