Well I guess I’m very competitive in a passive aggressive way and Eric’s post about hand feeding the tarpon triggered my FOMO. So I jumped on a plane to Miami and drove down to Robbie’s in Islamorada. Had some food and paid the fee to get a bucket of Ballyhoo and fed the tarpon.
But oh shit,  Eric also attended a wedding!
Still in the grips of social media FOMO, I drove around the outer Miami area looking for a wedding I could crash. I found matrimonial proceedings involving a Cuban-American and Chilean couple and was able to blend in with my fragmented Spanish. My dance moves to Despacito impressed all, and needless to say this smoking Chinella is flying home with me.

https://feelfree-us-west.myshopify.com/products/feelfree-camo-cooler-bag?variant=40915302514869
These bags are on sale. I love mine since it has an inner liner which keeps the main bag clean. You can put ice packs between the bag and liner, keeping them un-slimed as well. My large bag fits up to a 36” halibut. It barely fits on the Lynx so I often just use it for home transport of fish.

Attached is my 2024 fish spreadsheet.
There were some hits and misses, but it was an overall improvement over 2023 and 2022.
Time On the Water, learning some areas and listening to better anglers - I'm feeling solidly intermediate now, getting better at some things (halibut and trout) and still in the dark on others (crappie, perch, reservoirs with the word "New" in them).

I roughly estimate that I caught between $1,000 and $2,200 worth of keeper fish, depending on assumed price/per pound, etc.
I have not calculated my gas/electric/mileage costs but I'm guessing it exceeds that.

I think I'm gonna hit Pyramid on Saturday at the Marina, possibly Warrior Point.
Looks to be calm and sunny with temps in the 50s to 60s.
Some FnS people are going to be there.
Some large fish have been caught with several 20 pounders.

It looks like the last good conditions for Sonoma RF are on Tuesday, so I’m blocking out some time off work. I’m thinking TC since it’s been awhile but FR is my usual go-to so I’m fine with either. Company welcome.

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.