San Pablo Mud Hole Opening 2/15

Well you would have thought that 2 weeks of no rain, great weather and 7,000 pounds of trout would make for a great day of fishing, unfortunately the water clarity was poor which made trolling and casting artificials fairly ineffective. Marked a ton of fish suspended from 15-25 feet and prettty much tried everything including downriggers, trooching and verticle jigging. At the end of the day, it was a whole latta nada. Fortunately, the NCKA company, shore lunch and great weather made up for the lack of catching fish. 

Scott

sorry to hear about the skunk. i spent all day at china camp wishing i had gone to orinda. at least your skunk came with a hot meal.

Too bad about the conditions.  A buddy of mine went banking it from the rec. area with the same results.  How much of a PITA is the inspection process?  If you were in line a 8:00, how long did it take to get on the water.......

Thanks,
Kevin

In deed a tough day of fishing started with the dreaded clam inspection , I got there about 7:30am the inspection did not start until 8:am and there was only one guy inspecting boats buy the time I got to the front of the line it was about 9:am the guy did not even look at my boat he just asked if it was a sit on top and if there was water in it , he stamped the paper and off I went. Like Scott said the watercolor was like mud I trolled from the surfs to twenty feet only one grab all day. The shore lunch was awesome as usual thanks again Scott for the dogs . All in all a fun day fishing with the NCKA gang but it has to be a first, all of us got SKUNKED .

Pat R   

It was a bad day for fishing but the weather was great with no wind and it was a great day for relaxing and enjoying the scenery.  The only fish being caught were in the cove at the main recreation area where the fish were planted.  Two guys were fishing in the "No Fishing Zone".  It appears the trout planted on Thursday are still in the cove.  Good to meet some of the NCKA gang. 

Luis

Well, that was a weird one. I kept changing the settings on my FF because I thought something must be wrong. There cannot be that many fish? None of whom are interested in the rapalas/needlefish/kastmasters/humdingers/nightcrawlers/powerbait I am putting under their nose?

Still, it was a beautiful day, and it was great to meet some more NCKA'ers  . Thanks for the hospitality folks. I'm sure once the water clears up there is going to be a few days of wide open fishing.

The only downer was the aforementioned clam inspection. Farcial is the best word I can think of. From 8-9 there was indeed only one person doing the inspections. I think his name was Jo B. Sworth (er....hang on, this may be a British cultural reference? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobsworth

He was inspecting bait wells, downriggers, tires, everything. I watched him inspect a couple of folks and he was very pround to announce that he has already told two boats they couldn't go in. I don't think his valentines night had gone the way he hoped.

Thankfully just as we got to the head of the line a second inspector arrived. She was equipped with an abundance of common sense and we went thru in a couple of minutes.

  I got a last second reprive from the Warden and had a few hours to hook up with The Gang,

Hit the launch gate @ 9 to find 20+ boats in front of me. I'm told it will take 5 min a boat

screw it "I'm going  Home and mow the lawn". The Warden, mean while figures out a way

to buy me more time on the water, so I go back and find No Boats .

They brought in 5 more people to help and I sailed through.

Fishing just as i expected, well, actually much worse,

That being said, Great Time out there!!!

Nice to meet up with new faces and I'm your Debt Great Bass for those Terrific ManDogs,

Truly made my day

 I did have one bit of action jigging a Hopkins spoon on a point, 2 good pulls and it got off,

probably snaged the poor beast.  Also a report of a Oversized Sturgeon

  Great Day, nice water/weather and even Better Company,

 Looks like it's going to be a Great Year........ ........ Danglin

Despite the NCKA skunk, still wish I could have joined you.  Sounds like you gave 'em hell.  You guys definitely made the best out of a bad day of fishing.

Also a report of a Oversized Sturgeon

Question about the sturgeon.  If it is in a landlocked lake, does the slot limit apply?  I know at Parkway Lakes they plant sturgeon but I get the feeling that there it doesn't apply.  Is it because PL is privately owned?  Just curious.

Michael

Thanks guys!  even we got skunked, hanging out w/ NCKAer is always great!!! (I'm use to not catching fish anyways...)   & thanks Scott for the MAN dogs!
here is some pics of us w/out fish...
1st pic: Adam the FisHunter getting ready...
2nd pic: Scott, Great Bass 2 w/ awesome trolling set ups
3rd pic: Danglin & I were taking picture of each other

the birds were diving like crazy, but the only fish I saw was on the finder... my finder's sensitivity was all the way down but only by the dam, 100 ft of water.  that spot, I was getting consistent signal...

Despite the NCKA skunk, still wish I could have joined you.  Sounds like you gave 'em hell.  You guys definitely made the best out of a bad day of fishing.

Also a report of a Oversized Sturgeon

Question about the sturgeon.  If it is in a landlocked lake, does the slot limit apply?  I know at Parkway Lakes they plant sturgeon but I get the feeling that there it doesn't apply.  Is it because PL is privately owned?  Just curious.

Michael

& dilbeck, I don't know about the other lakes, but at SPR they had sign said about the slot limit of sturgeon...

Despite the NCKA skunk, still wish I could have joined you.  Sounds like you gave 'em hell.  You guys definitely made the best out of a bad day of fishing.

Also a report of a Oversized Sturgeon

Question about the sturgeon.  If it is in a landlocked lake, does the slot limit apply?  I know at Parkway Lakes they plant sturgeon but I get the feeling that there it doesn't apply.  Is it because PL is privately owned?  Just curious.

Michael

& dilbeck, I don't know about the other lakes, but at SPR they had sign said about the slot limit of sturgeon...

Thanks Naoki.  I've never been to SPR so I've never witnessed the sign.  Is it the same slot limit that applies to the delta?  I'm guessing yes.

Michael

Thanks Naoaki.  I've never been to SPR so I've never witnessed the sign.  Is it the same slot limit that applies to the delta?  I'm guessing yes.

Michael

Yes, & changed this year 46"-66" not 72" anymore, so be careful...

Shoulda(gotten in earlier).... Coulda(caught fish?).... Woulda (been funner!) Oh well!...it's all about gettin out there and give it a shot!..cuz i had been working while you guys were out paddling?, i'd be missing out...BIG TIME and regreting if I hadn't gone.   Glad I did go!
Scotts'ManDogs were the highlite of the day!  along with watching ONE inspector work his way through/up to me...just an hour of WAITING ....and NEVER AGAIN!  til those mussels go away!