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DOG
DAYS OF SUMMER
By: Tim Paes
June 26, 2003…. As
the dog days of summer approach and our lakes and waterways become
clogged with boat traffic, you only have two choices, fight the crowds
or leave the boat in the garage and take care of the honey-do list. Now
I have a theory on the honey-do list is, for every item that comes off
two go on! So in my book that just leaves fighting the crowds. That is
unless you’re a member or guest of Kelsey
Bass Ranch.
Kelsey offers the
central valley angler a reprieve from the crowds. A place you can go to
find piece and solitude and enjoy a day on the water without dealing
with jet skis or water-skiers.
Last weekend was Jon
Kelsey’s annual member thank you at the ranch. Each year the Kelsey
family hosts a Barbeque for all the members. They also invite local
tournament anglers to talk about techniques for increasing member
success on the lake.
The day started with
breakfast at the Dredger Inn in Snelling, just a few short miles from
the Ranch. I met Norval Pimentel and Ron Wilson there. We enjoyed a good
breakfast and then headed down the road towards the lake.
We arrived at the
120-acre impoundment at 7:00 am and immediately launched our boats to do
a little prefishing before the day’s festivities started. I meandered
around the lake tossing a Snagproof frog and spinnerbait to isolated
structure and weed beds along the bank. I got a couple of rises to the
frog and swirls on the spinnerbait but no takers.
I headed in after about
30 minutes to meet Jon and find out what the plan was for the day. The
turnout was lighter then expected, but the day went forward as planned.
I met Richard and Teri
Murrison along with their daughter Megan. Teri is Jon’s new Webmaster
for the Kelsey Bass Ranch website. The family lives between Lake Don
Pedro and Lake McClure, an ideal location for spending time on the
water. However the Murrison’s spend most of their free time raising horses.
Megan was excited to do
some fishing, so she and her father jumped in my Stratos to learn a
little about black bass and hopefully catch some also!
Since Megan was new to
fishing I decided to rig a splitshot rod with a baby Brushog in
watermelon with red and black flake. One of the best ways to start a
youngster out fishing is with a splitshot rig. The rig is easy to fish
and a bass will hold on to the bait long enough for a new angler to
catch them. The risk of deep hooking a bass is minimized with the use of
barbless hooks and is mandatory at Kelsey. If your teaching somebody to
fish, I would highly recommend their use no matter where you’re
fishing.
 I headed for the middle
of the lake with the plan to fish the abundant grass beds that dot the
lake. The key to catching fish at Kelsey is the grass and finding where
the fish are positioned in relation to the grass. I found the majority
of fish staged in the beds that were 4 to 6 feet deep. I kept my Stratos
at that depth as I moved through the grass under the power of my Minn
Kota trolling motor.
I explained to Megan
how the bait would feel as it came through the grass and when she began
to feel a steady pull that didn’t let up, she needed to set the hook
as hard as she could. After about 20 minutes Megan had her first bass
on, a scrappy little 13” bass that gave her a thrill.
I was tossing a
motoroil with red flake Yamamoto Senko as I guided the boat around the
lake. Every time I hooked a bass I would call Megan to the front of the
boat to reel it in. Between reeling in the fish I hooked and catching a
few herself, she was starting to get the hang of it and having a great
time.
After a couple of hours
of patiently watching his daughter, I could tell that Richard was
starting to get a little antsy to do some fishing himself. Although he
wouldn’t admit it at first, it didn’t take much coaxing to get him
to agree that he’d like to try his hand at catching a few of these
bass.
It didn’t take long
for Richard to hook his first bass and after fighting the bass and 10
pounds of grass he got the 2 pounder in the boat.
At one point I went to
the back of the boat to help Megan thread the plastic bait back on her
hook. All of a sudden I hear a bang and clank towards the front of the
boat. As I turned to see what was going on, I saw my 7-foot St. Croix
rod with Shimano reel disappearing under the water! Shock quickly turned
to the realization that I had left about 3 feet of line dangling in the
water with a Senko on the end. A bass had come out of the grass and
inhaled the bait, taking it and my rod and reel along with him. Now that
was a very expensive lesson to learn!
We fished to about noon
before the smell of Jon Kelsey barbequing tri-tip got to be too much to
take. We headed for the dock where we sat down for an awesome feast put
on by the Kelsey family.
After lunch and a short
break, I was ready to get back after the fish. Member, Al Autry, of
Modesto came with me to try our hand at catching a few fish on frogs.
We worked the shallow
weed choked banks around the lake as we talked about hunting, fishing
and having a world-class bass fishery so close to home.
The frog bite just
wasn’t quite ready to kick into gear. We had a few swirls on the bait
but only one hookup. After a couple of hours of froggin and good
conversation, Al said it was time for him to head for home. So I fired
up the Evinrude outboard and idled him back to the dock.
I was far from ready to
head for home; there were still frogfish to catch! I headed back out to
do some experimenting with different frogs. I had an assortment of
Snagproof and Sumo frogs in different colors I wanted to try. I spent
the next few hours casting frogs to shallow cover. The blowup to hookup
ratio was about 6 to 1, but whether you hooked one or not, it was still
exciting nonetheless.
I found, after throwing
every frog in the boat, casts that fell within the immediate strike zone
of the fish, were struck at no matter what color they were. However when
it came to open water strikes, strikes that came after the fish had time
to see the bait, I found the bait with the most success was a pink Sumo
frog.
I started the day with
Norval and Ron and as I looked around the lake, I saw that the three of
us were all that were left. Evening was fast approaching as I saw Norval
and Ron heading for the ramp. I figured it was probably time for me to
head that way also.
You just can’t beat
the solitude and quality fishing at Kelsey. If you want to beat the dog days
of summer and get away from the crowds, then Kelsey Bass Ranch is right
for you. Visit their website
or call Jon at (209) 563-6573 for
more information. |
