Negro Bar 3/7/14, Monsters be Lurking….

Thanks guys, It is an honor and a pleasure to make tacos for you all. Excellent job was done by all the volunteers. Great weather, smooth water,good times. Scott(Greatbass2) caught the biggest trout I have ever seen. 28.5 inches.

You rock Jack. I hear you are the talk of the VA.  Special thanks to Don, Rob, Matt, all of the volunteers  and Adventure Sports for their support. I didn't get to guide this time, not enough vets,  and Jack had the kitchen under control so got in a few hours of fishing. Was trolling a Rapala J7 Brook Trout and J9 Firetiger because the water was moderately stained. Followed Rob around and he pointed out the area to target and 30 minutes later, zzzzzzzzzzzzz and I turned around and saw it jump. It looked decent sized so I reached back and got my folding Promar net out. Unfortunately, it had rusted shut so I couldn't open it up. Matt came by and gave me his 14" CNR trout net. I got the fish to the boat and WHOA, it's a big one. I told Matt the net was too small and he said maybe if I netted him head first... Decided to wear him down and Boga land him. The only problem is that on 8# test by the time I broke his will, he was close to death and it didn't look like he was going to make it so I ended up keeping him. Matt lent me some rope because I didnt bring a stringer. Thanks Matt!!! The fish measured out at 28 1/2" and 8.5 pounds. The longest trout I have caught.

Life is good.

Scott

Amazing job guys!  Thanks for letting me take the otoliths and scales  from that behemoth trout.  if you are interested I'll post up its age when I get a chance to look at the scales under a microscope.

if you are interested I'll post up its age when I get a chance to look at the scales under a microscope.

Heck yeah!  Any approximations?  6-8 years?

And very nice fish Scott.

I'd say that trout is not that old.  Plenty of food in there for that guy to get big quick! I'd say 4 tops....

It was a good day to have fun and interact with the vets.  We had vets from Travis and other vets from the Modesto, Stockton area.   One vet came on his own and that was Gary,  He heard that there was a hook up and showed up with his homemade trailer and new kayak that he had not yet taken out.  He is a Vietnam Vet and very excited to find others that like to kayak and fish.  I hope he gets on the board.   Gill, from Stockton has been coming to our events for a couple of years now and has got good control of the Hobie.  Unfortunately  I could not get him hooked up with a trout.  The breakfast burritos from Chef Jacque,  Jack, were a knock out, and the tacos for lunch were out of sight.  We had some new talent helping, such as Rider, Matt, and then the core of HOW was there in the forms of Rob, Danglin, Bob, Jerry, I would mention Scott, however, like always, he just shows up, smiles, puts his secret potion on his lure and catches the biggest fish. He was correct, we had enough guides so he was off duty when he caught that lunker. 
Our ratio of HOW volunteers to vets was good.  We got the vets on the water and they stayed out a long time before coming back in for lunch.  The time in the seat of a kayak is what is most healing for these braves men. At some events we would have to share kayaks, but not at this one.  I hope it did some good.

Henry and I had a great time and really appreciate the Vets and everyone who supports and honors them.  Scott, Thats a HUGE trout!!!

I just realized how BIG this event was; I saw Jim and little Henry when they first got there, then never saw them the rest of the day!  Lots of folks!  We were a hit, a big success I'd say. 

Great job guys!
Scott, nice trout!

Have to put it out there again how everyone came together to knock this out of the park,  like we do every time,  but still,  just goes to show what we as a group can accomplish.

 It's really quite spectacular and thank you all for the support and hard work y'all do to make this program work…

  More to come…

working on the next one at Berryessa now…


update on our new tandems that RacinRacidRob found in LA, and GB2 brought up and bmb 2.0 got to Abdiver who has done test and according to Abdiver, the repairs are not that bad…  looking to rig them up soon and hoping they will be ready for the next event…

  Teamwork again…  truly awesome...

So I was playing with the gopro at the event and did some editing last night. This is my first video ever so I'm  hoping I will get better with more practice. Check it out.

Nice video James!

Great video!  Music was a bit 'depressing' though.  Pep it up some!  A happy tune! 

Awesome job, fellas.


**Added to HOW Archive Sticky**

Nice James.

Who brought the white easy ups?

those were awesome for my 2 minute nap in the shade….