Old Friend, Big Brown (and I'm not refering to UPS)

Facebook just brought together two old friends and after trading many old memories we created a new one. Randy Beebe, which was one of my best high school buddies, discovered me on Facebook and sent me a message last week and we instantly decided to meet at the cabin an catch up on the last 20+ years. Randy arrived Tuesday afternoon on his Harley decked out in leather and ready to dive into the past. I must admit reminiscing about the past was quite refreshing and after hours of talking about family, grand kids and values we had to admit we still have a lot in common which was the basis of your friendship in school. In our emails leading up to the reunion I promised Randy we would go chase a big trout. The Hex hatch is starting to taper off so I warned him that we had a 50-50 chance of being successful, and unfortunately I was right because only 50% of us caught fish. We both had many strikes but I was the lucky one, landing two nice trout. The Brown was the largest trout I have caught to date measuring 23", but I didn't have my scales to make it official. The big hook jawed male probably weighed in between 4 and 5 pounds. My neighbor Matt saved the head and fins and maybe some day we will see a great wall mount. I'm still waiting for the 25 incher to get serious about mounting a trophy for the cabin. Therefore, the mission still exists, Fish on dudes. Thanks Randy for reminiscing the past and making new memories for the future.

Hike to Beauty Lake

Jody and Kerry came to visit us this weekend at the cabin and we decided to take a short hike into the Caribou Wilderness. Our destination was Beauty Lake which was a easy 2 mile hike up a gentle drainage into a basin that held many small lakes.

The trailhead started at Hay Meadows.

The wilderness started just past the meadows.

The first forks in the trail.

Indian Meadow

Almost there.

Sam, Michele, Pops, Kerry and Jody at Beauty Lake

The Fun is Back

The bed fishing is over at Lake Almanor so Olivia, Nikki, Jeff, Michele and I traveled to Walker Lake to chase a bigmouth. The fishing was slow but Nikki did connect with a good Largemouth to add to the wall of bass photos on this blog. We are getting ready to leave in a few minutes to chase big trout at Geritol Cove. Rumor has it that the hex hatch has started. I'll report tomorrow if the rumor is true.

The Fun is over and the Work Begins

Terry's Big Fish of the Day

Terry and his friend Butch from Missouri finished up the sight fishing season with me on Tuesday.  The wind blew from every direction and fishing was a little slower than last week.  There was still plenty of fish on beds if the wind would allow you to see them.  We had about and hour of flat water and most of our fish came in that period.  We spent a lot of time running from cove to cove looking for flat water and about the time everything calmed down the wind would switch to another direction.  My eyes still hurt from squinting threw the ripples.  

I didn't catch as many fish this year and the size seemed to be a little smaller.  The reason for the smaller fish was because we seemed to have more wind this year.  The bigger fish come out of deeper water and with the ripples on the surface you just can't see into 10 feet of water.  It will be a couple of weeks before we return to Lake Almanor and the sight fishing will probably be over.  Next comes the Hex hatch, watch out trout.

Well the fun is over for a while and I am back in RB drawing up a new job that will start tomorrow.  It should take about two weeks and 20 gallons of sweat.  We should be back up to the cabin about June 12th for the summer.  

Missouri Butch and a nice Smallie

More Lake Almanor Smallmouth

Ryder and Dad with a good fish.

Ryder and Sean joined me on Memorial Day at Canyon Dam Lanch ramp and we preceded to boat a nice batch of smallmouths.  It looks like I started something with his first catfish sandwich and we ended up keeping a couple of small fish for Bass sandwiches.  The rest he learned how to kiss on the forehead and send them back home.  We were off the water by 10:30am because of the increasing boat traffic.  Terry and Butch will join me tomorrow for the last day of Smallmouth fishing this month.  Back to woodworking and sawdust.

Fun Time at Lake Almanor

I've been busy this last week harassing the bass at Lake Almanor.  It has been a little windy but it was generally pretty calm in the morning until about noon time.  We can still catch a few bass after the wind comes up but it just isn't as much fun when you can't see the expression on their faces when you rip their lips off.  I've had a lot of company which is really a blast, especially when everyone is catching fish and having fun.  Dinner time was really fun because we ate some of our catch along with wild Turkey and Venison back strap.  Check out the smiles on all the fishermen.

Steve with a fish Terry broke off the day before.

Yours truely with a chunky Smallmouth

Pete's first Lake Almanor Smallie

Another great Smallmouth.

Ryder's First Fish

Check out the video of Ryder and his first fish.