12/15/12 report of Anarchy at Anaheim - Lake Lazarus rises from the dead (w/ VIDEO!)
Friday Night: Holiday party for work. Another conversation begins regarding the scope of my most recent activities in the office. Mid-way through the script, my pocket comes alive with opportunity.
“Call me” is scrawled next to the cartoon envelope just under the “Elliott (SARL/Anaheim/Corona)” moniker.
I get these types of texts from this kind soul every now and again, and when they come, my heart goes all pitter patter. Like Pavlov’s dogs, I’ve been well trained to know that on the heels of these messages resides something truly exciting…Time to put the gin and tonic down, finish shaking hands and get fed.
In reply: “Can’t talk. At holiday party. What’s up?”
Seconds pass, filled with multiple checks for reply.
“Wanna fish Anaheim?” flashes on the Droid.
“Sorry to say this Craig, but your Lake has been closed for a bit.”
“That’s my point. Lake is down to about half-full, the fish in there haven’t been fed for weeks, and we need someone to go in there and see how anxious they are to eat.”
The dinner bell has been rung and I start to salivate…
Talking to the crew at the Lakes later that evening, I find out that they are hoping that they can get some customers out there to empty the place out. But before they advertise and sell any access, they want to make sure that getting people out there in a week was not only a real possibility, but that they’d experience something truly unique. That’s where me and a few lucky friends come in to “test the waters”.
Mission 1: Find a babysitter. Someday the kid won’t only understand, he’ll appreciate what I’m up to. Call the folks and shortly thereafter bring a very giggly baby to their doorstep…Mission Accomplished.
Mission 2: Load up. Bring it all. Anything and everything. And then bring more. I want to throw the kitchen sink at ‘em.
Mission 3: Drive. Depress the right pedal fully and play the radio loud.
Mission 4: Fish.
I arrive at Anaheim Lake to find it exactly as described…a half full body of water and a stark shoreline. The steep banks of the lake dive down to a crystal clear, glass smooth body of water peppered by 6 float tubes holding 6 happy anglers. Rising out of the artificial canyons, emanating from the owners of the inflated vessels come hoots and hollers that could be easily heard from the few hundreds of yards I was standing away. It seemed the question of whether or not these fish wanted to eat had been answered. These fish most certainly wanted to play.
15 seconds after getting on the water, both rods go BENDO. And that 15 seconds may be an overestimate as that is simply the time it took for me to slap my second fin on and return to checking my arsenal only to find both drags peeling. Unbelievable and it just kept going. Doubles were the norm. Singles were nearly constant. The only way to send a few necessary emails without distraction was to leave the bails open. I went through 2 cartons of nightcrawlers, a full tin of marshmallows and had more fun than I could have imagined. We got into a handful of trout and a truckload of cats, most caught on the nightcrawler/marshmallow combo. Truly hatchery style fishing that made peeling myself off of the water incredibly difficult.
Obviously, an incredible day and the guys at the Lakes were incredibly stoked to hear that the place is on fire. The combination of a greatly reduced lake volume, incredible stockings throughout the year, the lack of anything but natural feed going in the water and a bundle of fish much smarter than myself et al. swimming about have combined to really make for an ideal situation. As such, they are offering a one day, no limit, kill 'em all, float tube/kickboat/kayak only event at Anaheim Lake next week that you can read about on their site (fishinglakes.com) which is where I’ll send you rather than spamming up the forum here.
Thanks a ton guys for reading through another of my sagas. Feel free to ask any questions and have a blast if you do get the opportunity to get out there.
Enough story-time…Let’s leave this land of imagination and arrive in the wonderful world of youtube. What a day, truly, and it is absolutely my pleasure to get to share some images from what truly was one to remember. Thanks one last time and SEE YOU ALL OUT THERE!!!!!
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Originally Posted by sapdawg11
