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Today was the first day I fished both O’Neill Forebay and the main lake in the same day.  Being fishless and hitless for 6 hours can make a man do irrational things to catch a fish.   The Forebay is not a huge place and I think that I covered it well in 6 hours.  I wouldn’t say BLANKET coverage but I cast and trolled to every place I had ever caught a fish in the past in that God Forsaken pond.  The only other boat on the lake had caught only one 17 inch striper and they were trolling Rapallas and fishing anchovies. By the time I got to Basalt Launch on the Main Lake ,  it was afternoon.  Trying to win the game in the ninth was going to take some serious effort.  I started search trolling the old reliable spots North of Basalt although the ranger did mention to me on my way out of O’Neill that the bait fishermen were catching them from the bay of pigs to Goosneck Point.   Of course I disregard that information.   I managed to catch 4 fish trolling with two keepers (barely)  to keep my streak alive.   It was a windless day and the water temperature was 49 degrees- Solonar minor period between 9 and noon.  When I got back to the boat ramp,  I took my two 20 inch stripers and joined a bunch of asian bait fishermen cleaning fish at the station.   A family of 6 with an Ice chest of HUGE stripers from 7 to 15 lbs all caught on anchovies from the bank around Gooseneck point  (right where the ranger said they would be) .   The littlest boy child  in the family took a look at my fish, laughed and told his mother who was cleaning a 10 pounder that I had caught the babies of their fish.  I actually thought about cleaning the fish at home but the thought of Gina being upset about the mess and stench of fish guts in the can till next thursdays garbage day scared me more than the humiliation.   They asked me politely how I caught my fish and when I told them I caught them on flies,  the dad trying to ease my embarrassment said  “I would like to learn how to do that someday..”   Why would you want to learn how to catch baby fish I thought?  At the time, all I wanted to know  was exactly how they rigged their anchovies and for a moment I was jealous and mumbled about how the little ones tasted better and so on.  As you recall,  last time I fished,  a bunch of guys in a boat outfished me with anchovies and bloodworms.   I don’t recall ever seeing a live anchovy or bloodworm living in the lake. What Gives?  Flyfishermen are manly men compared to bait fishermen who consistently catch enormous fish right?   And we are having MORE fun right?   Im talking to myself again.

Mark posted a great cover version of “Home“.   I wonder if he could ever make money in music?

When the Alarm  went off at 6:00AM last Monday,   I woke up to the realization that I hadn’t bought a 2012 fishing license and went back to bed.   I remember forgetting to buy a license and  getting a ticket while trout fishing on Putah Creek 35 years ago on January 2nd. It cost me $500 bucks – there is no mercy in Winters California for a poor college student.    I figured that if the DFG wanted to really make some money,  they would check everyone on January 2nd.    Last Monday afternoon, I bought my first fishing license online.  How cool.  Printed it out on the printer and I was instantly legal.

It was a beautiful day today with the highs in the mid 60′s and no wind. There was some “smoke on the water” from a nearby grass fire. So much for “save the air” days.  The solonar table indicated a major period from 9am-12pm and last night was a full moon.  The lake was FULL and the water temp was 53.  Only  6 boats launched all day from Basalt.    I heard from a friend that the weekend was very crowded,  at least from shore.   Good thing there is  65  miles of shoreline!   I was optimistic this morning, to say the least, after reading reports on Dan Blanton’s Forums indicating that the fishing was pretty good two weeks ago.   Today I was going to troll flies till I hooked up and then back up and cover cast the entire area–if I didn’t catch anything on flies, I was planning to try out this umbrella lure that Dan Dee gave me for Christmas on the downrigger about 50 feet deep.     Its a jig with three wires spread out like an umbrella with flukes on each of the three hooks.   The morning started off slow.  From 7am to 9am,  I landed 5 fish all around 20 inches.   At 9,  I was casting to my favorite bank where I metered lots of fish,  but the fish were not on the grab despite the solonar prediction.    The water was so clear and still that I actually witnessed fish following the fly several times and they didn’t seem that interestead.   I tried a couple different colors,sizes and lighter  leaders with no radical change in luck.  I only landed a handful of fish casting,  got bored and trolled up another 4 fish with flies.   After working the coves west of basalt all the way to Lone Oak Bay,  I decided to quit early and troll a downrigger all the way back really deep (50 feet) .  Not a touch.

I did get a chance to play with the GOPRO2 that I got for Christmas as well as shoot some underwater footage.  There is no doubt that the GOPRO Hero II is clearer than the earilier model.  The new model has better glass lenses.

At the take out,  I talked to 5 guys from Los Banos in a beat up boat about there luck.  They told me in broken english that they fish for food and that they fish the lake almost daily.  They looked like farm workers and they were using what looked like Surf Rods, and 3 ounce sinkers from their boat.  They showed me 6 large (5-8) lb stipers that they caught still fishing with anchovies from the boat.  One of them explained that they just cast out on the bottom and wait about 10 minutes.   He also mentioned that they caught a dozen that way the day before.   Go figure.

The new year feels different on San Luis than it has in the past.   With all the restrictions and inspections,  I feel like the goverment is trying to ruin the last good thing by over regulating it.    I don’t see the logic to inspecting watercraft in an open system like Calero Reservoir or San Luis Reservoir.   The water comes into the system from unregulated waterways and people can enter the lake without inspection from the parking lots along the highway with float tubes, bait buckets and what not.   Plus, what is the logic in keeping boats 500 feet from the dams?  Are they thinking terrorism?  Why not inspect the fricken boats for explosives while you are looking for Quanga–oops, too easy. Do you really think someone would sneak explosives into the lake in broad daylight past the ranger station and try to detinate against the dam in broad daylight–you would think that history would prove how ridiculous that would be.

A week ago,  my good friend,  Dan Dee called me to arrange a day on the lake.   Dan fishes for Stripers in San Diego and use to fish San Luis with me in the 90′s.  In fact,  he was witness to Al Whitehursts 4lb test World Record Striper in the 90′s.  We got on the lake today and it was raining, foggy, and cold–not the best conditions for fishing but then we both would rather try than stay at home.    The day was tough–we trolled from 7am to 1:30pm and we landed 10 fish and kept 4.   If it weren’t for the company,  I would have left at 10am but we gave it our best.   We recalled however that there use to be days we didn’t get any so today was pretty good considering we had two limits of stripers to take home.   None of the fish were big and it seems that the big fish have gone deep and are uninterested in flies.  We metered tons of fish but we could only get a few fish out of schools. Seems like the fish were suspended right near the bottom .  It was rainy and cold with the water temperature at 60 degrees.