NorCal Fishing BS

Shit can’t be worse than that little cot/tent you slept in at Slickrock!

 

I just went ice fishing for the first time last week up in Idaho. It was completely different than any other type of fishing I’ve done and I had a great time! When I move back to Auburn I’ll have to go out to Caples and give it a shot. Good looking set up you had!

 

That shit was cold that night! haha. Yeah that cot tent works great! My brother actually wants it so I'm selling it to him. Going to double my new pop up ice tent as a regular camping tent for awhile... see how it goes.

 

Ah man that's awesome! I've always wanted to head out to Idaho/Wyoming area and do some ice fishing. Yeah its a good time! Especially when you have the right gear. There are a few lakes that freeze out here in CA... a few up by Mt Shasta, some of the lakes north of Truckee, and of course the lakes out by Kirkwood. Idk if Ill be able to do it all this season, but I really want to get out and explore some of these other lakes in the different parts of the state. Lots of good fishing to be had!

 

Went up to a new part of CA I’ve never been before (near Portola) and caught some trout through the ice.

Weather was perfect and the fish were active. Lost a couple really nice fish and caught a few more.

 

how big are those?

 

A few were under 12 inches and a couple were over. Didn’t measure but should have. I lost one just under the hole that was fooookin HUGE. Definitely a few pounds in weight. 99 percent sure it was a brown trout too. Was so pissed. I broke one off but never saw it, so I wasn’t too mad, but this one was right at the bottom of the hole... gave a head shake and my jig popped right out of its mouth. Half my arm went into the hole trying to get him. Wasn’t very happy. Lol

 

ouch...

 

to bring this back to the Toyota Tacoma; i filled up my gas-tank and drove to visit some lakes. one in particular. tried to drive around it somewhat to look for Kayak Launch spots. the non obvious spots would be damn near impossible to find mucking about in the dark. i got it done in the daytime and mentally marked the locations.

game on!! the recent warm weather trend is a bit early, but come on SPRING!

 

It got up to around 80 degrees here in Santa Rosa yesterday..... weird as hell. As much as I love warm weather and am eager to get on the spring bite, I'm nervous we are going to have a rough year with little rain and an earlier than usual warm-up. Before we know it, guys will be out fishing beds by the first of February.

 

Nice man. It's funny. I moved from the NE to Cali so I'd never have to go ice fishing or ice climbing again. lol

 

I moved from the heart of the Midwest to CA and never could shake the ice fishing piece of it. Lol. That’s probably due to my pure crazy love for fishing and nothing else though. I’m not the best trout fisherman, so it’s been fun to learn how to catch them in open water and through the ice!

 

i'm watching the weather..hoping for a sunny day nestled within our week of showers to try a lake.

anyone want to hit New Melones? hahha..

 

Story time (if you care to read about it)...............


Went ice fishing Saturday at Caples lake. Got up semi-early, packed my shit and tossed my dog in the backseat and we were off. Got up there about noon. Weather wasn't terrible, but it was a little windy and the snow-fall was on and off. Had my insulated shack, heater, food, etc etc etc so I was ready to stay deep into the night.

The bite was on and off most of the afternoon, with a BIG school of trout coming in right around dusk but I couldn't hook any. I had a couple good hits but for some reason couldn't hook them. My goal this winter has been to nab a lake trout or huge brown, so I had some bigger baits tied on this time around (which may be the reason I couldn't hook those fish... they were too small for the lures). As night fell, the wind picked up. Wasn't too bad, but it was enough for me to go out and anchor down two sides of the shack with straps.

"Perfect" I thought. "should bode well for the rest of the night as this wind picks up."

For the next hour, all was well as the wind kept blowing harder and harder. Mix that wind with the ludicrous cold (around 18 degrees), and it felt like the Alaskan frontier. By 7:30, the winds were at least 15-20 mph if I had to guess and the snow was now constant. Music and heater on, dim lights lit, dog sleeping, life was SWEET PEACHY. At about 7:45, I decided I wanted to make some decaf coffee but realized my water pot was in the truck about 100 yards away. I put the spotlight on my forehead, woke up my pup, and off into the abyss we went. From the time we left my shack and made it to the truck, the wind seemed like it had picked up even more but I wasn't concerned (thinking the straps were keeping it hugged tight to the ice).

Back at the truck, I got my pot and some other goods and back down the rocky bank to the lake we went. As we started walking down the bank, I looked up with my headlamp to see where my shack was and (insert audible gasp)............ it was NOT where it was supposed to be. Yeah, my shack had been lifted out of its spot and was blowing across the lake like a kite in a windy day.

Panicking, I start running to the shack (a solid 80 yards away and still moving) and am able to keep it pinned while I drag it back across the ice to where all of my other stuff is. Mind you, its pitch black, its cold as balls, the wind is howling, and the snow is coming down HARD. Once I get back to where all my stuff is, I start trying to piece together what all took off with the tent and realized a few things were missing such as; my nice knife, sunglasses, several lights, and a container of jigs. What's left at camp is in disarray and already being covered in snow.

Realizing that ice fishing is now over for the evening after watching my shack almost fly out to space, I start to get to work packing up. The shack gets pinned first with some rocks, then I take my dog back to the truck to keep her out of the wind. Once I'm back at the site, I start throwing all my shit into the bags I have with me and tossing them on the sled. Fishing poles, propane, tackle, everything except the auger and shack gets tossed on the sled and is pulled back to the shoreline. Knowing that I still have to carry all the shit up the steep, rocky bank, I drop it all off at the bank and return back to the site. Next up: looking for all my stuff that blew away with the shack. Luckily everything that had blown away with the shack was dark-colored, so I was able to spot all the items within 5 minutes - sticking out of the snow.

Putting the shack back in the bag was the hardest part of it all. After 10 minutes of getting whooped by the wind and snow, I was finally able to get the tent properly put down, rolled up, and stuck back into the bag. Right before heading back to the bank with the shack and auger on the sled, I did one last search with the headlamp to make sure I didn't miss anything, then it was back to the shore.

At the shore, I started grabbing gobs of stuff and dropping it off at the truck one by one. By the last item (the shack), I was totally out of breath and couldn't feel my hands or face. I was able to load everything ok and started up the truck while I did one last check around the area of the truck. Sat in the truck for awhile and took a big breather. Warmed up, got my dog cozy, and slowly unbundled down to some comfortable driving clothes.

Definitely sucked I didn't get into more fish, but had an interesting night nonetheless. Just thankful nothing got lost completely and my dog and I were good. Ended up booking a hotel in Jackson that night and explored some new fishing spots Sunday, so it kinda sorta worked out.


The End.

 

Dude....

you’re doing “California “ all wrong. Haha.
What a string of events!

you are not selling me on ice fishing....

 

Don't worry, its FUN! SO SO SO FUN. lol

In all seriousness, I definitely took some lessons from Saturday night so if I'm in that situation again, I shouldn't be dealing with a tent blowing across the ice. The mixture of snow falling, wind, and bitter cold made it a horrible time. Usually its not that bad up there, so next time ill have to better plan weather-wise.

Kinda funny though.... my gut Saturday morning told me to stay home and take a break from driving/fishing. Should have listened to it and got some shit done around the house instead.

 

Never gone hard for sturgeon before, but with nothing else going on I've been pumping lots of ghost shrimp and throwing my hook out. Not even a bite, and right when I give up and say I'm waiting for halibut season my buddy catches three this last week. So I get excited and we go out yesterday. Sturgeon fishing from a boat is kinda boring lol. Markin big fish on the bottom but no takers. Finally get a bite, set the hook, and the rod loads up and bends down. Game on, for about 1.5 seconds until the hook popped out. I am yet to catch a fish in 2021 and I'm starting to get itchy lol

 

You must not be wearing your hat

 

Had to drive a bit this weekend again for some fish, but we found some. Just outside of Sacramento we found a place to fish and between three of us, we got around 15-17. They demolished the chatterbait all day.

 

Nice fish! I bought some chatterbaits last year, in case i ever go bass fishing again, lol