Tall Tale and I finally had some time to go fishing, so we called up Mr. Cliff Hill of Hillcountryfishin' to see if he would be willing to put up with us for a day. Tall Tale and I were itching to get some box fish for a future fry. We met up with Cliff in the early morning hours and headed down to Calaveras Lake to see what kind of trouble we could get into.
Started the morning a little later than expected, so fresh bait was a little hard to come by (Tall Tale is a diva, and it takes him forever to get his nose powdered in the morning
). It was a tad chilly and there was some light rain, so it took me and Tall Tale a while to wake up. After catching a handful of fresh bait, our Captain put on his serious face and said, "Let's go catch some catfish." Yes sir!
We hit up a wind blown point and tossed towards the bank. BOOM!!!! It was on! Those channels were in a feisty mood, and they were dead serious about taking our bait! We were using slip cork rigs with Big Marv's Punchbait. I'm telling you, there is something really cool about watching that float go under, setting the hook, and feeling those fish fight back. There were quite a few acrobatic channels, so it was like watching Cirque De Fillet! One fish that Cliff caught even pulled a 360 flip in the air. That was a very cool sight to behold! Yes, we made Cliff line up and pop his own rig in the water. He's no joke on a lake.
After a few hours, the bite slowed to a crawl, so Cliff wanted to go try some bottom fishing. During that part of our venture, we caught three blues, with one just about six pounds. The blues hit the fresh dead shad. I, of course, was bound and determined to try and catch a fish on one of my own rigs, and I lost a a fat toad. He whacked my rig like Babe Ruth and pulled like a runaway Peterbuilt. Well, he was smarter than me, because he lodged himself in some structure, and I had a very light leader on my rig. It snapped like a dry twig. It was disheartening, but at least I had learned a lesson about gear. For the record, don't try taking your own gear on any guided trip. Use the guide's gear so that you can learn what they use. They have put their time on the water and they know what they are doing. Don't risk it, only to lose a fish, like me.
We picked up and went back to our first spot and caught a few more before the bite had just completely shut down. Pulled back up to the ramp and cleaned up the fish. We ended up with thirty five fish, all channels, mostly in the 3lb to 5lb range, with the exception of three blues. The catch yielded three and half gallon baggies of fillets.
It was one heck of an adventure. If we had let Cliff do his thing, he would have had fresh bait and we probably would have caught a lot more, but I have to say that our trip was nothing to complain about. Smack talking abound, lot's of laughs, and excellent company. I've known Cliff for years and he is the tops when it comes to knowing how to handle his business. If y'all want a great experience, give him a call at 830-822-7064 (Cliff says this is the best way to get a hold of him).
Here are some pics of our shenanigans out on Calaveras Lake:
Meeting up in New Braunfels.
Captain with a "Johnny Skilletino."
Tall Tale with his Roland Martin style pic.
Our quarry at the end of the day.
You just can't beat a fun day on the water.
Steven
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