Lake Berryessa Salmon Slam 4/2

What an awesome event Ricci and Gary had put together at Berry. Thanks for all
the many hours you both put in to make this happen for all of us to enjoy. Thanks also to Christina and Rick Sr. for helping out. Big congrats to GB2 on winning first
place and also for the rest that caught fish. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be
for me to catch any that day. It was nice fishing with all of you again and meeting
new folks. I can already see  that next year will be even bigger with more people
signing up. Mooch, sorry you couldn't be there bro. I hope you are feeling better.
Good luck on your surgery on Tuesday. BTW, I made sure to show up with Bepstek and steamed rice this time.  See you all at the Clear Lake Tourney.

Jedmo

Looks like you guys had a great time despite the lack of fish
At least you didn't get the 20-30 mph winds we had at Shasta.
Thanks all for the reports and pics
Tad
 

Had a great weekend fishing at Berry with Sara    We got there around 2PM Friday and launched in search of some bass and trout fun.  Left the FF, crate, etc and just grabbed a rod and some bass tackle and headed out old school    Finally found some fish in the last cove by the damn and nabbed a couple small spots before finding a leagal one.  Not too bad, caught 3 bass and called it a day.

Meet up with the crew at the launch in the morning and got setup and on the water in record time (for us  ) Trolled a J7 through the weed infested narrows having to clear my line several times before reaching the open area.     Setup the DR and sent down a glow hoochie on a glow dodger and then a spoon on my other rod.  Tolled and trolled and trolled...  Never found a fish!  Swapped setups on the DR at least 3 times, and tried a variety of spoons with no luck.  Oh well, thats the way it goes sometimes!  I'll definetly be trying closer to the shoreline like Dilbeck said next time    I did manage to pickup one more spot on the "spot" I found the day before.  Not an upgrade, but at least it wasn't a skunk 

After the party ended we headed back up 128 and as we were driving heard this really weird sound sqwaking at us as we drove by. We turned back around to find out what the heck it was, and pull into the parking lot of Puta Creek? campground and was greeted by a Peacock!  Man, those things are LOUD!!!  But friendly this one was    Sara feed it some peanuts 

Really great slam put on by Ricci/MakinItCount and crew. It was obvious that you guys put a lot of time into this and I was very impressed with how smooth the day went. The VHF chatter was really helpful on the water as guys that hooked up instantly shared their results and lures used. I've never seen that much plastic in one place. For newbie kayak anglers these events are probably better than going down to your local kayak dealer as you can see various yaks "angler ready". It was cool browsing the different setups.

Lake Berry. is a beautiful lake. Green/blue/clear water with awesome green sloping hills surrounding it. Boaters were very respectful giving a wide birth everytime they cruised by. Lake staff was friendly, easy launch. I'd love to fish it again.

With the wife 1 month from having our boy I needed to get back before 6. Left a little early, sorry for that.   

Great job guys. You put on a heck of a "friendly get together".

 

Sounds like another successful NCKA event despite the lack of fish love.
Thanks for sharing the pics./stories, it 's the nex't best thing to being there. Hope I can make it nex't year.
Congrats to GB2 on that nice looking king, I liked the way you switched it up, good idea.

T.L.,Tim

Thanks Ricci and Gary and everyone else involved for a real fun day. This was my third NCKA event, and it's impressive how everyone joins in to help and have fun.
Although I didn't even get a bump, I learned a lot about freshwater salmon fishing, spent most of my time experimenting with the downrigger I just installed, and how to position the rodholders,etc. Still have work to do, but lots of ideas after seeing how others rigged their yaks.
Awesome food again, and great meeting new folks and seeing others I've met before.
Congrats, gb2 and everyone  else that caught fish.
Jim

More photos I missed

Again. Having trouble posting more than one photo.
Duh.

WX = best day @ Berry ever for me= NO WIND!

Crowd = the lake seemed empty of power boats,,,,,except for the one that clipped........  , but only one!!

NCKA Family = like always,,,, pure class!

BIG THANKS TO Gary, Ricci & Family
The whole thing went off w/o a single hitch, and it was a blast to see the Win,Place &Show finishers (and all the rest of us) get quality goods from the various QUALITY sponsors......even the goodie bag of KokeGear was well thought out. = WELL DONE!!!!

Congrats to All who came and joined in and to hell with those who "flaked" = it was your loss and you were missed. 
......and the FOOD was, well, very, very good!!  = another successful NCKA Hook up, a BIG Hook up!!

Ricci just stopped by and delivered raffle prizes for Auburn TD and I SWEET!!  What a great event!!   despite a skunk, my journal now has annotated photo's of what and who won (molly and GB2) along with other good info...next year I'll be more ready 

Congrats to All who came and joined in and to hell with those who "flaked" = it was your loss and you were missed. 
......and the FOOD was, well, very, very good!!  = another successful NCKA Hook up, a BIG Hook up!!

Adam... don't rub salt in my wound.  It already hurts.  I knew I missed out.  My mother-in-law threw a last minute birthday party on Saturday for my wife and I even had relatives in town from Tahoe.  Sneaking out to Berryessa to fish would have killed what little WAF I have for the rest of the year.

Congrats to Scott/Molly for being the "top dogs".  No surprise there.   The first time I met Scott, he was schooling Freddie and I at a local lake.

Congrats too to the other winners and participants.  I'm seriously glad to see that everyone had a great time.

Big KUDOS to Ricci and the other event organizers/supporters!

Mooch, I was a lil bummed you didnt make it as i was really looking forward taking you out on my boat to show and explore berryessa w/ you but staying home and taking care of your health and seeing you at the next hookup is WAY More important and glad you made the right call....I just wanted to let You, Marvin, And the rest of the NCKA Family know that we were able to donate and collect a big $156 dollars for you and marvin to help you guys out! We love you guys and hope we all can keep the good times rolling with yall...Looking forward to next big event and doing it all over again. You and Marvin in my prayers bud and i hope tuesday's surgery goes well...pm whenevr you can bud, ricci.

Looks like another great NCKA event!  Sorry I missed this hookup because of the flight schedule change.  Congrat to GB2 and all who attended and thanks for all the reports + pictures.

After weeks of preparation and untold (at least to my GF) fortunes in new and specialized gear, I think I can crown this beautiful plate my most expensive portion of fish... Ever.

Butterflied Berryessa King over a warm arugula and white bean salad- lemon shallot vinaigrette, St. Peter's IPA...
Yep, it was worth it.

When I die I want to come back as me- and I want friends like Ricci and Gary, you guys just made my month.

Mooch, you were there in spirit.  I mooched a hot dog, a bratwurst, and some chocolate cake from the banquet. 

I took the family there in the hopes to to fish for and catch a few bass.  Even though my kids don't go fishing too much they still rate fishing as one of the most fun things they do with me.  So I wanted them to catch a few fish.  I use to go to Berryessa in high school and part of college.  I remembered some spots that seem to always hold fish.  Hit up two of those spots and things haven't changed as the girls caught a half dozen chunky bass at one of my super duper secret spots.   

Hope to post a few pics when we download them.

Nate