New Melones Trout Bout

I had a great time at the trout bout this year would like to thank Brian for putting this thing together again this year, I will be back next year for some more abuse .
congratulate Eric B. for the huge trout that won him a nice new rod and reel. Eric (yakhopper) sorry for your tail tip loss sooooo close .

 Here's a couple of photos

1 Bill & Son with trout
2 Bills son with his trout
3 my Trout witch I named non skunked thank you vary much, by the way first for my new yak
4 nice calm day on the Bay ho I ment New Melones.

Thanks Again Brian

Pat R

Thank you Pat for putting the pics of my son up. Thank you Eric for putting the event on. Other than my hands freezing, it was great. The fishing was a little slow and it was cold, but still better than working, sitting at home, ect, ect.

Looks pretty chilly, wish I could have made it, and A big congrats to Eric B! ... WTG all who joined in on the hook up...

Congrats Eric B on winning first place. Thanks Pat for sharing some
pictures. The lake looks very low. I used to do a lot of bank fishing
there at GH when my in laws used to live in Sonora. Pat, how do
you like your new ride?

Jedmo

Thanks for the congrats, everyone, and Brian G- BIG thanks for all the money, time and effort you put into this event, and for getting us together.

It was my first time on that lake and I was stunned by the size of it.

Here's my story:

Friday, rolling over the beautiful farmland, then the gold country over smooth roads and no traffic made me wonder why I don't get down this way more often.  Sure beats fighting thru the Oakland maze/Berkely corridor north!  The wide open rolling plains far as the eye can see made me dream about setting up a tipi out there.  Arrived in camp in time to set up and get settled in before dark.  Had an indian fire instead of a tipi and called it an early night.  But NO! nature had other plans and decided to wake me up with pouring rain, which wasn't bad because I was prepared, but I did get a little dribble inside due to drunkenly leaving a flap open, then got wetter securing it.  No biggie, though.

Sat, slept in, launched at 11 am or so and saw a guy bank fishing next to the launch already had a limit, (albeit tiny fish).  Baffled and intimidated by the size of the lake I decided to head past the marina up into a channel that had three or four little coves and TONS of submerged trees.  This is more my style!  I had a blast all alone, catching three fiesty but small largemouths in one cove, then a trout in another, and two more trout in another, up to 14".  I'm thinking, "ok if all else fails at least I know where I can pick up a few fish tomorrow..."  And not wanting to mess up a good thing I left for camp.  On the way back I see the first wave of NCKA'ers starting to trickle in and they are catching fish near the launch, too.  Things are shaping up nicely!  Back to camp, but the other Sat campers were wisely in cabins and it was too cold for normal people to hang out by a fire, but I did anyway.

Sunday, alarm goes off, that can't be right...  ugh... Waders frozen solid into crystaline art...  But I'm up and off to the launch in record time for me....  Meet with the NCKA contigent and Brian G...  Who is nice enough to let me follow him to the Spillway across the lake...  the haunt of big ones...  But it was not to be!  By this time it's 10:30 and I'm miles from my little honey coves...  and wind is picking up...  I decide to buck up and plow back across the lake fighting wind the whole way back around the point past the marina and back into the coves where I find Eric/Yakhopper knocking em dead, hooking up every other cast.  He's got 5 by the time I rolled up and continues to catch em before my very eyes!  He was a sport, though, and didn't seem to mind sharing the cove with me, especially when the fish ignored my rapalas and super-super offerings...  and continue to attack his lures.  Now it's Noon.  I've got zero fish, and I know Yakhoppers got at least a 15" fish for sure.  The wind worked it's way into even that far cove and both of us headed back to the launch.  I was behind, taking a different course, fighting the wind wich was NASTY by this point, when my rod doubles over near a spot where I'd had a nice hit the day before.  I grabbed my pole but thought I'd missed it, but it was the wind blowing me backwards that put some slack in the line....  I'm reeling and reeling slack and then bam, fish goes ballistic.  Jumps, dives, jumps again, taking no chances I net it quickly-  and immediately remember why I hate nets...  my rapala is hopelessly snagged immediately...  wind is blowing me into shore, it's a mess, but I get a quick measure and see it could be a contender...  my watch says 12:30...  No time to unsnag and redeploy the rapala...  I've got to haul ass to get back to the ramp, fighting wind the whole way.  And by then I tell you I'm freezing and tired....  Made it to the ramp with minutes to spare, and beat Eric's MUCH chunkier fish by a hair...  mine was skinnier, but a holdover and the tail made the difference. Whew!

Thanks again, Brian!  I desperately needed the reel and I will cherish it always.

Congratulations Eric B,
Thanks for an exciting read, it was nice to fish with you.
I couldn't have been beaten by a better man and I'm glad the Rod and Reel went to someone who could really use it.

Brian G,
Hat's off to you for putting on another fun event.
Now that you're moving north, will there be a a chance for redemption next year?

Stormscrambler,
It was nice to meet you this weekend.
Hope you had a safe ride home and look forward to fishing with you again.
 
Eric

Jedmo as for the new yak goes, I like it a lot it rolled with the waves quit nice very dry ride for me at 180, paddles into the wind and with the wind OK but when the wind is hitting you broad side it wants to turn into the wind I guss that’s where a rudder would come in handy. I do need to do some fine tuning on my pimping for the stile of fishing I like to do, and upgrade the seat, besides that I am a very happy camper .

Pat R 

Congrads to all who participated...and a SuperDoubleCongradulations to EricB.
Way to stay positive all the way to the cold&bitter end! 

from the shots(thanks Pat!) it looks like a FreshwaterWashingMachine, but the fish can't see how nasty it is up there....WTG Fellas!
MYballsWOULDhaveBEENfrozenSOLID(and tiny too)

Congrats Eric B

Sorry for the lack of pics.  I forgot to charge my camera AND backup battery so I held off Sat in case I needed the camera for Bout Day...  but during the bout I was working too hard to think about the camera, no joke.

Brian has pics of the measure-in.

had a great time thanks eric for the cabin hook up great meet new people and seeing some again, i did better sat than sun, oh well. oh and WIND SUCKS! Eric i think i figured out the t-15 foot well prob. i got a cutting board at wall mart for 9 bucks and am going to make a better foot rest, i will let you know how it turns out.

Congrats to all who braved Mother Nauture in the higher country...especially to Eric B for the great reprt and story of his victory.

I hope I can get off my Delta fixation at least once this year and try another trout trip myself.

Bryan

Good to meet everyone. Diroblo and I carted our boats down the slope from a day use area in the Angels Creek arm and fished the coves and main lake in that area.  Relatively warm and calm (see pics) until mid-morning when the wind came up. Main lake got real sloppy, real quick. Was able to stay out of the wind most of the time by fishing the coves and using the hills for cover.  Trolled all day mostly with plugs - going for glory! - but I got skunked     Pretty nice day on the water in the back arm, a bit cold when rounding exposed points.  Pair of bald eagles hanging out.  Was a bit late getting back to the main launch, most folks had left by then.  Nice day overall.

Congrats Eric B!

Thanks Brian G!

   

Dang Bird, were those shots from this weekend?! Talk about conditions going from treasure to trash, really gotta look out in those foothills.

My hat's off to all who sacked up and duked it out  in the Trout Bout.  Hope you had a great time, and I look forward to joining you next time/year.

Yeah, those were the conditions at launch. Wind picked-up and then got overcast and colder during the morning.  No rain during the tourney where I was fishing -  hit the first rain for me at about 2:30 or so driving home north on Hwy 49.