2010 Lake Isabella Trout Derby

[MAVERICK27]

Well folks, Jut returned after fishing all three days. I'll try and make this interesting, but not very eventful aboard the Tracker this year. Water temp and air temp were much much warmer than last year. The most important and memorable things about the trip....being able to fish with my Lady (CRVZ) all weekend without the kids. Its been a long time. Also fishing with my old high school best friend who I have only seen once since 1989. All of the crazy memories of high school at Kern Valley High School came rushing back...and I couldn't stop laughing!!

So, for the report....We launched every day at Launch 9 located on the North end of the lake where it meets the river. The first day was funny when I said "Man, this boat runs so good" as we started the day out and not even ten seconds later, it dies hahaha!! After removing the plugs and everything under the sun, I noticed that the fuel line somehow came unclipped from the motor!! Plugged it in and off again!!! We got texts from Matt (Silkgato) who I had not even met yet. He offered to stop fishing and come help us. Man, that guy has class!! We traded texts and intel all weekend with him. He is a hell of a guy and it was an absolute pleasure to finally meet him. It also turns out that he was fishing with Brandonfish on Sunday as we passed each other trolling. Anyway, Its all about the people and fellow Team 57 members made it fun as usual, some 350 miles from our home lake. Its a real tribute to what the hard work that Dana and Donna have created.

After fixing the boat, we anchored a few places where we did well last year with no luck, only carp jumping. Worked all kinds of structure with lures and jigs. We decided to troll for a while. I missed one on mono after crossing mid lake, then CRVZ managed to land one shortly after. Trolling was very sporadic and difficult. We saw alot of people who said they didnt hook into anything all day. These people had downriggers, lead core, flashers, dodgers, planer boards, you name it!!! The fish we saw at that point were all 8-10 Inches. hard fighters with nice tails, but very small. I made note and changed every hook on the boat to smaller models for the average fish. We took a break to have a couple beers with my High school buddy who was camped on shore at the French Gulch Marina. The water level was the highest that I have seen in years! The lake was beautiful! Very stained and murkey, but nice to be on. After our break, we posted up and threw every lure, jig and bait I own!...I'm not even kidding. Two missed bites and no takers. So, run and gun time!!! Nothing else memorable Saturday.

Sunday was spent in French Gulch Marina, trolling , Red's Marina and searching for metered fish. The first pass trolling into FG Marina gave us a huge run on the clicker of the Abu garcia Level Wind, but coughed the lure when the fish jumped. :( Nothing else notable that day.

Monday was only three hours by myself and was only focused on Engineer Point near the French Gulch Bridge. Several people hooking up small models again and the wind getting crazy by 1030-1100 am. I threw lures of every type in every depth and area of water....not even a tick. So, I gave in and went the PB method. Shortly after, the Phenix Elixir goes bendo! Picked up the rod and ......no fish or bait??? BY this time the wind is blowing very hard and pulling me off anchor. If you know anything about this lake, very dangerous when you try and take a 16 foot Bass Tracker across the lake in half the wind that was blowing. Well....I was determined to land fish before I left. just before I decided to pull anchor and leave...the Elixir sings again!!! This time boating the super huge (sarcasm) Alper's Trout. I didn't care though, I got the buzzer shot after all my hard work in the wind!!! Now it sets in.....how the hell am I going to get back in alive? haha. Well, I felt like the Wizard or the Cornelia Marie in the Bering Sea! I was using the throttle to get up and over 3-4 foot swells. I did pretty good until mid lake approaching Rocky Point when a wave crashed over the bow and drenched me!! All ended well at Launch 9 a bit wetter and beaten from a long weekend.

Sorry for the long read, but I thought I would try and paint a picture of a long hard weekend. Not all reports are for bragging about big fish and double limits!!! Sometimes it's just not in the cards, but i'd rather get a few tiny fish in tough conditions than be at work!!!!!!

Here are some pics I took...If you see one of the fish, you see them all from the weekend...Final thought...horrible size of fish average and over-all tough fishing for most, but alot of tags caught and some people at the right place at the right time did very well. I will go again next year, but hopefully the grade of fish will be better and i'll find a spot and hit em hard!

Day 1 water conditions

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1914.jpg

CRVZ was a little cold

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1915.jpg

Rockin the 57 beanie!!

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1916.jpg

Tossin Lures at Red's Marina

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1917.jpg

Red's Marina, what a beautiful day!

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1918.jpg

Red's Marina Shoreline...Packed..same at every shore

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1919.jpg

CRVZ motto "If you can't catch fish, catch a buzz"

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1920.jpg

This picture looks like "fish with a homeless person day"

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1921.jpg

CRVZ breaks the skunk!! Thank GOD!! Check out this HUGE MARLIN!!!

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1924.jpg

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1926.jpg

Mid lake, mid day water conditions

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1922.jpg

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1923.jpg

Calmer afternoon

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1928.jpg

Camp French Gulch

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1933.jpg

Puttin in more work with CRVZ pink stick

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1932.jpg

Swapping old stories with my HS Buddy Miguel

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1931.jpg

After making this trip 1,000 times....we decided to actually stop and take in the view in the canyon road (Hwy 178)

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1952.jpg

Quality time with the twins

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1954.jpg

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1956.jpg

The best fishing buddy ever!!

http://i396.photobucket.com/albums/pp44/MAVERICKandCRVZ/IMG_1960.jpg

I hope you enjoyed...See ya on the water!!!!

[tpfishnfool]

Great report. Gotta good thing going on there Sir..

[BrandonFish]

Nice report! Sorry to hear it was rough for you guys like you said it was just the spots and the right times all about having a great time and yea the fish size were small that derby being as big as it is they should have put in bigger fish for the over 6K people that paid there fees to join the derby and fish it Next time we need get in to the fish together

[Troutman65]

Thanks for the detailed report . Made me feel like I was there . :Cool:

[MAVERICK27]

Yeah Brandon, last year the fish were much bigger. The ones this year were small. Its a sad day when you can catch much larger trout on thr river all day. Still fun nonetheless!

Thanks Patrick! I haven't seen you in a while. I hope all is well with you.

[fisherman from long beach]

nice report and pics mav.i like your wifes motto,lol.

[MAVERICK27]

Thanks Brother! Drinking a Jack Daniels mixed drink in the company of a pretty lady while throwing lures and enjoying the sun can never be bad :)

[jumpman]

hey maverick,
PM me about my trip
JM

[stphnman20]

Thx for the report man.. Bet you had an awesome trip...

[troutdog]

Great post Mav, thanks for sharing your weekend here on FNN.....keep the future reports coming. Lets hit up the local spot for some trout action, been waaaay too long since we fished hard together. I'll give you a buzz!


TD

[MAVERICK27]

JM, PM inbound.

TD, Thanks Buddy. Yeah it has, NPH is going off now too....either one i'm game to hit asap!

[silkgato]

Mr Mav,

Thanks for the kind words and all the help over the weekend. It was great to finally meet you and your girl. I envy you my friend, I'm sure there are many out there who may not agree, but having your girl on the water with you from time to time is awsome. I look forward to finally getting you that drink, I promise it will happen soon.

See you soon.

Matt

[MAVERICK27]

Anytime! Let me know when your free and we'll hit irvine for some trolling

[Sparky70]

Kudos on the Jack Daniels and the pretty Lady! Life ain't all bad.

[MAVERICK27]

I do count my blessings! Thanks Sparky! Now i'm hungry to go whack some fish somewhere after that tough weekend..

[dday07]

theres nothing better than having a attrative women who loves to fish..........your a LUUUUUUUUUUKY man maverick!