Tahoe - July 17 to 20 - 2008

next time you guys are up in the area you'll have to let me know i'm up in Truckee.  I'm new to the kayak fishing and would welcome some expierenced guides .  

Also, what rig were you using for the mack fishing?  I see all sorts of different information.  Were you trolling or just dropping it in?  Any help is appriciated.

Wow, looks like an awesome fun trip!  Lucky you guys!!   The water is so clear, Keep Tahoe Blue!  Gonna put DL Bliss on the list.

ChuckE, is the place dog friendly?

It was a fun weekend for sure, but as Melissa mention, that park has some of the most restrictive rules I've ever seen.  I can understand the need to put food stuff away in the bear lockers and for dogs to be on kept on leash.  But with dogs not allowed on the beach or in the water, they wanted me to carry my poor dog from the parking lot to the kayak.  DL Bliss is not very dog friendly, but it still beats having to leave my pooch at home.

if they only knew that Aki was so better behaved than most humans..they would have let him babysit thier kids overnite and not even have to worry....
IFtheyONLYknew

Joel-What's with all these cute fish you been catching lately? Looks like the crew had a great time and what a gathering of NCKA family. Those crawdads look delicious and the menu out of sight. Way to stick to tradition. Frank

Those crawdads look delicious ...

Yup... they were super clean and tasty.  Thanks to Mooch and Fuzz for scoring that big bucket of crawdads.

Great pictures Mooch, and an awesome job on posting once again. Thanks a bunch for sharing .

Jed

A masterfully done post by "the manatee" Mooch.  Dang those 'dads look sooo good....YUM!

HobieBlue

Nice job guys-- you are getting me psyched for my incline trip in two weeks...can't wait.

What can I add the hasn't been said already... first off... I managed to kill my Optio, so no pics from me. I went crawdad hunting with my camera in my pocket and I couldn't have been in more than 2 feet of water... I gave it to Stuie to take a picture and he replied... "Dude, there's moisture in your camera." Moisture was an understatement... it was full on wet inside. Oh well... looks like I'll be buying a new camera soon. Oh yeah... the Park Nazis sucked big time. Most of the rules are just common sense but, they threatened to fine you for just about everything. What a buzz kill. I think Mooch got a little love note on his truck by a ranger about the fire still smoking from the previous campers at his site. But, we still managed to have a great time. Like Moochie said, the fishing was slow. The funniest thing was watching Mooch fish DEEEEEEEEP. I hooked up in 230' and dragged Mooch into the deep. He hooked up... or should I say... snagged up. We're in about 220' and he's fishing straight mono... yeah... I see him high sticking and trying to get is rig back... but at that depth and with mono... he's just stretching out his line... this goes on for a bit and he's out. Too bad I can't paint a better visual but, it was pretty funny to watch. He did manage a FAT mack though. Which took the Tahoe skunk off his boat. Oh well... it's all good and that fish was pretty tasty too.

RubiconAg- We fished shallow in the morning and deep later. Fished live minnows that we trapped... (BTW, Mooch... you still owe me a new trap that you dropped into the lake... and yeah... both halves aren't attached to eachother) There are many ways to fish that lake but, one way that has boated me a lot of macks is to drop down a minnow and drag it. Usually, I'm dropping down deep but I'll drop down where ever I find fish. Top lining with a 1/4oz weight is another way to go. Use a long set back for that. I've also used a downrigger to get a lure down deep and troll. You can also jig when you see a lot of marks. Most importantly, don't bother dropping down if you don't see the marks... unless, you are trolling the shallows for bows and browns.

Anyways, this trip wasn't about fishing... it was mostly about the kids and time with the family. And I must say, it's great to be a kid on a trip like this. They got wet, they got dirty, some got bloody, some got scraped up, but they all still had fun. There were a lot of kids out there this year and they pretty much kept everyone on our toes. Tahoe is a great place to take the family. Lots of activities for the little ones and great facilities to camp in. I know we'll be back up there year after year. Oh yeah... the food was off the hook. We're talking tomales, with beans, spanish rice, fresh pico de gallo, baby backs, tri tip, salad, pasta salad, carne asada tacos, lumpia,  awesome strawberry and peach ice cream, dutch oven lalaberry cobbler, chocolate fondu with marshmellows, strawberries, apples and bananas, crawdads, killer tasty breakfast burritos, country style potatos, bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, sandwiches for lunch... I'm sure I'm missing something but, you get the picture. Lots of food, lots of laughes despite Mooch's negativity and lot of good times.

Mooch-
Thanks again for bringing a paddle board which was a great source of fun and laughes watching some guys BIFF badly... not mentioning any names. Also for bringing the lumpia... which I am never going to slave away frying again. I guess I'm just not meant to be a fry cook... it sucks. Also, for keeping Fuzz company while he harvested the dads.

Fuzz-
If you don't know it by now he is a harvesting machine. If it's in the water and edible... he'll get it and a lot of it.

Nate-
It was great camping with you again and I hope the boys didn't rough up Miya too much. Looks like she had a great time though... gotta teach her to share the crawdad on a string though... It'll save me a lot of time tying up crawdads for all the kiddies.

Stuie-
Let's do this until we can't do it no more.

Thanks to everybody for just making this trip a great trip.

Peace...

It feels good to see you folks having a great time. Very nice reports and pics!

LL

Joel-What's with all these cute fish you been catching lately?

...that "cute" fish put me on the top 10 on the AOTY 

Joel-What's with all these cute fish you been catching lately?

...that "cute" fish put me on the top 10 on the AOTY 

..is that catch within the NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BORDERS?? 

Joel-What's with all these cute fish you been catching lately?

...that "cute" fish put me on the top 10 on the AOTY 

..is that catch within the NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BORDERS?? 

And what category does it fall under?  Is a lake trout in the same family as a trout or salmon.  Wait, your not calling that a rockfish are you?    Seriously though, good work.  I'd love to catch a mack from the kayak.

Great outing too.  I'm jealous as it seems all my camping adventures with friends aren't kayak friendly.      Sounds like everybody had a blast!

Michael

Come to think of it, I have never seen Mooch, and the rare, "WCOM", West Coast Omnivorous Manitie at the same buffet at the same time.  It all makes sense now.  Lake Tahoe Gazette 7/20/08 headline reads,...dwindling Tahoe crayfish population traced to a rare, large, aquatic mammal...Ability to stay submerged for protracted periods of time has scientists and crustaceans baffled.

Unstoppable, uncontainable
I loved the report/pix

Lake Tahoe Gazette 7/20/08 headline reads,...dwindling Tahoe crayfish population traced to a rare, large, aquatic mammal...Ability to stay submerged for protracted periods of time has scientists and crustaceans baffled.

Unstoppable, uncontainable

I wish I could take all the credit for that but it was really Fuzz that caught most of the crawdads FUNNY HEADLINE THOUGH