11/28 Clearlake kitty hunt.

Took my time getting up to clear lake and got my minnows then went to Richmond bar & grill. Had that monster burger and 2 pints before heading out to fish. If you haven't eaten there it's a must.

Never fished this area so i text my friend and got some Intel. He told me the fish were holding in 35-40' of water around shag rock. Which was where I was heading.

Got to the launch and it was already raining pretty good but that was okay cause I was ready. Got the yak rigged and dawned my storm trooper gear and off I went.

Took a while to get the only fish but I saw several jumping around me. When I finally got the bite I could tell that I had a big fish on. My rod was doubled over. Can't tell you how much I love the battle between me and the fish. When it surfaces I was pretty stoked.

I needed to get a good pic of it for AOTY. But being it was raining getting a good pic was proving to be difficult at best. I ended up using my back up camera since it was inside the kayak in a waterproof bag. Took a couple shots and got the ones I needed. Once I was done with the photo shoot off the fishy went to swim around for many more years.

Then came the dark and it was DARK. I had the water light under the boat that gives off a bright green glow. This attracts bait fish and the game fish are supposed to follow them but the game fish didn't show. I had swarms of bait fish around my yak. That was a cool site to see.

At 7p the wind changed directing and the temp dropped. So I'm sitting there in the dark being dumped on and I'm starting to get really cold thinking I should've put one more layer on. So I decide to pull the anchor, stow all the gear and head in. I got was I was looking for so mission accomplished.

Heading back wasn't too bad because I had my GPS that had the exact route I took out to follow back. But the wind was picking up and I was heading straight into it. Like I said before it was pitch black and all I could see where the lights from shore off in the distance and my fish finder. Then out of no where this damn fish jumps right next to my kayak sharing the crap out of me. All I hear is this huge splash a couple feet away.  Grrrr

Then I round the point to the landing and realize that I was being sheltered from the wind by the point. It goes from windy to whitecaps in minutes. This was unsettling cause I couldn't see the wind waves coming at me because it was so dark. So I just kept peddling and I could see the entrance to the harbor in the distance.

After landing safely I decided I didn't want to sleep in the back of the car so I had an uneventful drive home.

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Nice adventure James !

That sandwich looks great ...but my cardiologist would have to come with me to be there for the heart attack
Jealous!

Congrats on the kitty James. Dude you're a fishing machine.

Jedmo

Nice! Glad to see you got one on a minnow, I had no love on the live bait. Hardcore to stick it out in the rain!!!! I drove by the north side earlier in the day and considered stopping and fishing for a couple hours but I knew what was on the way.

Target acquired.    I hate night fishing cause you never know if or when the bite window is gonna happen but dusk time is always prime time.

Right on!!!!! that looked like fun,  nice kitty kitty!!!!!!

Gettin' it done!  Nice fish James.  You definitely fished through the worst of the weather this week, the kind of weather that'd scare off most fishermen.  Hell yeah  .

Nice going! I might just go up that  way for the sandwich  Oh, nice kitty you got there thanks for sharing
 

Rain! We tried at nighttime as well and hot zero luck, lots of minnows like you had but no big fish to eat them, next summer I will try it for sure though.

Way to tough it out bro and get'er done! That burger looks bomb.

Mike

tell us about the lights and how they are mounted, powered, etc

Looks like a great time. Gotta love fishing in the rain. That lake can get pretty sketchy pretty quick!

That burger looks dense!
nice kitty!