Melones, 7-11

Went out to Melones today, was invited along to fish with Brad in his SWEET new North River, and Steve, AKA, Gadgetman. Hit the water about 5:30, nothing until about 6am, and then it was steady action, until the 14th fish was boated. Took us near 3 hours to get that last one, no wonder they call it the "Devil Fish"

Same story as usual, Gadgetman's custom tied Pink hootchie sninners, running behind Vance's dodger did the trick for me. The Kick in his dodgers is what does I think. What a great dodger! Corn scent was Garlic, Kokanee special, dyed Bad azz green, red, and natural. Best speed was 1.5, fished the spillway for all but that last one.
CIFF derby was in full swing, sure did not seem like the usual Melones weekend. Very little trafific until about 11, then all the lake lice got up and about.
I had a great time fishing with these guys, really a lot of fun, and very knowledgeable. Thanks guys.
Here's a few pictures

Beautiful sunrise, beautiful day.


Brad and Steve with a nice Koke


I got one too, one of several doubles.


The work begins...


Great day on the water, thanks again guys, it was awesome.

Had a great day Steveo, ready to do it again. Thanks for the tips on smoking fish. Think I will do a little surfing on a smoker. Oh...and thanks for cleaning all the fish. I think if I see that done 100 more times I might be able to do it myself......

Steve

Hey SteveO79 - Tks for the report. I was there as well in derby radio silence lockdown.. but enjoyed hearing you guys on the radio. Those Melones fish are crazy. They make you think you have an 18 incher and then they turn out to be 13-14 and then some of them go aerial from 50-60 feet. We got our fish as well but nothing big enough to place in the derby. I'm working on a video compilation from pre-fish Friday from the underwater view.

Kevin

Those Melones fish are crazy. They make you think you have an 18 incher and then they turn out to be 13-14 and then some of them go aerial from 50-60 feet.

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Man, ain't that the truth! I had a couple that just ran, stripping off line, had me thinking I had one of those alleged 19" Kokes that someone reported catching. Then in the net was the 13-14 inch Koke.

I'm working on a video compilation from pre-fish Friday from the underwater view.

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I'm looking forward to that. thumbsup

BTW, what was winning size's in the derby? Who won the 3G?

Radio fish are so much bigger than reality... funny how that works.. Big fish for the derby was just over 17.25 I heard and was an exception. Not sure who the two guys were that won, Dad and Son but he caught fish on a wedding ring with some strange colors, probably the smile blade type from what he said and it was the bottom of his tackle box as they were trying everything. Caught in the south end and he referred to his son as a great net boy which got a laugh.

There were not many bigger fish caught it seems and believe it or not my 14.17" inch fish which was in our 5 fish limit that did not place would have been worth $1250 if turned in to the single big fish category as they had 3 places they paid in that category.. There were a bunch of us in the same boat and we were all crying with hindsight. It just turns out everyone kept their bigger fish for the 5 fish category so it left smaller fish in the big fish category.

Kevin

There were a bunch of us in the same boat and we were all crying with hindsight. It just turns out everyone kept their bigger fish for the 5 fish category so it left smaller fish in the big fish category.

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Sounds the the tourneys are like playing the odds in Vegas, you need to play backwards sometimes. Sounds like the "Solo Big Fish" category could be a sure fire money maker.