Cosumnes river preserve...

I went out to Cosumnes River Preserve.

Sunday was a maximally beautiful day but I did not get one single strike.....not one.
 
It is SO breath-takingly pretty out there....and there is such variety with the multiple sloughs & stuff.
 
Rivery smells & all.   I was glad I was there, all day long.
 
And the water...The water looked fishy-squared.
You know what I mean?
Fishy-squared.......
I cast to beautiful spots....i worked the overhangs, logs, structure, everything.
 
I stuck with plugs....yes, maybe my fatal error.
I was having fun casting the plugs and just refused to go to plastic worms or crawdads.

So there it is.

The bass were stubborn
I was stubborn

And it was stasis.
 
Judd
 

That sounds like excellent therapy, Judd.  I could use a day of that...

 

Throw down an egret pic or something next time!

Eric

CRP is a great place. I've been there many times.

Did you go west to the Moke or stay in the Cosumnes area?

Al

I did some boat electro-shocking there back in grad school.  There are lots of red-eye and black bass and big ass carp.  The upper Consumnes is also really nice, with lots of big bows.

Jim

Alfredo....I went west, and then turned left, which I believe is the Mokulmne arm.  I've gone over there nearly every time.   It just blows my mind, both: how beautiful it is in there, the gorgeous quality of the water, and the habitat for Largemouth.   

From maps and my own initial forays, I'm beginning to develop a mental construct of the layout of those waterways but I'm quite a ways from having a picture that satisfies.

My desire to have a complete picture of where, and how everything runs out there, is even beginning to outpace my interest in fishing and duck hunting.   

One of these days soon, I'm going to take my fastest boat and make a dedicated exploration trip....First go east on the cosumnes to the head of tidewater.    I already know that Twin Cities Road crosses the Cosumnes above tidal influence.   Aerial maps show that at high water there are many side-lakes and sloughs that are fed from the Cosumnes.   I'm going to be looking to find the "departure points" for these sloughs and ponds....some may be directly kayak-accessible and because some of those remote ponds, isolated as they are, might be an "ultimate" place for a kayak-hunter like me to virtually have my own private duck-pond.

When I hunt ducks now, I turn east on the Cosumnes and paddle down to the RR crossing, then turn right into a perfect duck-hunting slough that goes back beside the tracks.   Another location I duck hunt is in a set of back-sloughs off the Mokulmne over near Locke.   

That area, the CRP, is a long drive......out I-80 to Sacramento, then South on I-5 to Twin Cities Rd....right at 100 miles one-way.   But it's hard to imagine finding anything anywhere that offers the beauty, the clean sweet river-water, and the lack of pressure.   

There are power boaters out there but they are few and they are "situational."   By that I mean (by my judgment) they are there exactly for the (very poor) salmon run.   They come, they bend their pick, they go home....and who knows, probably don't come again.    Another fact is that the river varies greatly in depth with shoals, dead-heads, and on the Molulmne arm....a river-wide cottonwood that is absolutely the "end of navigation" for anything but a kayak.

In the immediate vicinity of the Nature Conservency land(s) there is considerable use by kayak/birders but these guys have no antipathy to fishing....and they are also very laid back, are satisfied with just being in their boat, and don't go far.

Judd

Judd,
Sounds great out there!
Next time you go, I'd love to join you out there.  I have been trying to figure out what to do for thanksgiving weekend, this might be just the ticket.  Especially if there are fish AND ducks...

Jim
ps- you'll have to email me, as I don't check the board that often as of late...

Rockfish........I e-mailed you at:   [email protected], and it bounced.

I am [email protected]

Have you been down there to the Cosumnes Regional Preserve before?

You're already in Sacramento.....it's close to you, you should drop down (with your boat & wheels) and take a peek.

Twin Cities Road exit from I-5.....then Eastbound to Johnson Road
Johnson Road is IMMEDIATELY before the rr-tracks......turn right
Drive about a mile...you will see the Nature Conservency building and parking lot on the LEFT.   On the LEFT...!!!....

At the NE end of the parking lot is the paved walkway leading to the put-in.
An extremely civilized setup.

The Put-in is in a tiny "blind slough"
Paddle out of that and LEFT.   Left, not right.
A big down Oak Tree....is a LANDMARK.  Note it.

The slough you are now in is about 3/4ths mile long and ends at the Cosumnes R.
At the Cosumnes R. you can go left or right.
For a first trip I recommend Left, which is up-river.
Paddle past the RR Trestle and past the Pipe-Bridge...
Take the first left into another fairly long slough, which is a blind slough.

DURING YOUR PADDLING......pay close attention to what turns you have made....and what the terrain looks like, so that finding your way back to the launch-point stays an orderly process.    The RR Trestle and Pipe Bridge are important landmarks.     Just be sure you don't get lost.  Can happen.

To reach The MOST BEAUTIFUL ZONE ...that I've been raving about...you would do this:

At the intersection of that first long slough with the Cosumnes Riv., turn RIGHT.

Paddle a quarter-mile around a bend to the left and reach a RIVER INTERSECTION.    To the right is a continuation of the Cosumnes and to the left is the DELTA entry.....of the Mokulmne River.    You start paddling up that Mokulmne arm and I tell you, it is just very very beautiful.   

I grew up in Oregon on a farm along the banks of the Willamette River up near Corvallis, OR.   The beauty of this stretch of the Cosumnes is exactly like paddling the small arms and sloughs of Oregon's Willamette River up there in the vicinity of Corvallis and Harrisburg and Eugene.

Judd

SWEET, thanks for the intel.  I'm leaving for vacation back home in Missouri on Friday and wont be back for over 10 days (woo hoo  ) but I'll go down there over thanksgiving for sure.

I fixed my email...that was a bit old....

will email...

Jim

....this place must be really nice and scenic....too bad there are NO PICS 


 

Sounds great!  I lived in Albany and spent quite a bit of time in the sloughs off the Willamette.  I'll have to get out there.

....this place must be really nice and scenic....too bad there are NO PICS 
 

My CRP report from 5/26/07 has some pics:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,8437.0.html

and my report from 7/8/06 has some pics:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,4600.0.html

Google Map:






Al

Thanks for posting some pics Alfredo 

Thanks for the links...  Definitely looks like familiar water.

I haven't gone as far as posting in the hook-ups section yet, but would anybody be interested in meeting at the Cosumnes this weekend? It's supposed to rain this Saturday, but I'd be willing to hook up Sat, Sun, or Mon.

The Cosumnes was the very first place my wife and I ever took our kayaks and we loved it there. It's also where I caught my first fish ever from a kayak. It was just a tiny LMB, but it was still cool for my first yak fish. 

I haven't decided if I'm going to troll for trout in a Bay Area lake this weekend, or if I'll go to the Cosumnes. If folks are interested, you can PM me or just post here, and then I'll post on the Hookups page.

Sorry for the thread-jack 

I haven't decided if I'm going to troll for trout in a Bay Area lake this weekend, or if I'll go to the Cosumnes. If folks are interested, you can PM me or just post here, and then I'll post on the Hookups page.

Sorry for the thread-jack 

I might want to go to the Cosumnes Preserve on Sunday, depending on weather and wife's plans.  I wonder how the wind is over there.  Do the trees help with the wind?