Late Night at Amador

My buddy Garrett asked me if a doing a night trip out to Amador would be a good idea or not. I told him it would be an amazing idea. He got his dad to take him out and I headed out there after work. Unfortunately when I got off of work my truck wouldn't start due to a dead battery. Absolutely wonderful. I called one of my other friends up and I said hey man I'll make you a deal. Come and jump my truck for me and I'll pay for a day license for you and take you out fishing with me to Lake Amador. Fair deal right? Well he was all over it. He rushed down to help me out we got my truck going grabbed the fishing gear and took off.

I got on the water around 2230 and Garrett was already on his way out. He left with one bluegill and a miss trout on a glow jig. I saw another 5 people out on the dock and all of them had stringers with at least 2 trout on them so it couldn't have been too slow. I set up with some powerbait under a bobber for myself and my friend Dana. I'm setting up a jig on my other rod and as I get it tied on I pick up my powerbait rod just to reel up the slack and as I pick it up I feel my rod bending over. I set the hook and get my first one within the first 5 mins. of the night. Two minutes later I head Dana say "Oh $@!%" He sets the hook and has his first fish. Then by the time I get his fish on the stringer I see my rod going off again. Hot damn were on fire!!!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Barely 10 mins. into the evening and we already have three. Sure enough though with all of the commotion going on between us four guys come walking over and they cast their bobbers right on top of me. I mean come on man is that really necessary? There are fish jumping everywhere out here. Needless to say after they came over the bite shut down on me. Dana got tired and ran up to the truck to catch some ZZZ's.

A bit later I hear a fish jump fairly close to me so I cast my powerbait towards it and sure enough 30 seconds later I get my third one. I tried jigging under the lights while I was waiting between bites and I ended up getting short striked by some bluegills I'm sure, but never stuck anything. I saw one guy get his limit and some of trout fishing a glow in the dark jig trying for crappie. Need glow jigs next time.

I stuck it out until 0330. Ended up getting one more for a total of 4 fish for me and I missed a couple of others. Around 0300 the wind picked up and man it got cold. I wanted to stick it out for my 5th one, but I decided 4 was a good enough night for me.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Tonight's line up.

Been a long time since I've done a night trip. Forgot how nice and relaxing it was to be able just sit down catch some fish and do a bit of star gazing. Wish my phone could take a picture of the starts for you guys, but needless to say camera phones aren't that good yet.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

Lake Amador 10/24/11

Addicted to slamador right now had to get back out to get my trout fix in. Brought a new fishing partner with me today. Brought a friend of mine Adam. Cool to get to fish with him, we actually were both in the fly fishing club in High School together, where we both learned how to fly fish. Cool to get on the water with him. Adam has never been to Amador before and his biggest trout he has ever caught before was probably around 12 inches. We had to fix that. Walked down and fished the south side of the dam today. Got on the water around 1530 and saw fish jumping everywhere.

I got to the water and stuck my first fish on my second cast.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Average fish so far this season. I went on to get a fish here and there and missed fish left and right. Lots of fish cruising around that would just short strike my jig. Stuck with the red and white color today.

Adam was trying various Rapala's and getting lots of chasers, but he couldn't get one to commit. He kept switching up lures to get something to work for him. He found a mep's spinner in his box that he tried and stuck his first cut bow on.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

His biggest trout ever too. New PB for Adam.

I eventually convinced him to throw one of my jigs on and try that. He went on to catch a half a dozen bluegills, but no more trout. We fished until Sundown and decided to call it a day from there. I managed to land 4, lose 3 and miss many more.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Our line up of the day.

Another great day on the water. Can't wait for the next.

Till Next Time
Mark

Solo Run to Amador 10/19/11

Had plans to take some people out with me today, but they all canceled, so I decided to go alone today. On my way up to the lake I saw their planting board was the same as last week. In fear of them not planting I stopped at the top of the dam and just took 5 minutes to look for surface activity. In 5 minutes I must have seen 15 trout jump, so I said good enough. Went and paid for my pass, good to go. I talked to the lady at the cafe and she told me they were planting 1,000lbs of fish everyday this week monday through friday. Definitely promising to hear.

Parked on the Dam and got my first line wet around 1400. Using my usual crappie jigs. Started off with a red one today. I decided to use a 1/16th ounce head instead of my usual 1/32nd just to get added distance so I would have a chance at more fish. I stood up on the dam about 20ft back from the water not to spook fish and to have a higher vantage point to look down on the fish. Found an area where I saw fish constantly cruising and made camp. Tossing at fish after fish hoping one will come by that is willing to bite and wont ignore my jig. As always a lot are still in shock or just flat out have lockjaw. Typical Amador.

After a while I found a few chasers and I finally connected with one.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Cutbow #1

After a while I thought the fish were just not liking this color as much so I switched to blue. Immediately started getting more attention. After a short period of time I ended up losing two. Both did the same thing. They bumped jig on the same rock on the shore when I went to grab them and knocked my jig with a barbless hook right out of their mouth and the took off to live another day. Bummer

After a while again I felt like the fish were losing interest with my jig so I switched over to a green one. Sure enough I got more attention with this color and then got my second fish.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Trout in the death grip.

I kept trying and missed hits here and there. I would get a bite and swing for the hookset and the fish would spit the hook before I made contact with it. I walked all up and down the dam looking for more fish that would bite, but the sun was setting the dam was casting shade over the water making it harder for me to see the fish cruising by. I decided to walk over and try off of the dock where I landed one more.

After that it got dark and I decided to call it day.

Ran up to the cleaning station to make sure I didn't make a mess of this at home.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Today's Line-up

All in all I had to work a lot harder for my fish today, I should have had my limit, but it still felt great to get out on the water. Still waiting for them to start stocking some bigger fish, but these guys are a lot of fun for now.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

West Carson River 10/17/11

Decided to get up to the hill on the hunt for some trout and wanted to go and look at the beautiful fall colors the sierra's has to offer. Went up 50 to 89 to avoid all of the construction thats going on on 88 right now. They are still blasting rocks up there and thats about a 3 hour delay I didn't want to sit in. Made it on the water at 1000 though and got too see some awesome scenery.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Love this country.

We first stopped at the 89 bridge first to see what was going on. Saw about a school of a dozen fish swimming around the area with a few fisherman casting at them. I asked around and no one could catch anything. We decided to walk up river to see if there were any more fish willing to bite. Walked up and found a few fish here and there. Manged to get one each. I was tossing a powerworm on the Fly rod and Deni was throwing a green crappie jig. Nothing else was happening here though so we took off to the next bridge.

We found fish around the next 88 bridge. Some here and there, but they were really pressured and didn't want to bite much.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

After a while we figured out that the only fish that were willing to bite would be the ones hiding in the protection of the shadows under the bridge. If you had a chaser though they would not chase the lure into the light. Deni called them Vampire fish haha.

After trying for about 2 hours I managed to land 5 here though and Deni got 4.

In search of better action we left for hope valley hoping this area hadn't been pressured as much from the weekenders. We walk up to the water to find this.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Couple hundred DFG planters all just schooled up in a ball. I tried my power worm for a long time, but they had no interest with it. Mean while Deni was slamming them on her jig.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Little bendo action.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Deni with an averaged sized fish of the day.

So with that I put the sissy stick down and grabbed my spinning rod and threw a jig out there. Immediately I started getting hit.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Decent fish for me.

We continued on to catch fish after fish here on every other cast. Throwing em all back just having a good time. After an hour of throwing jigs, they got into enough of a feeding frenzy I could pick my fly rod back up and get them on the PW. We stayed here for about 4 hours just slaying and having a good time. Some people who were camping there came by and asked us "Whats your secret? Several people have been trying for these fish all day and haven't caught anything." Guess sometimes you just got to have the right lure. They also told me there were some kids there earlier throwing rocks into the water. Sure that didn't help.

We tried all kinds of colors on the jigs, green, black, blue, white, several shades of yellow, every color I had in the box it didn't matter it all worked.

After catching a releasing over 100 fish between the two of us. We decided we had our fun and it was time to go home. Neither of us was keeping count though so we had to declare a winner some how, so I said, "Ok Deni lets keep some, first one to 5 wins." Sounded like a fair challenge and it was on. The race was neck and neck the whole time, but I ended up winning. Close race though and she is catching on fast.

Got home I cooked up a nice fish fry for Deni's family



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Good way to get on her parent's good side

Great day on the water with my girl, caught lots of fish and had a great time. Can't wait for the next.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

First Crack at Lake Amador

With the word out that Amador started stocking their legendary Cutbows I wanted to get out there and get my first few of the season. My good friend Mike is moving to Georgia in a few days, so I had to take him fishing with me one more time before he took off across the country. His first time to Amador, I promised him trout bigger then what he has caught up in sierra's with me before.

We got on the water around 1100, decided to take the boat out. I've still got a free boat use I won in the derby from last season so I put it to good use and saved a bit of $. Got on the water and first things first, I had to go and check out Jackson creek. There is nothing like fishing for those monster Cutbows in a small stream.

We get back there and man this time of year that water is low. Had to park the boat back a lot further then usual and walk in. Didn't see a lot of fish right off the bat, but these guys were everywhere!!!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I didn't really feel like swimming today or man it would have been easy pickings for a nice crawdad boil.

We keep looking and we find about 4 fish just at the mouth of the stream. They weren't real interested in biting at first, but we were persistent. Mike was trying for one fish that after 20 mins. of trying to get to bite ended up short striking his green crappie jig multiple times, but it never committed to it and Mike could never connect. I found one though that took me 15 mins. of trying for, but I ended up getting em.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

First Cutbow of the season baby! Got him on a white crappie jig.

After that there was nothing else there worth trying for so we took off. We did a short troll out of Jackson to the Spillway area of the lake. I trolled a kastmaster and Mike had a pin minnow on.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Half way across the lake my rod doubles over and I was thinking alright number 2 on the board for me! Then I get the fish closer and realize its a green carp!



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Not what I wanted, but still a cool catch. This has happened to me so much this year. Catching bass while trolling for trout in the middle of the lake, and it still blows my mind. Never in my life would I be looking for bass on the surface of the lake in 50ft of water, but hey it still puts a bend in the rod get the blood pumping.

We troll the rest of the way for nothing. Once we reach the north bank I pull the trolling rods in and we just scan the banks for cruising fish. I stick with my jig and Mike tries a Gold Kastmaster. I find a cove with fish jumping everywhere in it. I just needed to get within casting distance. Before I knew it I had the boat on top of a school of about 50 fish. I drop my jig right in the middle of them, and not one even takes a second look. Mike throws his Kastmaster through them and gets a few chasers. We keep casting and not to long into it Mike hooks up with his first Amador Cutbow.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

He really didn't want to hold the fish, so I held it for him.

Mike kept getting followers and short strikes here and there, so to fix my problem instead of switching lures I decided to change colors. I switched from white to red and white. A color I normally use when the water is a bit more stained. Sure enough though we get back on the school and I start getting fish.

We continued throughout the day scanning the whole north bank of the lake looking for schools and chasing them when we found them. Mike switched over to a green jig and started getting more bites. Most fish actually had lock jaw on us, but we found the ones that wanted to bite.

Got off of the water by 1730 with our limit.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The Carnage

Not the biggest fish Amador has to offer, but man it was awesome to get back to that lake and do my UL sight fishing. Hopefully there will be more and bigger fish to come.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

AR quickie 10/4/11

Today I did a little bit of recon on the AR to see if I could get my first ever AR salmon. First stop I thought I'd look just below the fish hatchery with the rest of the crowds. Me and Deni walked down to look, saw nearly 50 anglers on the water counting people on both sides of the river. Salmon jumping everywhere, but I only saw one fish on a stringer. I tried drifting a Corkie for about 10 mins. and then I threw a spinner for another 20 then I was bored out of my mind. I saw one guy hook up and lose his salmon after a 5 min fight. Wasn't there for long but that was it.

After that Deni had to go to school, so not to be lonely and bored I called up Garrett asked if he was free and up for a little bit of fishing. He said he was down so I picked him up and we took off. We decided to go out to the Howe area at one of my old Striper spots so I could try to get a Striper once I got irritated with salmon.

Once we parked and were getting our gear together Garrett saw I had a stinger sitting in the bed of my truck which I was on my way to grab encase we got something, but Garrett told me "Don't bring it, you only get fish when your not prepared," so I said "Ok, whatever you say man." We took off and got on the water around 1800. I had a second rod so I threw a Kwikfish out, figured why not? You never know. As I was setting up Garrett thought he saw a Striper boil so I threw my super spook on to try for a top water bite. I threw it for about 10 mins. and I just wasn't feeling it, so I threw a swimbait on to try that for a while. Garrett and I started to see salmon after salmon roll on the other side of the river about 30 ft too far for us to cast. Don't you love how that works out?

I stuck with the swimbait just to be doing something different then Garrett with his Flying C. Garrett kept with his spinner though. I thought it was weird though he would cast out reel for the first 20ft of line and then crank it back in and cast back out as close to the rolling salmon as he could get. I thought he was just wasting most of his cast, but whatever. Sure enough though he made a cast out started reeling and on his second crank his spinner stopped like a rock, he set the hook, and fish on!!!

I took a few action pics.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

He got the fish in in no time and Garrett landed a nice chrome jack for the day.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

With seeing that I took my swimbait off and threw my spinner on. I tried for one of my own and Garrett tried for his limit but we didn't have anymore hits. Kept seeing fish rolling on the other side of the river though. Think I'll have to go and take the boat or my pontoon out there and get to that other side. Have to go where the fish are. Maybe next time we'll see.

Off the water by 1915. Pretty good for only about an hour on the water. Still need to get my first AR salmon, I'm gonna have to get in gear and get it before the end of the month, because once they start stocking Camanche and Amador I'll hibernating there until Spring. Always good to get out though. Better then working thats for sure.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark

South Fork American 10/2/11

Sunday morning I decided to wake up early and try for salmon for a few hours. I got out to the honey hole to find 12 other anglers all in my dad's and my special secret spot. Secrets out now. I knew a few anglers down there so I went down to try anyways. I haven't been in a few weeks, but some of the other anglers have been coming out on a regular basis. They told me most of the fish have been coming after 0900. Shame for me cause I usually leave around that time and I wanted to get off of the water today at 0830 too. I fished till 0830 as planned and nothing happened so I left. Short and sweet salmon skunk report.

Today one of my friends invited me and a few other friends up to her cabin she has located on the south fork of the American, so I left the salmon hole went and picked up my girl friend and took off up the hill. We got to the cabin around 1200 and got settled in. With the river right there though I couldn't wait for long I picked up my sissy stick and took off for the water. My girlfriend Deni came with me to try her luck as well. We both were drifting pink powerworms, me just on my fly rod (Yes I know its not a fly, but its perfect to cast on the fly rod and man is it effective) and Deni was drifting it under a bobber with a spilt shot to keep it down.

We get to the water and I give her a quick lesson on how to read the water, what to look for, pools, eddies, pockets, etc.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I point out a pool to her that I make a few cast to and manage to miss 3 fish in. Been a while since I've used my fly rod. That's my excuse.

We keep trying and I manage to get a nice 8 inch rainbow. Deni is getting bites here and there and she lost 1.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

She was learning fast.

We continue on throughout the evening for a few more missed hits and Deni finally gets her first fish.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I'm pretty sure she won the small fish award with this fish. Shortly after I manage to get a Brown.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

and then Deni comes back and wins the big fish award of the day with a decent Rainbow.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

After that I got my line stuck in a tree behind me and I snapped off my whole leader. With no extra leader line on me I was done for the evening. I didn't tell Deni though. I followed her and just watch how fast she learned how to read the water and how much she was getting into it. I wanted to see how long she would keep on fishing without me. I followed her through 5 different holes a long the river, she was determined to get at least one more fish to tie up with me so she kept going on and on till it got dark. She managed to get a few more bites, but couldn't get them to stick.

That was it for the day. It got dark and we decided to walk back before it got to dark to hop a long the rocks back to the cabin. Afternoon well spent. Salmon sucked, but I managed to make a great day out of it anyways. Exciting for me too to see Deni enjoying fishing more and more. I'm converting her into a natural fisherwoman . Can't ask for a better day then that.

Till Next Time Guys
Mark