Buddies, I had the most incredible big bass trip of my life..... Again ! I went to that little electric motor only lake, Rancho Seco. I swear it was like a "Mike Long" experience :-) I just absolutely knew I would catch big fish ! In fact I told a fellow trophy hunter and his son this at the ramp. Took one look out across the lake and aimed for a spot. Within moments of coming up to the shallow, tapering shoreline on the other side, I sighted perhaps the largest bass I have ever seen in my life...... Really ! But I won't expand on that anymore until I catch her :-)

I cruise down about 100 feet and I see a "good one" on a bed. I'm thinking a solid 10, maybe 11 lbs and two around 8 lbs plus a few little males. I first throw out a live dad (even though my experince on this lake has not been good with them) and sure enough, no reaction from the fish whatsoever. So then I try the ol' Castaic baby bluegill with a 1/4 ounce barrel weight on the line to make it nose down. I flip out to the bed. It took a few cast to get her attention (I think she was more concerned about me anchored 40 feet away. But gradually she got more and more agressive. After about 20 minutes, and 20 good cast (out of 40 or so :-)) she started to actually hit at it. I set the hook 3 times without hooking her. Finally my line ticks and she turns away towards deeper water. This time when I set the hook the rod tip did not budge ! She imediatly started ripping drag through about 50 feet of water plants, but this stuff is really soft and my Tuff-Line cut it like butter ! She finally managed to bury her heade in a bunch of this stuff and I pulled the anchor up (with an anchor mate) with my right hand and started pulling the boat towards her. Right as I got close she came out of the weeds and jumped 3/4 clear of the water (Oh my God ! She is way bigger than 10 or 11 !) followed by at least three more radical, scary, amazingly strong runs ! Still hard for me to believe that a fish of this age (and she did look fairly old) good fight so hard ! Anyway, I finally get the net under her and put her in the boat. Right away I knew she would be close to 13 lbs ! So I hang her on the Berkeley scale........ Drumroll please......... 14.1 lbs !!!! Yea buddies ! My personal best again !!!

Needless to say, now I am shaking so bad it takes me 15 minutes to regain my composure :-) So I work down about 80 feet and theres another good bass...... Now an hour before I might have said "about 10 or 11" but after my last experience, who knows ? I drop the anchor about 40 feet out and start the same thing (with the Bluegill of course...... the dads are out of the question now) Right away she acts interested. The same scenario unfolds with her becoming more amd more agressive as time went on. Finally after about 20 minutes she slams it ! I hook up ! ZZZZZZZZZZ ..... 30 feet in 2 seconds, and pop...... she comes unbuttoned :-( Bummer, I figured she would not fall for that trick again, and I was right. She was real skittish after that episode and would run just from me casting the lure.

So I move on down about 200 feet. Another good one ! Again who knows..... 12 ? 13 ? Then I see there are two big girls on this spot.... both way over 10 for sure. I start my pattern again. These two were not real spooky, but they were not real tight to this bed either. After about 30 minutes a little breeze picks up putting a ripple on the water and making them very hard to see. I would see flashes and shadows moving around though, sometimes appearing exited. After 1 hour of unsuccessful casting I am looking around thinking about where to fish next. Then I feel a slight... tick. When I look back my line is straight. I set the hook and I feel some weight, but it gives pretty easily. At first I thought maybe I hooked a small male (looking back at it I am almost sure there was some bow in my line from the breeze) but when it did get tight, it started burning ! Another hog on !!! She fought just as hard, maybe even harder than the first one ! Cutting down like acres of weeds per run :-) She also jumped twice ! (read: heart in my throat :-)) After no less than a hellacious 4 minute battle, I net her. When I go to reach into the net to lip her, I notice my lure has already came unhooked ! (whoooo..... Thank you Lord)
She was really fat, but quite a bit shorter than the 14.1. Anyway, she went 12.6 lbs !

Needless to say, I have a new favorite lake. Unless things at some of these other lakes (Coyote and Pablo with the murky water, tough bite at Clear Lk) I might spend most, if not the rest of my vacation on Rancho Seco ! Can you guys blame me ??? By the way it's about 40 miles closer than Coyote, and 30 miles closer than Clear. Plus no gas motors makes it quiet and lighter pressure..... even on weekends ! (BTW, those are the first big fish I have ever caught on a weekend)

So my new personal best of 14.1, and the first time I have ever got two double digit bass in a single trip ! And to top it off, I accomplished my goal for 2002, which was 5 over 10, plus one over 13..... with an extra "teen" to spare :-)

Ya' know buddies, I had a really good time with those kitties last Winter..... In fact I was wondering how I could top it with my bass fishing this year...... I guess this is how :-)

Peace to all of you guys on this beautiful Easter Sunday :-)
Fish