San Luis Reservoir – Full On


May 15, 2023.  It was great to get back out on the lake after three weeks off . As predicted , the lake went off these last weeks while I was in Spain.  I was planning on exploring the full lake alone yesterday but invited Vaughn at the last movement.   After a long recovery ,  I could tell he was anxious to get back on the lake and it had been a long time  since he had fished San Luis Reservoir.     There are huge schools juvenile 12-16 inch Stripers around the trash racks these past couple weeks.    These 1-2 year old Stripers are in spawning mode, plentiful and aggressive.    This time of year it is pretty normal to see these dink school close to shorelines,  but this was the first time ever that I have seen so many around the Trash Racks.   We had a nice “eye to eye” discussion with one  of the Dam Project Engineers as they were leaving and I asked them if they were pumping water out soon to work on the lake.    He mentioned that they were working on the pumps and cycling water in and out of the lake .   For what reason,  he did not elude to but he knew that it attracted lots of fish to the racks even though the pumps were not operating at anything near full power.   Whatever they are doing there seems to attract fish right to the edges and around where the upwelling usually is.    Large schools of shad were also in the area  and we had quite the show when a couple Bald Eagles picked fish out of the water right in front of us.   I looked for bait balls and smaller fish with the sonar all day but I didn’t see any large concentrations of bait.    It doesn’t seem like the baitfish population has caught up with the lake water levels but a few hot weeks will change that.  Sonar data and autopsies show no abundant baitfish around yet.   

It’s not unusual to catch 100 juvenile Stripers a day in these conditions and if you plan your tackle right . There is no better time or place to practice technique or teach beginners .  Bring your 6 wgts. and Motrin.

Most of the regulars are more concentrated on searching for bigger fish . There schools of Stripers in the lake tend to segregate by size. One can observe this on the livescope . Getting a fish over 20 inches is a percentage game if you are blind casting however It is possible to cull larger fish with a livescope  and catch them more consistently.   Its not an easy game to chase the big fish with two fisherman in the boat.   Most guys are getting one good one for every 10 fish. and a couple weeks ago a fly fisherman got an 18 lbr  near the trash racks.    The big fish are hanging closer to structure and finally getting in to the shallow water around rocks .

It may be a week before I get out again.   I’m fishing with Wayne on the Sac River for some River Stripers this Friday and I have a day booked with Hogan Brown and Ken Oda to Float and Fly Oroville lake for Spotted Bass.   Lots of fishing to catch up on.

Ive been contemplating some new progressive boat rules for guests in my boat…….

BOAT RULES (Parody)

  • The first rule of fishing in my boat is not to talk about fishing in my boat,
  • If your fishing rod cost more than 200 dollars,  Recognize your privilege and you owe me before you step foot in my boat.   Reparations will be discussed after the day is over in the event that you have a better day than I.
  • All privilege class guests must prepay gas, launch fees and may likely be liable for any extra costs that may accidentally occur such as broken props, dead batteries, or trolling motor repairs.
  • Fishing is by nature racist since Tucker Carlson is an avid flyfisherman.   Therefore, since Im a minority (though  not considered a minority by the Democrats)  I get the best position on the boat and the first cast at every stop.  You are along for the ride and may the force be with you.
  • This is an Equity fishing boat.   In other words as soon as you catch more fish than I do.  You have to cut your fly off,  tie it on my leader and stop fishing until I catch up.
  • You can’t discuss, post on social media, or blog  anything about the fishing trip with anyone because that will ruin the fishing for me forever in the future.
  • You can not fish anywhere I take you in your own boat without my permission even if you knew about them before you fished with me.
  • If you tell anyone about any spot you fish in my boat,  you will be forever blamed for every bad day of fishing I have in the future.
  • No pictures are allowed should you actually catch a big fish,  however, If I catch a big fish  you can help me land it and you can take pictures of me holding it but you have to airdrop them to me and immediately erase them.   Or you are allowed to use my phone to take a picture of me.
  • If you forget to erase any picture taken on my boat,  you must Photoshop out the background and erase all metadata on the photo as to create plausible deniability and deceive anyone who might look at that picture in the future since someone might return that spot and put a curse on it or destroy it  causing me to never catch a big fish from that spot again.
  • Remember that since I fished this body of water for a long time,  I have earned the right to hide anything I want about it from anyone I feel is not worthy.   Especially those minority bait fisherman poachers  who will go to my favorite sites and use anchovies to catch all my future fly caught personal best fish.

 

 

2 thoughts on “San Luis Reservoir – Full On

  1. Nice video, Meng. So great to see the big lake full at last.

    Have the rules for fishing within 500 feet of the dam? I love fishing the trash racks as you and Vaughn were, but I’ve been chased away by dam staff.

    Cheers

    • No one is chasing us away from the trash racks but the fishing there has Sucked…this is during the week but on weekends the Rangers have yelled us off to 500 ft.

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