forebay, then steven's creek.

well, I got up early and even tho I had the forebay wind report number programmed into my phone,
I drove 100 miles to find out it was blowing 16 to 32 knots with an average of 22.   

bill, the water is low. down past the end of the maderios dock. And there are islands of weeds. no, I did not paddle out,
it was hard enough to open the truck door in that wind blast. But it was peaceful inside the truck with the sun coming up.

On the way back, I stopped at the main lake and surveyed a cove with submerged trees in it. They say there are
crappie in san luis. It looked like they would be there. But I did not try to fish it as I only brought striper lures and
also, the water was cold and for some crazy reason (probably bill's dreams of fishing in shorts)
I did not bring my normal wetsuit. Bill you might check that out,
it is the pullout just after the road gets to the level of the lake and there is water on both sides. could be serious crappie
fishing there. it is shielded from the wind. the water is pretty clear.  you could clip to the trees and jig for crappie I think.

what about that idea of just launching at any old san luis cove rather than the main PB launch? seems like it could be
fun and productive, not to mention free...

I got home just in time for my wife making crepes,  Since I do all the regular dinner
cooking in our house (the secret to high WAF, bill and stu take note), that is a treat.

After crepes, I moseyed over to Steven's Creek for the first time. I parked on the road and didn't pay, I don't
know if you are supposed to.  I caught 4 trout on a gold seps sidekick dodger and threaded half nitecrawler.
I used a 7' UL kokanee casting rod and one of my abus and shakespeare add-on line counter. pretended I was
salmon fishing. fish came between 50 and 70 'pulls',  .  probably about 10 feet down,  .
One fish did actually fight hard, and pull out drag, bent that skinny rod good, I was impressed, but he was no more
than 18".  Bill, you only caught 3, right?   

If you can catch the window of slow wind this a good time of year to catch linesides on the big lake. linesides between twenty and thirty LBs could be around those submerged trees Also how bad are the weed beds on the Forbay? Is there room to work the edges?

since I'm not a forebay regular,  I don't have the experience to judge. But the water is way down from when I
fished it the first time, a couple months back.

I would think that it could still be fished, but maybe some kind of rattling weedless lure would be the best?

the coves of the big lake looked pretty inviting. They were sheltered from the wind. There was a cattle guard type
gate, but a kayak could be passed through it pretty easily.  I would think if you hooked up with a 20lb lineside in
those trees it would be hopeless unless you had 100lb spectra and a chainsaw?

J

Watch for snakes this time of year-the rattling type.
Jack

you mean to use as a lure? 

Yes, if you park inside the lot at Stvns Crk, they expect you to pay (and the pay station is nowhere close to the boat ramp or at least I can never find one).
 
I picked up an annual pass instead and don't worry about tracking down the paystations (or dealing with them not working).
 
You can also buy an annual launch pass for your kayak that's good at all of Santa Clara's parks.  They're $65 though so you need to go fairly often to break even on it.  Road parking is free but doesn't work at some of the other parks.