BAM II Report

Chris,

How can you post on a fishing web site without your shovel  .  I looks like you guys had a great time up there.  Congratulations to the winners.  I am still waiting for a photo of the pig.

I don't know if we even took a picture!?!

I do know that Jelly and his buddies went Godfather on Mooch and put the pig head in his hatch...   

MolBasser

We found your shovel amongst all of the abandon pig roasting debris.  I believe mickfish passed it on to Mooch.

thanks for a great event!   good to meet everyone out there,   a great group of people there, with a great positive vibe!

looking forward to the next event,   hope to see everyone @ paddlefest!

-greg d

We found your shovel amongst all of the abandon pig roasting debris.  I believe mickfish passed it on to Mooch.

Thanks buddy!  Mooch, can you please bring it to the paddlefest?

MolBasser

another successful event congratulations to the winners.

thank you for everone support....words can't always express on i feel rafther than all the positive power i getting from it

chef

BAM II was some good fun. I got there Sat night to fish early morning so unfortunately didn't think too much abut what I was gonna use and just how to fsh the lake. I tried all Sat and got nothing. Not even a lttle strike. Luckily I wasn't the only one so it didn't hurt so bad. was pretty frustrated about going so far (3 hour drive) and going away without even a strike. The plan for me was to go home at 10AM Sunday mornng so went out @ dawn to catch something. Had a much better day. Got about 10 strikes with one that stuck, a 17 inch/2# Largemouth. Not by any means a huge fish but my best LM so far so it was a success for me.

Thanks to GWKC for putting on the event and everyone for being super cool. Great to meet some new NCKA'rs and see some regular fishing buddies too.

PS. Anyone know where can I get some NCKA stickers for the yak and the car?

I had a great time this weekend.  Thanks to everyone who worked hard to put this together.  I feel deprived of Chuck's fried fish!  I was looking forward to it. 

Chuck owe's us all a HUGE apology!!

 

MolBasser

The jink has been broken!

This was my first time at Mendo and I really had a great time.  Thanks to Sean and Leah for all there effort in making this event so enjoyable.  

Thanks to Joel for being so friendly, encouraging and willing to give advice to the inexperienced.  I know that if the fish are not entertaining me you will be on the radio. (I don't know about that apron thing though.)

I got up around 7:30AM Friday and fished all day with minnows.  Mike Mickfish and Bob were fishing essentially the same area and both got some nice bass but I came got nada.  I used the same setup so I was getting the sinking feeling I've had most of my fishing life--that I must be jinked. (In the 70's there was a time when the salmon were running so thick outside the bay that every day the fish reports were saying every boat was limiting out early!  Finally, I could resist no longer and scraped together the money to go out on a party boat.  I got nothing.  The newspaper report for that day was: "For the first time in two weeks the best salmon fishing in a decade hit a slump.")  I knew I was jinked.

On derby day I picked up a small large mouth and then another, maybe 3-4 pounder.  Later I found a hole in the shallows and caught four smaller bass and lost one.  Crossing the lake on the way in I caught a undersized striper trolling deeper water with a kastmaster after I saw some baitballs on the FF.

The next day I decided to fish the deep water again.  I didn't want anymore bass, I only wanted a shot at a striper.  I knew it was a longshot since so few had been caught even by the experienced.  On my first pass through my rod loaded up and my blood started pumping!  I knew it wasn't huge but I thought it was heavy enough to surely be a legal striper since I was in deep water.  But at first show there was no silvery shine, and when I got him close enough I could see it was just a cat.  Bummer!

Crossed the lake again but nada.  Figured my trip was over and headed back to camp with a slow troll over the area I got the undersized striper.  While in the middle of the lake I hear Sean telling Bob there was a boil near the boater's camp.  Then he see's more boils.  I frantically look on my map and can't figure out where this camp is.  I scan the point through the binnoculars...where are those two isolated oak trees?  Mickfish refer's to Vineger Point.  Where's that?  Eventually, I see kayaks from all over converging toward the dam end of the lake.  One yellow kayak seemed to race up the entire lake to get there.  Sean continues with encouraging intel about sighted boils.  Seemed only a matter of time before I'd hear the inevitable "Fish on" blarring on the radio (Unless it was Mol, in which case  I'd hear it coming directly across the lake.)  But I'm feeling too tired to race up to the dam, and I'm sure, that since I'm jinked, if I raced up to the dam, everyone will have caught fish and the boils will shut down just as I arrive.

I was still looking at my map, totally confused about where the reports were directing the kayaks to.  I'm sure I was at a dead stop, essentially pond fishing.  Then BAMM, my rod goes bendo!  This time I knew it was no cat by the way the line stripped out.  I don't know how long I played it for but he took about 4 long runs.  I was real nervous and played it gently.  The night before Mol horsed a striper in on the bank but he said he had thirty pound test on his rod.  And I had only 8 pound test on Joel's advice.  Now I was second guessing Joel since even Sean, the master of Mendo, had recommended 12 lb test.  Do these stripers have big teeth, will he cut the line off?

It was a little erie sitting all alone in the middle of the quiet lake playing this fish alone as he slowly turned my kayak around.  In the background there was all the excited radio chatter about the boils a long ways off. Finally, I could see the beautiful silver shine, and then I had him in the net--all 28 inches of him.  My first striper!  The jink has been broken.

So my only advice to Sean for Mendo III would be to have a map that showed where all the colloquial names for the topographic features are shown.  Then the novitiates will know where you are directing us to.  

But on second thought...maybe it's better to be just totally confused.


Doug


PS: Alex, sorry this is so long.

OK, here is my report.

I had planned to be out of town at 9am and fishing at 1pm at the camp.  Well, we all know how this sort of thing goes, and I was on the road at 11:30.

Charged up the east side of the bay planning on crossing the bay at San Rafael.  Inexperience and traffic got me confused at the 80 junction and I ended up crossing the bay bridge into San Francisco    I just told myself that I wanted to experience the two great bridges of the bay as I crossed the Golden Gate and moseyed north.

Traffic sucked in Santa Rosa as usuall and I spent some annoying time in it.  As I was approaching cloverdale I tried to call Scwafish to get the directions for the place to get rocks for the pig roast, but he was busy so I stressed untill I saw the very blatant signs to the place.

I cruised down to the river beach and loaded up to 5 gallon buckets with rocks and hauled them up to the car.  Wow, 5 gallons of rocks weighs A LOT!

Got back on the road and into camp at around 4pm.

I love this campsite, lake and event!  Parked the car and did the glad handing thing with all the guys and gals that were already there and saw some monster stripers and largemouths already on ice!  Gonna be good!

Set up camp and just chilled because the wind was HOWLING.  Chilled and drank beer and chatted late into the night to the sweet sweet sounds of Guitarzan on his axe.  Dang, that guy can play a guitar!!

Got up in the morning raring to go and emediatly had issues.  My guts were not cooperating and it took me a while to get away from camp.  Then I forgot the sunscreen, then I forgot this, then I forgot that.  I didn't get seriously fishing until around 7:30-8. 

I headed up to the dam trolling a shiner and a castmaster, but got about 3/4 of the way there when I decided that I wanted to fish near camp due to earlier success of others and the fear I would get caught far away from camp when the wind kicked up.  Turned around and headed back.  I knew that Bill already had a fish in the boat and was stoked when my castmaster rod went off.  Fought a scrappy little striper that turned out to be short.

Headed back to camp and trolled around the 20 ft. flats and the channel near camp for nada.

Went in for some beer at noon, but got right back out and mooched right off camp for a while and then trolled around a bit more.  I got to shore right at the 3 o'clock bell with squat to show for it.  Ah well, the food was coming!

Ah yes, the food.  This is, in my opinion, the best part of this tourney.  All the great people and their even greater food.  I had noticed the fire going for the hog during the tourney and saw it was going well and got back to glad handing and munching.  Brought out my keg of homebrew and the lampreys of the group quickly attached their suckers to the tap!     I was very happy to see that people liked my beer.

The highlight for me was the carne asada and shrimp tacos.  Whole hog was pretty dang good too.  The amount, variety and quality of food was off the hook as usual!!!!

Before eating I had dropped a big chunk of mackerel marinated in my special sauce right on the drop off outside of camp, set the clicker and locked the rod to my yak and went to eating.  Zeelander came up to me about an hour later and advised me that I ought to check my rod.  Line was stripping off and it looked like I was hooked up so I grabbed the rod and set the hook.  Solid!  I figured it was a cat, so seeing as how I had 30# power pro mainline and leader I just horsed that baby in.  Lift, wind, repeat.  About halfway in it swirled at the surface?  Why would a cat do that?  Well, as I got it in the shallows the small crowd that had been attracted by my volumnous "Fish ON!" shout claimed that they saw striper.  I was still in denial....naw its a cat.  Well, what do I drag up on the beach?



8#14oz and about 3 hours late!!!

Back to eating after a few pics.   

Finished the night roasting marshmallows with some future kayak anglers and chilling by a beachside fire.

Excellent.

Can't wait for next year!

MolBasser

Could not make the tourney, but I knew making the trip would be worth it. Great to see everybody again and sorry about using the " Twin Mojo " on the raffle .. Love the Rod Building kit and the Boys Mounted the

" Iron Fish " right on top of one of my wife's antique Russian Tables, compleat with lights strewn through it,

She is @ a Loss ... Great time with my boys, great people/food, kool rod building kit and one awesome piece of fish art........PRICELESS..........Danglin

       Hey, Everyone

     Had a great time , could not have asked for a better group of people or location. The weather was perfect and the fishing was great.  My bro GTO19 (Eric) pulled out a nice stripper on Fri, We weren't there for even a hour and he hooked up. You could hear his scream all through camp.  Me and his Pops new it had to be him. Pops pulled a nice catfish late in the Derby on Saturday only for Eric to drop his rod &reel while netting the fish I still had not hooked up , so me and Bob went out on Sunday determined to catch something. We rolled out after a Phat breakfest thanks to Bob, He is a awesome cook.  We headed out to the first point when we heard on the Radio of a Bust by the Boat campsite opposite side of the lake.
  When  we got there I think it had moved on but I got my first fish a decent Small Mouth, we started trolling back to the first point once again after no  luck for the strippers. It was slow until  I reached the point. Bob had got there before  me and was ready to go back in, I stayed to stick it out for that stripper. I am  glad I did  FISH ON next  thing I know I'm hooked up on both of my poles. The first one I got in was a Stripper and was stoked first one of the year, I thought my other line had gotten of but I was still hooked and it  was a battle on  lite  tackle  after a 5min battle it surfaced a nice Large Mouth I was done. No more bait and  a Hat Trick on the stringer the perfect way to end the weekend.
       I can't wait until next year to fish with everyone again , BAM was ON. Thanks to everyone who made this weekend possible you guys are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Everyone,

Well, this is my first official post as Anitafish (I've been piggy backing on iguitarzan for too long) and I cannot think of a better event to share my frist post about.

I did not make it up to the Lake utnil Saturday afternoon but knew I was in for a great time looking down at the view from Hwy 20.  I have never seen that many kayaks merged in one location before, well at least kayaks not for sale, and all the different colors dotted along the water looked very cool.

The first thing I saw when I pulled into camp was the huge pig roasting on the fire!  It was all wrapped up, but not hard to tell that was one big hog cooking!  I have a photo below, but it does really not do the piggy justice.  I am quite impressed of those of you who put that thing together.

Camping so near the water was wonderful and made for a gorgeous evening of star gazing.  And the small lights of evening yakers out on the water only added to the uniqueness of the whole scene.

And speaking of scenes - the food!  I have never attended any kind of outdoor potluck where the picnic tables were adorned with delectibles not only on the top but on the bench portions as well.  Everything was truly delicous and the home brew was fantastic.  It was so nice to finally meet the brew master himself after hearing such praises of brews past.  And the wine...I am not sure who made the two reds, but those were very tasty as well and thank you for the treat.

But most of all, what a fabulous group of people.  I have only attended three derbies thus far, but each time, the best times are because of these people.  It was so nice to see and meet so many smiling and fun-loving gals, guys, kids and even dogs.  And it is exta nice seieng all the ladies there whom I have had the pleasure of meeting previously as well as the new ones I had not.  You all rock!  I highly encourage those wives and girlfriends who have not made it out to one of these events yet to put it on their priority list.  You are definitely missing something special...and laughing...you are missing lots of laughing (at some bad jokes, but still.)  Chuck, please tell Michelle she was missed.

Thank you Sean and Leah for organizing the derby and Bill for the raffle.  By the way, I do not have a photo of Bill's 2nd place fish ( I do have 1st and 3rd).  I noticed that Duane had a pic posted and maybe I could "lift" it from the site to submit with the others for the WON article, if that is ok with Duane?

Can't wait to see all of you again and eat more fish.  We ate some of third place last night - melt in your mouth delicous.  Wait...that kind of doesn't sound right...

Anita

Wow, I'm really bummed I missed yet another BAM.  This time I was in tahoe for one of my best friends weddings.  Not sorry that I was there though, I guess it's just the way things turn out sometimes.  Lots of great pictures.  Keep em coming.  Nice stripers there.  Hope to see alot of people at the paddlefest.  JTF..