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PHIL JOHNSON MEMORIAL
TOURNAMENT
By: Ron Wilson
June 5, 2009.... The 7th Annual Phil
Johnson Memorial Kokanee Derby was held last Saturday at
Lake Don Pedro by the
Central California Inland Fisheries Kokanee and Salmon Foundation
Inc. Phil would have been proud of the great turn out of all his old
friends and new ones that have joined in his honor to fish for his
beloved fish, the
Kokanee.
I first met Phil back in June of 1999.
One afternoon at 1 p.m. I met Phil at Lake Don Pedro and headed off to
the Ramos Creek area where Phil showed me how important light rods were
to fish for these little scrappers with tender mouths. He had custom
made rods made out of fly rods in the 3 to 5 weight class that he used
back then.
During that short afternoon he showed me
how to use spinners, apex and hoochies to troll for them. He explained
the importance of scents like Pro-Cure and how important the speed of a
mile an hour was on the troll for them. As a fisherman I could see where
these little silver bullets could become very addicting but at that time
my head was into
black bass fishing. I sure wish I had paid more attention to Phil
and his techniques on catching kokanee. He had a wealth of knowledge and
I failed to understand just what I was passing up at the time.
Phil wouldn’t let me forget about his
favorite fish and from then on he would remind me every now and then
about events coming up or how and what to use when he saw me on the
water.
One day on
New Melones Reservoir he saw me struggling to catch a few kokanee
while he was slamming them. He came trolling by and threw a plastic bag
with a few special hoochies in it for me to try. In no time at all after
I switched to them my boat was limited out.
Mike Monschein and I and about 100 other
anglers fished his memorial event together. As you can tell from above I
had a few things going on in my head other than the fishing. Memories, I
guess when you get older the memories come more often than when you are
young and you dwell on things more than you should.
Mike and I headed to Jenkins Hill to work
over a school of Kokes I found the previous week. The kokes were all
small but they were there for us to catch.
I should of went down and fished where
Phil had showed me but from the lights on the water it looked like a
city down by Ramos and Rogers Creek junction before the 5:30 a.m. start
time.
Mike and I boated a couple and then the
wind got so strong I could hardly control the boat. A large boat with a
canvas top is like a giant sail overhead making steering the boat almost
impossible at times. We put three in the box and left for the dam to get
out of the wind. I though we might just happen to hook a good size king
salmon there but if they were there they didn’t want what we threw at
them.
The wind died down and we headed back to
Jenkins Hill and started trolling for kokes again. We put our limit in
the boat and then headed to the weigh in to beat the crowd.
Weigh in went smooth and the grub and
camaraderie was good. Mike won 3 subscriptions to the
Fish Sniffer and fishing tackle including a net. The high light
was when a pair of brass tube weights that was auctioned off for a kids
handicap event that is held every year on Lake Millerton which just
happened to be this coming weekend. Mike brought the bid up to $220
dollars. I told Mike we could make a dozen of them for that prize and
Mike said you don’t understand Ron its for the kids. Its like what is
happening in Kokanee Power the kids have there own division and are
rewarded with prizes when they place in the event while fishing with
friends or family.
Being retired and on a fixed income I
forget about the important things sometimes as I am always looking at my
wallet and comparing that to what I want to do instead of looking at the
big picture and going to the bank and withdrawing a little extra for fun
and games. Thanks for the wakeup call Mike.
If you are interested in The Central
California Inland Fisheries Kokanee and Salmon Foundation Inc.
tournaments or just to read up about the organization check out there
website at
kokaneepower.org |
