Greg Madrigal
05-11-2007, 12:53 AM
WARNING-LONG POST!!!!
This is part 2 of my recent road trip to see family. My wife Julie and I flew to Seattle, rented a car, stayed there a couple of days, than began our 12 day drive south. It was fishing heaven....
So after driving South out of Oregon, we drove through some gorgeous redwood forests, then bumped into about 100 of these fellas...Roosevelt elk. These elk came close to extinction around 1912 there were only about 126 of these animals, a decade later only approximately 12. Teddy Roosevelt lead the effort to protect them from extinction.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260316.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260319.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260317.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260311.jpg
We found this pristine beach area with a f/w creek running out of the mountains and onto the beach.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260296.jpg
Of course, I had to fish said creek.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260300.jpg
I was rewarded with 3 agressive, native, cookie-cutter, baby-'bows.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260303.jpg
We turned East onto the 299 that takes you through some very beautiful mountains called the Trinity Alps. Here's a quick shot from the car. Doesn't do it any justice....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260323.jpg
Pretty soon, (well, around 30 miles of windy mountain roads of the 78 to Redding, where we were headed!) We were driving along side the Trinity River around dusk, so, of course, I had to stop to see.... I fished a lonely campground area, for several small trout on spinners. They were spunky and fun on my lightweight 4lb. setup. It was too dark and I was too busy to take any pics...Sorry
2 days later, I hit the road with Julie's uncle, Dave. He's a cool, seasoned fisherman. We drove separately north, towards Lake Shasta, KNOWING, that I would outlast him fishing for the day. The day was cool early but warmed up into the low 80's.
I literally gasped as Mt. Shasta came into view for my first glimpse at the immense white goliath. Note the sweet ***** (and completely safe) moving shot. That's Dave in the Van ahead.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270343.jpg
We drove towards Dunsmuir, a famous fly area on the Sacramento River. We pulled over at Sims Rd. and walked down the RR trax looking for a suitable fishing hole. The sides were steep, and the poison oak and blackberries were ABUNDANT! Note the poison oak in the foreground in the pic below :evil: :evil: :evil: I HATE that Junk!!!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270335.jpg
We found this nice lil hole where I p/u 5 cookie-cutter native fish all on my trusty P/M spinner.
All fish were caught in the upper r/h area under that lil cave like rock area. Beginner's Note: Trout LOVE to hang out just below the swift water, in eddies and/or deep pools. They wait there to ambush things floating down the river.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270336.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270326.jpg
Dave, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky. He caught the skunkola. :skunk:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270329.jpg
Found 10 of these cool critters near, or in a tiny tributary creek-California newts....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P42703331.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270331.jpg
We parted ways around noon after a roadside sandwich lunch, and I headed North to Lake Siskyou. A nice lady at the liquor store in Mt. Shasta recommended I go there. She was too cool, cuz it was going off!
I drove to the dam area, and saw that the fish were jumping outta the water constantly. There was a hatch, or several, going on right then.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280348.jpg
I couldn't get anything on lures. :x So I was forced to try PB. It worked, and I bagged 5 nice holdovers and farmed several others before having to head back 4 a BBQ that evening. I HATE it when something interrupts my fishing. Pesky family BBQ's! LOL!!
Team 57!!! :!:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280364.jpg
A Fatty....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280365.jpg
Some other beauties....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280359.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280357.jpg
I couldn't just drive right past Lake Shasta w/o saying I fished there, Soooooo....Caught this 1 lowly spotted, my first ever, at a bridge piling on a P/M gold spinner....DANA, TAKE NOTE- There's a hole in my t just below the emblem....What the?! LOL
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280376.jpg
So, the next day, we head to Davis, near Sacramento, and visited Julie's Cousin Mitch, and his family. They have the 2 most ADORAB:E girls EVER!!!! Sophia, 7, and Cloe, 5. There mom, Jolee was very thoughtful, and suggested we picnic & fish at the UC Davis Arboreum for carp.
So we did. Using corn on a circle hook, we began fishing.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290400.jpg
We didn't have to wait 5 minutes b4 Sophia's rod went BEND-O! She was all excited-Almost as excited as me, since I had never carp fished before. Now, does she look proud or what?!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290405.jpg
Me-N-Chloe....Can you say "ADORABLE?!"(HER, not me)
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290415.jpg
We then drove to San Francisco to visit Alcatraz, which was pretty cool. We even saw a former 4 year inmate there, talking to a film crew. I listened in ans even asked him some questions. Pretty once-in-a-lifetime... We then drove to San Jose and Santa Cruz to see her other cousins, Steve, and Bruce.
Misc shots on this leg:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5010492.jpg
Does this hat make my butt look big?
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290438.jpg
Pfeifer State Park....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5020533.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5020532.jpg
We then drove thru Big Sur, and east up some crazy ***** backroad on sheer cliffs w/o guardrails and nary 2 lanes to pass on!
We were headed through Fort Hunter-Ligget. It's an army base abour 45 minutes west of Paso Robles. My sis works there and lives 10 minutes away. This is God's country folks. We saw 2 coyotes and a deer just on our way thru. They also have boar, and turkey, plus, some sweet ***** fishing. Both Lake San Antonio, and Nacimiento are within 30 minutes of her. However, we didn't even go that far. The Fort has 7 fishing lakes/ponds and a river. All are filled with bass and/or trout.
Day 1- I had to sign in at the environmental office where they give you a triplicate form to fill out. They wanna know where u go, how long u were there, and how many fish were kept AND released. Then you have to drop the form off at another office on your way out. They say it is to help improve the fishing on base.
:roll:
I fished this lil tiny 1/2 acre pond named The Gravel Pit, that was full of bass, and a few gills. These things were DUMB & HUNGRY. My favorite qualities in a fish. :wink: :D
I was ble to try all my bass stuff out here. Note the many different lures in the mouths of these fish. Honestly, most lures were virgins b4 this day! LOL~!!!!
For the record, in 4 hours, I CPR'd 19 bass, farmed many more, and CPR'd 4 gills. God, this was fun!!!! :D :D :D :D
The Gravel Pit-The honey hole was the farthest left cove.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5040594.jpg
I started off with a top water hula popper and was taken aback by the ferocity of these fish! They were hitting it almost every cast!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030565.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030560.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030562.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030561.jpg
I then swith to a Mirrashad in green.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030566.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030571.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030570.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030569.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030568.jpg
I even tried this cute lil lure...and look what happend!LOL!!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030575.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030574.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030573.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030586.jpg
Then, I finally switched to the fire colored MirraShad
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030583.jpg
I nailed the biggest fish up till then on this lure. So as I'm bringing it in, this large LMB that had been right in front of me the whole morning(Showing no interest in any of my tasty offerings of course :idiot:) strted freaking out wondering what there was to eat that his hooked rival was chompin' on. So I had a bright idea... :idea:I grabbed my other pole rigged with a mini-jig (I have my 2-pole stamp, don't worry....)and threw it right at the mouth of my hooked fish. I think the other bass thought that he dropped something, and was obliged to pick it up! DOUBLE BEND-O!!!!! :banana:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030580.jpg
You shoulda seen it....1 grown man acting like a silly kid trying to snap off some pics with 2 bent poles in 1 hand & 2 bass hugging!!LOL
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030576.jpg
Turns out the biggest bass o-the day was the one taunting me there in the shallows...
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030581.jpg
That's all Folks. I really hope you guys & gals enjoyed my 3 hour long post just 1 PERCENT of how much I enjoyed Our Road Trip....Thank you for your patience Julie.... :)
GM
This is part 2 of my recent road trip to see family. My wife Julie and I flew to Seattle, rented a car, stayed there a couple of days, than began our 12 day drive south. It was fishing heaven....
So after driving South out of Oregon, we drove through some gorgeous redwood forests, then bumped into about 100 of these fellas...Roosevelt elk. These elk came close to extinction around 1912 there were only about 126 of these animals, a decade later only approximately 12. Teddy Roosevelt lead the effort to protect them from extinction.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260316.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260319.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260317.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260311.jpg
We found this pristine beach area with a f/w creek running out of the mountains and onto the beach.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260296.jpg
Of course, I had to fish said creek.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260300.jpg
I was rewarded with 3 agressive, native, cookie-cutter, baby-'bows.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260303.jpg
We turned East onto the 299 that takes you through some very beautiful mountains called the Trinity Alps. Here's a quick shot from the car. Doesn't do it any justice....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4260323.jpg
Pretty soon, (well, around 30 miles of windy mountain roads of the 78 to Redding, where we were headed!) We were driving along side the Trinity River around dusk, so, of course, I had to stop to see.... I fished a lonely campground area, for several small trout on spinners. They were spunky and fun on my lightweight 4lb. setup. It was too dark and I was too busy to take any pics...Sorry
2 days later, I hit the road with Julie's uncle, Dave. He's a cool, seasoned fisherman. We drove separately north, towards Lake Shasta, KNOWING, that I would outlast him fishing for the day. The day was cool early but warmed up into the low 80's.
I literally gasped as Mt. Shasta came into view for my first glimpse at the immense white goliath. Note the sweet ***** (and completely safe) moving shot. That's Dave in the Van ahead.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270343.jpg
We drove towards Dunsmuir, a famous fly area on the Sacramento River. We pulled over at Sims Rd. and walked down the RR trax looking for a suitable fishing hole. The sides were steep, and the poison oak and blackberries were ABUNDANT! Note the poison oak in the foreground in the pic below :evil: :evil: :evil: I HATE that Junk!!!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270335.jpg
We found this nice lil hole where I p/u 5 cookie-cutter native fish all on my trusty P/M spinner.
All fish were caught in the upper r/h area under that lil cave like rock area. Beginner's Note: Trout LOVE to hang out just below the swift water, in eddies and/or deep pools. They wait there to ambush things floating down the river.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270336.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270326.jpg
Dave, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky. He caught the skunkola. :skunk:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270329.jpg
Found 10 of these cool critters near, or in a tiny tributary creek-California newts....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P42703331.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4270331.jpg
We parted ways around noon after a roadside sandwich lunch, and I headed North to Lake Siskyou. A nice lady at the liquor store in Mt. Shasta recommended I go there. She was too cool, cuz it was going off!
I drove to the dam area, and saw that the fish were jumping outta the water constantly. There was a hatch, or several, going on right then.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280348.jpg
I couldn't get anything on lures. :x So I was forced to try PB. It worked, and I bagged 5 nice holdovers and farmed several others before having to head back 4 a BBQ that evening. I HATE it when something interrupts my fishing. Pesky family BBQ's! LOL!!
Team 57!!! :!:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280364.jpg
A Fatty....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280365.jpg
Some other beauties....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280359.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280357.jpg
I couldn't just drive right past Lake Shasta w/o saying I fished there, Soooooo....Caught this 1 lowly spotted, my first ever, at a bridge piling on a P/M gold spinner....DANA, TAKE NOTE- There's a hole in my t just below the emblem....What the?! LOL
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4280376.jpg
So, the next day, we head to Davis, near Sacramento, and visited Julie's Cousin Mitch, and his family. They have the 2 most ADORAB:E girls EVER!!!! Sophia, 7, and Cloe, 5. There mom, Jolee was very thoughtful, and suggested we picnic & fish at the UC Davis Arboreum for carp.
So we did. Using corn on a circle hook, we began fishing.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290400.jpg
We didn't have to wait 5 minutes b4 Sophia's rod went BEND-O! She was all excited-Almost as excited as me, since I had never carp fished before. Now, does she look proud or what?!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290405.jpg
Me-N-Chloe....Can you say "ADORABLE?!"(HER, not me)
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290415.jpg
We then drove to San Francisco to visit Alcatraz, which was pretty cool. We even saw a former 4 year inmate there, talking to a film crew. I listened in ans even asked him some questions. Pretty once-in-a-lifetime... We then drove to San Jose and Santa Cruz to see her other cousins, Steve, and Bruce.
Misc shots on this leg:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5010492.jpg
Does this hat make my butt look big?
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P4290438.jpg
Pfeifer State Park....
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5020533.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5020532.jpg
We then drove thru Big Sur, and east up some crazy ***** backroad on sheer cliffs w/o guardrails and nary 2 lanes to pass on!
We were headed through Fort Hunter-Ligget. It's an army base abour 45 minutes west of Paso Robles. My sis works there and lives 10 minutes away. This is God's country folks. We saw 2 coyotes and a deer just on our way thru. They also have boar, and turkey, plus, some sweet ***** fishing. Both Lake San Antonio, and Nacimiento are within 30 minutes of her. However, we didn't even go that far. The Fort has 7 fishing lakes/ponds and a river. All are filled with bass and/or trout.
Day 1- I had to sign in at the environmental office where they give you a triplicate form to fill out. They wanna know where u go, how long u were there, and how many fish were kept AND released. Then you have to drop the form off at another office on your way out. They say it is to help improve the fishing on base.
:roll:
I fished this lil tiny 1/2 acre pond named The Gravel Pit, that was full of bass, and a few gills. These things were DUMB & HUNGRY. My favorite qualities in a fish. :wink: :D
I was ble to try all my bass stuff out here. Note the many different lures in the mouths of these fish. Honestly, most lures were virgins b4 this day! LOL~!!!!
For the record, in 4 hours, I CPR'd 19 bass, farmed many more, and CPR'd 4 gills. God, this was fun!!!! :D :D :D :D
The Gravel Pit-The honey hole was the farthest left cove.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5040594.jpg
I started off with a top water hula popper and was taken aback by the ferocity of these fish! They were hitting it almost every cast!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030565.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030560.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030562.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030561.jpg
I then swith to a Mirrashad in green.
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030566.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030571.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030570.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030569.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030568.jpg
I even tried this cute lil lure...and look what happend!LOL!!!!
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030575.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030574.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030573.jpg
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030586.jpg
Then, I finally switched to the fire colored MirraShad
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030583.jpg
I nailed the biggest fish up till then on this lure. So as I'm bringing it in, this large LMB that had been right in front of me the whole morning(Showing no interest in any of my tasty offerings of course :idiot:) strted freaking out wondering what there was to eat that his hooked rival was chompin' on. So I had a bright idea... :idea:I grabbed my other pole rigged with a mini-jig (I have my 2-pole stamp, don't worry....)and threw it right at the mouth of my hooked fish. I think the other bass thought that he dropped something, and was obliged to pick it up! DOUBLE BEND-O!!!!! :banana:
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030580.jpg
You shoulda seen it....1 grown man acting like a silly kid trying to snap off some pics with 2 bent poles in 1 hand & 2 bass hugging!!LOL
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030576.jpg
Turns out the biggest bass o-the day was the one taunting me there in the shallows...
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/gregmadrigal/P5030581.jpg
That's all Folks. I really hope you guys & gals enjoyed my 3 hour long post just 1 PERCENT of how much I enjoyed Our Road Trip....Thank you for your patience Julie.... :)
GM