New poster

[C. Carter]

Hello Board
I've been watching this board for a while. It' great to hear from so many out having fun chasing bass and sunfish with the long rod. Been doing it myself for a long time - my first flyrod fish was a bluegill in 1967. I watched my dad catch a smallies on the Susquehanna before that.

Just back from my annual backpack into a state park near San Jose where we catch embarassing numbers as a reward for packing in float tubes over absolutely tortorous trails. The bass are small and numerous but the 7-9" Green sunfish and bluegills are world class. The 15" crappie get lots of notice but those "brim" on a three-weight are too much fun!

I chase stripers, surf perch, trout and anything else that will eat a fly, but my go-to option is local parks with ponds and reservoirs. I hope to get out and explore the SJ Valley and it's waters for more of the same.

Chas.

[Ed Wahl]

Welcome aboard Chas. Turns out these warmwater fisheries are a lot like tobacco companies. You try them out for a little bit then next thing you know your hooked. Ed

[Darian]

Welcome aboard Chas...., Sounds like you're already a confirmed warmwater guy. I used to fish the reservoirs South of Santa Clara (Uvas/Calero/Chesebro, etc.) for Bass/Sunnies until the mercury scare declared them off limits.... Chesebro always produced some nice sunnies for me and I liked the surroundings, too. Of course, that was between the late '60's thru mid-70's.

There's so many ponds and slack qwater to fish around here, it's almost obscene. Even so, it's being paved over or placed inside gated communities at an alarming rate....

Good luck in your adventures...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Hi 'Chas'

I think you are "our kind of guy".

Many of us here like to go after anything with "fins & lips" too.

[Adam Grace]

Welcome Chas, those sound like great panfish! I too love big bluegills!

[David Lee]

Welcome to the board !!!

Ask Hairstacker about his Mt. Bike ride of death in that very state park .... it's a good story

David

[C. Carter]

David - That park is probably even more famous (infamous?) among the mtn. bike set. As a sometime-weekend bikee I thought that mode of travel would be the ticket. After going over the handlebars a second time, I resigned myself to walking.
C

[Hairstacker]

Welcome aboard Chas!

Yep, for me, that is one challenging park. About a dozen years ago, I went in through the front main entrance one summer with the hope of mtn biking the 11 miles or so into the back ponds. To make it short, flew over the handle bars about 4 times, probably cracked a rib, lost my brakes after about the 2nd flip, and started to run out of water about 7 miles in. Due to the water situation, thought it would be prudent to turn around and noted it was an all-uphill walk on the way back in over 100 degrees heat. Almost killed me.

Made a second attempt at the back entrance. Wasn't so bad once I finished walking my bike up and over what must have been a 2000-foot-plus hill. A fish on almost every cast but I never managed to make it out there again.

I can see where it would be a fun place to backpack but doing it all in a day trip was just too much for me.

[C. Carter]

Mike - Sounds about right. I used the "front door" for my first eight or so years of going in there and like you thought I could make the 11 miles to lake k in and out on a bike day trip. We abandoned the bikes after my first crash and walked to a smaller lake that fished pretty well. It was after dark when we got out. I stay away from the main entry now to avoid the massive uphill hike out. The southern entries are a LOT closer to the good fishing but still tough. We like to say that even the flats are up and down.
C

[Hairstacker]

Yeah, it's one thing to walk uphill. It's quite another to do it for 7 MILES while pushing a bike in stifling heat. I can still picture myself lying flat on my back in the middle of the dirt road, striving to muster up the mental and physical energy needed to keep going. . . .

Sooooo much nicer to drive the car onto a Delta levee road, park, and stumble down the side of it to the water.