Alan and I looked forward to the opener like a kids anticipates Christmas. We put a big red X through that day on the calendar to ensure neither of us scheduled any work. We listened to all the local outdoor radio shows the two Saturdays before and called experts like Rick Tietz, JD Richey and Kevin Brock to get their advice on where to focus our efforts. In the end, we settled on the Feather and the area around The Outlet!
We worked all day Sunday getting the boat, gear and food ready. Checked the weather report and got to bed early with my cell phone alarm set for 1:00 a.m. At 11:34 p.m., I received a text message from Kevin Brock who was up in Alaska confirming his reports indicated that the most fish seemed to be up on the Feather and to use K-15 or 16 Chartreuse and silver. He ended by sharing he had caught a 70 lb. King a few days earlier! Wow!
We were up and out of the house on schedule and arrived at the entrance to the unimproved boat ramp just north of Gridley near Larking and Lance Roads at 3:45 a.m to get stopped by some other fishermen who got there ahead of us who cautioned us we could not go into the wildlife are until 1 hour before Sunrise without risking a $400. ticket. We decided to heed their kind warning and took our place third in line. Not 5 minutes later a game warden came along and confirmed he was on his way in to start writing tickets for anyone who was already in. Whew!
At 4:52 we started the caravan in with now over 30 vehicles backed up behind us. The launch went amazingly smoothly despite the high water, anxious anglers and the dark. We headed up towards The Outlet and were able to anchor right where we hoped. Within 20 minutes Alan rang out “Fish On!” . It looked to be a good fish by the action on his rod and the line the fish started taking out….and then it was gone! We then saw about 4 or 5 fish brought in. I had one good grab, but missed it. We decided to check out a few other holes as the crowd was growing both on the banks and the number of boats. We tried back-trolling as we worked our way to Charlie’s hole and marked a lot of fish, but no biters. As we fished that stretch of water, more guides came through including Big John and Jim “The Patriot”. Charlie’s Hole had 3 boats working it, but we didn’t mark any fish in it. So we headed back to join the crowd. As we got there, Big John had a nice fish on (21lbs) and we saw a couple more hooked and then Alan rang out again, “Fish On”. This on stayed hooked and I managed to net it with the first stab! Just under 12 lbs. and bright chrome with scales. We headed over to the shore to take care of the fish and parked next to Big John. What a beauty that 21 pounder was. On board was Jim Jones of Western Outdoor News who Alan and I met year ago while fishing on the American. It was like old home week!
The action slowed down even further. We went back down stream again and tried the Eastern fork just above Charlie’s Hole. The fisherman who saved us the $400. ticket, Dave and his group hooked 4 fish and landed 3. We saw two other fish caught down there but we did not have a tap. Back up to The Outlet where we witnessed Big John’s group land their 3rd fish. We decided to go back down stream and back-troll the water where we marked the most fish. There was a steady stream coming up, but again no biters until the rod bent over. It was not like a strike, but a snag, that was until the yank, yank and then it was game on! I knew instantly this was a good fish. It didn’t add to my confidence when Alan cautioned not to horse it as there was only 15 lb leader on my rod. So, I took my time and was really happy to see what a beautiful fish was on the end of my line. It took 4 or 5 times of bringing her towards the boat before Alan was in position to net her. (on his first attempt as well).
What a perfect end to our opener! It was so nice to be back up on the Feather and to catch those beautiful fish. In summary, we counted around 75 boats, perhaps something north of 20 fish caught. All were caught on plugs. The roe anglers seemed only to attract Sacramento Pike and we did not see one fish caught on spoons. The bank fishermen brought in around another ½ dozen with their various methods. Maybe this would not go down as a great opener, but it certainly beat working!
# posted by
Viki Benbow @ 3:54 PM
