San Luis Reservoir Report 2/10

Spoke to Mooch on the phone yesterday morning he’d called the wind line and it was busy. He didn’t want to drive 2 hours only to turn around and go back. Saw posts that others weren’t going to make it either. In Fresno the rain was coming down hard. Now I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve made the one and a half hour drive from my house to the Big Louie or the Little Louie only to see the lights on, the wind socks blowing in the wind, and then have to turn around and drive back home.
I’ve learned a few things over the years and yesterday confirmed it.
1: The wind line is always busy early Saturday mornings particularly early Saturday mornings.
2:I always call the night before and go by that report.
3: When it’s a sunny day in Fresno, it can be exactly the opposite in Los Banos or San Luis. At the same time never expect Mother Nature to accommodate you.
4: However if you pay attention she will tell you what’s going on.
For instance when I take the 152 exit from 99 to Los Banos, as soon as I start driving down 152 I start watching the trees you can use them as a wind tester. Example: once I saw the trees being blown so hard that I pulled over to the side of the road to get a feel of the wind. When I turned off my motor I could hear the wind howling.
When I went to open my door the wind blew it shut, very scary. Without any exaggeration the wind on San Luis or the Forebay can that strong and stronger. That day I turned around and drove to Eastman Lake. I only drove 40 minutes that day not a hour and a half.
As I said before it was raining hard in Fresno. After speaking with Mooch I gave Harry Schoonbaert a call he was still game.
The Friday night wind report was 7 mile winds and rain, I can handle that. 7:30 am I’m driving down 99. It rained hard all the way to the 152 exit. A few minutes after driving down 152 the rains lets up a bit. In the distance I could see thick fog, which was a good thing because it meant no wind. A little under an hour later I’ve driven through Los Banos down 152 and I’m taken a left to the Basalt campground area. Now I’m driving through really thick fog.
Eventually I find my way to the gate, put my money in the envelope, put the envelope in the slot and give Harry a call on the cell phone.
Harry actually got there before me, and tells me he and Kevin (Reelfish) have been waiting at the dock for three hours and where the hell have I been! He is of course…lying.
   Another half hour later Kayaks are unloaded and rigged and we’re getting ready to launch. Some other fishermen are just coming off the water. As one walked past me to the parking lot I asked how the fishing was, he said “ It was good…we got’em.”
Then after stopping to check out the kayaks, he looked at me and very sternly said “you guys got guts to be going out in those kayaks in this fog”. Actually he might have said “you guys are nuts”
But I prefer the latter. Not too much later we were paddling out into that fog. There was just enough of a wind to keep the water from having a completely smooth surface, I actually prefer it just a bit rough, as it makes for better fishing and paddling.
We headed west towards the dam which was my guess at the slow pace we were going…an hours paddle. We were paddling slow checking the ff’s as we went. I was also listening for boat motors, I had a whistle handy and a light( one of the Scotty’s that you can put in their rod holders) on the boat, next time I will have two, and my new yak is…”here I am yellow”. 
   We finally marked a small group of fish in about twenty feet of water, they were holding tight to the bottom. We worked that area for a while casting lures and flies but no connection. I spotted an egret and some other birds that look like they were feeding off a point in the distance just a few feet off shore. Now what that can mean is that fish- stripers have herded baitfish up against shore or into a ball and the dinner bell has been rung. As I paddled closer my finder started going off, I was over a school of fish. They were in about 25 to 30 ft of water holding at 15 ft. We worked that water for a long time. I was using a streamer express. ( commercial shooting head set up) I’d cast let it sink then strip it in, I tried several retrieves, slow, fast. After what seemed like a hundred cast I heard Harry yell in the distance “fish on” I reeled in and headed for Harry in hopes of getting some photo’s . Harry yelled again it’s a good one I was still a ways a way when he netted it. The next thing I heard was “ It’s a American Shad”. He held it up so we could see. From what I could see it looked to be 17 too 20 inches which was a good size shad. I yelled for him to hang on to it so I could get a shot and he replied or at least I thought. As I got closer Harry turn to face me his net and his hands were empty… he’d released the shad. I looked at him and said “tell me you didn’t release that fish.” “Didn’t you hear me?” “nope, and I didn’t think anybody had a camera.” After fighting off the urge to capsize Harry which took a while I went back to fishing. The shad was caught on a chartreuse and white clouser.
We all worked the area for probably an hour or more but no other fish were caught. American Shad can be tricky to catch. My theory is that the groups of fish we marked were American Shad, which would explain the lack of action.
It was about 3:00 the fog had lifted and the wind was just started to blow. After a brief discussion we headed back. While there was just a bit of sun there was still a lot of clouds. As far as the weather went anything could happen. There was definitely a slight risk with the weather making our situation somewhat adventurous. It is on days like this that the best of fishing can happen. Big fish can be caught and records can be set. Our paddle back was uneventful, not even a nibble. Didn’t catch a fish but enjoyed the trip back. I think it was about 5:00 we had loaded our yaks and were leaving, when the dreaded winds came howling thought the trees. Kevin headed home. Harry and I had dinner in the restaurant or truck stop over on 33. I drove home with both hands on the wheel because the wind was blowing strong on 152. You can imagine what it was doing on San Luis Res.
Oh Yeah, the new yak.




 


http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n265/paddle-and-flies/RiggedAltura-fullShot.jpg

nice yak Rickey

I've seen the Forebay at it's worst about 2 years ago...I was planning on camping there for the night until the late afternoon winds came in and statred howling! At that time, I did not have a camper shell on my truck and so I had planned on sleeping on the bed.....well, I did try for a bit but the wind was just gusting too hard and I knew I wasn't gonna get any sleep at all (and even starting a fire to keep warm was out of the question ) So I just headed home to a warm comfy bed

I've also seen a catamaran style sail boat TOWING a water skier behind  at the Forebay.....it was a clear sign for me to start heading in - and I did  Wish I had a camera back then

Rickey -

glad to hear you had an OK time. Should have hung around I guess. Why model of yak is your new ride? You did a nice job rigging it.

Scott

Rickey -

glad to hear you had an OK time. Should have hung around I guess. Why model of yak is your new ride? You did a nice job rigging it.

Scott

Thanks Scott. It's made by Current Design, It's called the Altura. It has a composite body which is made from Kavlar and fiberglass. I'll do a more detailed post later on this week.

Whoa!!! Sounds very light, cool and EXPENSIVE. probably going to have to stick with the P15 as my next ride. i'll look for your post.

Scott