Decon & Criley (the Machine), Chris and myself drove up to Spanish Flats for Saturday fishing and camping then the SCBBBC Tournament Sunday. Left about 5:15 from Windsor.

Launched about 7:00 in 53-54 degrees with fog, lost Criley and Decon till about 1:30, of course “the Machine” had his limit and culled, Decon had a couple too! Chris and I fished the Spanish Flats Island banks to the North Point and back – nothing. After lunch, carried and launched in the north marina at Spanish Flats, worked the docks to the North Point – Criley got a couple more, at the point got a good drift wind to take us south then paddled back to camp.

Mike and Dan (I think) showed up as we were working the docks, they too launched and went south, I think. We all met back up at the campsite about 5:30 PM. I cooked a Tri-tip that seemed like too small of an appetizer the way we scarfed it up. In bed by 9:10 PM.

Six adults, five cars, six pontoon boats go to sleep to wake at an agreed 4:00 AM. But no, none of our alarms worked, Decon pounded on the doors and tents at 4:35, WE ARE LATE – no one’s alarms worked, it must have been funny as hell to watch us pack and leave in less than seven minutes (unless you were the family next to our site – sorry). Sure was not funny to me! Checked in for the Sunday Tournament with about 10 minutes to spare. That was an exciting way to start the day i'll tell you!

Guess the SCBBBC had 25 Anglers Sunday, seemed to me about half ran, the others launched at Capell. I stayed within site of the launch ramp most of the day, nothing in the morning but finally in the afternoon got one off a point across from the ramp and two others same area along the bank, about 15-20 feet of water, drop shot, witches tea roboworms. Cannot tell you how happy I was to get a fish. My two legal fish (one small and one big) weighed in at 3.2 (I think). My third, I just could not stretch to 13” and had to let him go.

Caught fish, finally got to meet some SCBBBC people and had a GREAT TIME. I look forward to the results being posted and to see how big my fish looked when I held them as far out in front of me for the photo :-)

See you on the Delta in April!

John

"When I Grow Up I Want To Be A Kid"

I had a great time fishin with you, John. Conversation was good, the weather nice, if only we coulda found some fish.

Hey ya'll, did you know John was the World Champion yo-yo player of '97!
He put on a short show at the campground in the evening with a yo-yo that lights up. It looked like a bit of a fireworks show. :o :7 He did stuff with that yo-yo that I'd never seen before. Bravo!

OK, here's my report. I decided to run and went back to where I fished last year. I was a bit slow getting my boat in the water because of technical problems and the fact it was so dark. I couldn't see 6 inches in front of my face. By the time I got in the water, Fish JC had already beaten me to my 1st spot. And he rowed to get to it. :o I did get to fish a corner of the area and it produced a couple spots on the dropshot before I left it for Joey. But he didn't fish where I was. He stayed in an area about 20 yards long, ALL DAY. :P I moved around and tried some flippin'. I stuck a 2.5 largie and then proceded to farm a bunch of fish including one about 3 1/2 to 4. x( I got the bites I needed. I shoulda been culling by 7am. I just couldn't get a hook into 'em.

This was also the first time I fished Berryessa that I didn't catch a single smallie. Weird.

Chris

that was a fun weekend, especially fishing with john, dan and chris saturday then camping out. i found some fish on saturday and my best five went 10 lbs and that was with a small fish. john saved the day making a nice 3.5 lb tri tip, and not only can he yo-yo good, but he can fire up a piece of meat just as good.

my tournament day started off with everything going wrong, i was runnin all over the place figuring out how to get to spanish flat and get all my gear together and all that fun stuff at 5 in the morning. i got a ride to spanish flat with todd and planned on rowing back to cappell. Right at first light i hit my first point and on my 3rd cast i cranked a 1 1/2 largemouth and thought i was in for a good day. wrong, the next 6 hours i hit everyone of the spots i found in prefish and about 5 more, only to put a small largemouth and 2 smallies that may not have even squeeked. I knew i had to figure out something, so i decided i was going to fish that first point then work my way down the bank inbetween spanish flat and cappell flippin and draggin a yabbie. my first cast onto the point i caught my first fish at i got another 1 3/4 largemouth, that felt good to make a good decision. i flipped every bush, and dragged that yabby across every point to cappell only to get one smallie about 1.5 lbs and miss 2 others. right when i got into cappell i started dropshotting a point then came all the way out and bumped into another point. it had a good drop on one side and at where the 2 points met i marked a fish on my fishin buddy and without thinking about actually catchin it i dragged my dropshot over it and tap tap, 2 lb smally. next hit a rock bluff that dropped right off into 20 ft. of water, lost a fish on the way up, then caught a 2 lb spot. ok now all my dinks are gone, fished hard the rest of the tournament and about 3:25 i decided to flip 2 piles of wood and a pine tree right across from the launch. on my last flip of the tournament, i pulled a 1.5 lb spot straight up 10 ft. out of the pine tree. ended up 6th with 8 1/2 lbs. i was relieved just to end up with what i did after the way the day started. congrats to all the guys fishin it and to joe for comin all the way to berryessa and winning it. and thanks dan for taking me up!

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to put my two cents in from Sundays Tournament. The only other time I've been to Berryessa I got skunked so catching anything was going to make me happy. I stayed in Capell Cove, I threw a crankbait until the sun came up with no love. Once the sun came up I started drop shoting with a paddle tail worm, I got my first fish off a brush pile 13" (we'll talk about him later). I fished the same pile for about 5 minutes and moved on, but came back 30 minutes later and caught a 15", I was feeling real good at this time it was about 11:00am. I wanted to go up the creek alittle and fish the trees that were in the water it paid off another 15" and a 14". 1 hour left, I ran into Scott Beem alittle earlier and he told me where he caught his fish near some run off in 40 feet of water, so I gave it a try. I caught this huge crappie, Phil was around and he said he would take hime so he went into the live well. I worked my way back to weigh in with no more love. 5 bites 5 fish that a good day for me.
I weighed only 3 of my 4 fish due to a willie-go problem, I was taught mouth open and swing the tail, my fish would go. At the scale I was told differently by three club officers that it was mouth closed and before I could say anything my fish was already in the water and one of them was yelling out penality points. I've read the rules many times before this tournment and there has never been anything saying mouth closed, just that it had to be varified with a willie-go. I know I'm still "new" but in the past 1 1/2 years I've been fishing with the club, I've brought in alot of fish that were 13" to scale and they willie-goed them, board up in the air mouth open and swung the tail. Did something change in the club the last couple months, I was not aware about? Other then that it was a good day.

David Brown

First off I just wanted to To Thank John Chris and Carson for a really fun Sat. I bailed out with Carson and John and Chris kinda went out at their own pace. I wanted to see the Machine(Carson) at work. He rips a fish before I could even catch up to him and I was less than 25 yards away. So we get to this point and bail acroos to another point. I ended up Getting my first fish @ 815 a 1.4 lb smallie. Went down the bank a little more and got a 2nd. a 1.7 smallie. Fished till around 1 and headed back to camp.

Paid for campsite and headed back out. went around the campground got a couple more. Got a little windy abd kinda of choppy. By the time we all got back to the campround was close to 5 and Mike and Dan were there.Then was time for a killer Tri-Tip compliments of John. Sat around the fire heard some good stories and crashed.

You all read how we woke up so i wont go there(but that sucked)

Blasted off at the tourney and headed straight back to the back of cappell. About half way i paniced cause i couldnt remember where I left my car keys. I reach into my pocket and felt them slowly pulled out my hand and they hooked on my sleeve and heard a BLOOP. Keys were in 28 ft of water. Luckily had another set. Ended up get 1 fish off a isolated brushpile. I sqeeked another in the back. I rowed slowly back to weigh in and met up with John. Was stoked to see his livewell in the water since he was skunked the first day. Caught up with him, chatted and bailed over to weigh in. Stopped on the other side and decided just a few more casts. Tossed in on first cast got a small smallie...very next cast decent little largie. Made the day for me.

Thanks everyone for a really cool weekend/tourney.

Daniel

DB, I feel you man. I was pretty sure it was mouth open. I always remember them holding up the will-e-go, stretchin them out. It's something that should probably be clarified. As for your day, sounds like you had a good time catching fish. I ended up with 4 fish for 7.9 lbs . Wish I could have got that last one, had a couple opportunities but didn't execute. Caught a nice chunky bronzeback, man those are sweet. Anyways, it was a good time, good job to everyone who got em.

Dave.

Go big or go home.