Kayak camping at Lake Sonoma, 7/6 & 7/7

Did an overnight camping trip at Lake Sonoma with my Son (Drew).  We are heading out on our two week road trip of the west in another week so we wanted to knock the dust and bugs out of the camping gear.  We launched at Yorty Creek and made the almost three mile journey up into Cherry Creek to the Thumb campground.  Although it was hot enough to melt things, we had a great time.   

I drug my 8 foot dingy to use as a barge and loaded it down with all the gear, and Drew...... :sad2  It really wasn't that bad, just slow.....(1.6 mph average speed)

We set up camp in a great spot at the near end of the Thumb Camp, steps from the water and lots of shady oaks to sit under.  That end of the lake has lots of dead trees sticking out of the water and the one nearest to the left had a huge osprey nest with a mature bird on guard.  When we swam a little too close to the tree, the bird gave us some verbal feedback and then flew around us a few times.  We didn't get to see it take any fish, but it did come down to the water not to far from us and drug it's talons along the the surface of the water for about 20 feet....very cool bird.

Though we did more swimming than fishing, we did manage a few LMB's and Drew destroyed the bluegill, as usual.   

Made the paddle back at lunch time today with no wind and high temps, but I did manage to paddle over and mark a few very nice looking hard bottom spots that had bait and/or fish on them on the way back.  I'll be back to visit those this fall...... 

It appears to have been a productive spawn, based on my admittedly anecdotal observations paddling to the camp and back.  There were hundreds of 1 1/2 to 2 inch LMB in and around every bunch of shoreline weedgrowth and each tree sticking out of the water.  Lots of other fish seen eating them, but that's par.....

Bass ate the drop shotted Arron's Magic robo worm, but very sluggishly.  The fish didn't want to move much during the day, so you would need to hit them on the head with it and leave it in front of them for a while to get them to finally bite.  The bluegill were eating redworms and mini crawlers under a bobber which is one of Drew's favorite summer tactics.

Overall, a great trip, campgrounds were nice and we were the only camp occupied on Sunday night out of 10 sites.  It was dead quiet at night and in the early morning......perfect!  We'll be going again with Mom.......after it cools down a bit that is....

Norm

Great Report and Pics!

Thanks!

Nice trip Nawm the waters a lot lower than when we were there I was checking out that Osprey also he was given me the evil eye.

Nice to get out there with your son  .. Thats going to be unforgettable

Great report Nawm... sounds like you did it right.

Freddie

That's a great report, Norm.  The Best of Times with the fam!   

Nice DustOff&BugRemoval!!  like Mike said, the water was quite higher (and the fish were quite speader  ) back when we did that same trip.
Thanks for sharing your camp and details of the bite!
reads like you've got the best Now&FutureFishinBuddy there could be.

Thanks guys, it was a lot of fun.  That osprey wouldn't let us get close enough to get a good picture with my camera while it was sitting on the nest.  Thanks for the osprey shot Mickfish!!

It is great spending time with my son, just the two of us.  The fishing and camping just make it that much better.  By the way, he wanted me to add that he caught more fish than I did........

It looked a little greener when you guys were there too Mickfish and FisHunter.  Was it early spring when you took those shots?

Norm