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Fishing for the Big
One!
October 10, 2002.... Modesto's
Norval Pimentel and I fished the Kelsey
Bass Ranch Members Tournament last Saturday. The fishing for us was
tough to start with. No worm or senko bites at all.
Norval finally boated our
first fish on a rip
bait near the dam. I was tossing all kinds of old baits such as ring
worms and other stuff that I knew the fish hadn't seen for some time.
However, I was having no luck at all.
When I saw a small bass
chasing a minnow on top of the water and then a huge bass come up from
behind and gulp down the small bass I knew I had to switch to some type
of reaction bait.
I tried a Zara Spook, no
luck, a rattletrap, nothing. I put on a small Hopkins spoon tossed it
out and started slowly reeling it back to the boat and hooked a nice 2
1/2 pounder on the first cast. Norval guided the boat in a large circle
out to the middle of the area by the dam were I caught that fish. We fan
cast all over and I was soon rewarded with keeper bass number 3 for the
livewell.
We had 2 decent fish in the
livewell, but we knew we needed a fish in the 5 pound class to win first
prize for the event, a yearly membership, that was donated by owner Jon
Kelsey.
Norval moved down the lake
to other areas where he had success in the past, but the fish just would
not cooperate for us.
 We
moved back up to a cove near the dam where I saw a bass bust baitfish. I
tossed out the spoon and gave the reel a few cranks and the fish nailed
it. I pulled as hard as I could but the fish just dove for the grass.
Norval guided the boat over to the area and there was a thick clump of
moss with my line going down right in the middle of it. Norval took off
the short handle he had on the net and attached a long handle making the
net a 6 1/2 footer. He put the net down by the moss clump but could not
reach bottom to dislodge the fish, so he gave it a sweep upward. I felt
my line jerk and then the line went slack and then I saw a tail in the
moss as it broke water. I said "There he is Norval" as he came
up under the fish, putting him and the moss in the net. However, I was
very surprised to find just a 2 3/4 pound bass in the middle of the 10
pounds of moss that was in the net. If that fish had gotten away I would
of swore that it was 5 pounds or better!
Norval and I caught a few
more fish but just couldn't hook the one we were looking for!
At the weigh in Norval found
out he had caught the big fish of the day but we couldn't put a
solid 3 fish limit together to win the event.
The winners were 1st Place -
George Fontana and Bob Borg 9.18 lbs
2nd Place - Neal Mathies and Lance Lemmings 8.66 lbs
3rd Place - Scott George and Samantha 8.62 lbs
4th Place - Norval Pimentel and Ron Wilson 8.50 lbs.
After the weigh in the group
had a great tri tip dinner with all the fixins prepared by Jon and
Deidra Kelsey.
Ken Moore, of Ripon, and I went deer hunting last Sunday in zone D-5.
Its was dry and hot and I knew there was very little chance for us to
get a deer but I had some areas that I wanted to show Ken.
With duck season and other
obligations this would probably be my last trip to the hills.
On the way up we spotted a
little forky near Mountain ranch. Further up the hill we spotted a few
more deer
but didn't see any horns.
At 7 a.m. we arrived near
the Calaveras Big Trees. I showed Ken one of my favorite ridge's to wait
for deer to come to me when they begin their migration. Ken got a kick
out of some Mountain Quail that were traveling down the ridge at us as
we walked up the ridge. The birds came within 20 feet before they flew
off.
On the way back down the
ridge I started tracking a mountain lion. The paws were large and every
now and then you could see them clearly when the cat stepped in dry dirt
but there was some other type of animal traveling down the hill with her
but I couldn't figure out the tracks.
When we got to some private
property I talked to a lady who informed me that she had seen a female
mountain lion and her 3 cubs come down the hill. A dozen little paws
trampling all over each other as they walked in a line
behind momma, no wonder I couldn't figure out what it was following
her.
We were hot and sweaty by 8
a.m. and it was going to be a scorcher up there. We traveled back down
the hill so I could introduced Ken to some of my friends in the area. We
then called it an early day and headed for home.
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