HOW Pathways @ Berryessa

That about explains it...  we've hit a milestone... we took out 4 vets and a therapist intern from Pathways Home... This is a organization that is not affiliated with the VA, but works with a dozen recently returning vets with a four month program that works them pretty hard.



 I've been working on them for over a year to do something with us and we finally had our day...

Raydon, Kayakjack, Scubaluis and RacinRancidRob showed these guys a good time on a hot slow day on the Berry...

we still pulled up 10 fish or so with the vets getting a couple...  The vets were troopers of course, gates did not open till 7 and they were waiting for us... Grill, breakfast burritos, yaks set up and we were on the water in little over a hour,,,

Strong Work!!!

Another mile stone for me... after over 700 vets on the water by all of you, I got to guide a Vet!!! 

Pretty fun, but I did learn you can guide a vet to fish, but ya can't make him set the hook.  I found some fish, they were chasing my bait and I would not let the bass hit it... try to get the vets on it, but it just did not work out and they gave up on the spot I said they should hit... so here's how ya do it... nice smallie...

4th pick shows that Raydons floating rod fix works and is a good rod holder while retying ... never thought of that one before...

They gave it a good try and one vet from Petaluma pedaled half the lake... animal, They all had a great time and all said they wanted to get kayaks...

Should interesting to see what happens next with Pathways...

WE definitely broke the ice with them and looking forward to the next outing...

It was a really nice day at Berry. It was fairly hot. The wind came up in the afternoon, but not too bad. A couple of the guys caught some nice fish. Jay, who I hung with had a 17" spot. It was great seeing these guys catch fish. sometimes on these trips they are not too lucky I ended up with a mixed bag of bass. Stayed after and went out for Kokanee. Found one. 16" and really fat. Ill post a couple pics I took in a little bit.

Rob and Jack,

Catch up with me at Shelter Cove this week with the recites...

Thanks   

Couple pics:

Thanks for a job well done guys.

Yes, that was great !!  I fished with a guy named Scott. He caught a smallmouth early on and was clearly having a good time being captain of his own ship. All the guys seemed be feeling the lure of the kayak fishing maddness. Excellent job by all the guides and volunteers!!  Don, great job pulling it all together and making it happen. It was good to see you out on the water again.The Berryessa people were very receptive to the HOW concept as was pathways. The camp host Jim Johnston was a particularly cool guy. He was shot out of a helicopter in vietnam and spent 2 years in a hospital. He is 72 years old now and one of the nicest guys to ever wear a parks service uniform. I could see us doing more events like this at Berryessa !!

I like our new HOW model:  Smaller events but keeping the same NCKA hospitality and camaraderie.  The four guys from Pathways were fired up when they got on the water.  My vet, Jake, said he
fishes all the time, but never catches anything  I was hoping today would be different, but his guide let him down.  Me.  However, he put some serious miles on the Revo he was in.  He had never been in a kayak before, and you should have heard him when he got in and saw he had a fish finder.  "This is intense" he said.  He had a couple of bumps but nothing stuck.  Thanks to Don, Rob  Luis and Jack with his magical kitchen for making this happen  The reclamation people  have treated us very special.  The Spanish Flat Store and its owner Judy, think highly of us.  They recently had a local killed in Afghanistan and are dedicating a wall to him on the 24th, Friday before Memorial weekend..  Next event is Kelsey Ranch.

Nice pic by kayakjack...

Looks like ya'll had fun.   Great job!

Way to go guys! Great day on the water and those flat conditions I miss dearly (damn Texas gets windy quick )

We had an event here last Saturday and well over 150 cookie cutter bass were caught on the Frito Lay Corporate Lake. We also got a few large bluegill and one large catfish caught by a veterans wife. Here are some photos[img

150 cookie cutter bass???

that is some action......

That is what Kelsey should be if we do it right.

Rob,

I know you have it dialed in good. Just remember to have the ves re-tie after each fish unless you have braid.

We too will have an event here on June 1st. Also our coordinator is taking us for a mid-week trip over to Burger Lake again for some more bass action.

As for the bass numbers for us Texas HOW guys, I had it dialed in to a tee. I got 80 out of those 150...no joke. I was one of the few guys throwing plugs. The rest were using plastics. I was getting them almost every cast. Folks were saying I was catching the same fish, but I showed them otherwise. I got 30 out of one little corner, then moved to the other side in another corner and got 30 then got out of my kayak and right in front of all I got 20 more.  I was having a blast but these fish were just real hungry. As per the pictures they are quite "thin."