nasty vacation, great reprieve!
Well I went up north to the famous "Clear Lake" for a 9 day trip starting on Friday @ 18:00 of the labor day weekend... My Cousin and I arrived at 04:00, we stopped in a turn out after 10 hours of straight driving from 18:00 - 0400. We pulled over in a turn out that happened to be directly after a canyon, and I do mean a canyon... Sheer walls on either side so that when the cars went by they sounded like jet fighters going trough. I didn't get a wink of sleep and ended up at this time to be up 24 hours ( I worked before leaving). My Cousin Vu slept for 2 hours. We go into the local town in search of breakfast... we end up at a place that looked like a house turned into a restaurant. We ordered new York steak and eggs... Our steaks tasted like they were boiled, and the tabasco sauce was spoiled to the point that it was rancid, (I know because I had it all over my hash browns and eggs) I ate 1 piece of toast as did Vu, a cup of coffee... $50.. We launched at about 08:00 and hooked a few LMB, the problem here was that they were all were about 5's... 5 inchers that is... We established our camp site around 12:00 as the temperature was hovering at about 103. We set up camp and just relaxed as much as we could... There were was a party of campers of about 40, and they partied until 04:00 Sunday morning... (No Sleep again for me, Vu slept due to being drunk)We went out fishing again... My $1300.00 of electronic upgrades including 2 Humminbird Solix 12 units and my Min Kota Ultrex Trolling motor malfunctioned... ( 2nd time on the water). again we were only able to catch a few tiny bass... Yes to be expected with the temperature of the water being 79 degrees. (We thought that because we were far up north the temperature would be a lot cooler). So we struggle until Tuesday morning when we cant take it any longer and hoping with the cooler temperatures at lake Sonoma that we would have a better time there... We start back across the lake, the wind came up and we were in white caps and BIG swells, I'm foolishly NOT wearing a life vest and Can't swim, I am now afraid for my life being concerned that the boat would capsize. We made it back, pack up and leave for Sonoma.
We start the journey and I am at a 1/4 tank of fuel, I see only 1 fueling station after about 30 miles of road, it is really small in respect to the maneuverability for my truck and boat, so I tell Vu, lets just look down the highway for another gas station... He says No, we don't know how how far the next station is, just suck it up and use your trailering skills and get gas here. (It turns out to be about 70 miles of twisting and turning roads to the next lake. Had I not of gotten Fuel there we would have been stuck without gas. So we eventually get to Sonoma lake... There are few directions to where we are to launch the boat, finally we find the launch ramp and load all of our equipment aboard the boat (The camp sites are all "Boat In", we get to our site, have to beach the boat, tie it to a tree trunk and then hike all of our gear up to the camp site, there are no toilet facilitates, this includes our tent, chairs, sleeping bags, cooking equipment and ice chests of food for the next 3 days. When we arrive and the sky has an orange haze to it, but the fires are a ways off and no threat to us. We tool around the lake for the day fishing with no bites... We then re-beach the boat and chill about 17:00 cook dinner and the try our hand at catfish in the night... Vu gets a few bites (Me nothing) and he busts off every time. Finally its Lights ought at 22:00.
I'm up @ 05:00 Thursday morning but reluctant to get up... I lay awake until 08:00,I find that the sky's are orange and it looks like it is like 19:00 on a typical summer night finally I rouse Vu and ask him if we can call the vacation to an end...
To my surprise Vu says yeah, let's go. We load everything back on the boat, and it is so high that I have to stand to see where I'm going, We use the one electronic that is working great "The Way Point"
feature, I start back to the launch ramp, we get about a 1//2 mile and we come into a smoke wall that descends from the top of the heavens to the surface of the lake, I can't see more than ten feet in front of me, I had to go by the way point that I had fortunately marked a the loading ramp, I seam to have circled the waypoint at least 10 times until I seen 10 feet away the railing of the launch ramp. I actually feared for my life the second time in my trip... The return trip was uneventful... (Thank God)
The reason that my post is here on Perris lakes site is this...
I was very discouraged about fishing after my botched trip, but I had the plan to go out on my day off on Thursday, I was debating on DLV, SW, and PL, I was reluctant to get out of bed until 08:00, I went out to hook my boat to the truck only to discover that the truck battery was dead, I spent the next hour getting a battery and finally hit the lake at 11:00.Started fishing for LMB on the far east end and progressed to the South east end, ended up catching 3 Small LMB and 2 Bluegill.
Shout out to Brian and Henry for giving my tackle and bait!
.
Water temperature was 80.1
Fishing Excursion Mishaps
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Durdy Daug
Yeah, I didn't know what to expect, my cousin Vu planned the trip based on the slow time at his shop, he owns a mechanic shop, and this is when he planned the trip for. I defiantly know for the future that we cannot go in the summer... It was a real experience for me, and if you have followed my posts in the past you will notice that I seen to find disaster in all my fishing experiences ...
I was in a hurry to get my electronics installed for the trip and my regular boat mechanics at Bauer Motor Sports were back logged so I went to Last Chance Performance Marine in Hemet... Bad Choice, ALL my electronics were STOLLEN, My 2 Solix 12's, my Ultrex trolling motor and my 360 imaging unit. They left my 3 new Optma batteries. The shop took over a month to get me out and gratefully they did replace all my electronics, but the time in the shop was exceeded by 2 weeks and a lot of stress..
Well any ways that is all in the past again and I've been back to fishing at Perris... Monday the water temp was a balmy 79.8 - 80.1 @ 20 feet. I was able to hook 6 bass ranging from 8 to 14 inches, and 4 good sized bluegill, at he end of my day 16:00, I was able to have the opportunity to tow a fellow boater in who had ran out of Gas, they said that they called several other boaters for help but were ignored, This I was proud to do in the way that the Millsapboys did for me a few years ago, The guys tried to pay me $40 for the tow and I refused stating " Every Boater is obligated to help a fellow boater out in time of distress.
Today I was there again and targeted Bluegill, caught 5, but I an convinced that I missed the opportunity for more as I was late on the water, getting there @ 08:00 rather than 06:00 The water temp was again 79.3 in the morning and 80.2 by time I left @ 12:00. Took my boat in to Bauer Motor sports to fix all the issues that were left by LCPM.
Looking forward to getting back on the water "reel" soon.
Hello 'Dawg,
I've been an avid fisherman for years and rarely comment on this page anymore. I just don't fish enough to provide any outdoor adventures, stories, or fish catching exploits like yours. I've found your posts of fishing "misadventures" remarkable, yet you never let them get you down. You just trudge forward and plan your next fishing expedition regardless of boat problems, vehicle mishaps, or weather related downfalls. My brother passed away 12 years ago and you remind me of him. He was always on me, "lets go fishing, bro", even though I was working a full time job, married with kids, while he was out of work on disability. We tried to get out at least twice a month, either at Perris, Silverwood, Castaic, DVL or Piru. He was the typical "die-hard" fisherman. Always wanting to be the first vehicle in line and the last ones to leave. No matter the weather conditions, traffic or unforeseen circumstances, we always managed to get the boat on the lake. He was only 57 years old when he passed and I miss him to this day. We were very close and not just fishing bros, so it has been very difficult for me to enjoy fishing as much as I used to. I only fish for bass DVL and Silverwood over the last two years after purchasing a brand new boat 4 years ago. My kids don't like fishing, my nephew on occasion and my coworker buddies when it suits their time. Needless to say I usually venture out on my own and you know how difficult it is to launch a boat by yourself and fish without someone else.
Maybe one of these days I'll see you out on the lake and we can share of few more stories. Keep your head up and enjoy every fishing outing.
Big Al
