Rancho Seco

[fishngy]

Went for a morning of fine fishing and what a beautiful day! Met Ed Wahl later in the morning and neither of us were doing any good. I had been fishing the area near the first boat launch. He headed off in his well known pram to work the coves. I drove down to the third cove when I was leaving and found him pulling in his second monster trout. I had to go, but he was working them over. Again, it was nice talking to you this morning, Ed. Got to start back to work on Monday(silly school children must be educated), so weekends in the future for Rancho. Bill

[Ed Wahl]

I alluded to some stupid, dumb luck in a different thread, oddly enough I also let slip about my talented dog but no one cared about that.(by the way, the mashed potatoes experiment was uh, inconclusive, to say the least) Anyhow, it really helps if your fishing for stupid, dumb fish. Case in point, the biggest fish today hit a red and white #6 bugger. I think it was too big for the smaller mutants, they would just chase it up to the boat and turn off. Bill, if you tie, try one of those in a size 10, these aren't rocket scientists, anything that stands out should draw some attention. The big boy had hardly any fins left, if it weren't for his size, about 5lbs, he wouldn't have been able to fight at all. So it all works out, 4 big trout in the freezer, rainy nasty weekend coming up, and a smoker just waiting to go. I've got the same problem as you Bill, I also have to go back to work tomorrow, and I also have to deal with silly schoolchildren, only mine are older and own liquor stores :lol:. We'll have to get together and fish for some "real" fish sometime. Ed

[fishngy]

I am marking my calendar for the Keine's bass outing in May. I will have to tie up some pretty flies for dumb fish at Seco. Hope to try it agian on the 12th of the month if the weather is better. Bill

[Ed Wahl]

Fished out at 'seco again today. Got there about 11 oclock and found Scott V. out in his 'toon at the boat ramp north of the dam. Talked to some friends from Napa who were just putting in, nothing showing yet. I drove across the dam to the other ramp to check out the biting over there. On the way across the dam I spotted a canoe with 2 guys in it chasing something out on the lake , looked like a bird but different. I stopped to look but couldn't tell what they were up to. Got over to the other launch and saw everyone hooking up. I strung up a rod and started casting from shore. I caught my 5 for the smoker and must have caught 20 more while standing there, all cookie cutter planters, nothing to write home about but fun to catch anyway. Scott showed up after a while and managed to catch one that was equal to 4 or 5 of mine :shock:. The odd bird I saw earlier showed up a little later and I could see it was a Cormorant, but....different. It came close enough to ID it and I could see it was tangled in something. I let Scott know and he motored after it to see if he could free it. From my vantage on shore it looked like a wild chase, Scott would get close, the Cormorant would dive and resurface somewhere else. I went ahead and dropped my pram into the water and gave him a hand. Together we could pin it between us while chasing it at top(?) speed on the electric motors. Imagine Jim Fowler and Marlin Perkins rounding up Rhino's in Africa, it was something like that :lol:. Bird would dive, cut under one of our boats, we'd spin around and back to the chase. Eventually he tired out and I netted him when he resurfaced.He(or she)had a 3 inch rapala lure stuck both in it's lower mandible and under the wing. It was the head stuck to the wing that made the "different" silhouette. With the bird in the boat I used my pliers to hold it's beak open while Scott used his pliers to break the barbs and ends off of the assorted hooks. Birdy was very cooperative, when I let him go there was no snapping at me or anything. After we were done it was agreed that fish or no fish, our day was made right now. Scott's got a couple pics, I'm sure he'll get 'em up when he gets the chance. Ed

[Scott V]

Thank you Ed for the great write up and the assistance of saving this little guy. What a feeling it was to watch him take off on the water when we got all 6 sixs hook points out of him.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/IMGP0826.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/IMGP0827.jpg
Some of the prettiest eyes on this bird.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/IMGP0828.jpg
See him look up at Ed and say thanks.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85/PsychoZ/IMGP0829.jpg
And he is off on another adventure.

[Ed Wahl]

Nice shots Scott, that's a pretty sweet camera. While I've always been a bit of a mother hen when it comes to birds(no pun intended, really) I was pleasantly surprised at your determination to save that bird from certain death. It was afterward however, that you really showed your colors. For the rest of you, here's the minor thing that spoke volumes about Scott. Some dude walking past our released bird, now sitting and resting on the bank slowed down for a look at it. Loudly enough for everyone to hear(don't know if that was intentional) he says,"mess with my bird and I'll kick your _ _ s." Way to go buddy. Ed

[Darian]

Both you guys deserve a bunch of attaboys.... :nod: \:D/ \:D/ \:D/ =D> =D>

[jlmelend]

Way to go guys...that must've been a great day and a sight to see. Right on!

[Nip Hadlock]

=D> =D> =D>

[David Lee]

You should have fed the Cormorant all those Rubber-Trout :!:

David :P

[fishngy]

Great job Ed and Scott!! Those are some great looking eyes on that bird. I plan to go out to the lake this next weekend and hope to see the Black Pearl cruzin around. Bill

[Hairstacker]

Ed, Scott, good for you guys! Must have felt really good watching that bird swim away. =D>

[Dave4622]

Outstanding job guys. =D>

[Garrett S]

what type of flies were you using,what size, what type of line floating or sinking

[Ed Wahl]

Weren't you paying attention, a 3 inch rapala. :lol:. Sorry Gup, couldn't resist. The ticket out there seems to be an intermediate sink line, whatever you use for trout, and black, brown, or olive wooley buggers. That's the standard that pretty much everyone uses. There's no reason a floater wouldn't work too, the fish are pretty shallow. Ed

[Garrett S]

what size hook?

[Reno Flytyer]

Size 18 beaded wooley booger.
RFT

[Ed Wahl]

I was using anything from a 10 to a 6. Hey flytier, what kind of hackle do you use for an 18 bugger? Ed

[Reno Flytyer]

LOL, I guess that might be hard to find...smallest I've been using is a 14, but not at Rancho Seco. Thought I'd throw the Guppy a little curve...kinda like you're 3" Rapala...couldn't help myself.
RFT