Lake Tulloch Summer 2004

I made a video/slide show of our trip to Lake Tulloch, Ca back in the summer of 2004. We enjoyed relaxing, tubing and wake boarding. It has a short video of some deer that wandered into our camp looking for a hand out. Pictures show a small spike that I am sure has been on someones dinner table by now.

I had seen deer eating marshmallows once before at Lake Davis so when I saw the deer mulling around our camp site, I grabbed the marshmallows and the camera and told the girls to follow. I threw a couple marshmallows to lure them. The small buck was a little timid as well he should be. His mom wasn't shy though. We all got to feed her and the pictures keep the memory fresh.

There are some photo's of some water sites that I recommend especially if you have a boat. Just make sure you call ahead to reserve them, perhaps a year in advance from what I recall. We parked our boat at the dock which wasn't bad, but you have no way of keeping an eye on it. The dock rocks about due the the waves of other boats, so make sure you bring extra bumpers.

One camper found an injured bird that took to him. Here is a photo of the bird sitting on his head. Not sure what eventually happened to the bird. You never know what can happen when you get out and see the world. We did some fishing, but had no luck as I recall. In fact I have never heard of Lake Tullock as being a fishing lake. Perhaps we just didn't use the right technique. It is great for camping and boating though. the sites are close together so you may be forced to get to know your neighbors whether you want to or not.

Lake McSwain Campout May 2008

The family and I went camping at Lake McSwain, Ca this past weekend. It was a fun and eventful trip filled with Trout fishing, potluck’s and wildlife viewing. Check out the video. This was my 1st attempt at video production with the new CyberLink PowerDirector Ver 7 software that I purchased so cut me some slack. The jury is still out on the software though. I am not too happy yet.



I have had several crashes already and I can’t find a simple fade out feature on a video clip. It crashed the 1st time I attempted to use it right after the installation. I believe it was due to the FFDShow software. As soon as I uninstalled the FFDShow software PowerDirector ran fine. It does look promising but there is much to learn and it has crashed several times. I recommend you save and save often.

I attempted to use the feature that allows you to upload your video to YouTube, but it doesn’t seem to want to take my Google login id. So I had to do the upload manually. The nice thing is that it creates the video in a format that YouTube will accept. If I were using a normal YouTube login, it would most likely work fine.

We arrived at the lake Friday evening and pulled into our designated RV camp site. We were greeted by my parents who were already up there. My dad had already been fishing so he had the technique down. Although I wasn’t expecting to fish that evening, the offer was made so I took it. There wasn’t much light left in the day but we went out for an hour or so. Roland caught all the fish on this trip. I had a few strikes, but the hook wouldn’t set. We were slow trolling rusty colored wooly bugger style fly’s. We theorized that the tail on the fly’s we were using was too long.

The next day after a nice breakfast I took my wife out for some tolling. I used an old favorite fly of mine. I was not confident in the rust colored fly that I had used the night before. Not long after setting the lines I hooked up and caught a nice sized trout on my fly. After that we didn’t catch a fish for an hour and a half or so. We were kept entertained though by some of the local wild life. My wife was also reading her ladies magazine and sharing what she read.

We were trolling along and I heard some twigs breaking behind me. I turned around and saw a Deer strolling along the shoreline heading for some shade less then 50ft away. It was approaching 100 degrees so I can’t blamer her and was actually surprised to see a deer up and about this time of day. I quickly grabbed the camera and caught the tail end of her as she went behind a tree.

While filming her I glanced up and to my right I saw a Bobcat, just 50 yards away from the deer. I got some good footage of the bobcat as well which you can view on the video as well. Perhaps the bobcat was looking for an easy meal and woke the deer up from her resting place. Had the deer had a small fawn with her, then I bet the bobcat would be eating, however the doe appeared to be alone.

We were finally reached a point as we were trolling up the canyon where the water temperature started dropping from 57 degrees. Lake McSwain is fed by Lake McClure. The water from McClure must be taken from the bottom of the lake cause it is really cold. As it fills in lake McSwain the water temperature will change significantly throughout the entire lake. In a short space the water temp went from as high as 60 down to 51 degrees. Once we neared the temperature change around 11AM, the fishing improved. I caught two more trout on the same Rusty colored fly within 10 minutes. I had shortened the tail by ¼ inch and I didn’t miss any fish on this trip. The fish we caught were slightly larger though so this may have had something to do with it as well. It was 11 and we needed to get back for the potluck so we had to call I quits for now.

While back at camp I cleaned the fish, filmed a small cottontail rabbit and a California Whiptail lizard that seem interested in me. Perhaps he was waiting for a hand out. We enjoyed a potluck lunch had a long nap and then I decided to do some free diving.

I needed to try the wet suit without my hooded vest to confirm if the suit would still fit. It is still much too tight. So I will be looking for a new suit before my next dive in cold water. The water in the lake was around 55 degrees so there was no way I was going in without the suit. By the time I was done, my face was numb. I can see why the hood is important to be comfortable.

I didn’t see much underwater. Visibility was low and it wasn’t an ideal dive spot, but this was just another learning dive for me. I started with 20lbs which was what I thought would be good for this dive. It was too much. I ended up being most comfortable with only 10lbs. Diving in fresh water is different then salt and I wasn’t wearing the hooded vest so this must be the reason for the difference in weight requirement. I did see a carp that appeared to be guarding his nest. I forgot batteries in the underwater camera so no pics. But it wasn’t all that interesting. The rest of the dive consisted of mud, weeds, clam shells and rocks.

We went on a couple more fishing trips. One Saturday evening and Sunday morning and caught more trout. We saw a Coyote on Sunday morning taking a stroll. Trout fishing was decent and we enjoyed the fish Sunday evening. The fish was fresh and tasty. I will be having the rest for lunch today. Mmmmm. I have to apologize for the quality of photo's. They are all video snapshots.

Monterey Ca Free Dive Trials

I went free diving in Monterey on Saturday. It was my 1^st time free diving in a 7 mil dive suit. My main goal was to do some experimenting. I wanted to try it out and find out how much weight I would need to be comfortable. I dove from a popular beach near lovers point. It was easy walk in diving. I brought my camera to take a few pictures.

I started out with only 10lbs on my weight belt. That wasn’t near enough so I added more for a total of 26lbs. This was a little too much as I felt I had to work too hard to rest between dives. As it turns out 20lbs to 24lbs might be good. But that could change due to the issues I have with the suit.

My suit is too tight with the dive hood vest combo. I had a hard time breathing. Between the breathing issues and being a couple pounds over weighted it made for an uncomfortable feeling. My plan is to try the suit without the vest. I am going to a lake this weekend, so I might give it a try. I lost my sunglasses in the water there last year, so maybe I will find them. Lots of luck. More likely I will find someone else’s, but that might not be a bad thing. Diving without a hood in Monterey just might be too cold though. I would modify my dive vest with some scissors but it is real tight on my neck as well.

It is supposed to be really hot this weekend at the lake however the water in the lake comes from the bottom of a larger lake, so the temperature should be pretty cold still. I may still need the suit to be comfortable. Free diving in a tropical location is so much more fun. Conditions in Monterey where I dove were not clear either. Less then 10 feet of visibility I presume as you can see by the photo’s. I was told going further north would have been better, but this was an experimental dive so I opted for an easy entry location.

My ankles are torn up from playing soccer all these years. It was a little painful to move the fins underwater. I suppose with practice the pain will eventually go away, but I wonder if smaller fins would be advisable. I might try my wife’s fins this weekend as well to see if they are helpful. All in all it wasn’t a good dive, but after making some changes things should improve.

The big one got away

I am finally getting around to reporting on last Friday’s fishing trip. We went Striper fishing again and we did slightly better then last time. Unfortunately the big one got away this time. We got an early start launching in Antioch and immediately went to my favorite spot, a sand bar on the San Joaquin which didn’t produce any fish. As it turned out it was still the tail end of the Incoming tide but I still expected to do better here. We hit another spot upstream that we had heard held fish, but no luck either. The seal we trolled by in this photo didn't seem to mind being bothered by us. He barely lifted his head after his sleep was rudely interrupted.

We shot by Brannon Island and started trolling up the Sacramento River near the old Dairy and caught our 1^st keeper. It was caught on what must have been an antique. It had a white jig head with a spinner and long ribbon styled white rubber tail. The remaining fish were all caught on my rod for some reason. This trip out we were all were using various colored Yo-Zuri shallow running rebels with worm trailers. I was using my favorite with an off white with sparkles curly tailed grub which I shortened a bit to make sure if I do get a hit that it sticks.

We caught two more just north of the Rio Vista bridge on the East side. One around 22 inches and one that went 7 lbs. We then headed south and I ended up hooking into a large striper near Decker Island. I was just about to fall asleep after a long day when my rod started to thrash from the striper attacking the Yo-Zuri shallow runner. I jumped up and grabbed the rod and fought the fish up to the boat. He took a dive and I held him, and the second time he came up he turned hard and dove and the lure popped off. This was the second fish to pop off today for me. My dad said my drag was set to tight and I agree. I am always learning. The fish was definitely over 10 lbs, of course there is no proof of that. You just have to take my word. J

We hit my favorite spot one more time since it was on the way home and caught one more, so we had three fish in the boat. All fish were caught in Shallow water in the 6 to 10 foot range. I found two more area’s that hold fish now, so this is good for future trips. This will just about do it for striper fishing for a while. This weekend we will be camping on a lake catching trout, and after that I am off to La Paz Mexico for 5 days of fly fishing for big game. Should be exciting.

Dave's Trophy Room

The two photos shown in this post came within a couple weeks of each other. Talk about some incredible luck. A 41 pound Salmon and an amazing 4 point buck.

It was late October 2004 when the 41lb Salmon was taken right around the time my daughter Alyssa was born or about to be born. The actual dates are a little fuzzy. I just remember having to plan carefully to avoid missing out on the birth of my daughter. I didn't want to be out to sea when my wife went into labor. In any case I managed to sneak out for a day.

We fished out north of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge in an area called Duxberry. It is commonly known to hold large salmon late in the season, so if you want to catch them big this is the place and the time to go. The odds of catching a 41 pounder is still very rare though. My previous record was around 24lbs, so this was a step up.

It was an amazing battle. Salmon have sharp pointed teeth and the longer the salmon is on the line the more likely those teeth will do harm to the line. Not to mention seals are known to come steal the salmon off of your line. This bruiser made us work for it. It was a three man effort to get this monster in the boat. One on the rod, another driving and a third with the net. The fish would circle the boat and it was a constant effort to keep the boat line up with him. I can remember seeing him come close several times teasing us only to turn away effortlessly leaving a trail of blood in its wake like sports car leaving rubber on the road. It is one of those moments that you never forget.

41 Pound Salmon


We waited to go hunting until after Alyssa was born. This kept the wife happy. :) We chose a D zone knowing we would want a short drive to get to the hunting grounds. We hunted what was probably the last weekend of the 2004 hunting season right after a big storm hit. We camped just below the snow level waited out the rain and walked out of camp in the late afternoon. I was nearing the end of a semi open ridge line and nearing the point at which I would want to turn around. I was able to walk fairly quickly and quietly as the ground was wet. There was some tall bushes that I was traversing through and as came around a bush a deer came into view about 60 yards down the ridge. At this point it's head was down. I remember thinking it must be a buck as I could see branches of a bush being rustled as he ate, but in the end I think it was just it's antler's. I had never seen antlers on a Ca black tail that big before accept maybe on someones wall or in pictures.

The gun came off my shoulder, safety switched off, and I aimed my Remington 247 all in one smooth motion. This wasn't my 1st time doing this. simultaneously the buck raised it's head and turned to stair at me. About the time he caught eyes with me I had him in my scope. It was over in a matter of a second or two. 2004 was by far my best season for trophy's. Most hunters are lucky to see any buck and a nice 4 point like this is rare. The timing was right and luck was on my side.

Introduction

I have decided to create a second blog to log my adventures. My 1st blog http://catmandreams.blogspot.com/ will now stay on topic and this new blog will be for any of my adventures that are not related to Catamarans. I feel this will be better for readers that view my blogs. I imagine in the future many of my adventures will be accomplished on a Catamaran, but for now I think it is best to keep two separate blogs.

The summer is coming and I have plans to go fishing, camping, diving, boating, hunting, playing soccer and more. I look forward to logging these adventures here for friends and family to enjoy. I will try to be informative and instructive as well to enhance the value of this blog to random readers.