Mendo 10/27 AM 1 for 2

I was "guiding" today (its a long story, but it was a charity action thingy..I am not a guide).  Ran into Notuna et al. at the bait shop.  We went to the BICG, they seemed to go everywhere.  Action was slow but we boated one in the 8-9 pound range, to make for a happy client.

Not sure how the other guys did, but the weather was ridiculously warm, and I saw to bald eagles, and a golden...eagle city!  I need to grab a trout from Safeway and see if I can chum em' in!  Not epic, but not bad!

Nice fish. Mendo does have nice sized Striper because of its slight fishing pressure. Man I wish it was closer--but then if it was, the fishing pressure would be much higher and it would be like the Forebay. You jsut cannot win if you live in a large population center liek the SF Bay Area 

Wurdiz that it was WFO in the PM 

Oh, yeah thanks Sean. Rub it in    Rascal 

Here Jefe, good doggie, yeah goooooood doggie. Bite Daddy for us precious, yes my precious Bite him for us we will 

This was the first trip to Mendo for Sailfish and myself.  Met Scwafish at the baitshop buying minnows.  He gave us a few pointers at the launch and we were off!  The morning was slow, with one 10# striper for Sailfish-me NADA.  Went to the north end and got out to stretch our legs and I heard something splash just off shore.   threw a topwater bug and got hit 4 times; 5th time scored smaiile-topwater at 1pm!   Continued to paddle everywhere with no luck.  I was about to quit when we ran into Mahi-Mahi and Kickin Bass and we decided to guve it another go.  That was a smart move!  Caught 2 real nice keepers and a few smaller ones.  Had two doubles at one of the boils.  It was a great trip.  Thanks to all who posted advice and to Salifish, MahiMahi, KickinBass and Scawfish for the company and help.  Hope to do it again sometime soon!

Jody

More pics

I hooked up with notuna and sailfish Friday afternoon in the middle of the lake. We scooted over to the "barn cove" area and trolled around for a little while until the striper decided to eat. It wasn't too long before sailfish hooked up small striper. It gave a good fight, but ended up a little too small to keep, so back into the abyss it went.

It wasn't long before we all started hooking up some nice striper. All total I think we landed 10 striper between us (not to include kickinbass, who went skunk). Notuna ended up with a nice 10# fatty. All in all it was a great evening fishing. No of the striper were caught on live bait, but my trusty old Kastmaster didn't let me down either.

Earlier in the day I hooked up with Sean and installed two rod holders on my Old Town Castaway kayak. It's been sitting out in the rain and weather for two years without use. The hull design is great for speed. It worked out well today, but there is literally no room for anything. I hope to see the photo's notuna and sailfish took.

CHEERS!

Nice going guys. Mendo is defintely the quality Striper lake in Norcal. I wish it wasn't so darn far and a protracted drive through two major metropolitain areas of traffic for me. But nothing ventured, nothign gained.

Just got off the lake a few minutes ago. Hooked up another 2 stripers. One was around 6 1/2 lbs and the other was about 14" long and about 3 1/2 pounds. Had a great time with Sean, Andy (kickinBass) Chris, Sean's bro-in-law and nephew, and my buddy Mike. Sean's nephew hooked-up a nice striper also.

Just another great day on the lake................

CHEERS!

Hey Guys,

Great reports.  I'm heading to Lake Mendo tomorrow for my virgin paddle (new Tarpon 160) and fishing expedition.  The boat's not rigged for it yet, so I'll just have a lap rod.  Also, my wife and girls will be along, so fishing will be limited... but it sure would be nice to hook in to one of those ten pounders!

Backslider

You already read the reports from Sean, Dan, & Jody so I won't need to "bore" you with mine.  Only want to add more pictures from this "wonderful" trip.

We met Sean at the bait shop close to South end of the lake:


Jody finally caught this "jumping" bass when we went ashore to stretch our legs after the whole morning paddling:


My very first striper caught from the kayak!


Jody first striper:


Dan got his first one for the afternoon:


Thank you all your guys for the suggestions/tips, we defenitely had a great time fishing at this lake!!!

 The weather just looks SICK wish we had that at the Gate. Randall

The weather the last few weeks has been ridiculous, but it got cold yesterday.