Emma said she wanted to fish for salmon so we loaded up and headed to the river. Our evening trips with the boys have averaged only about 2 hours at a time. It’s been hot (weather wise) so we don’t need to melt out there if we don’t have to. On Emma’s first pass in the secret spot, she hooked and landed this beauty. It was well over 20 pounds and she needed very little help to land it. She is becoming quite the fisher gal.
The boys wanted to topwater fish on the river today to we fish for a couple hours with top water plugs and this squawfish crashed Michael’s lure.
Family was visiting from out of town (my brother, sister, Mother, and two nephews). They wanted to fish so took them out to Oroville in the big boat so that everyone could go. After fishing about an hour in the heat, I decided to call it a morning head back to the dock. The boat motor disagreed! I could not start the motor no matter what I did. We used the 9.9 hp kicker outboard to limp back to the dock. It took over an hour to get back the the launch ramp. The boys did land 3 fish so it was not a total loss.
We put over 1000 miles on the SUV in 5 days and never stayed in one place more than one night. Out first stop was San Francisco. We had a great lunch at Straits Cafe (one of out favorites) and then dinner at the Epic Steakhouse. Between Lunch and dinner we went to Fisherman’s Wharf and boarded the Jeremiah O’Brien. It is the last of the functioning Liberty Ships that was at the beach at Normandy. The kids really liked that ship. The next morning had brunch at the Ferry Building (love that place) and then onto Monterey. After a nice dinner at Schooners right on the water, we walked the wharf, found some crepes for dessert and then called it a night. The next morning we drove to Solvang. I did not think it was going to be that far but Solvang is only 39 miles from Santa Barbara! It was worth the drive. We ate lunch and dinner there that day and the food was great. The pastries there are superb and we should have brought more home. We ate the Danish pancakes for breakfast the next morning and could not get enough of them. Delicious! We left Solvang after breakfast and headed up the coast. Our first stop, Pismo Beach. The kids played on the beach for a couple hours then we headed farther north to Morrow Bay. I had to stop and eat at Giovanni’s Fish Market and Restaurant. I buy fresh fish and sushi items from them (Fed Ex next day air) and it’s always super fresh and top notch. From there we were off to San Simeon. We ate dinner at the Indigo Moon in Cambria that night and it was very good. The next morning we took our tour of the Castle and it was fascinating. The adults loved it but the kids were a little bored. After a good lunch at the Castle (Hearst beef burgers) we headed home. However since we were driving by Manteca, I surprised the kids by stopping at BassPro Shop. From there we headed home and that completed over 1000 miles in 5 days.
We decided last minute to fish the hex hatch at Almanor. I got the word this week that the hex was going off and I had a rare weekend with no plans so off we went. For the first time ever at Lake Almanor I rented a boat slip and boy was it a great call! It was so nice to drive into the slip late at night, tie off and just walk up to truck. In the mornings not having to launch was also a treat. I could get use to this!
We got to Plumas Pines on Thursday at 4pm and got settled (launched the boat and checked into our room) and had a great dinner at the restaurant. We motored out at 7pm and fished for smallmouth bass until about 8:30pm.
About that time we started seeing the hex here and there and before you know it they were hatching pretty good. The boys threw nymphs on T200 lines at first and the missed 2 grabs. Then we started seeing the fish boil on the duns so they grabbed their dry lines and cast to the boils. Michael hooked up with a feisty fish that took him for a ride! When the fight was over Matthew netted Michael’s 23 inch brown trout. They were so happy that we wasted lots of time taking some pictures, releasing the fish and chatting about how great that fish was. By the time we were ready to fish again, the activity on the water stopped and there were no more feeding fish on the surface.
The next day we fished looked for rising trout in numerous spots but did not find any so we fished for smallmouth the rest of the morning. The boys managed to land about a dozen fish but they were not that big. I bet the full moon shut them down a bit. We came in for lunch and dinner then headed back out for the hex hatch in the evening. The wind usually dies down after the sun goes off the water but this night it did not do so. We stayed out there and waited for the hex to come off in the wind and it did so later than usual and not very strong. We landed 2 that night (one on a cricket and one on a nymph under and indicator) and both fish were beautiful browns. Both boys were as happy as I’ve seen them. They really enjoy fishing and seeing the hex hatch.
The next morning we fished for bass again but it was super slow fishing. They got skunked for the morning! We decided to pull out early and we were home by 11:30am.
It’s been at least 3 years since I’ve fished the hex hatch and had forgotten how fun it was and with the boat in a slip, it makes fishing until dark much easier.
Early this week the boys spent a few days at Mo and Po’s and Po took them to a local pond to bass fish. The fishing was good with matthew landing another big bass on his crawdad Texas rigged worm.
On Wednesday, PoPo took them to a private pond on Redding with Fly Shop guide Matt Stover. PoPo fished it the week earlier and did very well. This time he was generous and kind enough to take the boys. Turned out to be a marathon fishing event. They fished from daybreak to DARK with a short break in the afternoon to have lunch and play at the FunCenter. They said they hooked lots of fish and half of them were on topwater flies. Michael hooked and lost a fish that PoPo estimated at a minimum of 7-8 pounds but could have been a double digit. What a great day for PoPo and the boys and Matt was awesome.
Uncle Wesley joined us for a striper scouting trip at the Butte City launch ramp and it looked as though the day was going to be great. No wind, not too hot and good moon phase. Well we were wrong. We fished many great looking spots with only one striper to hand. The boys fished really hard, hitting all the fishy spots with nearly pin point accuracy with their bait casters but to no avail. It was really good to get Uncle Wesley on the boat again and it was good to see some possible new salmon water for this upcoming season.
The boys wanted to go fishing but it was very windy. I said lets try it and see if we can even cast. We launched at Hamilton City and headed to the gravel bar. It was a stiff SSE wind so it made for OK casting for right handers. However the wind was strong enough to turn the boat sideways in the current. Anyway, Matthew hooked up with in a few minutes and this fish peeled off line like a big hen shad would. However it kept fighting very well through out the fight so I figured it might have been a really good sized hen. Turns out to be a good size striper.
Not long later, Michael hooked into a large male/small female shad and that was all they wanted to do in the wind. On the way back to the dock they cast plugs to the bank for stripers but no takers. About and hour on the water then a Subway sandwich dinner.
Emma gets Happy Feet… https://vimeo.com/67441446
Mathew – Winner of the First Annual Syn Trout Fishing Tournament Biggest Fish (12 inch Brown plus 10 inch handicap)
Michael Syn – Winner of the Second fish out of the Whole Award
