New Melones - FreshKATS tournament report 6/8

Great job everyone!
Is that a throw away jersey found in a dumpster??? I thought it was Fish and Wildlife now?????

no no, its the right outfit, the state can't afford the $2.99 for a new iron on patch.

AWESOME!!
I'm so glad you guys had a good time, THANK YOU ADAM for taking on the heavy lifting for this event, and THANK YOU to everyone else that helped and came to the Madness at Melones.
I'm bummed I was not able to make it, but the temps were too high in the Valley and for health reasons (really) I had to get to the coast for a couple nights.
I think its AWESOME that so many fish were caught and that the kayakers outfished to power boats!  Its even cooler that said outfishing was documented with standard DFG protocol !!
Family life and health issues are getting better for me, and barring unforeseen obstacles, the Bullards Brawl Bash should be good to go on October   and I'll even be there!

Jim

Thanks Adam and Tim - great pics! Thanks for facilitating the tourney for us!

Got to the camp grounds Friday night and spent the evening chatting it up with Frank, Bunny, and Bret. There's nothing like trading fishing stories over a camp fire, even if it's 95 degrees outside, haha.

At the launch around 6:30... and realized I had forgotten my VHF radio back at the camp site! Drove back up to get it, then my son and I were OTW at about 7am.

We went to the right and around the side, started dropping lines around the trees and structure. Although I got a few nibbles, I kept trying different lures....I failed to set-hook on one bite and ended up skunked! But my son got a 16 inch spotted bass on a night crawler he was proud of.

I decided to go check out around the marina and ran into (forgot his name??) with the pan fish and cat fish. Did some more paddling then headed in. The lake had gone from quiet and serene to party-boat central...and it was getting hot out there!

Bret (NoSoupForYou) - that was a crazy trout you caught!

We picked-up Bunny and Frank and made our way to Mike's Pizza - great pizza BTW. After chatting a bit with Adam and Bret, we went over to Rite Aid for Thirfty ice cream and to enjoy the a/c  .

It was too hot up there Sat night, but we braved it out and headed home Sunday am. Glad we went, but next year - let's plan for New Melones in March or April. In June with no power and it being 110 degrees....not such a great place to camp.

Over-all, so glad we went! Had fun despite the heat, and can't wait for the next FreshKATS event!

-Cherie

Great job everyone!
Is that a throw away jersey found in a dumpster??? I thought it was Fish and Wildlife now?????

It is Fish and Wildlife now.  I just have an incredible amount of Game.

AWESOME!!
I'm so glad you guys had a good time, THANK YOU ADAM for taking on the heavy lifting for this event!

Jim

+1 & congrats to the winner, placers, & players. 

Congrats to all the winners and thanks for the reports guys.

Congrats to all the winners; great job ATD and everyone who pitched in to make this event happen. Glad the weather did not "burn" the spirit of the event.

That was a nice fat-a$$ trout!!! one hella a pig!!!

First off, thanks Adam and Tim for sweating it out under that pop up all day and the much needed cold water at check-in and good call on having the chill part at Mike's Pizza.  Congrats to the winners!  And Jim we missed you bud, hope to see you next time.

The family was bummed they couldn't make it out due to the heat and I even had second thoughts myself, but was glad I made the long trip down from Paradise and I look forward to next event held at New Melones.  Being my first time at New Melones, I found it to be a very fishable lake with many different fishing options.  Perfect for a tourney! 

I made it on the water around 6:30am and headed straight across the lake towards the spillway.  I was using a watermelon dodger with my trusty flatfish.  I was marking the fish at the 30ft mark, so I sent the downrigger down to go take a look.  I think it was about that 9:00am to 9:30am time frame when I got the takedown and knew immediately I had good size fish on.  Luckily, I had my drag set perfect for the fight.  After getting my first sighting of the fish and realizing I had a monster trout on, that’s when the heart started pounding, since I had lost another monster trout the week prior.   I ended up getting him to the net after 4 or 5 good runs.  I felt it was my redemption for the heartbreak I endured the week prior.  I fished the remainder of the day over by the spillway, and ended up only hooking into one other fish, a camera shy Koke.  We’ll get more next time!

Thanks Cherie and Avery for letting me crash in your site on Friday!  It was good to visit with everybody and I look forward to seeing everyone at the next event.

That WAS a monster fish, Bret!                       
It was the biggest trout I have ever seen someone catch!

So glad you came and hung-out for a while. You (and your family when they make it next time) are welcome to share a site with us any time.

Thanks Adam and Tim for being our hosts for the day and braving the heat and not fishing.