My Opener 7/16-7/18

July 16th Ethan and I we dieing to fish the opener in hopes of an early fish. Woke up early and hit my honey hole on the sac. Arrived on the scene at 0530 and tossed out my kwikfish and threw spinners. Saw lots of small jacks jumping around, but none wanted to bite. Half way through the morning Garrett sends me a picture of a salmon he got on the AR which was cool to see one caught on the opener. Left the sac around 0900 skunked, but was happy to see all of the activity around.

The next day Ethan couldn't take it he had to go up to try the AR with Garrett. He said he would drive so I said screw it why not. First ones on the water at 0440. got everything set up while we waited for it to be legal to fish. Tried a couple of different spots before we met up with Garrett. Most places though was nothing but snag city and we ended up losing a lot of gear. We tried plunking some kwikfish in a few area's as well. Ethan tossed out a K-11 and maybe 5 seconds after it hit bottom it got hammered and he was hooked up!

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Sweet were gonna get our first fish of 2012 I'm excited. The fight goes on for a while and about 5 mins into Ethan realized he hasn't gained an inch of line during the entire fight. We look at his spool and its not good. Maybe another 30ft of line left, then the fish makes a good run and SNAP!!! spooled. Dam, must have been on hell of a fish.

Shortly after that Garrett came and found me and was asking me for my net. Out of all the people out here I was the only one who brought a net. Something is wrong with this picture. I ran over though and sure enough one of his buddies was hooked up on his flying C.

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No one has seen it yet but by the weight he though it was close to 20. He fought it to the bank and right as we saw color on the fish he spat the hook. 2 hooks ups now and no fish.

Then he hooks up again, and the fish spits the hook . . . . . again. Then he hooks up again! I'm grabbing the net getting ready to help him out. Ethan was trying to get his spinner in and out of the way then I see him slam his rod and he says he has a snag. At the time he was throwing a small fire max spinner and I asked him how the hell did he get snagged with that light ass spinner? Whatever don't have to time to care about it I need to net someone's fish. As I'm walking away I hear Ethan sigh in the backround and I asked him if he had to break off. He said no I had a fish and shook the hook out of his mouth. Thought the salmon was a snag, classic man.

Ethan lost his Garrett's friend finally lands one on his 3rd hook up of the morning.

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Then not much later it was my turn.

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First salmon of 2012! Nice chrome little jack.

We kept at it for a while, but I had to go to work so around 0900 I started packing up and Ethan asked me if we were leaving? I told him I had to get everything put together so go a head and make a few more cast. Sure enough he made that last cast count.

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He gets his fish in and its a nice big 20+ buck

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Got everything else there packed up and ready to go and off to work I went.

Back out again this morning for a big skunk. I think the over cast we had yesterday really helped us out for that one day. All morning there was only one hook up.

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Ended up being a nice 15+lb hen. Nothing for met today just another skunk but thats like.

Its only three days in and I just realized I've only gotten 6 hours of sleep since the opener, I need a break man.

Goodnight ya'll
Mark

Trout Stream Fishing 7/11/12

With as well as my last trip went I wanted to get back up to the Silver Fork while the getting was still good. Had some friends that were coming but a lot flaked on me so I went up with just my friend Jazzy. Showed up at the same spot around 1500 and it was clear most of the fish have moved off. Some fish were still hanging around under some rocks and in a few eddies, but they were really pressured and weren't biting. We moved one pool down and found a few fish that were willing to bite. Jazzy drew first blood soaking some powerbait.

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She busted two real quick here.

I had a few swipe at a leech, but no takers. Missed a few on a powerworm then couldn't buy a bite after that. All the fish I missed caught on to me so I switched over to drifting salmon eggs to get my skunk off.

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Picked up a few more in this pool drifting bait.

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We tried a couple more holes down river, but didn't find much.

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Normally I would walk a good ways and do a lot of rock hopping for more fish, but Jazzy isn't very good at rock hopping and we don't need her busting an ankle. I thought the Carson isn't all that far and I haven't been up there yet this year so we packed up and headed further up the mountain.

Stopped at the Hope Valley camp grounds to try for a bit, and we found some fish still here left over from the holiday weekend. Again Jazzy hooks up right away with some power eggs.

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I missed several fish throwing jigs around but ultimately had to resort back to salmon eggs to stick anything. Caught a few more here and left at sun down happy with the day and running from all of the dang mosquito's that were out. Man were they out in full force today. Not looking forward to dealing with all of these bites tomorrow.

Salmon season is right around the corner and man I am ready for it. I love these mountain trout, but I need something that pulls hard.

Till Then Guys
Mark

p.s. there was a guy under the bridge at silver fork shooting at trout with his .22, probably a good reason most of the fish have moved off. Plus a good reason I didn't really need to stick around. Just not right man.

Free Fishing Day Silver Fork

My buddy Adam said we should get a group together for the free fishing day and get some newbies on some fish. Made some calls and got a group together. My first plan was to fish the West Carson, cause I knew it was stocked and would be easy fishing for less experienced fisher people, but with the attention its been getting from public fishing boards I did not want to deal with crowds and the chance of it already being fished out which is all to possible. I looked at my options and since half of our group was already staying at our friend's cabin that was just south of Kyburz. I thought we would hit up Silver Fork.

Picked everyone up and headed up there. A local told me about the bridge up past the silver fork camp grounds was the place to be so off we went. As we were driving up I realized I haven't been up to the sierra's in nearly a year and man its been way too long. Beautiful country, fresh air, and friendly people! wonderful place.

Arrived at the bridge and checked out the river.

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Shot up river

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This is how you know your in real country.

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Below the bridge

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There were schools of truck trout holding all around and we all went to town. Most of the group started off drifting power worms including myself. Chartuse, orange, and pink were the colors of choice for us, but I have to say as usual pink out performed the other colors 5-1. I got my limit quick and just spent the rest of the time helping everyone else out.

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Some people switched up to jigs which worked a little bit better then the power worms, but big suprise the producing bait was powerbait.

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fish for everyone all around!

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Everyone got limits and we were getting ready to head back up to the cabin and cook up a sweet dinner.

Poor Deni though got 4 real fast then proceeded lose over a dozen fish over the course of an hour with that last fish for her limit just barely escaping her. We wanted to get going though, so I told Deni I would bring her back up later with a few more friends for her last fish. We got back to our car's though and my friend Jessica had a flat tire. We got it changed out, but her spare was a small doughnut that did not have nearly enough air in it. A gentleman walking by with his dog asked if we were ok, and we said we would be ok, but he saw how flat the doughnut was and he said hold on I'll be right back.

I told Deni quick go get your last fish!

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The gentle man came back with a small portable air compressor and we pumped that tire up.

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While were waiting Deni comes up with her final fish.

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I was so proud of her. Everyone told her just to switch to powerbait, but she said no that's too easy she had to get em on the jig, and sure enough she achieved her goal. Got everything squared away and headed back to the cabin. Cleaned up the fish, fried up some more food and had ourselves one hell of a feast.

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Beer batter fried trout, Louisiana Cajan spice fried trout, Alfredo pasta, burgers, hot dogs, only other thing we could of had was tacos.

Epic burger creations!

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Man I live for days like this. Getting to watch the joy of people catching fish who don't get to enjoy the outdoors as much as I do is an amazing thing. Spending time with friends and getting to enjoy a meal you caught cleaned and cooked yourself, that's what I call living.

Wonderful day and can't wait to do it again. Love this country

Till Next Time Guys
Mark