Almost Half Way There (sort of)

      Awoke at 2:30 this morning with the vineyard frost alarm blaring, get up turn on the frost protection and make some "jumper cable" coffee to start my day. Rolled out of the driveway to meet up with Rory at 5:45, destination Markley Cove on Lake Berryessa. I arrived at the store at five and decided to take a drive to the dam overlook to check out the "ballfield" from a different perspective only to discover the wind was howling from the east, sounding like a blowtorch. Went back to the store only to find Rory first in line again and still 45 minutes until the launch would open. By the time we paid our dues and launched the lake had calmed down to near glassy conditions.
     We headed out of the cove and slipped our lines in and headed for the dam. Within twenty minutes I had the first take down and landed a 14" king and slipped it on the stringer not wanting to make the same mistake as Saturday when I tossed back the first and LAST king of the day. Minutes later I hooked and landed a 15" king and that went on the stringer.......things were looking up. Rory was next with a fish  but that's a story for him to tell. Next it was an eight inch king for me which was released back to the depths.
      I spotted a couple North Rivers turning tight circles a couple hundred yards away and decided to go check them out. Half way there my line does a little dance and seconds later I reel in a 15" Koke  which joined the party on my game clip.
      At one point in the afternoon I hear a yell, look up towards the high rock outcropping above the dam to see some daredevil jump off the ledge... freefall for about 20'.... toss out something and then proceed to parasail  over the dam and out of site........UNREAL!!
      The weather went flat glassy calm and it was time to check out the SMB action. I drifted some huge  minnows  along the rocky shoreline and hooked about a half dozen 12" bass. the water clarity was at least twenty feet and you could see bass everywhere but nothing of size. Finally I landed a 14 3/4"er and called it quits. Rory was over by the dam landing another fish so I cruised over to check things out. We decide to do a  long troll all the way back to the ramp. Fifty yards from quits my deep line goes off and another king.........this one 16" inches so it joined the others. Banner Day!
       We got back to the ramp at about 4:30............Ten hours in the saddle and it went by in a flash. I had a great day fishing with Rory other than the fact I lost my favorite Bultaco sweatshirt overboard. Who would think a sweatshirt would sink as fast as a pair of pliers.... oh well........another beautiful day in Paradise.

Paradise....Continued

great report! how deep was your deep line and how do you get it to stay deep? (if I may be so bold as to ask.)

What an awesome day. Action! Action! Action! You can't beat that. And those ultra glassy conditions are waaaay too nice.

Z

Man, what a gorgeous day. That's some very smoooove water.

Well done, Allen. What's the limit for freshwater salmon?

I can't believe you don't have a halibut yet.              

Great report.  The glass photos are unreal.   

Nicely done!

And it just keeps gettin SWEETER!  Half way there, in second place,right behind your boy!
Grats! and thanks for the glass-pics & detailed report of your BANNER event.
...and watching a sweatshirt drop like a rock, makes me think I shouldn't be wearing one of those out there on the water like I ALWAYS seem to START the mornings out in. 
WE'RE ALL lookin up at cha!...no pressure.
   

Allen, you are right, IT was a "GREAT" day. I'll tell you what, the Kok was a fighter and the salmon was pretty good too. It was so nice we thought about getting some sun to the parts that don't get very much sun, but thought against it. When we saw the parasailing guy, we thought he was going to land over by us, but he made a turn down over the dam.
On another note, make sure you guys start taking your sun block with you. My face got pretty sun burned.
Anyhow, some pics I took while we had a great time out there!!!
Forgot to say that the first pic is of Allen going into the sun towards the dam. Thought it looked pretty cool....

Thanks fro addin in some pics Rory! looks like you guys are livin it up!  Fish for both and the wind dissipated after a stong am push...love it when it does that!
See you guys somewhere?   soon, hopefully! 
CUZi'mGONNAbeFOLLOWINGyous'!

That's a cool looking"mirror lake" like shot.  I think today is the beginning ofa great summer with with the nice weather and all.