bucks mudfest

troy and i launched at bucks yesterday morning. we paddle north into some of the calmest water i have ever seen. we fished off hamilton flats for a couple of hours, no bites. then we went south to meet chuck, erik, savage, rockhopper, bill and a guy in a 2tone color kayak[who was that?] my lunch was good and my new x-factor can hold a cooler full of cold beer, but the fishing was slow. dustin[rockhopper] got 2 shaker sturgeon, i got a couple stripers, and i think most of us caught some stripers or flounder.
 next came the exciting part, paddling back. we left aty 4;45, just as a stiff west wind picked up. with eric  leading us in a circuitous route in hopes of reaching the channel i started to bog down in a couple inches of water and a LOT of STICKY mud. i struggled in the muck for about 20 min before my proggress halted; i could not paddle/pull myself any further. i was stll 30 yards short of the channel, and the remaining water was leaving fast. i ended up paddling backwards, sort of a pushing bench press motion, this propelled me  into the 2 foot deep channel. after that it was a strenuous 30 min paddle up stream to bucks. we ended the evening eating burgers at a@w.

Well guys,
Chuck and I headed out to the honey hole in hopes of catching a dino. There was a lot of us out there. For sure, I thought that one out of the ten of us would hook up with a keeper. Let's just say that there was no honey at the hole yesterday. Chuck and I stuck it out to the very bottom of the tide and then some. Chuck got a monster hit. All I saw was him swinging for the fences as the sun set. His rod loaded up and then... I'll let Chuck finish that story. It was one of the best night paddles I've ever had. Full moon, city lights, no big wind... pretty calm conditions for it being winter still. Everything went well until we got back to Bullhead. Mud everywhere... but be managed to push ourselves to the base of the plateau and exit there without too much trouble.  All in all, a good day to be on the bay... day or night.

"Savage"

Yeah... It  was good to see everyone out there...  I know there were 11 of us out there. 

Myself
Cpyak
ChuckE
Troy
Freddie
Rockhopper
Sandman
Bob Neal
Bigdog
Ben?
One more???

For me it was 6 stripers, largest being 20 inches and the others in the 16-18 inch range.  No dino love.  I'm hurting today from that marathon paddle back... I'm just glad that CP made it to the channel... it wasn't looking good for a while there.  It wasn't until close to 5:30 that all three of us made it to the channel.  It took another solid 30 minutes of padddling upstream and into an unfortunate headwind to get back to the dock. It sure was beautiful weather and a great full moon. 

Congrats to Rockhopper on landing a couple dinos... the one was probably in the 40 inch range and he managed to land it on 17# test after having to untangle the line from his anchor rope.  Good work.

The double cheeseburger and rootbeer float at A&W hit the spot big time after that paddle.

Erik

Man... it sounds like you guys had it real rough. Chuck and I landed around 8:00ish. I guess we had it pretty easy compared to you guys.

Man, am I hurting today. I got caught in the mud flats. I was following the wrong set of sticks in the mud. I had to pull myself back out several hundred yards to find enough water to get over to the channel. Then there was a killer out going tide and a head wind also. Thougt my arms were going to fall off. I could see you guys pulling out of the parking lot when I was still a hundred yards away from the turn towards Buck's. Then when I finally made it to the dock, I couldn't make it to the dock. There was 10 ft of mud between the water and the dock. I am still cleaning mud off of everything.

Besides the return, it was a great day. Wonderful weather. I caught half a dozen shaker stripers. I had one monster on. Probably about 30 inches. He put up a heck of a fight. Just as I was reaching for the gaff, he charged toward me and got some slack in the line and shook the hook. Oh, well. Still a great time. I needed it cause my weekends are booked up until the middle of March.

Chuck got a monster hit. All I saw was him swinging for the fences as the sun set. His rod loaded up and then... I'll let Chuck finish that story. It was one of the best night paddles I've ever had. Full moon, city lights, no big wind... pretty calm conditions for it being winter still. Everything went well until we got back to Bullhead. Mud everywhere... but be managed to push ourselves to the base of the plateau and exit there without too much trouble.  All in all, a good day to be on the bay... day or night.
"Savage"

I don't want to talk about it. ....   I get two long pumps, I set the hook hard, and start reeling fast... then I realize that the spool isn't taking up any line.  I look to see what's going on.  I thought the lever had flipped to freespool, but no.... then I see my rod leash wound tight and wedged between reel handled and the star drag which backed off as I turned the handle.  By the time I freed the rod leash and tightened the drag, the fish is long gone.  It was probably a sturgeon.... who knows.

Despite one of the crappiest tide racing paddles I've ever had on the way back, I had a great time. It was good to see so many kayaks out there. I got hit on every single cast. Missed the first two hits on my sturgeon set-up so I switched to my striper set-up - 7' Quantum IM8 Tournament Grade rod w/Shimano Corvalus 300, size 1/0 red gamakatsu hooks on a 3-way set-up. I had 17lb mainline, but only a 15lb leader to my hook. After switching I stuck a ~17" striper, then a ~30 inch sturgeon that came unbuttoned right as I grabbed it, then I missed a huge hit that ripped line off my reel for a second or two, then came off. Next up was a ~20" striper, then a ~39" sturgeon who I somehow managed to land after it swam straight back to my anchor line after I dropped it. Erik paddled over and grabbed my anchor buoy after I had to cut it off to get my line untangled. I can't believe the fish didn't break the leader line! Erik took two really nice pictures with my camera that I somehow managed to delete along with all the other pics of my fish?

I'm pretty bummed about that...

Haven't checked the tides or anything yet, but I'm probably gonna hit up the area again on Sunday. I gotta work Saturday. 

I just got home from there.  I saw someones yak tracks in the mud at bullhead flats.  I fished with my buddy Red and we headed in around 530 after a long day of missed bites.  Red caught a flounder and a shaker striper at the honey hole while I managed a shaker striper.  It was dead out there today.  You guys must have really put the hurt on the fish out there cause the bites were scarce today.  When we paddled in we landed at the rocks to the left of the beach at bullhead flats.  Only bad thing about that is walking across the rocks there.  Nice day today with no wind whatsoever.  No sturgeon love either though.  JTF..

Great to see the plastic navy out at the honey hole on Sat.  I think we covered most of the territory and then some.  Awesome weather, I had raccoon eyes and people at dinner asked me if I had gone skiing or something.

First time out there for me and the first time I had to use an anchor.  After getting expert advice on the gear and the set up from Erik and ChuckE I thought, "piece of cake".  I launched the anchor, set it, checked the quick release, started drowning some ghost shrimp, stared at the rod tip and after a while I looked around and wondered where everybody went???  It turned out that I didn't set the collar down on the anchor so the legs folded up...newbie blues.

At 3:00 I had to pull anchor and head in to meet some friends for dinner.  So I gave my "lucky shrimp" (not so lucky for a flounder) to Ben.  I figured that I still had a couple of hours before low tide so I headed straight for the tower at Buck's.  Looking at my FF the whole time I could see the the loss in depth but when I got near the mud flats it went crazy and my paddle was picking up mud.  At that point I made an abrupt turn and sprint for the channel.  No problems for me after that.  However, there was a truck/trailer/boat stuck on the ramp at Buck's and there were aluminum boats all along the dock.  The guys made room for me at the dock and helped me haul my yak to the parking lot.  Then the real show started...this guy backed up to the ramp with this mongo pickup truck and he hauled the truck/trailer/boat out of the mud and up the ramp.  It kind of looked like a truck pull contest, lots of HP, spinning tires, mud everywhere especially on the trailer/boat.

Looking forward to the next trip.

Gary (Sandman)

well lets just say i had a nice day fishing not one fish had a bite here in there thats about it for me after last week there no way i was playing in the mud again   bail out made it 2 the channel hit it dead on first try nice head wind but not bad at all
now for the  best part shit three boats at the dock not much space fine a hole great made it in on land yessssss no mud for me tie the kayak off go 2 my car looking for my hide a key a guy from bucks walk up in say is that your kayak going down river   what do you know its my kayak gear in all going out with the tide   so the guy say today is your lucky day okay buddy i will take you 2 get your boat but it will coast you find name your price get this buy me a beer f that i will buy you a six pack of beer he get his keys well his boat is in the mud oh shit we some how get the boat out the mud like 2 cowboys we go after the kayak get the yak try 2 give the guy 20$ would not take it just buy me a beer sure
gave the barkeep the 20$ in say serve my buddy untill the 20$ run out its was funny after the fact so a big shout out 2 bucks  this place remine me of some of the bar in new orleans not 2 many people know about it
also chris see you need more water could it be from the turkey leg & beer also look at eric and ask was there one more out there know i saw that truck last week glad you made in  big dog

chris,
Sorry to hear about the paddle in the muck, not fun!  At least you got a good workout in. Imagine a 65 inch sturgeon on your lap too.

Jason

hey folks!
my 1st time at the honey hole and had a blast- perfect weather- lots of kayaks- lots of hits, a REAL nice pump that almost knocked me in the water, and a vary tasty 22" striper, thanx to a lucky shrimp, thanx sandman!
as far as landing at bullhead flats, it seems that the worst that could happen iis that you beach at the left of the fishing roost rock and huff it over the rocks. 2 or three trips but no deep mud.
so i guess the structure to the left is a duck blind and not the pumphouse.
i work in sausalito till 4,mon thru fri, anyone up for an after work dino hunt at paradice or china camp?

Nice striper picture Ben...glad to see that my shrimp went to good use. 

So I'm wondering if the paddle to the honey hole from bullhead flats is shorter and less complicated than from Buck's?  Is there a good place to park and is it easy to unload and setup?  Buck's was convenient and the parking was good but its surrounded by mud flats.  If you miss the channel, can't see where you're going or don't have a FF you could be in mud hell.

I suspect everyone was using ghost shrimp but anyone using herring or eel?  I saw someone at Western Bait buying some frozen eel and I think that stuff was pretty expensive.

BTW the boat that was stuck in the mud at the Buck's Landing ramp had a good sized sturgeon in the back.  It looked like it was about 60" long.

No one has mentioned the full moon having anything to do with the lack of Dino love but it might have.  Do the tides look good for next weekend?

Gary (Sandman)

Hey Sandman...

I think the point at Bullhead flat may be a good compromise... what's worse... getting stuck in the mud and having a marathon paddle into Buck's, or having to hump your gear over a few rocks.  I think the latter might be better.  I know you can also haul out at the point in front of Rat Rock and hump your gear up the hill to the parking area near the beach at China Camp on a low tide. 

As for next Saturday the 25th... yes... awesome tide... and you can fish all the way to the bottom during daylight.  Will defnitely require an exit strategy as you won't have any water in the shallow flats until well after dark... and no moon this time.  I'll see if I can free myself up for it, but tentatively I'll plan to go on Saturday the 25th.

2006-02-25  9:55 AM PST   6.63 feet High Tide
2006-02-25  5:08 PM PST  -0.89 feet  Low Tide
2006-02-25  5:59 PM PST   Sunset

Erik

hey folks, ben here!
im in for next saturday, mud, ghost and some eels i got under the rocks on hog isl in tamales, i still got the one the leopard spit out...oh, and some sierras...AM, not too early.
would love to go freshwater soon, i just got the dino-fever for now.