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ENJOYING RETIREMENT,
WHERE TO FIND THE TIME!
By Ron Wilson
April 23, 2007.... Its been a busy month
of fishing and trying to fish. Earlier this month I was at Lake Camanche
fishing Nor-Cal's bass tournament. My pro partner was drawn and it
turned out to be Anthony Pimentel. My preference would have been his dad
as he and I had located some huge fish to try to catch for this event.
Norval’s usual luck held and he was drawn almost dead last.
Anthony and I headed to an island top
where he was throwing top water, Zara Spook in the yellow clear style
with a white feather. The bass would boil at it and I would pitch a worm
and catch them. No monsters but in short order we had 12 pounds in the
boat. Now all we had to do was find that kicker fish to put us in the
money.
The wind blew and we caught lots of 2 1/2
pound bass but that kicker fish that would of sealed the deal for us
just did not hit our offerings.
Norval had the same type luck, while he
didn’t get the hawg we had spotted on a bed during pre-fish, Jim
Moulton, an angler in the tournament, found and caught her. She was over
13 pounds!
The next day I headed to Monterey to try
my luck on salmon with Moe-Man and his grandson. Radio reports were
that there were some fish but the wide open bite that everyone was
predicting for the salmon opener was not there. But the fishermen sure
were, as parking lots in Monterey and Moss landing were packed! There
were a lot of die hard fishermen there as the parking lots were still
almost full the when we launched Moe's boat!
As we motored out from Moss Landing
Harbor there must have been a hundred sea otters frolicking in the quiet
bay, well almost quiet except for all the boats heading out to try there
luck.
Our luck ended at the rock wall when the
water intake manifold decided to crack and pour water into the
boat. With bilge pumps running we turned around and headed back to the
boat ramp for the long ride back
home. Its one thing to get skunked on a fishing trip and a whole
different feeling when you don’t even get
to try.
The fishing was hit and miss and there
were a lot more misses out there than hits so I guess that helps with
the disappointment of not getting out on the water. Hopefully Moe, his
grandson and I will get out there for another shot at them this year.
That same week my son Ronald, Norval and
I headed to New Melones. At the Tuttletown ramp we ran into another
Nor-Cal fisherman Jimmie Harrell. Jimmie was alone so I asked him if he
needed a passenger and he said yes so I jumped ship and let Ronald and
Norval fish together while I went with Jimmie.
We headed south looking for fish. You
know you been fishing for a pretty long time when you fish all over
a lake and you never hit a spot that you haven’t fished before. I am not
sure but I don’t believe there is not a spot I have not fished at one
time or another on New Melones, Don Pedro, Lake McClure or Camanche, you
could probably ad Tulloch to the list also. Yep I am getting up there,
last test I took the results came out and said I was older than dirt.
Jimmie started off top water and jerk
baits and nailed a couple small bass. I stated with Keepers 1001B, a
shad pattern. Bass didn’t seem to want it. I switched to a Keeper 6 inch
082 red and green flake bait which
is supposed to resemble a crawdad and the fish really like it. As we
moved from spot to spot I would switch
worms trying to find one that would catch bigger fish with no luck.
Spring break was working but didn’t seem to be as good as the Keeper 082
baits were.
We fished south all around the ski area
up by the dam over to Mormon Creek area and the coves going into
it. Up to Angel Creek arm where I learned how to use one of Jimmies new
shaky heads. I think he has a winner as I fished all kinds of wood and
logs and never lost a hook. Caught a few fish with it. Part of the key
with his shaky head is knowing how to fish the sage brush and fallen
trees to begin with.
Jimmie was proud of the fact that he had
fished the area with an open jig hook and never lost one. By following a
simple fishing suggestion that is "rocks and trees don’t bite".
Jimmie and I had a great day of fishing
and we never got off the water until dark. Biggest fish for me was a
largemouth over 5, and Jimmie’s was a 4 pound spot!
I used over a 100 Keeper 6 inch 082 red
and green flake and red, green and black flake worms. While Jimmie used
a bunch of 6 inch Keeper purple ghost along with a wide variety of other
plastics. You can talk to people about fishing all you want but if you
want to get to know them better ask them to go fishing, who knows you
just might find a good friend and possibly a new fishing partner.
Retirement is starting to feel good,
while the feeling of needing to get something accomplished is still
there the urgency to get it done is not as important as it once was. |
