Lake Mendo 7/21-7/22

I went camping at Lake Mendo this past weekend with some buddies. One of my buddies, Scott, just picked up a FND earlier in the week and was dying to break it in with a fish. Mendo did not disappoint!

Scott saw the guy that runs the bait shop on Friday and was told he would be at the north ramp between 5-6am with bait if we wanted to get on the water before his shop opened. Scott and I managed to get a few hours sleep while the rest of our group (non-fisherman) partied it up until 4:45am. We got to the ramp at 6:00 and were disappointed not to see the bait guy at the ramp as he said he would.

We debated launching and using plastic or waiting until the shop opened for live bait. Scott got a pull-down running a Storm Shad the day before and was kind of leaning toward getting on the water right now. I’ve been disappointed enough with plastics that I wanted to wait for the live bait and that’s what we ended up doing.

After killing some time and getting bait, we launched from the north ramp just before 8am. Scott was fishing blind so I brought a marker buoy and told him I would drop it where I marked fish. This worked out great for Scott as he just needed to keep an eye out for the buoy and work that into his path if he saw it. I marked the first fish at 8:30 and set out the buoy. I didn’t get bit on my first or second pass but Scott hooked up right as he went through the area I marked.

It’s great seeing the excitement that these fish bring to someone who has only caught smaller bass. I’m guessing he’s never heard a drag sing and a pole bent over like that. He said a couple of times while fighting the fish, it must be a 15 pounder. I was happy to inform him that that was a typical sized 8-10#. My less than accurate scale measured it at 11#. A very nice fish to break in your new kayak with!

We got off of the water at 10:30 with me landing 2 fish and Scott landing 1. Sunday morning was pretty much the same except we slept in later and I landed 1 and Scott had 1 come unbuttoned before he got it to the boat.

I think I have a new fishing buddy!

Sweet.  Glad he got that boat bloody already!!!

 Nice! Does the ramp reach the water still?

Nice!

I saw you guys out there as I was leaving Mendo on Saturday morning.

I brought my yak and everything, but ended up being too hung-over to fish in the morning.

I brought my yak and everything, but ended up being too hung-over to fish in the morning.

Is THAT what you did with your Bodega winnings?

BTW, Scott and James, those fish are beauties and look mighty tasty! How's the water level at Mendo? That's a great place to camp and fish before the PBers take to the water.

Janice aka "Big J"

Yes, those fish made some killer fish taco's for our potluck and everybody raved about how good they were.

The water level isn't as low as I was expecting. There was some media hype about Mendo being lower than it ever has if the mandated flows continued. I think they may have reduced the flows due to the lack of rain we had this winter.

One gov site I found list mendo as holding 63K AF last month compaired to 57K AF in 10/06 and 50K AF in 11/06.

Don't get me wrong, the lake is low for this time of year and there is plenty of beach but you won't have any problems with the boat ramps.

Oh yeah, they are rebuilding the snack shack that they used to have at the north ramp and the owner of the bait shop says they plan of putting a tank in to stock minnows at the ramp. I also noticed a NorCal Kayak rental sign posted so there may be some kayak rentals on the lake also.

cool catches fellas.

gotta take my A$$ there one of these days.

james

There was some media hype about Mendo being lower than it ever has if the mandated flows continued.

It ain't hype.  Its gonna be REAL low, and it is low for this time of year.  It is the same elevation as the end of the year last year right now.

Thanks for the report. I gotta go back there soon, have been neglecting it.

Great Report Sharkbait!  Lake Mendo is one of my favorite places to fish and will be up there soon.

John

Excellent report and outing!
Thats how it should always be!!  new boat,friend, campin and HOOKIN FISH AT MENDO!!
   
Thanks for gettin me to thinkin bout a road trip......

I brought my yak and everything, but ended up being too hung-over to fish in the morning.

Is THAT what you did with your Bodega winnings?

Actually, I polished off a bottle of Patron I've been baby-sitting for awhile.

My Bodega winnings went to a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory...

And a new Shimano Trevala TVC-66MH w/an Abu Garcia Record 60 

Nice report. Were you there to see the ultralight crash land near crappie cove Sunday morning? Plane's seem to love to fall out of the sky when I'm working.

CHEERS!

Ah... Dustin... I think you forgot something...

Starts with an F and rhymes with "dishwinder"...