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Posted by Cucamonga Keith on 20:46:20 03/02/03
I camped out in the back of my van at the lake overnight Friday. Ted and Zac(aka; Wide Open) were there too in their motor homes and we sat around the fire and BS'ed until 11:00. It was cold that night but didn't rain either day.
I launched ahead of the pack at 6:00am trolling a small blue/chrome/orange Shad Rap and a silver Kastmaster behind a flasher rig. I pick up what I though was a brook trout about 50 yards from the launch ramp. A lake employee told me later it was probably a hybrid variety of Brown trout they stock there. Anyway, he was only around a pound and a half and lip hooked so I shook him off the hook and back into the lake without touching him. I started out again and got bit at the point of trout island for a nicer Rainbow (Lassen steelhead?) that looked like he may have been a little over 2 lbs. Now I had to make a decision whether to keep him or not. It was only 6:20AM, the weigh-in was at 3:00pm and I didn't want to paddle right back in to put him on ice. Also, I knew the winners in the tourney 2 weeks ago all had fish in the high 3 to low 4 pound range so I shook him off too and moved on (more on this later).
Picked up 3 more Rainbows around a pound or less in the Santiago flats area on the troll. Paddled around for another hour or so for a big nada and noticed several PB'ers slaying 'em on bait so I rigged for night crawlers and Power bait (jeeze, I really hate messin' with that power bait crap). Zac showed up and after checking out what I was up to, respectably paddled on trolling a needlefish behind flashers on lead core. After an hour or so Ted came by, dropped an anchor and watched me trying to drift power bait and night crawlers(didn't bring an anchor) for zippo while he picked up a couple of fish. All of sudden, the worm rig starts stripping line and as I set the hook it gets pretty heavy and I'm tellin' Ted, yeah baby it's my money fish! Cha-Ching, etc., etc.. Turns out to be a bass and they don't count so I flip him back in too. I get one more bass, the PBer's are falling asleep in their boats and so after an hour more of nothing I troll back to the ramp get a snack and shake hands with the boss.
After longingly checking out a guy at the launch ramp with a 3.01 lb. Rainbow trout (the eventual winner) I felt justified in releasing that fish early in the morning and headed out again to troll, cast and soak everything in the Cucamonga Keith arsenal for 2 more skinny rainbows that I summarily farmed at the boat. I ran into Mark Olson and his golden retriever on water and have to say it's impressive when the Ocean Kayak rep gets in a yak with his dog and actually fishes at an event.
Pulled back in to the ramp at 3:30, missing the results and the raffle. Ted said I hadn't won when he checked what my number was but inquired how much that trout I caught early the morning weighed and.... you guessed it.... I probably threw back 8th or 9th place in the jackpot since 10th was a 1.9 something..... Doh!
Hey, winning 8th or 9th place in the jackpot; maybe $50. Campfires, fishing talk and spending the day paddling around fishing with friends in beautiful California weather; priceless! Thank you Mike King(Gripper Mike) for a great event.
See you on the water,
Cucamonga Keith
BTW: The waders worked well, were very comfortable and I don't believe they will fill with water if you wear them correctly(I'll test this later), but like others have said, I can't think of a reason I would need to wear them in saltwater.
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