Berryessa Salmon Slam Deux!

OK, now that I've recovered from the sudden hot weather we had at BSS2 I can get some thoughts down about this weekend.
A big thanks to Ricci, and all that worked hard to make the 2nd annual Berryessa Salmon Slam a big hit!
Huge congrats to top placers, and Rob, you scored a good variety out there, it was good to see you win that yak!
It was nice to meet some more NCKA'ers and fish and party with old friends too.

Sunday's fishing for me started late as Abdiver and I launched around 8.
I dragged a dodger/hoochie around for most of the morning.
Lost a nice fish pretty close to the launch as I fumbled to open my folding net.
Made my way out to the main lake body with plans to go to the Big Island/Ranch House.
Had a couple more take-downs that didn't stick by the time I was out in the mid-lake.

It took me almost 2 hrs to slow troll to the other side, and as I pulled into the cove just East of Ranch House I saw a couple of large Bass move off beds.
Spent a little time throwing crankbaits at them, but no takers. I left them to chase my target fish - kokanee.
Pedaling West toward Big Island I had another missed take down, and was getting kinda pissed at the impending skunk.
Finally I switched up lures and had another miss almost immediatley.

By now it was 11am and I was at the East end of Big Island close to the North shore, it was getting hot, and I had 0 fish.
Decided to troll back in and take whatever happens.
After about 15 mins I get a violent shaking take down, pick up the rod (I'm only stamped for 1) and for once, a fish is hooked good!
The medium weight Ugly Stick spinner loaded with braid, three way, 2oz ball, dodger, and flouro leaders was bent good, and luckily for me I remembered to
set my drag on the light side. The fish fought great and when it surfaced a dozen yards out I could see the blue-green-purple hues of a Koke.
Now I was stoked, but a bit nerved out, as I didn't want this one to get away.
Finally, with my net already unfolded I was able to get a 16"+ Koke on the Hobie.

After a photo session, I looked at my watch - 11:40, and it took 2+ hours to get here!
I pulled in all the gear and started the hot pedal back, thinking all the while that check-in was at 1pm.
Wish I would've fished a little on the way back in but I was tired from the almost 16 mile mega pedal.
The tourney festivities were as usual awesome and I hope to participate next year. 

More pics:

16+ miles paddling...man no wonder y0u got some gray streaks in your hair....  J/K brother.... feel your pain...and glad you FINALLY set the hook!!!

number 4 man!

Good tourney Ricky!  But didn't slam any salmon. 

Thank you very much Ricci and ALL who helped set up this wonderful event ! Way bigger turnout than last year , camping and more area made a big difference .  Can't get the stink off my yak though , hooked two trout ? ,  that jumped immediately on the hook up but threw the hook ( red cripplelure ) before I could get the rod in my hand . Had a great time , food was excellent and was nice to meet some more NorCal people . Day turned into shit as I left and headed home , more in the General Heading .

It was HOT

Fishing was hot (for some)

Managed a mix bag of smallies and spots on the Special Mooch Series Shad Rap Total of nine on the Yak this weekend. lost 2

Im sure every one heard but Grace managed her 2nd LMB @ 22" & 8#  on the drag. Lady luck should be her handle 

Never Yak fished berry, but thanks to BSS2, I cant wait to go back.

Thanks-a-million to Ricci and Christina for organizing such an Event.  You rock 

Ate good at the even and had a special delivery when i got home

Hip Hip Whooray Hip Hip Whooray   

Little smallies and spots on light gear=Good Times

great weekend.. thanks Ricci Christina and Jim for putting everything together.
also thanks to all that contributed food, helped setup and takedown, but most of all, thanks to all the sponsors with their generous donations..

got cooked on sunday..of all things that went MIA from my gear box was my sunscreen... oouch.. I knew this was going to hurt..fortunately the face was spared with my wid brim hat, and the burn on my legs and arms aren't too painful inspite of the 80+ degree heat.

fishing wasn't hot for me.. spent the whole morning trolling for nada.
I started off early going deeper than I normally do thinking that the heat was sending everything down...plus put on wedding rings and hoochies which I hadn't tried much in the past.. thats what  I get for trying to think..should have employed what worked for me in the past....that being the dodger /crawler combo..

didn't switch over to that until late morning.. Got my first take down around noon. it gave my rod a serious bendo and I thought I had a solid hookset. he felt decent size and full of fight so I didnt want to horse him in..backed off on my drag a smidge...
then somehow he spat the hook..
I was both bewildered and annoyed that he escaped, but also relieved to finally get some validation with my technique.
sprung back around through the area and got another hit within 5 min but this time it felt smaller...I manged to get the line caught up on the rudder so all I could do was to keep peddaling while I dicked with the line..thankfully the rainbow stayed on and I got him into the net.. I was thankful to get the skunk off and surprised that he pushed 16in...but with 1 hr to go, I figured it was a lost cause so I continued to troll for the hog I lost earlier. Losing that fish will haunt me for awhile as I keep thinking how things could have turned out differnetly had  I played him right.

had a blast spending time with friends, meeting new faces and eating great food..
thanks again for everyone who pitched in and shared both nites..

nice to camp right next to water's edge...if it wasn't for the inconsiderate camper who left his generator on all nite, it would have been perfect hearing the frogs as you fall asleep... (JK)

great job everyone..

A huge thanks to Ricci, Christina, Howard, Jim, and any other folks that assisted Ricci in putting this great event together.  Also, thanks to all the sponsors that supported Ricci’s efforts.  Ricci, special thanks from me for thinking about the ladies in NCKA, the pink rod and reel I think is perfect.  There’s not enough pink fishing equipment as far as I am concerned.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Mooch, thank you for your comments mentioning Pam and I for helping with clean up and your assistance in helping us collect and separate the two; garbage/recycle.   Pam always thinks about a container for garbage and as for me, the recycle (to protect our environment that we all love to camp and fish in) and to keep our waste management companies from getting any more money from us. 

Frank and I were the last to leave Monday from LB.  We stopped at the office to thank Laura and staff for their support with our group.  Laura went on the NCKA website and wanted to post comments, but was unable to post.  I mentioned to her I would post comments expressing her praises to the entire group of NCKA members in attendance. She and Kenny (the security guy) were so pleased with the way everyone behaved, leaving the camp grounds and portable toilets with very minimal cleanup and that check-in went smoothly with everyone and that everyone was very nice and considerate of them during our stay.  She stated the staff clean up duty Monday was one of the easiest ever and stated she wished everyone that visited were as clean as we were and that we are welcomed anytime.

Bunny & Frank "Ghost"

Thanks to all for the great pictures. 

Thanks! to Ricci and all who helped to make the event a success. This was my first NCKA event and definitely not my last. Caught some bass, met some other yakkers, and had an overall good time.

My first non-Yakhopper tournament.  Great job, Ricci, Christina, Jim, Chryss, and the rest of the support staff.  As a contestant, things were smooth and easy.  Thanks also to the sponsors who stepped up and made this a formal event.  Congratulations to Rob on the win (Wilderness Systems rule) and the other contestants, My biggest thanks go out to the the foody people, whoever you are, who fed me.  My favorite food was the burger, hot dog, chili, smoked trout, pulled pork, stewed chicken, pasta salad, egg salad, fruit salad, Jedmo salad, banana egg rolls, fresh fruit, brownie, cake, bite size chocolate cupcakes, chips, pork rinds, rice, and of course ketchup and mustard.  And the eating support people (plate, napkins, fork).  If I missed anything, you can be sure it wasn't on purpose.  I promise to add my part next time.  Doing these one day runs are difficult but I am going to try and get involved with the camping aspect so it should all mesh then.

I had a plan.  I was in it to win it.  Then on the drive up I didn't have wireless coverage in the critical area of the correct turnoff so ended up north east at some other location on the wrong side of the lake.  Back track a half an hour and then found the right road but missed the gate in, no signing, but luckily another kayaker who drove like they knew where they were going passed by so I turned around and followed them in.  Got unloaded, checked in paddled out, no power to the fish finder.  Crap.  Somehow both positive and negative wires separated at a sauder connection.  WTF.  And finally I am off.  Plan A still with a few hiccups.  Head out to the main part of the lake.  First time at Berryessa so no clue which direction was the main lake.  I think it was Hobie Dave that pointed me to open water.  That was almost my third hiccup when I was guessing the wrong direction initially.  Made it out to the opening of the main lake and quickly enacted Plan A procedures.  Downrigger with dodger and PeeWee Hootchie tipped with corn.  40' depth.  Target deeper kokanee.  Other pole smaller dodger e-chip lure corn, and a 2oz banana weight dropper.  Head away from the main group straight across and follow the shore line in 60-100ft.  Four and a half hours later, plan A sucked.  Tried a bunch of combos for nothing.  Even altered plan A of Kokanee catching and went to the trout rig on one of the poles figuring I needed to get some points on the board.  Skunk.  Frustration level 4.5.  Figured it just wasn't going to happen so I went to Plan B, bass.  Headed up into one of the inlets and followed it back to one of the cut ins where it ended at a dry creek bed. 

As I slowly worked my way to the end throwing a jerk bait looking for a spawn reaction bite, I was dragging a powerbait egg/night crawler combo on a weighted line.  I ended up with nothing when I got to the end.  The line with the crawler got wrapped around my transducer arm so I started handlining up the ten feet of line behind me.  As I looked down, when the crawler combo came, up a big ass dark form appeared right behind it.  A monster ass bass that at first kind of shocked me as I reacted by taking my hand away from the water.  It just came up looked around and then sank back down.  Holy Moly plan B might work.  I spent a half an hour tossing out a variety of lures.  There was a small one pounder right next to my boat in full spawn mode which was agitated as hell that I was there but wasn't taking off.  I didn't mess with that one at all as I needed some serious beast points.  There were another five pairs of one to three pounders swimming around and occassionally that two-footer would come up just enough to see the massive shadow.  I ended up sitting there a half an hour with a worm on a bobber eating my lunch stewing at a frustration level of about 6.3.

Finally, it was less than two hours from check-in so I figured I better start heading back.  I was pretty frustrated but reminded myself that you can't deviate from the plan so I went back to Plan A.  It was another hour or so to get across the lake from the opening and my frustration level had elevated to a pissed off 8.6.  I was pissed off at tournament fishing, I was pissed off at all the fishing reports I had read about how the kokanees were on a hot bite but it was tough because you had to wade through a half dozen rainbows to get one koke.  I was pissed off at Fishermans Warehouse for selling me more crap that doesn't work, I was pissed off at Ricci for creating this tournament, I was pissed off at the radio chatter of people who had caught something, I was pissed off at myself for taking the time to come up with plans, I was actually physically feeling sick because the whole time I had only drank a litre of water (trolling in a paddle kayak sucks because you can't stop paddling).  Then my downrigger pole started dancing.  WTF.  A couple of paddle strokes to keep the tension on and pop the release, constant reel in waiting for the freak out, loosened up the drag for the head shake, let it run itself out under water, prepped the net, ease it in the net.  This tournament fishing is not so bad.  I was on the board.  Better than all those suckers tied for skunk.  My name was going to have a point by it.  Stress level 2.2.  Forty five minutes to get back to  weigh in.  One other kayak on the other side of the lake which looked a little behind where I was.  Started the paddle in.  I figured what the hell, hail mary's exist because they happened.  Kokanees were done, so Rainbow was next.  Yanked off the dodgers and went with a flasher on the weighted side and a Yozuri triple treble mirro lure on the down rigger so less drag and more speed.  Started faster than normal troll across the main body.  Was about half way across and the top lined flasher, wedding ring, worm set-up goes flopping.  Grab the rod and know I have a nice Rainbow.  Let it take the drag, play it slow, prep the net, got it on its side and dragged it in. Holy crap.  I wasn't a one shot wonder.  Two fish.  I'm in the middle of the pack baby.  Average. WHoo Hooo.  By then the radio time checks are going off.  No chance at the Holy Holy Mary, so I brought everything in and put the kayak on plane.  Landed on shore at the three minute check in call.  I hadn't really had the time to check them out as they were identical in size and coloration.  I had hoped it was in fact a rainbow and I was pretty sure as it had extra spotting, teeth and a bit of a different tail. Most people were pretty sure but I knew I was good when Naoaki gave me the thumbs up.  Checked in happy with my two fish average guy, middle of the pack, blend in Johnny average. 

Drank a two-litre of water to appease the fried brain that I had created, and then I ate... a lot.  After eating some more I wandered over to Glen's place and saw that they had posted the scoreboard.  Checked it out to see where I blended in.  What the hell, my score had a circle around it.  WTF fifth place.  Sweet.  Plan A rocks, tournaments rock, the fishing is great at Berryessa, those guys at Fishermans Warehouse know their shit, and I had to call the guys back to not rip off Riccis truck, again. 

So, to wrap it up, I had a great time.

What a fun filled weekend it was. Thank you very much Ricci, Christina, Hojo, Jim and Mrs. Jim for all your hard work specially Sunday during the tourney. I wished I had enough time to fish for bass but I wanted a koke so badly and that is where I spent most of my time fishing for. Big congrats to Rob and others that have placed in the top six. Looking forward to hanging out with all of you again soon.

Jedmo

Friday: 1 Rbow (covered in parasite) on a Firetiger needlefish behind a firetiger dodge. 3 SMB on a Rbow Crankbait.

Saturday Morning: 3 hours of nada.... on everything but the kitchen sink; did manage to catch 3rd degree burns on my shoulders

Saturday Night: Great to be on the water with my LS brothers! but did enjoy getting hooked in my ass by a flying crank bait.... x2

Sunday Morning: Stated the day off by pulling a pink hoochie behind a UV slingblade OTW@ 30' and a purple hoochie behind a pink slingblade longlining... Got my first strike as I entered the main body, but came unbuttoned and a fumbled around to get the net untangled. Not only was this a rookie mistake which costed me a 3rd species, but I managed to kick my radio into the drink during encounter.

Pulled hoochies for another hour, but decided to switch tackle and target another species. I trolled with my dodger/needlefish setup while looking for bass; when I came across stong marks, I dropped in an agent. Pulled up a couple of small LMBs to 13", but nothing compared to the 17" Joe just picked off behind me.

After another hour or so, I changed up again and went to the "Never Fail" worm/dodger rig ; trolled over ever mark on the FF where I have caught trout before, for NADA!!!! Couldn't figure out what the heck was going on

Just when I was gonna throw in the towel, I saw brother Rey (Lapu Lapu) across the cove where I caught crappie on Friday and went over to chat. While chilling on the water, I saw a few marks on the screen and decided to drop in.... within a few casts and hooked up and pulled in and nice crappie. As I continued to work the area trying to upgrade, I managed to pull out a decent size LMB.

Now things were getting interesting.... I decided to quickly switch back to my trout rigs to see if I can pull out a trout in the last hour. I trolled deep inside Skier's Cove and back to the launch praying for the Hail Mary Rainbow; didn't happen...

But what an exciting finish it turned out to be... I can't complain, I had a great time trying!

Food all weekend was GREAT; think I ended up have a food coma on more than a few occasions.

Thanks again Ricci and company for a great event! Thanks Mooch for manning the camp. Thanks Rey for saving my RV from becoming a huge bombfire!!!! And Thanks Bunny and Pam for cleaning up our mess; sorry we didn't take the time to do it ourselves! We promise we'll pick up after ourselves next time...

Can't wait until the next event!!!!!

Here are a few snaps I took during the weekend....