PDA

View Full Version : Northern CA 7/12/09-7/17/09



BigBass777
07-21-2009, 11:07 AM
Link of pictures is below. I took a lot and the reports are limited to only 50 pictures on each report.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=3qlhqds5.40i7zpu5&x=0&y=-64c41&localeid=en_US

My brothers and I went to visit our dad in (Fort Jones) Northern CA. The plan
was to leave Sat night (after I watch Johnny Lang play live at Lake Mission
Viejo) and return on Thurs. A shift in plans so we stayed a few more days. The drive up took 11.20hrs with a little traffic and 11.00hrs coming back. Helives in a small cabin 23 miles off hwy 3 and where the 5 intersect.

The scenery up here is absolutely indescribable. Lots of open pastures, old barn houses, stagecoaches, rivers, streams, lakes, waterfalls, trees, manywild animals of all types, and bridge crossings. Where my dad lives is pitch black at night and all forest. It reminds me of a movie The Blair Witch Project. You’d be lucky enough to see 5ft -10ft in front of you at night. An LED flashlight (Surefire/Pelican) is a must have here. The 3 of us slept in tents outside and heard noises throughout the night. You can’t see sh*t and better hope it’s not the 450lb black bear or 140lb mountain lion. Weather temp 90 during the day and 50-60 early morning. We brought some fishing rods in case we went fishing. Let the pictures tell the story.

My dad made a track for his rc cars.
Wild animals:
Tree squirrels drop these needle sharp pinecones from pine trees. The cluster
landed 15ft from me.
This fox family had a baby fox that was really neat to see. It ran off as I
tried to get a pic.
6-15 Turkeys show up at once to eat seed.
Our golden retriever Lucky came along with us. She would play ball all-day and
then sleep all night.
We played cards and Skip-Bo at night to kill some time.

Kangaroo lake:
We went to Kangaroo Lake (formed by a Crater) on Tuesday and caught quite a few small trout. My dad lands the first trout on a nightcrawler floating from a bobber. The fish were biting nightcrawlers inflated or from a bobber, chartreuse glitter powerbait, powermouse, and poweregg. I landed my first one on a white poweregg, 4lb line, with #8 Owner Mosquito hook. Leader length was 3ft. We fished the rocky depression and lost quite a few setups casting too far out. Reeling in would hit the ridge, fray the line, plus the fish would run and try to hide into it when bit. A small egg sinker or split shot on a 3ft leader casted 30-40 yards out worked best. Small trout hugged the shoreline and ate pieces of powerbait. These fish were probably planted by helicopter since it has no access by road. It’s a small hike in to fish. The lake also has nice campgrounds and is home to bald eagles on the lake. The eagle was too far away to zoom in.


Wednesday: Small Lake/Trinity River
The plan was to get up early and fish a small lake (we don’t know name of it)
and then the Trinity River. Around 6am I was awakened by the smell of smoke. It lingered after 1am and I knew it wasn’t our burned firewood in the protective pit. I get up and let my dad know an hour later. Sure enough his neighbor Gary runs down the hill and needed extra help. About 150 yards from where we were sleeping, someone had dumped hot coals on a previous burned line. We don’t know if it was pure ignorance, a drunk person, or an arsonist. The fire with about 1ft flames seemed to have been burning 6 hours before Gary saw smoke. At 1am the
dogs were barking at someone on the hill and we ignored it. Luckily we had no wind that night bcuz anything could have happened. I helped carry hoses down and attach them together. It took 6 of us nearly 2 hours to hose and shovel the flames and hot spots out.

Working on the fire:
Steven with the hose, my dad with shovel, and his neighbor Gary.

We went to a small lake (deep lake) afterward and caught a lot of small trout in a couple of hours. This place reminded me of the Owens River because the
surroundings are very much similar. I jigged a white poweregg on a 3ft leader
and watched a trout bite it instantly. We carefully let go smaller fish in the
water, others fell off, or came off because they were too small to hold on. I
caught fish on white powereggs, glitter chrtse powerbait, and small inflated
crawler on a 3ft leader. My twin brother caught some on the powermouse and majority on the inflated crawler. My younger brother Steven caught his fish on powerbait. The inflated crawler was the bait getting hit the most. My dad flylined a crawler and slowly reeled it in as the fish chased it. I caught at
least 8 fish here but we kept 4 bigger fish.

The Trinity River:
My dad and I fished the Trinity River for a little bit located outside of
Callahan. This place has spectacular scenery. He was bit on a nightcrawler and missed it. I toss a 1/32oz bumblebee (black wt yellow dots) panther martin and catch a small wild rainbow. I believe it’s my first wild rainbow ever. Added a few more casts and then we went for a ride and got a few more pics.

Thursday: A trip around my dad’s backyard:
On Thursday we went for a drive around Siskiyou County. We drove along side the Scott River where it meets the Kelsey Creek Bridge. We drove along Coffee Creek, The Klamath River, and other rivers and creeks. We ended the drive through Yreka and the entire county has amazing beauty and scenery. I brought a rod along to try and catch a fish but didn’t catch anything. The fish in these waters mostly prefer drifted nightcrawlers. Lures work best in the morning late in the day. The Kelsey Creek Bridge area has an awesome steelhead spawn bite from Sept – Jan. The fish run 10-15lbs and must be caught with barbless hooks and must be released while in the water. Steelhead 20lbs or bigger also run through for the spawn.

Kelsey Creek Bridge: Has lots of poison oak everywhere then we head along The
Klamath River:

Friday: Time to cool off/Time to leave
We went to the Kelsey Creek Bridge area for a swim. Our golden retriever loved the water and fetched sticks as it was a 100 outside. She didn’t want to get out of the water. I sat on a rock in the shade to chill until a group showed up and started jumping off the bridge. We’re like that is cool! Is it deep enough? Is it safe? Yep! So we have to try it too. The bridge appears to be 50ft up from the water and the water below is pretty deep. You can see the bottom because of the water clarity. A red arrow on the bridge points out where to jump so you won’t touch bottom. After so many jumps from people, not one person touched bottom or got hurt. I didn’t hesitate and jumped in. The pic looks like I’m hanging from the bridge. My younger brother Steven had 2 cool pics taken. My brother used the cell phone since we left the cameras at the cabin. We could have used video with the cameras from jump to splash. My 2nd jump from the bridge. It appears like I’m holding onto it.

We left a day earlier than originally planned but had a great time regardless.
The week went by fast and trying to get pics of everything was a challenge while sight seeing in my dad’s truck. Some of our family members in Redding wanted to see us before leaving but the timing was off. It got a little late on Friday and it wasn’t previously planned out. Until next time enjoy the picturesof Northern CA. I had to use my brother’s camera as backup because my camera needs a bigger
memory card.

fishntoss
07-31-2009, 04:51 AM
Awesome trip. That's some great country up there. Looks like you all had a great time.Thanks for sharing the pix