Washington to So. Ca. Part 2*****N. California waters***

[Greg Madrigal]

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.

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We found this pristine beach area with a f/w creek running out of the mountains and onto the beach.

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Of course, I had to fish said creek.

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I was rewarded with 3 agressive, native, cookie-cutter, baby-'bows.

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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....
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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.
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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!!!!!

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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.

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Dave, unfortunately, wasn't so lucky. He caught the skunkola. :skunk:
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Found 10 of these cool critters near, or in a tiny tributary creek-California newts....
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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.

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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!!! :!:
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A Fatty....
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Some other beauties....

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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
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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.

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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?!

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Me-N-Chloe....Can you say "ADORABLE?!"(HER, not me)

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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:

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Does this hat make my butt look big?

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Pfeifer State Park....

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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.

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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!!!
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I then swith to a Mirrashad in green.


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I even tried this cute lil lure...and look what happend!LOL!!!!

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Then, I finally switched to the fire colored MirraShad

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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:

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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

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Turns out the biggest bass o-the day was the one taunting me there in the shallows...
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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

[one_leg]

Wow, what can I say Greg, that's Awesome!
Those are some great pics.
The one of your little girl with the carp is really cool.
I'm glad you got to fish so many different spots on the way.
The Team57 shot at Lake Siskyou is Hella cool!
You and your better half overlooking the coast at Big Sur, love the waterfall.
Congrats on the Spotted Bass.
Double hookup cameraman cracks me up.
It was such a cool post I had to look through the post three more times.
Thanks.

[troutdog]

Hey Greg,
Great report...you made me quite jealous, looked like a great vacation. The Trinty/Shasta area is quite impressive and has waay less foot traffic then Tahoe and Yosemite etc., good fishing to be had in those parts. Can I go bass fishing with you on the base next time? LOL. Thanks for taking the time to share your good fortunes!Way to

TD

[TroutOnly]

greg ,that is one of the best post ive seen on the board ,a great read ,and great pics,very interesting,,,bob

[KaliDawgFan]

the immense white goliath

That was the nickname the ladies gave me in college you know lol

Looks like you had a fantastic trip!

[Sea Murda]

WOW! That was an excellent report dude!! Good job :thumb:

[cappo]

awesome report and pics

[labjet2000]

Man Greg,

I don't know what to say. Let's see, you've covered just about all angles of the wild kingdom... Mammels (Elk), Herpetology (Newt), Ictheology (the fish, and plenty of them), and even Ornithology (the mallard drake passing by in the carp episode pier shot).

How you can ever go back to a regular work day is beyond me. A screen saver of all your photos can always take you back to those "happy places." Just a suggestion. Thanks for the great adventure.

Labjet

[Nessie Hunter]

Awesome Greg. Trip of a lifetime, with superior memories and lots of great pics..

Both segments (out of state & No Ca) were great reads. Hands down one of the best reports in some time.

I have driven through Wa, Or, and No Ca many times.

It was interesting to read and view some one fishing the same area where I had wanted to fish so many times (always in a hurry)... Thanks... :thumb:


.

[diamondbear]

greg , i looked thru your pics for an hour , and i love them all . what a vacation , GREAT JOB GUY // db

[fisheromen]

Outstanding report and pictures.

Thank you so much for sharing your road trip with us!!!

[Beeracuda211]

Nice report Greg... very vivid pics and nice colorful healthy fish... looks like paradise... Hey we need to get over there and win the carp derby... LETS DO IT! LMAO!! CARPCUDA IS READY

B/C :beer:

[Greg Madrigal]

Carpcuda, only if you share with me your "SECRET GOLDFISH SAUCE" LMAO!!!


Everyone, thank you for all the kind words. I appreciate them all, and it keeps me wanting to do the long posts. I enjoy experiencing, and then sharing.

Tight lines,

GM

[D-PESCADOR]

great pics ! glad you and the fam had a great time .

[Fisherman57]

A truly EPIC report and photos that are beyond great!

I hope to take a trip similar to that someday soon and if I see HALF of what you've shared with us, I'm sure it will be a trip of a lifetime.

Thanks again Greg!



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Dana

[yomper]

Thanks for the time you spent posting those great pix ,We[me and she who must be obeyed } will be doing trinity later this year anybody got experience there to share
thanks
Yomper :)

[fishrookie]

man that was like watching a travel channel show with no commercials :D

[Granny Fish]

Great report and beautiful pictures. I've been to all of those Cali locations with exception of the base and have always wished I could go back some day.

We used to road trip all the time when the kids were small. One year we spent a week on Lake Shasta and a week driving home, fishing all the way back. :lol:

One day I'll get back that direction... just like last year we finally were able to get back to Mountain Home State Demonstration Forest, what a hidden gem! I'll share a funny little story about that find one day. :wink:

Thank you for sharing the long report and keep it up. Reminds me of my younger days. Those are some beautiful, fiesty looking fish you caught.

[Granny Fish]

BTW - where is Part I?

[Wingnut]

What a great post. I imagined myself traveling along with you & hitting all those sweet fishing spots. One of these days I have to find some time to make that kind of a trip. :D

[Hitts0n]

great day out ! :thumb:

[Con]

Truly awesome report! :notworthy:

[Gmoney]

great report and pix....you story and photos are off the scale cool
sweeet stuff
i miss no cal
my wife grew up (and her parents still live 5 minutes from lake siskiou....i love that lake. spend the week of july 4th there every year. that area by the dam is where i caught my first bass....sweeeeet
i have been on the other side of that lake on a saturday for 4+ hours and never seen another human...just deer and fish

[8lbCalico]

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



LOL

Great story, loved the whole read, and a nice fish to boot at the end!

I have been on Google Earth over the Shasta area, God's Country for sure! Need to go there this or next summer!

[Indo-angler]

Awesome :thumb: Thanks for taking the time to post this great report, Greg :!:

[Droo]

Some great pictures you took. Looks like it would be an awesome adventure (I like the little newts :) )

[nandob25]

That was an awesome report! Thank you for sharing it along with all of those majestic pictures! It truely did look like the trip of a lifetime.

Wonderful report, wonderful fishing, beautiful family = Lucky Man!

thanks again for sharing!

[olfishergal]

Great post and fabulous pics..........U guys had a great time by the smiles on your faces.........thanks for sharing.
OFG

[boxl0bster]

damn you slayed that pond!! those are some nice sized bass! way to go!

[Lucky Strike]

Wow, That was one of the best reports I've ever read. I was there with you the whole way! And some of those pics look really artistic. Thank you for a delightful report.

[Lucky Strike]

Wow, That was one of the best reports I've ever read. I was there with you the whole way! And some of those pics look really artistic. Thank you for a delightful report.

[Fisher-of-Men]

Amazing photos. It looks like you had the time of your life :!: Not to mention you found some nice meat-holes; :wink: good looking fish.

The photo that was even better than the nature and fish shots was that one with you wearing the red pimp hat. :rofl: That was priceless :!: :!:




Fisher-of-Men

[steve092]

Looks like you had a good catch and a great time!