Berkley Lake - July 5, 2010

I'm going to make this short and sweet - and get to the pics as soon as possible. Fry, Werm and myself hit Berkeley Lake on Monday - started early by meeting at 4:30am in Conifer. We were on the water around 6:30am. It was a bit cool with some wind, but we started out near the bluffs. We caught a whole bunch of nothing early on - the wind would kick, then die, then kick, then die - a very weird day of wind. We did see one cloud make an appearance all day. We moved around and then around 8:30am Werm and I get a double - completely random. We basically landed the exact same sized fish over near the bluffs. Scott gets a heavy wack soon after - but can't set the hook. A little while later he hooks and lands a rainbow. Then, nothing. I think we changed spots a couple more times.

As the day warmed up and the wind changed (again) we were hooking fish - nothing fantastic, but we were into one every 5 or 10 mins or so. Then it would get windy and ... nothing. Then it would stop and we'd get lots of hits - some on the strip, some just hanging there. We were looking for bugs and they only came off 2 or 3 times - big callibaetis, some bigger caddis, some chiro's (but not a lot) and am orange colored flying ant. Basically no top water action to speak of.

We had a period of about an hour or so in the late morning/early afternoon where we were doing very well - everyone was into fish. Most fish were mid-size, the smaller the fish the better the fight. Some pigs were caught and landed - and a few got away. The flies of the day seem to be my grey juju in size 16, and Werm's callibaetis in a size 14. Nothing else was really the ticket.

We moved a ton - from Scott Secret Spot #119, to Darren's Secret Spot #39, to Scott's Secret Spot #357...nothing was on fire. It was pretty sporadic with long periods of being between fish. The fish seemed to be deep - close to the bottom.

At around 2pm we decided to fish close to the boat ramp, Werm slammed a pretty brown, then we headed out of there around 3:30. We hit some traffic on the way home - I grabbed my camper at Scott's house - then was home by 6:30.

Werm's last fish of the day - the only brown - he was big and fiesty - great ending to a fun day.

Another pic of the brownie.

Werm fumbling a bow.

This was my third pig of the day - it was a very big fish - hooked him accidentally in 10 feet of water with 15 feet of line out. He had a f*cked up red blood shot eye. Looked like Scott after a hard night of drinking.

It might be short, but it sure is skinny!

Scott was constantly hooked up.

My fattest fish of the day - this one had like two stomachs, wide as hell - not very long.

...help...

Scott with a beauty rainbow.

My biggest pig of the day - didn't fight as nicely as some of the smaller fish - but he was pretty long - maybe 19 or so.

Old Chub, 8:15am - and I was the last to start drinking! Thanks for the Chub McFry! Oh, and the ice....