BAM IV

Mickfish-

When are you thinking about a little somethin' somethin' at Sonoma??? If it's in November... I may have to bring a bow along... but, I'm down...

Freddie

Congrat to all winners.  Sorry for the late post because I was served jury duty.  I was trolling up and down the lake on Saturday for nada.  Sunday morning caught a 25 incher in the afternoon on the way back to campground from the South launch ramp.  Below are some of the pictures I took:

Saturday morning:


It's raining and foggy too!


Saw Frank and the puppy at the point:


Mooch also fishing at the point:


Camp ground view from the water:


Weight-in time:


Congrat to the new owners of these 2 kayaks:


Getting ready for the pot luck:


Everyone enjoy the food:


Little girl caught a blue tail gecko:


Around the camp fire after the pot luck:


Great entertainment:


Saw many fish on FF on Sunday:


Caught my fish on Sunday afternoon:


Sailfish

That was awesomest event!!!
Thank you so so much Sean & Whites again for the great event & Shimizu sensi's awesome belt backles!!!
& congrats for Tote, Dan, Freddie, & Ben; the strong winners!   but Tote, I didn't see the Trident on our driveway...   (j/k)
despite the hard rain, Ash & I had a great time catching fish, eating too much great food, and hung w/ great friends! the BAM is getting better & better every year!
I can't describe like others, but here are some pics that I took...

& girls catching fish
Theresa's (Jay's wife) 1st yakfish!
& Ash's nice LMB!
& Melissa's big cats

Party!!!
Jim making popular fried banana!
& yakers gathering (just fish-talking)...

the Sunday, nice morning...

Kodak moment girls & sad the real FisHunter...

I wish I could have made this awesome event. I'm really hoping to make it up next year with the fam.

-FF

OK, so I am finally posting my report.  I also have way too many pictures to show, but those are in my online photo album.

On Friday, we didn't get out of Modesto until approximately 3PM due to my unpreparedness and my wife having to work late.  Had to take a couple of stops on the way up to pick up some Jumbo minnows at Delta Bait and Tackle, a short bathroom break and at In-N-Out for dinner.  Because of all this, as well as traffic and the rain, we didn't make it to the lake at 9:30.  

Next morning I was up bright and early (5:15ish) and started prepping for my day.  Since this would be the first time for me fishing from a yak, I had to make sure I was well prepped.  Since I don't have my own yak yet, BrianG was generous enough to let me ride in his Cobra Marauder for the day.  Anyways, kicked off around 6:30 and started slow trolling randomly towards the point, enjoying the day as I went.

Around 8AM, I decided to stop next to the point and tie some rigs onto my spinning gear in case there were any boils in the afternoon.  As I was tying on a hook for my zoom fluke, my rod with a minnow goes BENDO, and starts ripping off line.  Immediately, I reached for the rod, and of course knocked the rod I had in my lap into the drink.  Luckily, I was able to grab it due to my lightning quick reflexes, and proceeded to fight the fish in.  He wasn't a big guy, but I weighed him anyways.  Thanks to Melissa for calling him in on the radio for me.  3lbs 6oz on the scale. Pretty fish, but skinny.  Let him go to fight another day.

I continued to paddle along and decided to follow the weigh boat, as he was heading back towards crappie cove.  When I got to Long Point, I saw all the hobies grouped together so I started to drift my jumbos there for no love.  I went around the bend and ran into Northern Boy & KzReelRods towards the back.  Also met up with Marvin (don't remember his handle) back there.  Northern Boy told me that Tote had just landed a pretty nice fish not too far from there, so I fished for a little while.  No luck and the wind started to kick up so I decided to get moving.  I went back along the buoy line at Long Point and just drifted downwind with my minnows in tow.  As I got back towards the cove, I had a BIG hit, but it didn't stick.  I figured it was about time to go in, so I started to troll back to base camp.  As my line turned to follow me, BENDO! another fish.  Again, skinny fish, about 22-23" long.  Put him on the stringer as the Weigh Boat had already gone in.

Got back to base camp about 45 minutes later thanks to paddling back in that rough wind.  Was met by my wife, who had been taking LOTs of pictures. Weighed in my second fish, who I had been towing for about 50 minutes, and let him go. He swam off slowly but I think he made it OK.

Overall, I had a pretty great day on all accounts.  The weather was not as bad as I expected, I caught a two fish limit.  Not bad for my first day fishing from a yak!

Thanks to BrianG for letting me borrow his Marauder, and thanks for the Whites for putting on the event!  It was a blast, and I was happy to make the trip. Next year I gotta get my own boat, and get my wife out on the water with me!

Me arriving triumphantly back to camp:

Me with my second striper 3lbs 4 oz:

EK with his:

Didn't get this guy's name, but he had a 5-11:

Tote with his winner winner striper dinner:

Another unnamed angler with a nice kitty:

This gentleman caught a largemouth on a minnow right off base camp:

Theresa with her crappie:

Poor Bella - Frank locked her up!!

These will be evidence for the police in case they investigate the happenings at BAM IV:


Mooch and Aki on his stand up paddleboard:

Despite the pleas of those on shore, Aki did not jump off the board to knock Mooch off =):

My wife with Bella:

Mooch with Bella on his board:

A gentleman "Being Green" and picking up some recycling:

Some geese looking for a minnow breakfast:


I have a few more pics that I have not uploaded yet, but the majority of the pictures are up.  There are too many to show here, so you can go to my album if you want:
http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/bassmanben/BAM%20IV/

Congratulations to Tote, Dan and Freddie. Looks like another great yakfishing event. You don't know how much I wish I was with all of you  . Next year for sure. Thank you all for the great pics and humor.

Ed

Thanks for the tow Joel you are the man.

Anytime Mike...just call me "AAA" 

Did everyone make it home poison oak-free???

I felt an itch on the way home but it was a fasle alarm, praise Jesus!  Just camp grime.

Did everyone make it home poison oak-free???

 praise Jesus!  Just camp grime.

my genitalia was a lil'scratchy.....just camp grime!  praise the lord! 


10/10 poison oak update!..yes I got it...on my ankle , sprouted a week later! WTF?!

  Da "Itchy-scratchy"?  Nope I was fine.  Maybe a lil'pruned from Friday night from being rained on all night. 

Finally getting around to posting my report!

First off I gotta give MAD PROPS to Shimmy for hooking me up with what Allan accurately described as "The Most Coveted Kayak Fishing Trophy in All of California" for my original BAM win. Shimmy is THE MAN!

My GF Vy and I showed up just before dark on Friday night and just hung out under the back door of my 4Runner. We chatted it up with "Sea Knight" for a bit then crashed out. I got a late start on game day, too. Woke up at 6'ish to pretty heavy rains so I crashed out until a little after 8 and didn't hit the water 'til almost 9. It was Vy's first time on a kayak so I took it slow at first, but she turned out to be a natural! Later in the day the wind had kicked up pretty good and I got a little worried, but every time I turned around she was right behind me. Anyway, I was super happy just to on my yak, since it was my first time on it since I butchered my thumb two and a half months ago. I was a little frustrated at first because as I trolled my way to Vinegar Point BOTH of my lines got snagged and broke off. Usually not a problem, but try tying two leaders without using your left thumb!. Took me almost twenty minutes. Usually takes me about four. After that I trolled around Vinegar Point marking tons of BIG fish, but had no takers so Vy and I paddled over to the boat in campground (Long point?) and meandered around there for awhile for nada. Towards the end of the day we paddled back to Vinegar Point where I picked up my skinny little kitty with the huge head. After that we called it a day and headed in.

The potluck this year was even better than years past...if that's possible. The chilli, tri-tip, Shimmy's fried scal-balone!, desserts, man! Soooo good.

Vy and I had a great time and she said it was nice meeting the few people she did and she can't wait 'til I get my other yak pimped out so she can fish, too!

Thanks to all, especially Sean and Shimmy! Hopefully we had enough of us out there to validate a BAM V. It would be a terrible loss if not.