Fishing Rancho Seco Reservoir in Sacramento

My dad and I fished Rancho Seco reservoir in Sacramento this past Sunday and I thought I would share some photos and information. My dad caught most of the fish. He had the hot fly. The crappie he caught is the biggest i have ever seen but I heard about a 2lb+ bluegill caught here as well.

There was a fishing derby here this weekend and one in the past. They have been planting lots of trout including fish 2 lbs up to 6 according to the Fish Sniffer report on Feb 16th. They actually dumped some trout on Sunday. We suspect two of the trout we caught were from the truck that dumped while we were fishing. The trout delivery caused frenzy. The doc was underwater due to so many fishermen fishing off of it. Four Sheriff's showed up just to make sure things remained peaceful. I actually saw one of them casting a line out to try his luck. I wonder if he had his fishing license.

Fishing was slow overall. We had to work at it pretty hard but did better then most of the other 200 people fishing the lake. The biggest trout was (17" 2.22 lbs) using T-14 line at about 10-15 ft deep late in the day. Best fly was dark green with black tail with Flashabou wrapped along with short shuck on body. All my fish were caught on this fly.

Someone caught a big bass there too. I snapped a photo from afar. I am pretty sure i heard them say he was over 8lbs. Nice catch. Judging by the size of her belly I presume she was feeding on fresh planted trout.

Christmas in Puerto Morelos

My family decided to spend Christmas in Puerto Morelos Mexico this year. Puerto Morelos is a short drive South of Cancun. There were 12 of us in all. Rather then spend a bunch of money on gifts we spent it on travel expenses and excursions. Puerto Morelos is a family friendly town and was not overrun with Tourists. It is much less expensive then Cancun and not so crowded.

We stayed at the Posada El Moro. It may be the best deal in town for the money. It was no 5 star resort by any means, but for location and staff I give it a 10. It has a pool with a shallow area for kids. It is less then a block away from the center of this family friendly town and has free Internet Access in the hotel lobby for its guests. There is some construction going on and they have some kinks to work out with the hot water heater and AC unit in the room we were in, but over all it was a pleasant stay.

We snorkeled from the uncrowded beach just a couple blocks from the hotel. You won’t see much more life if you took a guided snorkeling tour at the reef so you may want to save your money. Snorkeling off the beach was great. Schools of bait fish swarmed by our feet as we entered near the beach. We saw countless Barracuda some of which appeared to be at lease 4 feet long. They seemed to hang out in about 12 feet of water just 30 yards from shore. If you keep going you start to come unto some rocks about 50 yards out and you will see all kinds of life.

I came across a flat fish that appeared to be some sort of Flounder. I was able to get close enough to it to touch its tail. As I did this the fish made a hard left hand turn and appeared to try to reach back to my hand to bite me. I of course evaded his attack and decided I shouldn’t bother him any more. Little did I know this fish is a member of the Electric Ray family? This Ray will stun its prey with electricity. Had I known this Ray was electric I might have kept my distance. It pays to know your fish.

I made two tank dives on this trip and after this I now understand how Steve Irwin (R.I.P.) may have been succumbed to an attack by a Sting Ray. I was cruising along near the bottom of sandy area. I had no idea I was directly over a resting Sting Ray. Out of seemingly nowhere a Sting Ray jumped out from under his sanding shelter and swam away. I was startled and also lucky to have my Camera ready and snapped a quick pick. Perhaps I was lucky to still be alive. The long spear that extends out of the picture appears to be very dangerous. Since this was a popular dive spot perhaps the ray didn’t feel threatened as he was used to encountering humans.