San Pablo was on BIG-TIME today !!!
I could just totally feel it too ! I guess you could say I had an ML experience :-) I would have bet you my truck it was going to happen !
New moon yesterday...... The barometer was plunging as this heatwave rolled out. Plus they just planted trout yesterday too ! How could it get any better ?
So I get on the water at about 8:30 am. The wind is swirling in every direction, but not long enough in any one direction to build any big waves. I fish the ramp area briefly..... nothing. Then a couple more of my hotspots.... nothing. So I make a run down towards the dam. As I drift up towards my point, I pick up my big rod and make the first cast, but it catches the wind and lands way to the left. About that time a trout guy and his wife troll behind me and I hear his wife say, look, did he already catch one ? :D but the guy has a clue, and tells her, "No, that's his lure". Just as she asked "What I am trying to catch with that big ol' thing" I send my trout on that fateful flight. Perfect ! I start a very slow retrieve until I see that my trout has cleared some branches, then I hold the rod tip down and pick up the pace only slightly. About 20 feet into my retrieve, and maybe 30 feet still from the boat..... Wham ! I slam back on the rod ! Fish on ! To be quite honest, the fish basically came towards me (to deeper water) plus the breeze was pushing me towards the fish ! It was perfect ! She never tried to jump, and I had her in the net, and then in the boat in barely 1 full minute ! I knew right away that she would probably go 13...... very fat, but I didn't know if she would be long enough. I put her in the livewell (70 qt icebox) right away, and shot straight for the consession area. There I took a couple photos and weighed her on my own scale..... drumroll please...... 14.6 lbs ! Yeeeehaaa ! I then put her back in the ice box for a breath and we took her up to the certified scale.....14 lbs 6.4 oz (which was actually a few ounces light of my scale..... remember, mine weighs in tenths..... .6 lbs is 9.6 oz..... hmmmmm) Anyway, what a sow huh ?
After the release, I try one other spot briefly, but there are some shore fishermen in my way. So I go back to my "big fish" spot....... First cast.... Wham !!! Another hog on, and this one is flat ripping ! About that time it shoots out of the water in a 3 foot high, head over tail, triple gainer !!! ...... and it's a good one ! It wasn't 14.6, but it was definately over 10 ! I'd say, 10 to 12. It smashes back into the water and starts another run...... pop. It comes unbuttoned :( Oh well...... How can I be mad ? I had just caught the biggest bass of my life an hour earlier !
So I fish for about abnother thirty minutes and end up at a submerged tree about 150 yards away from my big fish spot. I cast out past the submerged limbs, and start my retrieve. Out of the blue, another 10 to 12er shoots across the water at a 90 degree angle (at about 90 mph !) and smashes my trout....... but does not hook up :( Again..... oh well.
After that I had one other 5 to 6 lb'er hit the trout twice in two casts, but it does not hook up (that size fish really needs to hit it just right).
Pretty slow after that. Had some nice follows from 8 to 11 lb fish, but none seemed too excited.
Then, at about 5 pm, I find a new trophy spot ! A huge submerged hardwood tree that is layed out into 60 feet of water ! I make cast with the trout...... and oh my God ! This follower meanders up behind my lure, and she has got to be 17 lbs if she was an ounce ! A full 3 to 4 inches longer than my big one ! One of these days :-) but not this one. Before I leave that spot, I cruise out into the tops of those limbs, and there sits an 11 and a 13 !

What a trophy hunting day it was !

Thank you Lord !

Peace,
Fish

PS, Does this catch make me the "BomBass Shiznick" ? Ha! Ha! Sorry, I couldn't resist :-)

Here is the pic:

http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/User_files/3d2fa18e6b12028d.jpg

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)