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Fishing French Meadows Reservoir

I haven’t been fishing in probably 25 years  but this year I decided to get my license and give it a try.  I  prefer camping by Sierra lakes and I’ve seen how good the fishing is up there.   So my first mountain excursion this summer was to French Meadows Reservoir over the fathers day weekend.  It’s a bit more remote than my usual camping spots and therefore not as crowded which pleases me immensely, but it is a long windy road down then up the American River Canyon.  Takes 2.25 hours from home in Colfax, including the gas stop.  Of course I had Ben and Biggs with me, while Kate was in Portland visiting her son and grandkids.

French meadows reservoir

When I arrived I was surprised the lake was down so much, this being early in the summer.  It had to be a good 30-40 feet down.  Apparently a record low for this time of year.  The campground was about half full, or less.  Gorgeous campsites, well maintained with flush toilets.   The camp host, Mike, was a terrific very likeable guy, who gave me some tips on where to fish and that they were averaging two fish per day from the shore and five per day from boats.

I had two spinning rods, one set for power bait rig and the other for casting lures.  I had a masterkaster lure and tried that first around 5pm just for practice.  Bam within 15 minutes I had a big German Brown Trout on the line.  What a surprise.  A real nice one measuring 16″ long.

german brown trout
Note Ben rolling on his back in the background laughing at me for being so excited about catching this fish.

French Meadow trout

 

I ended up catching 8 trout all together and let go 5 since they were too small.  The power bait worked good but the rig kept getting snagged in the rocks until I alleviated that problem a bit by reeling it in faster when done.   Biggs sat next to me nicely while Ben, being the water dog he is, got frustrated when I wouldn’t let him swim out to the bait.  But eventually he just decided to swim by himself going out to the center of the lake and exploring.

 

Ben swimming French meadows Biggs helping me fish Ben swimming

A beautiful Bald Eagle soared right above me while fishing and of course I had no camera.  It was so low I could see it perfectly.

French Meadows Campground

Big Oak Tree Removal

We found that one side of the big oak tree at the apex of our front yard was rotten at its base.  It was overhanging both the retaining wall and where I park my RV so we couldn’t take a chance of it falling and decided to have it removed.  We hired Colt Langstaff, a certified arborist to take it down.  Turned out to be quite an event with all the neighbors stopping by to watch him surgically remove it so as not to drop it onto the retaining wall or damage the sprinkler heads on the lawn.  Beer flowed in the audience all day long.  Since we couldn’t use the wood I gave it to my friend Alan and it amounted to several cords worth.  Alan, Taylor and I split, sawed, chipped and hauled it away.  The RV parking spot is now all clean and safe.

The part of this oak with the yellow tag was what had to be removed.
The part of this oak with the yellow tag was what had to be removed.
After the tree was cut down.
After the tree was cut down.
Colt's signature in the base
Colt’s signature in the base
The wood from the tree after we hauled it to Alan's house. Alan and Taylor in the back.
The wood from the tree after we hauled it to Alan’s house. Alan and Taylor in the back.

Road Trip to MacKerricher State Beach

In May I made a week long trip up the coast of northern California with my good friend Scott Oglesby.  We started at Bodega Bay and ended at MacKerricher State Beach just north of Fort Bragg.  Note these photos are in a gallery on picasaweb and if you click the linked album below you can see it as a slide show.

I also put up a video on you tube, quite ridiculous but funny, that you can see by clicking here  Continue reading “Road Trip to MacKerricher State Beach”

Lakes Basin Spring Hike

Kate, the dogs (Ben and Biggs) and I took a nice 1.75hr drive up to Sierra Buttes in Lakes Basin area. We wanted to check out the campsites for future RVing up that way. It was perfect timing as the snow had greatly receded. In fact, it was equivalent to late June in a typical year. So the lakes were full and the waterfalls and streams were running full blast. We hiked to Frazier Falls, which I had never seen before since I usually go to this area late summer or fall and they are dried up. They were magnificent. Something like a 300 foot drop and this was at the 6200 foot level. We like to camp right on or very near lakes, so we really didnt find any great campsites in that regard, so we will have to just continue doing day hikes in that area. (click to enlarge photos)

Sardine Lake
Sardine Lake, Lakes Basin Northern California

 

Frazier Creek
Me and Biggs on Frazier Creek before we found the falls
Frazier Falls
Frazier Falls in Lakes Basin off the Old Gold Lakes road

 

 

Wildflower Hike Along the Yuba River

In April this year (2013) we did our annual hike along the Yuba River in Bridgeport (near Grass Valley, Ca). It was perfect timing with most all the flowers in full bloom. The river was quite low however, due to the unusually dry year we have had in the Sierra. Kate, me, Ben and Biggs, along with our friends Mike and Vicki and their pups. Note: if you click a photo in the slide show, it will enlarge and you can go thru them all that way, a bigger image for each.
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Atticus’ First Taikwondo Tournament

My grandson Atticus had his first Taikwondo tournament last saturday. He was tied for second place and did an amazing job. Very tight and focused especially for an 8 year old. He just turned 8 this week. We all went out to Johns Famous Pizza in Roseville afterwards. A rather loud family entertainment center with tons of games and rides for kids, and lots of “all you can eat”, unhealthy foods. I would probably rate the food a C-, only because the salad bar was fairly decent. Here is the video.

Online Image Editor

Try this online image editor from Aviary.com. To try it, click the edit photo button under the picture. After you are done, click the save it button, then you can download it in the modified format (right click save). The original on my server, will not be affected. When you come back to this page the original version will show up, not your modified one.