San Luis Reservoir and Oneill Forebay are my home waters. The pages beneath, chronicle my trips to these waters with photography and video over the last years. With the advent of GoPro Cameras and advances in video editing software, I’ve tried to capture the feel of fly fisihng these bodies of waters through the seasons having fished there since the 70’s. As many have pointed out, it seems the fishing was better years ago. As tribute to the great fishermen who loved this body of water who are now gone including my father–I say fish for the moment. There are links in this blog to Len Bearden’s 1991-92 fishing diaries giving me a reference to “the way it was” 25 years ago. Someday these blog post will also be considered the old days so till then – YOLO. I try to fish there weekly when work allows.
“…On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.”
I couldn’t let another weekend go by without pulling on a striper. It been a long time since Ive seen multiple weekends blown out at San Luis Reservoir. It seems every time I have prepared to fish the Lake or Forebay, its been blowing hard. My best shot was last week on Monday, and my…
We will forget about the Dream Season years from now because the Warriors lost the Championship. the first team to blow a 3-1 lead. The best team in the NBA could not make a basket in the last 4 minutes and 39 seconds of Game 7 given 9 tries-4 by Curry, and one attempt from…
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…
It seems that less people these days know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. It is a day to remember and honor the 1.8 million that gave their life for America since 1775. It is a day to honor the dead who served and a day to visit cemeteries and place flags or flowers on…
Today after not fishing San Luis for two weeks, I headed to the trash racks hoping that the new moon cycle and low winds would improve my luck. I got to a calm lake at 7:30 and set out for the racks. When I got there, Ed Givens was working his way around.…
Maybe it was the moon phase, the bad Solonar rating, or the wind, but the fishing at the trash racks slowed down today after being red hot for the last 4 weeks. I was looking forward to fishing the trash racks again all week at work after so many great trips recently but the last…
In the midst of a major office remodel and the regular stresses of private practice, I was eyeing the winds at San Luis all week long looking for an opportunity to fish the Trash Racks at San Luis again. I had lunch with Jim Cramer last Wednesday and we decided to go fish together…
The first week of May is my favorite week of the year to fish San Luis Reservoir. For me its a magical week when LOTS of big fish are caught at the lake. The last couple weeks have been great at the lake with lots of healthy fish. The fishing can be…
I could hardly wait to get back fishing on the trash racks at San Luis Reservoir after last weeks banzai. When Steph and I met at Basalt Station, the gal in the booth (Roxanne) said she was about to turn on the red light I told her like Sting, “Roxanne You don’t have to put on the…
Grilled Salmon Fish Tacos Taco Tuesday at Rosey’s on the Beach in Morgan Hill (mispelled on purpose) is one of our favorite cheap dinners of all time. They serve the best Grilled Salmon Fish Taco for 2 bucks. Their fish taco was actually “*Voted best fish taco by the SJ Mercury News* several years ago. Ive…
Warning- 25 minutes of non stop fish It amazing how fast things can change on San Luis Reservoir. My last two trips to the forebay and lake left me reluctant to fish there. If not for the fact that yesterday, Steph and Vaughn actually caught fish , I wouldn’t have been motivated enough to…
Steph got a nice one on the Lake today and lost another one about the same size. Also, Vaughn got 8 fishing from 8-3 and got into them at the Cottonwood Wall and Coyote Springs near Dino Point. I think Ill give it a shot tomorrow since it sounds like the lake is starting to…
I wise flyfishermen once told me there is as much to learn on a bad day as a good day. Because of last weeks terrible day on the lake, I decided to catch some fish at the forebay. That didn’t work out. I could not believe how the fish would not even look at…
The Delta is going strong, the stripers are in the river at Orland but no there are not Stripers to be caught in San Luis this perfect windless overcast day in April. At least not by me. The most exciting thing that happened today was chasing a school of American Shad and missing them.…
Last week the weather patterns around San Luis were typical spring with 15-20 MPH winds all weekend long as the slow moving high pressure moved in to displace the last storm systems. This weekend, the winds were gone and the entire day was calm with less than 5mph all day. Vaughn’s fishing…
The weather forecast last week for Northern California was RAIN RAIN RAIN for the weekend but around Wednesday, I noticed a lag forming between storms that would give me a good 6-8 hours on Oneill Forebay this morning. I called Steph and Vaughn but I think they were convinced it was going to be bad…
Last Thursday, Vaughn emailed me about a great day he had on the Forebay on Wednesday. He said if you could see them on the sonar, you could catch them. It was such a good report, I completely forgot about the terrible day I had last Monday and guessed that the 360 sonar would make…
At the end of the day, neither of us could figure out after knowing each other since 1973, why we hadn’t fished together somewhere together, even by accident till today. “Eventually the law of averages catches up with you.” After scouting around last week and this last Saturday in anticipation of taking Dan…
This weekend I was very anxious to use the Autochart Function in Oneill Forebay in order to get a better idea what was under all the waypoints I have collected over the years in areas that are typically productive. What I got today was a post graduate education in the kind of water Stripers…
Its been a long time since I caught a bunch of stripers from the forebay. After November’s big fish, Ive been concentrating on large fish in the main lake . Also, I haven’t caught a single striper in my last three trips to the big lake. So to get back into the groove and…