Almanor 5/3/10

Had work in Chester and Quincy this week. Brought the kayak and got a few hours of trolling in until dark on Monday. Windy and got overcast by dusk, but beautiful on the lake. Nobody else OTW except for the bald eagles, osprey, pelicans, loons, grebes, geese, terns and gulls. Trolled for about 2.5 hours in the wind.  Only one bite - a 24.5" brown on a rapala.  Absolutely beautiful evening, wind died right at dusk.......but picked-up again at dawn this morning.

Nice fish and pics! Another lake I want to getout to eventually.

Jeff

One of my favorite places in the world. Thanks for the memories.
 Randall

WTG buddy! Thats a beautiful trout. A drive well worth it. You deserve it man. Look at the tail would you? Awesome!

nice brownie bird, thanks for the pics and report, cameron

She's a beauty John. WTG!

Jedmo

   I miss Almanor and had great times at Butt lake as well, is the road to Butt lake clear?  We used to tag some fat smallies there!

Beautiful lake and gorgeous fish!  Thanks for the report and pictures John.

Bird,

Very nice fish! We just missed being on the lake at the same time, by a day--I was up there from April 28 to May 2.  First trip up to take my poptop up to Wilson's Camp in Pratville.  It snowed the day we arrived and it was pretty windy and choppy on the lake a good bit of the time.  Almost looked like the ocean at times.  So my fishing was limited but this trip was more about getting the camper setup and reacquainting with the beauty of the lake.  

I did hook up one nice fish, that I saw briefly before he broke my line.  Probably about a 4-5 lb brown.  I had trolled just passed a point when the rod bent.  I thought it was probably a snag on the point but as I reeled the line in it kept coming so I thought, must be a fish.  But though it jerked a little there was little resistance so I assumed it was a small fish.  Suddenly I saw my line arching toward a point in front of my kayak.  Though I had a fair amount of line out, the fish had actually swum foreward and was now ahead of me...that's why he felt like such a lightweight.  By the time I realized this, there was little line out and he came to the surface and then broke me off.  

I have a seasonal site this year, so plan to be up there 4-6 more times this year.  Let me know when you might be available and maybe we can hook up sometime.

Here's a few pics from on the lake, one of Lassen and a shot from inside my camper.  The water's much higher this year, so we have a lakefront view from inside our little camper.

Doug

That's no trout. That's a toad!
Nice job.

Thanks guys.

Zin - Road to Butt is open from 89, I drove down to the lake and about 1/2 mile down the east side to check conditions. Friends told me that the road from Caribou off of 70 to the dam is also open.  Current forecast is for more rain and snow - Sun-thur of next week.

Doug - Nice site on Almanor! Let's stay in touch and try to hook-up.  My schedule is generally flexible with some lead time.  Look forward to chasing some trout and smallies with you.  Beautiful pics.


 

Nice fish!  I've heard Almanor has been kicking out some big browns this year.

Great Fish John. Nice to get out while you were in the neighborhood. Beautiful pictures from you and Doug.

WOW!!! you just don't see two foot long full finned trout. = VERY NICE and i bet it gave you a Real_Live Fight! 
Thanks for the clickin'! 

 Heck, the scenery alone is worth the trip, the great looking fish is just icing on the cake.

 My wife and I are definitely planning a few trips up there this year!

 Thanks for posting such great shots.   

  Chuck