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I got an invite from a fellow fisherman Dave, that I'd known for 20 yrs and would see now and then when going out on the local sportfishing boats or at the launch ramp when taking out my own boat and he was either taking his own or going with his friends. Interesting guy. He is 68yrs old and has been hunting and fishing since a little boy.
He possesses knowledge that I've never heard of and is good to learn from (I just have to remember not to forget it)
I went as his guest to his hunting and fishing club's annual Lake Isabella club derby. It's an individual contest for the largest fish of five different species: Trout, Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, and Catfish. Since I'm not a member, my catches didn't count.
He picked me up at 9am on Friday to make the 175mi drive to the lake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Isabella

After stopping for breakfast at Mojave, we got up there around 1:30


Launched the boat at one of the free ramps ($5 per day boat permit is required though)


We went over to the local marina and purchased the permits and did some scouting and pre-fishing.
The wind was blowing pretty hard already so we had to hide in the lee of the dam to avoid it.
We did manage to troll up a few trout before heading to the lodge to meet up with the guys that had gotten there earlier in the day.
This lodge is owned by another hunting and fishing club that they lease to them for a very reasonable price.
The cost for each person was $25 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and that includes two diners and two breakfasts!


View from the balcony


Oh yeah, this does involve some alloy


Unloaded our gear and met the guys.
This is a good ol' boys club, the wives and girlfriends are only invited to the awards banquet at the end of the year
...and they seem to enjoy drinking beer ...lots of it

Dining / trophy room

We had a good barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies for dinner.
Got a good nights sleep and got fed a good breakfast and hot coffee at 6am
If you were hardcore, you could have started fishing at 6am.
...Everybody ate breakfast before heading out.
We had our lines in at 7:15 on a beautiful calm morning
We trolled for trout to start out.
For the first couple of hours, we caught 15 or so smaller sized Rainbow Trout on gold colored spoons and a broken back floating Rapala minnow. Kept 8 of them
We did stop and anchor on a good reading in 57' of water.
Dave did manage to catch a couple of small catfish on night crawlers there which he decided to keep for the weigh-in
We were very interested in trying for Crappie (we tried the day before without any luck)
We noticed some boats anchored up against some rock cliffs.
We wandered over there and saw some of them catching Crappie
We anchored up in an open spot and asked them what color mini jigs were working
It took a short while to figure it out, but Dave finally caught one


We fished there from 11:30-1:00 for 13 of them
The wind came up strong around 12:00. We pulled anchor at 1:00 to make the 2:00 weigh-in
We bucked upwind through 2-3 ft wind waves with an 3 sec interval and I got soaked. I sure missed my windshield and issenglass!
Made it back in one piece and back on the trailer on time.
We were the last guys to weigh in.
We were to only ones to weigh in any crappie or catfish
The trout that we had were too small to place
So Dave won the crappie and catfish division.
No bass or bluegill were weighed in


This was our catch for Saturday (tournament day)


Barbecued hamburgers and beans for diner... and more beer

Had another good night sleep and got fed pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Dave and I fished from 8:00 to 12:00 for some more crappie
Less guessing on what to do and where to fish and no wind to contend with
We got 32 and a lone trout




I saw this fish filleting technique on you-tube and tried it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0q4IFaPM08


Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
Hope you enjoyed
Scott

IN2DEEP wrote:

Nice mess of Crappies...AND you got to hang out with Jack Nicholson!!!!!

That is a mess of GOOD EATING y'all got there.

Holy crap, I'd need a GPS to find the end of that boat ramp it was so long. Looked like a long road that went into a flood to me.

Great Story Scott...it surely looks like a good ole boys club.

I'm intrigued. I didn't watch the Youtube video. But how else is there to fillet a fish?

Never knew there was any other way?

Awesome post, looks like a fun time. Nice weekend on the lake.

JETTYWOLF wrote: Great Story Scott...it surely looks like a good ole boys club.

I'm intrigued. I didn't watch the Youtube video. But how else is there to fillet a fish?

Never knew there was any other way?

JETTYWOLF, The difference for me is that I went on the outside of the rib cage.
My normal way is to cut through the rib cage, then cut the ribs away, then skin 'em.

Them good ole boys were encouraging me to attend their next meeting an possibly joining their club
I'll go to their next meeting and check things out.
If I end up joining, I'll be the token asian

Looks like a great weekend Is the water level there up, down. or is it at it's normal level

Thx for sharing

Oh okay.....I gotcha.

Around or thru, it depends on what fish for me. Usually thru, and then cut out the rib cage later. Cuz fish like Redfish drum and sheepshead here have monster rib bones, and it's just easier to hack thru then go around. 10-rog!


Maybe the "good ole boys club" has provided diversity training to it's members

AlloyToy wrote:Looks like a great weekend Is the water level there up, down. or is it at it's normal level

AT, the water level is down from what the guys were saying.
Apparently, the dam may have some weak spots, so they are keeping it at 60% full capacity
It's explained here if you are interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Isabella

Looks like a good time… That lake is huge!! I hunted deer in that area last December…

Now, that is a GOOD time! Capt PJ