Calaveras Lake 3/8/19

[Big Ace]

My brother and I went out for our first ever Kayak trip. We kayaked from the furthest launch spot that we could to the north. We fished the bank from the power plant all the way to the hot water discharge. We caught 3 keeper reds on Gulp alive. I could not find any live bait near the boat launch or where we put in. We learned some very important lessons. Lesson #1: if it isn’t leashed then expect to loose it. I lost a brand new Shimano Cronarch on a greeen all star lite rod. It’s at the hot water discharge the fifth buoy from the right if anyone wants to try to get it. I tried a couple minutes but we needed to start heading back. I never even got to throw it.
Lesson #2: two rods is plenty enough. I brought 3. While trolling a crank bait and bumping a gulp off the bottom, the 3rd rod kept getting in the way until I lost it.
Lesson #3: KISS. Less is more. When I dumped over I lost all the contents of my ice chest(which wasn’t needed), lots of tackle(I brought way too much) one box of cranks and jigs would’ve been plenty. I also lost 2 of my keeper reds.
Lesson #4: monitor the wind and don’t paddle to far. We mostly paddled vs fished. The wind kicked out butts on the way back
Lesson #5: Great pliers make your life easier. I had some and used them often.
I am pretty sore, I need to learn to paddle better.

[FingerMullet]

Lesson #1 Should be-Always wear your PFD.. You’ll never know when you’ll turtle & wearing a PFD will definitely help you stay afloat especially being fatigued of all day paddling..I’m glad you made it back safe!
Keeping everything tethered including your paddle is also good idea.. You don’t want to be stuck up a river without a paddle..
I used to take everything but the kitchen sink in kayak. Loading & unloading was a pain & made my kayak much more heavier to paddle. I finally realized that I only used less than 1/4 of what I loaded. Take the lures you’re confident with catching fish & take in a Plano clear tackle box. I have this double stack for coastal flats fishing.
And my one of my freshwater box-
Also check the weather & wind forecast before heading out. There are several great phone apps that you can download for that..
Your paddling will get better with practice. There are some YouTube videos that will give some pointers.
You should try out Braunig Lake. It’s a smaller lake & I think it produces better quantity reds. Hope this helps!
Tight lines!
Adam



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FingerMullet]

Also rod floats work & will keep you from losing your rod & reels to the deep! You can purchase them at Academy, BPS, etc.. Or you can make them yourself-cheap. There a few YouTubes on this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big Ace]

Yes, I always wear a pfd. I didn’t skimp when I bought my PFD and paddle. I am planning on going BTB later this year. I didn’t bring my fish bag this trip and I should have. I didn’t think I needed my 42” ice mule for the lake. When I turtled I was trying to dig through some stuff I had in a bucket behind me. Again too much stuff. My yak was also top heavy due to the ice chest I had strapped to the top of it. My fish bag would’ve solved that. My paddling definitely needs some work. We did log 8 miles paddling in the afternoon. We learned a lot and will adjust accordingly the next trip.