Castaic Bass Club Blog

May Meeting

The May meeting is historically a short one with a few of the members already staking out territory up at Cachuma.  Pretty much the dues were collected and the pairings were done and it was time to go.  This does not mean that nothing important was talked about.  Remember that our Next meeting on June 10th is when we will be selecting lakes for next year’s schedule.  This is NOT an ongoing process.  The June meeting will be your one and only chance this year to have input as to where you would like to fish in 2011.

Tournament Results

Well, I was right, the tournament at Cachuma was the funnest.  The weather was the best.  Saturday morning dawned with fog on the lake that gave way to a thick marine layer that did not clear until about 2pm.  This was great news for those that like to throw blade baits or for people (like me) that had never hooked a spinner bait fish before.  Water clarity and wind depended very much on where you were and when.  Saturday night Chef David prepared Carne Asada with all the fixen’s and nobody walked away hungry and yes, he remembered the salsa this time.  Sunday’s launch was much the same as Saturday’s except the morning fog was thicker and the sky cleared earlier.
When all the weighing was done and the dock talk was running down the finish came down to this.  In First Place with a total of 10 fish weighing a rockin’ 21.09 pounds was the team of Jeff Jue and Adam Boyd.  Jeff also had the tournament Big Fish for the tournament at 4.64 pounds.  In Second Place was (you guessed it) Kevin “Keh-Ching” Miner and Marcia Thompson with 10 fish at 18.30 pounds.  If you are keeping score that is 2 wins in a row for Jeff and 5 checks in a row for Kevin.  In Third Place was our only 3 person team for the tournament, Bo Viescas, Tony Franks and Bo’s guest, his son Jake.  The three of them pulled our last limit with 10 fish at 15.71 pounds.
See you at the meeting on Thursday and remember that after the regular meeting we will be staying to talk about schedule.

Mike’s

It’s almost Summer time, that means things are heating up and that includes your live well.  Check your fish often.  Make sure your recycling pump is on and working.  If you want input on next year’s schedule than be at the meeting on Thursday or call someone and ask them to speak for you.

Mike

April Meeting

I sense a pattern developing here and I don’t mean running a Bubblegum Grub at 30 feet over a point.  I mean the willingness of our guest speakers to virtually overwhelm us with great insight and information.  At our last meeting it was Team Davies, Steve and Delynn’s turn, although in reality Steve did most of the whelming.  Steve spoke at length about technique and tactics so if you weren’t there, well, sucks to be you I guess.  As before, Steve and DeLynn brought with product aplenty.  Their Tear Shot slip on weighs are my personal favorite and are available locally at J&T Tackle in Simi Valley and Anglers Marine in Anaheim and online from MonsterTackle.com (their website was down at the time of this writing).

Don’t forget, our next tournament is one of the funnest things you will ever do with the club, our two day event at Cachuma, May 15th and 16th.  Chef David “Aquaman” Sanchez will be preparing a sumptuous feast for us on Saturday night provided he remembers the salsa this time.  You are on your own for dinner on Friday so bring it or buddy up.  It will be a launch and go because some of the boats will not get to the lake until late and will have to go through inspection in the morning.

Tournament Results

Be careful of what you wish for you just might get it.  That may describe the conditions at Pyramid on April 11th.  I know we were all tired of the cold and the wind on the lake and we were all wishing for a change and we got just that, in spades.  Along with the frigid cold and the wind we got rain and whitecaps.  It did everything but snow on us.  That did not however keep the fish from biting.  Winning the event with 5 fish at 14.22 pounds (respectable even when the sun is shinning) were Jeff Jue and Eddie Carr.  Jeff (who says he never does well at Pyramid) also had the Big Fish for the tournament at 3.85 pounds.  In second place were Kevin “Keh-Ching” Miner and Jessie Benavidez, 4 fish, 10.12 pounds.  Third place with 3 fish and 7.11 pounds went to Roger Larocque and his guest (spelled r-i-n-g-e-r) Derrek Stewart.

Mike’s

Our 2 day tournament will be at Cachuma next weekend.  Remember that we will be in the Apache Sunrise campground.  Make sure that you let them know when you check in that you are with the Castaic Bass Club.  You will only be responsible for the entry and launch fees.  The club will pick up the camping fees.  May 21 the Castaic Bass Club will be hosting the first F.O.C.L. night tournament B.B.Q. There will be 4 of these events this year and the club will be hosting all of them.  Please sign up to help.

See you Thursday,

Mike

The Meeting

The first meeting of the year is always a busy one.  We had a lot to discuss.  The

Subject of “3 to a boat” took up the bulk of the time.  This issue arises when we have more Non-Boaters than Boaters and it happened a lot toward the end of last year.  The club policy is no fisherperson (for the P.C. among us) left behind.  That means that 3-to-a-boat is inevitable at some point during the year and so let’s deal with it now.  Some Boaters feel that having 3 in their boat gives them a 50% advantage; others don’t care one way or the other.  When the situation occurs we will ask for volunteer Boaters.  In the event that there are still Non-Boaters without a partner we will go to a draw.  We will make out best effort to insure that no Boater takes the extra person multiple consecutive times; this is not fair to anybody.

The next subject was the change of venue for our second 2 day tournament from Lake Nacimiento to Santa Margarita in San Luis Obispo County.  Tony Franks is investigating the availability of campsites and tournament regulations for the lake.

The good news is that we have reserved the Apache Sunrise Group Camping site at Lake Cachuma for our 2 day tournament there in May.  This is the same site we had last year.  It is mostly flat and has good access to the rest areas and showers.

At the meeting tonight we have a very special guest speaker and great friend to the club, Mr. Bill Siemantel.

This month’s tournament is at Lake Piru and the good news there is that the lake has come up a little but there is a lot of debris and the water is very stained.

Tournament Results

Cold? Yes. Windy? Some.  Water temperature? Good.  Rainy? At times.  That pretty much sums up the lake conditions at Castaic for the January tournament.  The best news of all was; Water? Yes.  The lake was up considerably.  I know that all these water level changes can put the fish off the bite but it was either that or walk to your favorite spot and dig in the mud.  Besides the fish at Castaic will use just about any excuse to not bite, they have a very strong union I think.

Bringing the big bag for first place was a team of returning members, Jeff Jue and James Fu.  Their 4 fish limit weighed in at a nice 8.93 pounds.  In second place were a new member, Kevin Miner and Eddie Carr with a limit that weighed 7.40 pounds.  In third place was another new member, Ken Burkhart and Shelley (can you believe it) Singer who executed a perfect set and zip (set hook, zip pants) on his first keeper. Ken and Shelley had a limit weighing 6.87 pounds.  The rare occurrence of the tournament was in the Big Fish category that was not won by one of the top three teams.  Big Fish went to the team of Brendon O’Dell and Chaz Valenzuela who only weighed one fish but it was a good one at 3.42 pounds.

Mike’s

Last month marked the 2^nd year since the passing of Manny Nunez. I spoke with Anita and let her know that the Nunez family is always in our hearts. She is in good spirits and still speaks fondly of the club. I invited Anita to join us and after she stopped laughing, paused for a moment, then said that she wasn’t a good fisherman. I assured her that she would be in good company. We will see what the future holds.

At the beginning of this month, Grant Powell’s wife, Gail, passed away. It is a very difficult time in Grant’s life right now and a phone call from his fellow club members will go a long way in soothing his aching heart. His number is 661-510-3592.

Please keep the Nunez and Powell families in your prayers.