NCKA Crew invades Mendo

Joel, John and Lee came up early this morning to join me on Mendo.  It was a bit chilly first thing, but we baited up and hit the water.  I took us toward a spot that has been holding a school for a while.  After about ten minutes on the water Lee is bent...



About a minute later Johns rod goes off and we have a double going.  Off to a good start, and both guys land there fish.  Johns is a fat 10 pounder, Lee's is also nice at about 8 pounds.  We fish a a bit longer and John hooks up again.  Another nice fish, and John has a fat limit by 9:00.



Joels rod goes off next and he nets a fat little 6 pounder.  I am still scoreless and starting to blame Joel since he hit me with a banana AND he had me drinking Fosters by 8:00 am.

Lee gets slammed next and he is off on a sleigh ride.  After an unbelievable 15 minute battle it pops off at the boat.   .  Lee comes over sad and needing more bait so we pass him a minnow and he has it hanging over the side of his boat and a fish comes up and snags it a few feet away from the yak!  Lee was on fire.  Lee land a nice 8 pounder again and he is limited by 9:30-10:00.

We head off for the campground and I get hit on the trip over.  MY boat now has a striper on board and an empty can of Fosters on the deck...a good morning by any standard.



We got some nice campers to take a group shot...



Nothing huge today, but all nice fat fish.  As always great times and great company.  OH yeah, we came up with a new slogan after catching nothing but solid fish all day..."the forebay is gay"

OH yeah, we came up with a new slogan after catching nothing but solid fish all day..."the forebay is gay"

That's a good one...    

Looks like you guys had a great time... nice solid fish... some real footballs there!

Erik

Mendo produces quality AGAIN.... dammit.... why can't we consistently find fish like that around here

Seriously... congrats to everybody ....  I'm especially glad the drive was well worth it for Joel and JD

Here's another new slogan of your same theme.... "Get Bendo at Mendo"  

Damn guys that rocks! If Salmon are not close yet (doesn't look like it based on reports) I will head up there next weekend.

Tomorrow I will go be gay on the forebay though  

Celebrate diversity!

Sean - gotta get rid of those waders! You look like that dude from the movie Sling Blade!      

Anyway - thanks again for showing us a good time! The drive was worth it!   On our way back to the launch, I was able to hook-up my "go-home-fish" A nice 8 pounder.

John lands the heaviest fish = 10 pounds plus change  Way to go John  


Lee say's thanks as well  

Joel-Don't worry, the waders were a 1 day soution to the death of my paddle pants.  I thought they look kinda cool though but the were not comfortable for a long paddle and they were giving me a mean wedgie  

Way to go guys.  I wish I was able to join.  My next shot at making it up to Mendo will be the weekend of April 30th.  Mark the date.

-Allen

You guys are killing me!!!!!!  Those are all really sweet fish, even yours Joel.

Salmon reports sure sucked pretty much all along the coast, though the weather didn't help.

If the weather is good next Sat, I'm either hitting Clear Lake or Mendo.  For the past 2 months, a buddy of mine has been really slamming the crappie at Clear.  Said its been an incredible year in terms of numbers and the size has been quite good too.  He's really twisting my arm to fish for crappie, but hasn't yet seen these picts yet

Stuart

I am camping at the coast next weekend or I'd join you Stu...I can go early Friday though  

Otherwise the boys are now in the know and should be able to show you the way.

Had a great time at Lake Mendo with Uncle Sean, Joel and Lee.  The Drive was 150 miles each way but well worth it.  

Sean had us setup with the bait buckets and a little net to catch the fish.  We trolled out of the south end of the lake and into the Zone.  Funny though I didn't realize it but my FishFinder was in simulation mode for the first hour of fishing.  I was like, do you guys see the fish, there everywhere, and i was thinking I'm going to catch one any minute.  So lee hooks up and then i did about a minute later.  I Reel in a fat 10 lb  and then 10 minutes later, bam another one.  As sean said I limited by 9:00am

After this is when I realized  the Fish finder Was in simulation mode. We all had a good laugh.

BTW -- these stripers fight hard and for a long time.  It's was so much fun when they hit and then go deep, peeling the line.

Tonight I'm doing a Beer Batter for the striper (seann recommended this) and then making a mango salsa for a fish taco/ burrito.

Can't wait for Dinner.

I will be going back to Mendo Soon.

John

jd-Glad you had a good time.  Make sure you trim out all of the red meat in that fillet.  We ate mine last night and it was killer.  

Any of those pics I took with your camera come out ok?

Sean..

I did see the red meat and cut it out.  You were right, the striper was excellent and in the beer batter just locked in the flavor.  

I posted some of the pictures in the Photo Gallery.

Have fun on your adventure next weekend!

JD

Hey Dudes,

This is kickfish.....ken....joel's ex......If the forebay is gay....I guess Joel is flaming......

I got 4 cats 8 to 12 lbs...one LMB 14 " and one 18 1/2 " striper. Release 15 to 20 undersize stripers.  Lost two stripers because they broke out. And lost a 16 to 20 lbs cat on the bank....

I only drive a 1 and a half........Joel...Larry is still Mad....

Ken

I am camping at the coast next weekend or I'd join you Stu...I can go early Friday though  

Otherwise the boys are now in the know and should be able to show you the way.

that sucks.ill be there april 8-12.anyone else wanna go up there