Algae Lines and the Silent Blitz

  Monday October 21, 2024 – It was one of those days where the universe seemed hell-bent on screwing with me. Saturday had me in a sour mood, hunting for fish like some kind of desperate maniac and coming up empty-handed. The only glimmer of hope came in Portuguese Cove, where a brief blitz yielded…

October Crawdadin’

Monday October 15, 2024 – This year has definitely been the year of the crawdad. It seems like the minnows have taken a break at Big Lake, or they’ve been dodging my sonar for the past 10 months. I did see some fish activity today, though—it’s possible I spooked a school of shad near the…

National Coffee with a Cop Day

Wednesday, October 2, 2024 Today, I had the pleasure of fishing with my good friend Steve. Steve is a retired San Jose police officer and Air Force veteran. He worked on F4 Phantom aircraft, much like my son-in-law Ryan does with transport planes. I’ve been waiting all year for a day like today. It’s been…

August Stripers

After last week’s disappointing fishing trip on the forebay and hearing a great report from Brian about the lake, I was really looking forward to a successful day on the water. I set out a little early to fuel up the boat, but soon found myself stuck in standstill traffic on Highway 152 near San…

Covid, Round 2, Day 6

Tuesday August 6. 2024 – I’m not entirely sure what cosmic crime I committed to earn last week’s mess, but I’m feeling the desperate need for some kind of divine intervention. The world is spiraling into chaos, with a war escalating in the Middle East, and the stock market took a nosedive that felt like…

Dink Blitz on the Forebay

After more than five decades of fishing the forebay, my hopes were high for today to be unexpectedly good. Just two days ago, Frank had reported the best day on the forebay this year, with 10 solid catches and a screenshot of a school of large spawning stripers. That was all the motivation I needed…

Yap Attack at the Rack

June 21, 2024.   The winds had been a howling, relentless beast at the lake for the past week, a savage, unpredictable force that gave me the strange luxury of catching up on house chores and accounting. Yesterday, in a fit of idle curiosity, I checked the wind forecasts. I wasn’t expecting a window of calm…

Tony Yap on San Luis Reservoir

It’s a savage task, wrangling old comrades for a day on the water when the piscatorial gods are as unpredictable as a three-legged mule on a greasy slope. These jaunts are fraught with complications—not least because the ravages of time have clawed at my friends, leaving them speckled with ailments and age. But these old…