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ANNUAL RETREAT TO
CAMANCHE WAS GREAT!
By: Ron Wilson
April 30, 2007.... Dr. Quen Young of San
Francisco and I just finished our annual mini vacation to Lake
Camanche.
On day one the wind was blowing and the
fishing was slow as I did not have a fishing pattern. We fished a few
island tops with no luck and then we came to a point and our first two
bass were boated, a couple 2 pound spotted bass.
I told Quen the fish just told me
something, we had fished lots of bank with no action and we came to that
wind blown point and the bass were there. I said "Quen see that point
coming up, I bet we catch a fish there". We got to the point and sure
enough we caught another bass. We had a pattern, fish points with
cinnamon senko's and keeper 6 inch 1050 worms and you would catch fish.
This pattern held up all day and we had a ball catching black bass no
matter where we went on the lake.
Norval Pimentel showed up the next day as
he is also part of our annual get together for a days fishing. We headed
toward the dam area and fished the rock walls and caught black bass, no
size but nice rod benders. Norval tried all types of different baits
with hardly any action while I stuck with Keeper 1050 worms. They were
working, and as I hate fishing but love catching, I stuck with what I
knew was working for me. We headed back down the lake fishing different
areas with no success. A rock pile in front of the south marina produced
another spotted bass that would be heading to San Francisco and Quen's
wok!
Norval moved on up into the river and
fished rock piles. We had a hard day of fishing and very little
catching. It was a long day of fishing which I enjoy but I would rather
be catching. The total bass caught were maybe 20!
Doctor Young is a fine cook with a good
knowledge of the art and he put himself through college as a meat
cutter, so he knows his cuts of meat and which to buy. Sometimes cheaper
is not better especial when buying
meat in the grocery stores. That evening Quen fixed a great dinner for
the 3 of us! Steak, asparagus and a salad. Nothing like ending the day
with a good meal. I felt sorry for Norval as he had an hour and a half
drive home that evening with a full belly.
Wednesday morning is our fish killing
day. That means all trout and any bass caught 3 pounds and under is
heading to San Francisco, the bigger ones don’t fit in the wok anyway
according to Quen. Quen knows that I release almost all the largemouth
bass I catch but the spots are dinner. The reason is that the spots are
so
prolific they can repopulate a lake quickly.
We headed toward the dam area to start
trolling for trout but the lake was flat calm and I never do good
trolling for trout on flat water so I switched gears and headed for some
spotted bass I knew were hanging out in the rock piles!
The bite was still the same, one here and
there as you had to cover water and work the banks. All week I
could see the bass cruising real shallow on the bank, some were looking
for food and others just up warming
their eggs!
Quen was having a ball catching fish, I
had him rigged with a senko so no matter where he threw it, in a tree
or on the rocks he could get the bait into the water to where he could
catch fish. Senko's are the best dump bait that has been invented so far
for bass in my book.
We were having a ball, an 8 pounder, a 6,
a couple 5’s, a couple 3's. I had to move so we could put some smaller
fish in the box.
I moved to a shallow bank with trees
sticking out and we put 3 quick fish in the boat, another move and a
couple more and then a final move to a cove where we finished off our 10
fish limit.
 Time
for trout fishing as the wind was making a nice ripple on the water. I
headed between hat island and the dam and dropped down a blue/silver
Ex-Cel lure, a blue/gold and a firetiger, also had a gold/red dropper
lure on. It was noon so I was using all the tricks trying to get a quick
limit of trout in the boat. The first fish hit at 30 feet we farmed him!
The next at 20 feet on a dropper which we also farmed, nice fish but I
forgot the net. Quen landed the next three fish, Then as I was putting
on a long line dropper rod 150 feet behind the boat, a 6½ pounder pulled
the line out of my hand! 8 pound test line, moving boat and I had my
hands full! I had Quen circle the boat so I could gain back some of the
line the fish ran off, Quen got the circles closer as I worked the fish
to the boat and when the fish turned up on its side I grabbed it by hand
and boated it.
It was now 2 in the afternoon and time
for a late lunch and fish to be cleaned. A quick sandwich on the porch
of cabin 8 overlooking the beautiful lake was a welcome break.
By 5 p.m. we were back on the water at
the dam to finish off our 10 trout limit. What a great day for Quen and
I to end our mini vacation get away.
Quen and I had a couple neat wildlife
experiences, one evening I had the door open and a couple wild turkeys
walked over the porch right by the front door, I thought they was coming
in for a moment, I guess the TV was to loud for them. Another time we
had deer right under the porch.
I strongly recommend a stay at the lake,
check out both north shore or south shore they each have great camping
sites to go along with great cottages to rent where all you have to do
is bring your food, everything else is furnished.
For more information about Camanche Lake
go to www.camancherecreation.com.
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