The Family and I were looking to put some dirt under the rig and break in the new truck tires, so we loaded up lunch and hit the road looking to make it up to Upper Letts Lake. The last trip my son and I took to the lake there was a massive land slide blocking the road. That was around a year ago..... The road up to the lake (Bear Valley Rd) is currently loaded with Wildflowers as far as you can see. Absolutely beautiful! As we made the last leg of the journey, about 2 or 3 miles from the lake, we encountered a "Road Closed Sign" same area as the year prior. I thought no way the road is still closed! Passed the sign and saw some Forestry Trucks and Trailers. Got to the slide area and they are still working on clearing the road. They got about 20 ft into the 100 ft slide or so. Big slide about 5 to 6 ft tall x 100 ft. They made some progress but still working on it. I suspect that the road will be open in time for "summer". Maybe memorial day?? Lake campground show "open".... At this point I was committed to making it to the Lake. So we back tracked down the mountain. M5 is a back way to the lake but a lot more rugged of a trail, which I was happy to take! Back roads where in pretty good shape except for a handful of trees partially blocking the road. Would not have made it to the lake in a full-size truck, a couple of spots we were very close to the edge of the mountain. As we got close to the lake a layer of snow showed up! Almost a foot or so! Made it to the lake! Had a quick lunch and wanted to hit the road prior to dusk. With the mountain road conditions I did not want to drive out at night. Brought the rod and wanted to fish a minute but it was COLD! Successfully made it down the mountain and added about 20 pounds of mud onto the truck! New Nitto Ridge Grapplers handled the roads with no issues! Looking forward to camping and fishing on the Lake soon!! Great Spot and looking forward to exploring more trails and backwoods' fishing spots in the area!!

On a side note... Still looking to make it to the GSXVII, Looking for a "sponsor" Ether way will be up there on the yak learning some new grounds.

Tight lines and safe Travels!

T

I got the opportunity recently to bring my son's on board The Deadliest Kast Sportfishing boat for a crew day that Captain Steve and I had been planning for some time. (I work most weekends as a deckhand.) Logan 11 and Henry 6, have been wanting to go fishing on the boat for awhile and this would be the perfect opportunity!

We couldn't of had better conditions on the water that day! Low wind and a great tide. We launched out of Oyster Point and decided to skip the live bait, even though it has been on fire lately. Swimbaits, jigs, and the custom tolling leaders that Steve and I make was our game plan for the day!

Got the Boys all rigged up with trolling setups with some frozen bay herring from cast netting earlier this year. Within 10 minutes of trolling Logan's Rod goes off, pulling drag. I help him hold onto the rod and he starts slowing reeling in. Nice size Hali, Steve nets it and Logan has his 1st halibut of his young life!! The look on his face is ingrained in my soul. He jumped for joy. Another couple of minutes goes by and Henry was up! Half the size of his brother but determined to reel his own fish in. With me holding the rod he managed to reel in his 1st Halibut at 26". When it came time to take pictures he was all about it. Didn't want the fish grips, said he can hold it better than his big brother Not sure how but he manage to hold onto his fish for some great pics but he did! And what a great shot it was!!!

The rest of the afternoon only got better. The boys kept trolling out the back with Herring as we kept fishing our jigs and swimbaits of the sides. Steve hooked up a nice Hali on a jig as well as a big ole booty, 36" on the hoochie, trolling! Henry was the first to limit out on Halibut (season was still at 3) Logan kept getting 22" Hali's and we wanted to size up a little bit. He ended the day with a solid 2 buts!

To end the day and close out our striper limit we started chasing down striper boils and throwing swimbaits and jigs. Hook up after hook up and the boys we stoked to get there 1st limit of stripers. Boys went into the cabin for nap time as Steve and I had a blast getting the last few fish to end our trip. We ended it with an epic double hookup. Way to much fun!

The best part of this day was that we had a GoPro rolling! Steve just got some editing done and posted our trip on YouTube. Been sending the family the link. So great to have their first boat fishing trip documented!

Check it out, was a great day on the water! Maybe join us on a trip some day. If I'm not Kayak fishing I'm working on the boat! See ya on the water.

Trevor

Anyone know whom to ask about NCKA forum help? Seems like some of my Topics/posts are not showing up....

New ro NCKA forum! Born and raised in the Bay area, have always fished from the shore until recently...  Had been borrowing a buddies wilderness systems tarpon 120 untlil I got the Vibe Shearwater 125 2 years ago and have been loving it. Keep exploring new waters and adventures and look forward to NCKA collaborations!! Love Rock fishing and all that you can catch. Halibut is my next challenge!!