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GOTTA
FIND THAT MONEY FISH!
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Warren & Larry with some nice Melones
Koke's |
By: Ron Wilson
July 1, 2004…. Last
Saturday Warren Cooper, Larry Heitzman and I fished the Kokanee Power
Derby held at New Melones.
We heard the fishing
was tough, so I figured a 2 pound fish is what we needed to put us in the
money.
We met at Glory Hole
Sports, the headquarters for the event, paid our entry fee and headed to
launch.
Larry backed Warren’s
23 foot jet boat into the water and in short order we were off and running
into the main part of the lake.
I was surprised when
Warren set her down in the middle of nowhere to start fishing. We were in
a couple hundred feet of water. My contacts reported shallow water in the
morning, forty feet and near some type of structure.
Larry was soon reeling
them in on a variety of Uncle Larry Spinners. The only problem was that
they were mostly all 6 inches long with an occasional one pound fish
thrown in.
Warren played with his
Bottomline Depth Finder after having it repaired. But soon it took a dump.
Something Warren should have dumped the graph instead of having it
repaired.
We were now running
blind with 4 downriggers in the water. That can be dangerous and not
necessarily productive.
Warren made a few
passes in familiar water where he pretty well knew the depth and Larry was
able to put in a couple more keepers in the box.
By 11:00 a.m. I knew
we were in trouble, but was hoping for one good fish that could put me in
the money!
I knew of a break near
a rock island that usually held a good fish or two, so I had Warren make a
pass. I also knew that a gold blade Uncle Larry’s spinner would do the
trick now that the sun was high.
On the first pass I
got a double. No two pounder but a solid 1.3 to 1.5 pound fish. Just
needed a two pounder to place in the money!
Got the lines back in
the water and the boat suddenly did 180 degree spin in the water and
tangled everything up!
It seems the batteries
had run out of power which caused the power steering to make a hard right
spin.
Warren finally got the
jet motor fired up and we let it ideal for awhile to build up the
batteries.
Larry and I got the
lines back in the water and we managed to get into some nice fish after we
got going.
Larry and I put a
couple more kokes in the box and then once again the boat went into a hard
right turn! After a quick fire drill and finally getting the main engine
fired up, I suggested that since it was 1:00 p.m. and the boat was running
really bad, we should call it a day.
One thing about it
when you weigh in first at least you get on the leader board. Larry was
top dog for a few minutes.
As we watched the
weigh-in, we talked about batteries and I suggested Thermo Oil Batteries.
I have had real good luck with them in my boats.
I was just about to
tell Warren why they were so good when Larry chimed in, “For $150 you
could buy gel batteries and shouldn’t have any problems with them.” I
thought to myself, “Why would you spend $150 on gel batteries when you
could get Thermo’s for less the $100.”
Local guide Danny Lane
tried gel batteries in his new jet boat and they failed him in no time. He
went to Thermo’s and hasn’t had battery problems since.
Now you would think it
would have been just a miserable day on the water with all the trouble we
were having. I felt sorry for Captain Warren, there is nothing worse then
going out and fishing an event and have your boat and its equipment fail
on you!
I could see the strain
in Warrens face a few times, here he was doing his best to get us on fish,
but if it wasn’t one thing going wrong with the boat it was another!
Larry and I were
having a ball and Larry was really giving Warren a good ribbing. “How come
you didn’t charge the batteries?” “Why don’t you own a good depth
finder?” Larry said, “I’ve know Warren for some time now Ron and I can
give him enough crap for the both of us!” I bet Larry is still dishing it
out!
A day on the water
catching fish and getting to meet a new fishermen like Larry and
reacquainted with an old one like Warren made for an enjoyable day.
Now we didn’t catch
any big fish but we caught forty kokes total, it was just that the vast
majority were in the 6 to 8 inch class!
The few floaters that
I did see were quickly snatched up by Ospreys. In fact a few fishermen
came real close to losing there fish as the Ospreys were trying to take
them off the hook! This time of year they get pretty aggressive as they
have chicks in the nest to feed.
We can only hope for a
few more water skiers out there as the fish need more algae bloom. They
are not looking as healthy as they should be to me! The normal
bluish/green on there back has too much white on it for this time of year.
Its either lack of food or the water is to hot.
Maybe it was the hot
water as the fish started biting at 35 feet in the morning and slowly went
down to 70 feet by 1:00 p.m. For the winners of the event check out the
Kokanee Power web site at
www.kokaneepower.org. |
