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A
LITTLE R & R AT LAKE CAMANCHE
By: Ron Wilson
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Quen with a couple
of monsters! |
May 27, 2004....
Vacation is a time to get away from the stress of your 9 to 5 job. I
recently spent a week doing just exactly that.
I went to
Lake Camanche with Doctor Quen Young of San Francisco and Bass Pro
Norval Pimentel of Modesto to do a little bass and trout fishing.
We arrived at 11:00
a.m. Monday, unpacked and were in the water by noon to sample the trout
fishing. The fishing was kind of slow but we managed to catch and release
a couple limits and put a 5 pounder in the box.
Our stay would be at
the residential housekeeping cottages. Quen’s idea of roughing it is a
kitchenette with refrigerator and a TV in every room. We had all the
comforts of staying in a two-bedroom home.
It sure is nice
getting in the water in 5 minutes time or having a nice refreshing shower
and a bite to eat in just minutes after getting off the water at the end
of the day.
We were back out on
the water early Tuesday morning. We were fishing down around
Hat Island in 100 feet of water. The fish were scattered in 15 to 60
feet of water with the highest concentration of fish around the
temperature break that was in 40 feet. That was the hot spot for quality
fish also as we put a couple in the boat that were around 5-pounds.
Fishing Guide
Bruce Hamby of Ripon told me what to use, but like the hardheaded okie
I am, I had to find out if they would hit what I had.
Part of the fun of
fishing is figuring out where the fish are and what they want. Then if you
can figure out what the bigger fish want to eat, it makes the day of
fishing all that much better.
After putting a few
big trout in the box we headed upriver to fish for black bass. The wind
had us rocking and rolling, which made it difficult to fish, but I finally
found some spotted bass on the bite in the mine tailings.
I had Quen rigged up
with a split shot rig and a
Keeper 084 red flake chartreuse tail worm. The fish would slam it as
it went by. Quen was having a ball catching spotted bass but the bite
finally died and we decided it was time to go in and have dinner.
Another night of
roughing it with a steak and salad dinner then a little TV, we watched one
of Quen’s favorite shows, CSI before heading to bed.
By Wednesday I had the
depth, area and bait down. I had lots of red colored baits but they wanted
an orangish-red Ex-Cel scaled minnow bait.
All year the fish have
been favoring gold or red colored baits. I think the carp spawn was good
and the fish are eating carp minnows. Otherwise I figure they would be
hitting my silver baits that imitate shad.
We put three more good
trout in the box, a couple in the 6-pound range and one close to 8-pounds.
After a good morning of trout fishing we switched to black bass and headed
back upriver trying to get away from the wind again.
I found the bass
wanted a 4 inch black worm on my 1/16-ounce darthead while Quen was still
splitshotting with minimal success. With a planned dinner engagement with
the Mrs. at Luka’s in Clements, we called it an early day again.
Dinner was great! I
had the shrimp dinner while Diana and Quen ordered the pasta. This was a
nice break from the nightly steak dinners we had been having! Don’t you
feel sorry for me!
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Stratos Boats Pro
Norval Pimentel with Quen
holding a nice Camanche bass |
Norval Pimentel pulled
his
Stratos bass boat up on Thursday. Norval got out arranging the dollar
bills in his wallet and exclaimed “$17 to get in here, boy they are sure
proud of this lake.”
I thought, “Well its
like everything else, if you want the best you’re going to have to pay for
it.” Manager Chris Cantwell has stocked the lake with quality fish and the
North Shore area has never looked better!
My advice is to always
take a friend to share the expense or buy a yearly pass to save money,
especially if you’re going to patronize the lake regularly.
We launched and headed
upriver. Norval hit all his regular spots and I started putting fish in
the boat. Norval being the pro he is, and a little hardheaded himself,
wouldn’t accept any of my limited supply of baits, he wanted to find a
bait of his own that would work.
I only had 10 black
Berkeley Power Worms left and they aren’t making this style bait
anymore. I don’t know what they resemble, maybe a leach, but this worm has
worked for years at Camanche. When I found out Berkeley quit making them I
bought all I could find, my supply is all but gone now!
Norval was having
limited success catching fish, but when he put on a chartreuse tail perch
style bait, he matched me fish for fish.
Dr. Quen caught one
every now and then, but fishing 3rd seat behind Norval and I made it
tough. By the time Quen’s bait got to the fish, the active ones were
already caught and released.
We ended the day with
well over 40 keeper bass and lots of little ones. While we released the
largemouth Quen took a few spotted bass to introduce to his wok!
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Here I am with
another Camanche monster! |
That evening we showed
Norval how we had been roughing it! Quen prepared another great meal,
steak smothered in caramelized onions. Norval enjoyed his dinner before he
had to head for home.
Friday we went looking
for an early morning trout bite but didn’t have any luck. The fish finally
started biting about 7:00 a.m.; by 8:00 a.m. we had lost 5 big trout! I
have no idea what was happening other than lots of bad luck.
The biggest fish came
unbuttoned after I had fought it for several minutes. The fish got tangled
on one of the downrigger lines, came to the top and then was gone. The
trailing line got into the snap swivel somehow and unsnapped the lure,
releasing the fish. Sometimes weird things just seem to happen when you’re
fishing.
By 9:00 a.m. we had
caught a few and kept a couple Kokanee for a quick microwave lunch when we
got back to Modesto.
I don’t think there
were a dozen boats on the water at any one time during the week. It was a
nice restful vacation one I truly recommend. Marina manager,
Chris Cantwell said the weekdays should be good for fishing well into
June.
Of all the vacations I
have taken around the world I don’t think I have had any that are much
more enjoyable than my stays at Lake Camanche. For more information
contact
Lake Camanche at (209) 763-5166. |
