Thread: Fishing

It has been many moons since I ever so gently dropped a goofus bug on a river I was standing in. Some of my best memories in 66 years are of fly fishing in Northern California (and mountain quail hunting). I lived in the same town where Walton Powell made his rods, took one fly tying class and taught myself the rest. Fishing was never a social event for me but probably similar to going to church. I'd spend a lot of time getting to barely accessible places to really feel alone in the wilderness.....catching fish was secondary to being out there. I tried to camp when I fished as often as possible to have that joy of waking up near a wild river and maybe getting to sit on a rock with cowboy coffee and watching a Dipper do the incongruous....bob up and down a little, then dive underwater for some grub. Rainbows and the occasional Brown, mostly catch and release, but if I was camping, I would keep one for dinner and considered it sacred food.

Where in Norcal WW?,I spent many yrs fishing the great rivers, creeks, and lakes In my state.
The Klamath,Trinity,sacto,Hat creek,Fall river, the pit, Eagle lake,the truckee and many more.

Mostly the North Fork and the West Branch of the Feather River...close to home. I made a couple of duck hunting trips to Eagle Lake in the winter and discovered what cold fingers were. I had a canoe for a season and took it out on the Sacramento River to hunt pheasant and quail in fallow farmland. So I missed some of the legendary rivers but all those memories are sweet dreams to me now as I listen to the roar of Highway 270 in Maryland Quick story....once after work (8 hours of heavy construction) I drove hours to get into the Marble Mountain Wilderness to fish a high lake.....had to learn to use map and compass with an orienteering book. Light on planning, I hiked until it got too dark to see the trail and had to sleep in my bag behind a large tree to keep from rolling down a steep hill. Sunrise I'm going at it again, meet a black bear on the trail and keep going. Hours of hiking and just within a mile of the lake I was going to I run into a church group of about 16 young boys and their leader going to the same lake......tagged along with them, tossed a line in the water, reeled in,packed up and left.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Where in Norcal WW?,I spent many yrs fishing the great rivers, creeks, and lakes In my state.
The Klamath,Trinity,sacto,Hat creek,Fall river, the pit, Eagle lake,the truckee and many more.

A good catch of paua. I suppose they don't count as fish either, just slugs. A few guys here like scales made out of the shell, but I like eating them.

Originally Posted by Birnando

My favorite though must be to go ice-fishing during winter.
There's something so serene and quiet about sitting out on the frozen lakes with a freshly drilled hole, a thermos with some good coffee in it and just let time pass.
Sometimes a deer or a moose will walk by at the edge of the ice and make the day absolutely complete.

Something like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x768VAsOQSw

Originally Posted by cudarunner

Something like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x768VAsOQSw

White fish.....

Tough lads, I would never swim under the ice like that!

Originally Posted by Grazor

A good catch of paua. I suppose they don't count as fish either, just slugs. A few guys here like scales made out of the shell, but I like eating them.

Are those the same as Abolone?? we used to harvest them in gunny sacks back in the 1950s off of Monteray Calif.
Are unobtainium today for no less than $80/lb.best eats in the world.

Same as abalone but the first layer of flesh is black.

It's been over 10 years since I took out our 19' Champion bass boat as well.
Here's a shot from many years ago with my son a couple of years before he went into the Marine Corps.
This is at beautiful Lake Berryessa in northern, CA.

Originally Posted by ProudMarineDad

It's been over 10 years since I took out our 19' Champion bass boat as well.
Here's a shot from many years ago with my son a couple of years before he went into the Marine Corps.
This is at beautiful Lake Berryessa in northern, CA.

Brings back many fond Memorys,after they filled Berryessa in the 1950s,My Dad was the pres of the Norcal Ski club.
We were the first group allowed to ski that lake.
no Marinas.no boat ramps,we had to winch the boats down the grassy slopes to the lake,great bass fishing,great deer hunting.
Now it is like disneyland