What a tough girl Cachuma has been. With no keepers in my last two outings I knew it was going to still be tough on Memorial Day. It was! I did catch one largemouth but that was while I was trying to find some way "ANY way" to catch fish without using a worm. I tossed the huddelston until my elbow was ready blow out and while I did have some follows they just would not commit. The Shad spawn is over and the water temps are up to 76 degrees in some areas but there is NO surface action at all. Period. I would normally have some topwater this time of year but I am clueless as to what the bass are thinking right now. Around 11:00 I ran into a ball of carp that was INSANE. Hundreds? I would like to personally thank the Tofu eating tree hugger that decided that the Koi in their pond could live at Cachuma since it had outgrown it's home at there house. I could basically see four different type of fish in this one group. Grass carp... which are typical at Clear Lake and are what you buy for bait when you are in a shop that sells them. They were most likely illegally used by some fisherman and then dumped overboard at the end of the day. Goldfish.. I don't know if somebody was flylining these are just let there pets go. Koi....Most definitely from someones pond and another fish that resembled a squaw fish or what not and could possibly be native to the Santa Ynez river. Either way my best 5 probably went over 75 pounds! At first I was snagging them with a spoon and my 5 1/2 foot pistol grip rod but they were kicking my butt. I put on a 2/0 Owner with a few split rings as a spacer and a big homemade carolina sinker. That coupled with 25 pound triple fish and my Med Bucktail Loomis with the 400 Calcutta cinched down to rock hard. Cast past 4-6 fish coming at you reel up behind them and rip it hard. I then pointed the rod right at them and let them TRY to break me off. A tail hooked 20+ pound carp does not come straight to the boat. I was laughing my butt off as the people trolling for trout would come by and see some crazy man
beating the bejesus out of a fish on the surface with the little emergency paddle that came with my Champion
. I wasn't going to net them and bring them onboard and let them slim up the carpet so they all got the treatment at the side of the boat. It livend up an otherwise uneventful trip. I checked the game laws and from what I can tell I can shoot them with a bow. You can get a pretty good set up for 212.00 bucks online. Hope everyone had a great weekend.
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