It has been a little over three weeks since I fished the Lake Memorial Day. Two weeks ago was Mia’s Dietetics Graduation in Charleston, and Last week we were in Eugene to watch Mark graduate from University of Oregon. The winds have been very unpredictable lately even with all the software that I use to guess. Last week I had an opportunity to get out on the lake, but the predictions were for 15-20 moh winds so I cancelled my plans. I checked the the realtime conditions that day and they were the opposite of the predictions and I blew a chance. Today’s wind conditions were bordering on too windy even though the wind lady predicted light winds, I got to the lake at 7:30 and it was white capping. When I got to the trash racks, there were three boats flyfishing. we all got a couple fish out of the racks before we were chased out by 9:00. Fishing other parts of the lake for a couple fish here and there, I ended up with half a dozen for all the work. Its hard to have 20-30 fish days and then have a day like today when fish were tough to come by, but thats the way the lake is. Steph and his buddy also had a dozen fish with some really nice heavy fish. The fish are still spawning and are in great shape.
It really ticks me off how they don’t let you fish around the trash racks and that we have to play this cat and mouse game with the Security Guard Dam Bully and his fog horn. Fishermen have been fishing around the racks for 50 years with no issues. I understand why after 911 they implemented that rule however its a dumb rule that just cost tax payers money and is totally ineffective wince the majority of the time, there is no security guard around. . Like most over regulation, Im sure it near impossible to get rid of this stupid rule. People will fish around the racks until there is a lawsuit. The Water Company that yells at boaters has no authority to ticket anyone. They can call a ranger to ticket you , but that means the ranger has to launch and I have only seen a ranger in boat in San Luis a handfull of times in 40 years. I know for a fact that they have better things to do and don’t really care about this stupid rule. Its a public reservoir paid for by tax dollars and I think we have a right to fish in the lake any where we want if it poses no danger and safety hazard to the boater.
Today, the rangers decided to move the boat ramp just as I was getting ready to come in around noon. They told me it would take 15 minutes and it took two hours. I ended up having to beach my boat to get my trailer in the water and the boat loaded. I didn’t get off the lake till 3:00 I don’t understand why they chose to move the ramp during prime time boat traffic, when there were a dozen boats still out. They could have done it on a weekday when there are hardly any boats out or early in the morning.
Finally, the most stupid thing I noticed today was that the lake is nearly at last Septembers level and summer hasn’t even arrived. Why did they not completely fill the lake when it was raining all winter? And, why are they pumping water out at such a fast rate compared to last year? If we have a really hot summer, the fish in the lake will suffer from the algae blooms that are guaranteed to be a problem with the lake being so low. I cant believe that the islands around Romero that were over 20 feet below the surface months ago are now high and dry. The grates of the trash rack are already exposed!
Hi Meng,
I just thought about getting a CA Fishing license and since Mel Cotten’s was the only place I could
think of where I can get my license, but they were closed (panicked) so I thought maybe online and and sure enough I got my license. Looking forward to going fishing tomorrow. I hope we have a nice day…See you in the early AM
Steve