Hi Guys,

I saw the posting by Jimmy ;o) Castro but it was a while ago so here is the skinny on the trip that Dave and I took with Mr. Hemphill. I apologize if locations are not 100% accurate but we were fishing new water.

Dave and I hooked up with Larry about 4pm that Saturday. We launched from the M&M campground and scooted out to Rattlesnake Island. We did not ffish there but Larry was showing us where fish were holding in winter: offshore ledges and rock piles.

Per Larry we were fishing very tough conditions and he had apparently considered rescheduling the trip. Full moon, post-frontal, no cloud cover, and cold as hell! Anyway we went to a rocky shoreline south of Konocti (sp?) and fished with crankbaits. I picked up some good tips on crank bait fishing and also on controlling casts from a spinning setup but we got no bites. We tried cranking a couple more places, no luck, so we switched off to worms using a glass bead and bullet wieght. I got bit but lost it; apparently I was horsing it in. We continues to fish until about 7 when we boke for dinner.

After dinner we worked more rocky shorline south of the Koncti Inn. We were fishing shadows caused by pilings and docks. We got a few bites but getting a good hookset was very difficult. Larry got tagged a couple of times but missed them as he was having a problem with his reel. Dave got bit a couple of times but also had trouble getting a good hookset. Fish (including a good one) swam straight at the boat. Dave and I also had a lot of problems snagging up on the rocks; I am used to fishing plastics very slowly and apparently went fishing over rocks you need to move it faster.

Next we went through the narrows (burrrr) to a rock near there (can't remember the name). By this time (midnight) the wind was picking up. We fished that using the same working setup until about 1am which was time to go in. I caught a 3.8 off the rock. Dave got bit but didn't land anything.

On our way back in Larry pulled up to a spot where there was an unmarked rockpile. We got the most bites here (several in a few minutes). Dave hooked up one that looked like it would go 5# or so but his line must have been nicked as he broke off at the boat. Larry also hooked into a really nice fish using a jig but dumped it at the boat as well, appparently because he had not gotten a good hookset.

We all concluded that it just wasn't happening that night, went back to the hotel, and crashed. Still it was a good trip in that I learned:

* No matter how tought things are you can still get fish to bite.
* I need to get a fish finder to locate bottom structure.
* The location of an unmarked rockpile.
* Cranking technique

Last, if you can spare the bucks, Larry is a very goood guide. He got us bit in conditions that I would have bet $$$ that no bites could be had.

Fish on!