michaeln
06-15-2010, 07:39 AM
I was at Lake Davis Friday June 11th through Sunday June 13th for the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club's (GGACC) Lake Davis Fishout.
I had corresponded some with Jay Clark (http://www.jayclarkflyfishing.com) prior to the trip and he had volunteered to take me out in his boat and show me the ropes for Lake Davis. I took Jay up on his generous offer and met him at the Old Camp Five launch ramp at 8AM.
The wind was blowing hard from the Northeast, with lots of whitecaps and short, sharp chop. We launched Jay's 12' Valco semi-vee boat and motored out into the chop. After a couple minutes we were getting so wet from the spray that Jay went back to the launch ramp where we both put on our waders to use as rain gear.
We headed out again and tried several spots near Camp Five, then motored over to the area in front of the Grizzly Campground where Jay had some success earlier in the week. It was much more calm over there when we arrived, and we spent some time casting there, but there were no takers.
Around mid-day we gave it up and called it a day. We were not able to catch any fish. I caught a crawdad though!
I really appreciate the time Jay spent with me and he gave me lots of great information about fishing Davis.
I went back to the campground (I was camped at the Grizzly Store campground) and started assembling my Scadden Outlaw Rampage boat so I could go out in the evening if the winds died down (they didn't). I pumped up all the chambers with the 12V LVM pump and then went to top them off to the proper pressure with my K-Pump.
Topping off the inflatable floor of the boat, the inflation valve suddenly broke! I was able to remove the valve from the boat using the valve tool in my repair kit, and it appeared that if I could find some epoxy suitable for plastic that I might be able to repair it. Otherwise, my weekend would have been over and I'd have to return to San Francisco and order the part from North Fork Outdoors.
I went down to Portola to see if the Ace Hardware store there had a suitable glue, but when I arrived it was 5:45PM and they had closed at 5:30. Such is life in the big city of Portola.
Out of desperation, I called Don Rotsma (http://www.flyfishwithdon.com) and described the situation. Don said to bring it on over to his house and we'd see if we could fix it.
I arrived at Don's gorgeous house (3 story log construction that Don and his lovely wife built themselves!!) and we went to Don's extensively equipped workshop to look for the right adhesive. Lo and behold, Don had some 2 part epoxy that was marked "Plastic Weld". We mixed a little up and glued the valve together.
I was a little hesitant to put the freshly glued valve into service though, and Don agreed. Then Don said that his fishing partner for Saturday had canceled and he invited me to join him for fishing on Saturday. My momma not having raised no dummy, I took Don up on his offer.
We met at Don's Saturday morning at 7:30AM and hauled his 21' bass boat (175HP outboard!) over to Camp Five. Just like Saturday, the wind was already rippin' from the NE and the whitecaps and dirty, roiled water were rolling in.
However.... in the bass boat, Don hits the throttle and we're on top of the chop and cruising at 40MPH in just a couple seconds, and the spray is far behind us. Don and Heidi (Don's wonderful, affectionate dog) and I were comfy and dry.
Don's plan was to do a detailed tour of the points and coves along the west side while scoping for fish and watching for bug life, and that's exactly what we did. We checked out the bays and points at Catfish Cove, Eagle Point, Camp Five, Jenkins, Fugawi, Cow, and Freeman and on up to Grizzly Creek, Mosquito Slough and Fairview.
We did mark some fish in some of the coves, suspended 8 to 12 feet deep. Don didn't feel like dredging deep for them with splitshot and beadheads, so we moved on. We saw almost no damsels moving and there were a few blood midges, but honestly the rough water made observation pretty difficult (the bass boat gives up its advantage when you are moving slow in heavy chop).
When we got over to the north end of the lake it was a lot more calm, but we still didn't mark many fish or observe much insect activity. As we moved down toward Fairview Point we did mark a small concentration of fish, and the water was pretty calm, so we anchored and did some casting.
That boat is wonderful to fish from... huge casting platforms in the bow and stern with comfortable padded chairs. It's even easy to pee off the stern (as long as your back is to the wind!).
We tried many techniques and many flies and many retrieves there, but the fish seemed to have lockjaw. We both felt a couple tentative strikes but didn't hook up. After an hour and a half or so we decided to call it a day and zoomed at light speed back to Camp Five.
Although I didn't catch any fish with Jay or Don, the knowledge they imparted to me was invaluable and will be of great use to me in the future. They're both terrific guys and great fun to fish with, and I really appreciate the time they spent with me!
I reinstalled the repaired valve in the boat and inflated it. All seemed to be fine (due to the nature of the failure, even if it failed again the air pressure inside the boat works to keep the valves sealed closed, so I deemed it safe) and hoped to find a place where I could go out for the evening bite, wind permitting.
I talked to some of the other guys from the club and they said they had had good results in their float tubes at Mosquito Slough that afternoon. I decided to go up to Mosquito based on their report and also because I figured it would be about the most sheltered area on the lake, considering the NE wind.
I got to Mosquito around 6PM and it was pretty calm, except for the clouds of very aggressive mosquitos buzzing around (Mosquito Slough got that name for a reason, apparently!). I slathered on the 100% DEET "Jungle Juice" from REI and was wearing one of those "Insect Shield" shirts from Exofficio and thought I was protected well, since the skeeters would land only momentarily and not bite. (What I didn't realize was that although I had DEETed up my hands, face, and neck, the skeeters found the little open area at the back of my ball cap and nailed me several times in that little oval area, right through my hair... that night I had a big itchy welt there exactly the shape of that opening in the back of the hat!).
There were only a couple guys fishing there and they too were in 'toons. They were casting, and I didn't see them hook up. I decided to try trolling some with an Intermediate line, 12' 5x leader and an olive wiggle tail I'd tied up. Worked my way back and forth and down toward Fairview Point, where I ended up sticking six fish and landing four from 14-17". Unfortunately they had those disgusting lice on them, but still it was fun to finally be hooked up! The two I didn't land ran directly at the boat and I was unable to strip fast enough to keep a tight line, and they came unbuttoned. I fished there until dark, and by the time I got back to the campground it was 10PM. I did feel great about getting the skunk off though!
Next morning (Sunday) the winds were calm when I arrived at the end of the southern Cow Creek access road. Not a boat in sight and the lake was glassy! I launched the boat and began prospecting.
After a while I spotted Don in his bass boat and he made a beeline to me. We chatted for a while and he reported dismal results. Although the air temp was in the 70s and the water temp in the mid 60s (it had been 57-58 the previous day), Don reported very few damsels and hadn't caught any fish. Don left then to do some more exploring and I continued mine.
Alas, I was again not marking any fish and not seeing any fish feeding, although there were a lot of blood and tan midges hatching. Lots of gulls and other birds were going nuts on a calibaetis hatch but I saw no fish participating.
Again, I kind of didn't feel casting to nothing in particular so I tried trolling, part of the time with the I-line, part of the time with a floater in the very shallow parts going REAL slow with a flashback PT and a blood midge pupa, and out in deeper water with a Type II and a Jay Fair trolling fly in Firey Cinnamon. Never a bump in any of the areas I tried (north and south as far as I could comfortably go in the 'toon being rowed by a 60 year old out of shape guy). I kept at it though until around 1:30PM and then decided to try another spot.
Put the boat on top of the car and drove over to Mosquito Slough, and there were no cars there and nobody on the water. Looked kind of dead there so, discouraged, I went back to camp and was going to call it a day. Then I figured "Heck, you're up here, you have the campsite for another night and won't be leaving until Monday morning, and there is nothing to do here, so might as well go fish some more!".
Went back to Mosquito and launched. Trolled and casted there for about 3 hours until 8PM and then threw in the towel. Not a bump. Back to the campground, heated up some food and then hit the sack to go home first thing Monday morning.
That's the report. It sure wasn't the best fishing trip I have had, but I really did enjoy spending the time with Jay and Don, and I learned a lot. It seems like it is just too early still for the damsels at Davis, and once again my timing for the trip was not the best.
I had corresponded some with Jay Clark (http://www.jayclarkflyfishing.com) prior to the trip and he had volunteered to take me out in his boat and show me the ropes for Lake Davis. I took Jay up on his generous offer and met him at the Old Camp Five launch ramp at 8AM.
The wind was blowing hard from the Northeast, with lots of whitecaps and short, sharp chop. We launched Jay's 12' Valco semi-vee boat and motored out into the chop. After a couple minutes we were getting so wet from the spray that Jay went back to the launch ramp where we both put on our waders to use as rain gear.
We headed out again and tried several spots near Camp Five, then motored over to the area in front of the Grizzly Campground where Jay had some success earlier in the week. It was much more calm over there when we arrived, and we spent some time casting there, but there were no takers.
Around mid-day we gave it up and called it a day. We were not able to catch any fish. I caught a crawdad though!
I really appreciate the time Jay spent with me and he gave me lots of great information about fishing Davis.
I went back to the campground (I was camped at the Grizzly Store campground) and started assembling my Scadden Outlaw Rampage boat so I could go out in the evening if the winds died down (they didn't). I pumped up all the chambers with the 12V LVM pump and then went to top them off to the proper pressure with my K-Pump.
Topping off the inflatable floor of the boat, the inflation valve suddenly broke! I was able to remove the valve from the boat using the valve tool in my repair kit, and it appeared that if I could find some epoxy suitable for plastic that I might be able to repair it. Otherwise, my weekend would have been over and I'd have to return to San Francisco and order the part from North Fork Outdoors.
I went down to Portola to see if the Ace Hardware store there had a suitable glue, but when I arrived it was 5:45PM and they had closed at 5:30. Such is life in the big city of Portola.
Out of desperation, I called Don Rotsma (http://www.flyfishwithdon.com) and described the situation. Don said to bring it on over to his house and we'd see if we could fix it.
I arrived at Don's gorgeous house (3 story log construction that Don and his lovely wife built themselves!!) and we went to Don's extensively equipped workshop to look for the right adhesive. Lo and behold, Don had some 2 part epoxy that was marked "Plastic Weld". We mixed a little up and glued the valve together.
I was a little hesitant to put the freshly glued valve into service though, and Don agreed. Then Don said that his fishing partner for Saturday had canceled and he invited me to join him for fishing on Saturday. My momma not having raised no dummy, I took Don up on his offer.
We met at Don's Saturday morning at 7:30AM and hauled his 21' bass boat (175HP outboard!) over to Camp Five. Just like Saturday, the wind was already rippin' from the NE and the whitecaps and dirty, roiled water were rolling in.
However.... in the bass boat, Don hits the throttle and we're on top of the chop and cruising at 40MPH in just a couple seconds, and the spray is far behind us. Don and Heidi (Don's wonderful, affectionate dog) and I were comfy and dry.
Don's plan was to do a detailed tour of the points and coves along the west side while scoping for fish and watching for bug life, and that's exactly what we did. We checked out the bays and points at Catfish Cove, Eagle Point, Camp Five, Jenkins, Fugawi, Cow, and Freeman and on up to Grizzly Creek, Mosquito Slough and Fairview.
We did mark some fish in some of the coves, suspended 8 to 12 feet deep. Don didn't feel like dredging deep for them with splitshot and beadheads, so we moved on. We saw almost no damsels moving and there were a few blood midges, but honestly the rough water made observation pretty difficult (the bass boat gives up its advantage when you are moving slow in heavy chop).
When we got over to the north end of the lake it was a lot more calm, but we still didn't mark many fish or observe much insect activity. As we moved down toward Fairview Point we did mark a small concentration of fish, and the water was pretty calm, so we anchored and did some casting.
That boat is wonderful to fish from... huge casting platforms in the bow and stern with comfortable padded chairs. It's even easy to pee off the stern (as long as your back is to the wind!).
We tried many techniques and many flies and many retrieves there, but the fish seemed to have lockjaw. We both felt a couple tentative strikes but didn't hook up. After an hour and a half or so we decided to call it a day and zoomed at light speed back to Camp Five.
Although I didn't catch any fish with Jay or Don, the knowledge they imparted to me was invaluable and will be of great use to me in the future. They're both terrific guys and great fun to fish with, and I really appreciate the time they spent with me!
I reinstalled the repaired valve in the boat and inflated it. All seemed to be fine (due to the nature of the failure, even if it failed again the air pressure inside the boat works to keep the valves sealed closed, so I deemed it safe) and hoped to find a place where I could go out for the evening bite, wind permitting.
I talked to some of the other guys from the club and they said they had had good results in their float tubes at Mosquito Slough that afternoon. I decided to go up to Mosquito based on their report and also because I figured it would be about the most sheltered area on the lake, considering the NE wind.
I got to Mosquito around 6PM and it was pretty calm, except for the clouds of very aggressive mosquitos buzzing around (Mosquito Slough got that name for a reason, apparently!). I slathered on the 100% DEET "Jungle Juice" from REI and was wearing one of those "Insect Shield" shirts from Exofficio and thought I was protected well, since the skeeters would land only momentarily and not bite. (What I didn't realize was that although I had DEETed up my hands, face, and neck, the skeeters found the little open area at the back of my ball cap and nailed me several times in that little oval area, right through my hair... that night I had a big itchy welt there exactly the shape of that opening in the back of the hat!).
There were only a couple guys fishing there and they too were in 'toons. They were casting, and I didn't see them hook up. I decided to try trolling some with an Intermediate line, 12' 5x leader and an olive wiggle tail I'd tied up. Worked my way back and forth and down toward Fairview Point, where I ended up sticking six fish and landing four from 14-17". Unfortunately they had those disgusting lice on them, but still it was fun to finally be hooked up! The two I didn't land ran directly at the boat and I was unable to strip fast enough to keep a tight line, and they came unbuttoned. I fished there until dark, and by the time I got back to the campground it was 10PM. I did feel great about getting the skunk off though!
Next morning (Sunday) the winds were calm when I arrived at the end of the southern Cow Creek access road. Not a boat in sight and the lake was glassy! I launched the boat and began prospecting.
After a while I spotted Don in his bass boat and he made a beeline to me. We chatted for a while and he reported dismal results. Although the air temp was in the 70s and the water temp in the mid 60s (it had been 57-58 the previous day), Don reported very few damsels and hadn't caught any fish. Don left then to do some more exploring and I continued mine.
Alas, I was again not marking any fish and not seeing any fish feeding, although there were a lot of blood and tan midges hatching. Lots of gulls and other birds were going nuts on a calibaetis hatch but I saw no fish participating.
Again, I kind of didn't feel casting to nothing in particular so I tried trolling, part of the time with the I-line, part of the time with a floater in the very shallow parts going REAL slow with a flashback PT and a blood midge pupa, and out in deeper water with a Type II and a Jay Fair trolling fly in Firey Cinnamon. Never a bump in any of the areas I tried (north and south as far as I could comfortably go in the 'toon being rowed by a 60 year old out of shape guy). I kept at it though until around 1:30PM and then decided to try another spot.
Put the boat on top of the car and drove over to Mosquito Slough, and there were no cars there and nobody on the water. Looked kind of dead there so, discouraged, I went back to camp and was going to call it a day. Then I figured "Heck, you're up here, you have the campsite for another night and won't be leaving until Monday morning, and there is nothing to do here, so might as well go fish some more!".
Went back to Mosquito and launched. Trolled and casted there for about 3 hours until 8PM and then threw in the towel. Not a bump. Back to the campground, heated up some food and then hit the sack to go home first thing Monday morning.
That's the report. It sure wasn't the best fishing trip I have had, but I really did enjoy spending the time with Jay and Don, and I learned a lot. It seems like it is just too early still for the damsels at Davis, and once again my timing for the trip was not the best.