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WHERE ARE THE FISH GODS
WHEN YOU NEED THEM!
By: Ron Wilson
September 19, 2002.... I
spent last week vacationing at Clear Lake with my wife Diana and friend
Quen Young, of
San Francisco. Quen and I traveled the lake in Norval Pimentel’s
Stratos Bass Boat. It sure is nice having a friend who loans you the use
of his equipment so you can have a good time. Quen really loves
traveling over smooth water at close to 70 miles an hour.
We
started off the week fishing the Nice and Lucerne area of the lake,
working our way south to the town of Clear Lake. The fishing was tough
as far as I was concerned, a fish here and there but no great pattern. I
guess I was trying too cover too much water, way too fast.
We
fished with all kinds of plastic baits, including senko’s, but the
only thing we could get the fish to eat was Zoom Dead Ringer’s,
watermelon red flake was the color of choice, fished on a dart head. The
fish liked the swimming action of the tail and we caught lots of fish of
all sizes on it, including a couple that just flat broke us off!
On
Wednesday I had Quen use a frog for the first time and when a huge fish
came up and exploded on his frog, the loud splash scared him and he
forgot to set the hook. The fish quickly buried itself in the weeds and
spit the frog! I sure got a good laugh out of that one. Quen said he
really liked using top water, as it was very exciting. I explained to
Quen that once a fish blows up on a frog and you feel the weight on the
line, he should try to break the rod by jerking as hard as he could to
set the hook and it would get a lot more exciting, as frog fish are
usually in the 3 pound class and up!
On
Thursday evening my web partner, Tim Paes, showed up and we used his
Stratos Bass Boat to look for bass for the upcoming Stratos/Javelin
Owners tournament that was held over the weekend.
We
started off with top water frogs, spinnerbaits and Zara Spooks. Tim,
Quen and I soon had a pattern down that I figured my partner for the
tournament, Tom Bossard, owner of Tom's Truck Repair in Modesto, and I
could catch black bass on.
The
Owners Tournament is a yearly event that is open to all Stratos and
Javelin boat owners and their partners. Tom owns a 2001 Stratos and he
and I paired up for the event.
Friday
Tom showed up and we all headed south in 2 boats looking for fish. Tim
had a clear sparkle Zara Spook that the fish loved and he caught a
couple on it. Tom had a small white spinnerbait that he used in one area
where he made 3 casts and caught 3 fish. Things were looking good as we
had more than one place to go catch fish and more than one type bait
that was working for us.
 Saturday
came and after the national anthem was played, it was blast off time. We
headed to the top water fish but I guess it was to early as there was
nobody home or they just didn’t answer the door! We headed to spot
number two and a boat was already there. So we pulled up short of the
spot and started fishing the grass. We had a couple bites on plastic,
but were so excited that we jerked it away from them. Tom changed to his
white spinner bait and on the second cast hollered, “Get the net”.
By the time I got the net out of the hiding spot and put it together the
fish had Tom's 17 pound test line wrapped up in the grass and just as I
got there the line broke. Things were not looking good.
Tom
looked through his tackle box and came up with another white spinnerbait
that was similar and soon said, “fish on”. It was a nice one in the
3-pound class. A couple casts later and we had fish number two in the
live well. I grabbed a Zara Spook and a couple casts later fish number 3
nailed it and Tom lined it into the boat. Things were starting to look
up until a blue and white Stratos moved into the dock where we had just
been fishing and jerked out a 4 pounder. Those guys were lucky that the
boat on the other side of the dock didn't protest, as it looked like
they were breaking the 50-yard distance rule. They would have been
disqualified, as there were 2 tournament officials and a photographer in
the area taking pictures.
Tom
and I decided to go back after the top water fish that we had
located earlier in the week. On the second cast I had a nice one on for
a split second and then the Spook came flying back toward Tom. I
hollered, “look out” as Tom just had enough time to raise his arm up
before the lure hit him. One of the hooks went past the barb into his
arm. I grabbed a set of pliers to jerk it out, but the problem was that
there were 3 more hooks that had to go somewhere after I jerked out the
treble hook in his arm.
Tom
told me to go ahead and fish. I said “that would be great but you have
what I want to fish with hanging from your arm”!
Tom
thought about using braided line to jerk the hook out but we had the
same problem, where would the other treble hook end up. Too bad we
didn't have some duck tape to put around the exposed hooks so we could
jerk it out quickly.
After
a bit of thinking Tom decided that the best thing was too just push the
hook threw his arm, cut the barb off, and then back the hook out. Tom
got the hook point through the skin but the barb would not come through,
so I had to take a pair of wire cutters and push down around the point
while Tom pulled up on the hook, finally we got the barb to come through
his skin so I could cut the barb off and back the hook out. Tom was
finally free of the plug.
I
tied the spook back on and a few casts later I had a big fish nail it!
The fish jumped and we could see it was big and fighting hard. Tom was
ready with the net as the fish took another jump and the spook went
flying. The fish gods had just been teasing us. What should have been a
great start to a two-day event ended up with a fizzle. We were only able
to weigh in 6 ˝ pounds for 3 fish.
Day
2 and we were heading back to our favorite dock. I used a dart head with
a watermelon dead ringer to boat our first fish. Just 10 minutes fishing
and we had one in the livewell. Maybe today would be a better day.
Unfortunately we were after fish that had been pounded on all week and
they didn’t want to come out and play. The wind was rocking and
rolling and looked to be getting worse as the clouds were moving in over
the Lakeport area. I decided that maybe we should get out of the
narrows and head back to the Skylark area where it’s protected from
the wind.
It
was a bad move on my part and we checked in early and called it a
weekend. I figured if nothing else Tom could get home in time to have
dinner with his wife, while I waited around until mine got done with her
secretary duties with the rest of the Nor-Cal officials.
I
found out later that Tim Paes and Jeff Hartung went over to the top
water fish earlier in the day and caught 4 nice bass, with the biggest
one going close to 7 pounds. I guess the fish gods just didn't like Tom
and me this weekend. I just hope they look upon us a little kinder this
weekend at Nor-Cal’s last tournament of the year on the delta!
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