The lake is still 5 feet from full in mid July. Surface temperature is pretty warm at 80° or more. Launched at 6:30 and had two bass and two trout by 9 AM. After two bass and one trout, I switched to Kokanee and thought I had the biggest Kokanee ever, but it turned out to be a 23 inch trout. it felt like a Kokanee. After 2 more hours of trying for Kokes with no bites, I called it a day.

I had some chores to do up at Donner summit so took the long way up and stopped at Bullards Bar. Unfortunately I got a late start and started at 10:20, surrounded by lake lice. I got 1 11.5” Koke after 20 minutes, then nothing. Off the water at noon.
Got the chores done. Ate the Kokanee and headed over to Stampede for a couple hour evening session.  Picked up a nice 14”er soon off the launch and then a couple 12”-13”ers and tossed back a 9”. Marked lots of fish and had short strikes and fish came off, etc. - standard Koke fishing. Lost one really nice one heading back to the launch.
Debated Donner vs Stampede for a quick morning session and decided I was undergunned if I was hoping for a big mackinaw.
At stampede I picked up 3 10” fish and decided to “secure the win” by retaining 2, which was a mistake because I found the 12”-13” fish after that near the dam. Got 7 total with 4 decent ones, retained 5. Tried for trout but no bites. Off the water by 10am.
It’s really difficult to keep Mabel from licking the fish, since that is what she has learned on the ocean, but I don’t want her to get Salmon Poisoning Disease.

Met Paul and Scott at the lot this am. Met Nowhere Man heading out of the harbor. Winds were calm with a good sized swell. Bait was not cooperating and it took awhile to get a couple mackerel. No action for quite awhile as I bounced around East and then past the red buoy up to lighthouse reef. Wind came up a bit after 10 am but mostly on the outside. At one point traded a 10oz weight for a 13” Greenling - not a fair trade. Had a few other bites and scratched baits but no halibut, no lings, no rockfish ( didn’t really try for RF). Off the water around 12:30. Bite was just not there today.
When I got back my new fish cleaning table had arrived from Basspro. I’ll have to wait to put it to use. Maybe jinxed myself ordering it.

I decided to try  Berryessa for some trout, maybe salmon, maybe bass, maybe the huge bluegill that were reported at 50’.
Launched at Markley. The bait balls were mostly 40’ to 100’ deep. I dragged a spee D  shiner on a DR at about 50’ and a streamer with a wiggle disk on a sinking line on a fly rod. I may not have had enough speed @ 1.8 - 2.4 mph.
I picked up one decent 17” bass fairly early but moved on looking for trout. Didn’t get any other bites. Tried a frog flatfish which works at Pyramid but no hits.
One guy was getting some big bass according to the radio.
On the return I dropped a worm down for bluegill but couldn’t find any.
Pretty nice weather and no skunk.

Was missing the Fort so worked up a family road trip with breakfast and some shopping in Occidental and a visit to Fort Ross. They checked out the museum and fort while Mabel and I worked our way down to the point and tried a little fishing. The long period swell created some good sized shore break and we had to stay alert and time our exit route.
It turns out I didn’t have any sliding bobbers and didn’t want to bring bait, so just cast a small metal jig under a large bobber for zero fish in about 30 minutes of actual fishing.
They repaired the road down to the drop off but I didn’t check on the path to the beach launch.

Finding schoolies Small stripers. Three in the boat already.

Looks like the Fresh N Salty FB group is also doing an AOTY for 2024. Seems like they are doing the same thing with points and fish upgrades, etc.. It will be Statewide and I think they will allow motors, since it seems many FnS members use motors. $30 entry fee. They will probably have some good prizes - fishing gear, maybe even a peddle kayak, etc.. I imagine they might get a hundred or more participants.
I'm not interested if it includes motors.
I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, assuming the AOTY format originated here?