{"id":3965,"date":"2025-11-28T03:40:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T03:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/?p=3965"},"modified":"2025-11-28T03:55:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T03:55:47","slug":"wild-horse-res-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/?p=3965","title":{"rendered":"Wildhorse Res. in mid November"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There was a short window of decent weather at Wildhorse Res., so Benson, Meng, and I made a last-minute decision to make the eight-hour drive to the lake. Meng was coming from San Jose, so his drive was a bit longer. Turns out that without traffic or road construction, we can make it in about 7.5 hours. Benson and I drove from Chico to Elko after work on Tuesday and pulled into the Shilo at 9:30 p.m.\u20146.5 hours door to door. After a solid night\u2019s sleep, we headed to the lake at 7:00 a.m. and were fishing by 8:00.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A light breeze greeted us, and I immediately had a good feeling about the morning. On my first cast, I hooked a fish but lost it quickly. On the very next cast, I landed a fat, healthy 4.5-pounder\u2014the exact kind of trout we drove all that way for.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fishing stayed consistent throughout the morning. We met up with Meng later; he\u2019d been fishing another area and had done well too.<\/p>\n

This trip, Benson and I stayed in the State Park cabins. They\u2019re simple structures, but very clean and comfortable, with good heat, a mini-fridge, microwave, dining table, couch, three beds, and a bathroom. Meng brought his Revel Sprinter and camped in that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We started fishing at 7:00 a.m. Thursday. The morning was decent, but the afternoon was absolutely lights-out\u2014cast after cast of grabs and hookups that lasted for hours, right up until dark.<\/p>\n

Friday morning was good as well. We were on the water at 6:00 a.m. and stayed until late morning before heading home around 11:00.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said before that the Wildhorse trout are the highest-quality trout I\u2019ve ever seen. A typical 20-inch trout elsewhere might weigh around two pounds; at Wildhorse, that same length is easily four plus pounds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We kept a few fish again, and for the first time we saw their stomachs packed full of snails. Spring fish don\u2019t have snails in them, and even in past fall trips\u2014though never this late\u2014I\u2019d never seen this many. Might need to rethink the fly box for future trips.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fishing with Benson and my cousin Meng was a real gift\u2014plenty of laughs, good company, and the kind of moments you don\u2019t take for granted anymore. We aren\u2019t spring chickens, and it\u2019s a reminder to make trips like this happen while we still can.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And as always, every trip to Wildhorse includes dinners at Amy\u2019s Bar and Grill. They make a great burger and outstanding tater tots, and with their dining-room Wi-Fi, it\u2019s the perfect place to catch up on life back home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We can\u2019t wait to get back in the spring, aiming for that window right after ice-out in April or early May. In the meantime, I\u2019ll be turning my attention to local trout, the Oroville bass bite, and\u2014fingers crossed\u2014a run-in with a trophy striper on the river.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a short window of decent weather at Wildhorse Res., so Benson, Meng, and I made a last-minute decision to make the eight-hour drive to the lake. Meng was coming from San Jose, so his drive was a bit … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3965"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4033,"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3965\/revisions\/4033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synstwinsfins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}