Napa River adventures 1-4-24
California Fishing
Jan 5, 2024 13:47:46 #
Capt. Ben and I hit the river around 0645, heading out to the fishing grounds. Spectacular sunrise, minimal wind, mid 40s with the water temp around 53 degrees.
Mudflats at high tide, hooked and landed 5 fish between us, returned to get bigger. Ben had a monster (for us) hooked and almost to the boat before escaping. My Penn spinning reel bail kept dropping during casting, and I launched a rattletrap into the next county based on the sound of the line breaking. Sounded like a gunshot. Anyway, I'll have to figure out what I am doing wrong, or what's failing on the reel.
We decided to troll past a couple of slough openings on the way back to the launch, because you never know. Bam, Ben's pole tip bent way the heck back, and the clicker sounded like a buzz saw. Biggest fish of the day! And we were within a stone's throw of the ramp. Persistence, or some may call it stubborn, paid off. Launched at 0645, pulled the boat out around 1500.
Stats: 17 fish caught and boated. Bunch of just barely legals released in that number. 2 kept, 20 and 26 inch. Great day on the water with Ben.
Mudflats at high tide, hooked and landed 5 fish between us, returned to get bigger. Ben had a monster (for us) hooked and almost to the boat before escaping. My Penn spinning reel bail kept dropping during casting, and I launched a rattletrap into the next county based on the sound of the line breaking. Sounded like a gunshot. Anyway, I'll have to figure out what I am doing wrong, or what's failing on the reel.
We decided to troll past a couple of slough openings on the way back to the launch, because you never know. Bam, Ben's pole tip bent way the heck back, and the clicker sounded like a buzz saw. Biggest fish of the day! And we were within a stone's throw of the ramp. Persistence, or some may call it stubborn, paid off. Launched at 0645, pulled the boat out around 1500.
Stats: 17 fish caught and boated. Bunch of just barely legals released in that number. 2 kept, 20 and 26 inch. Great day on the water with Ben.
Ben and the catch of the day. The 20 incher looks really dinky next to the 26 incher
Another glorious sunrise on the river
And of course it wouldn't be a Napa adventure without seeing at least one balloon
Jan 5, 2024 13:50:46 #
mdeadman54
Loc: Oakland, Ca
Nice going guys! Glad to hear they're still around. Going totry and get up there next week. Thanks for the info.
Jan 5, 2024 13:55:10 #
Nook wrote:
Capt. Ben and I hit the river around 0645, heading... (show quote)
Sounds like a fun day Hal, and nice catching for you and Ben. Beautiful pictures, as usual, thanks for sharing.
Jan 5, 2024 14:27:14 #
Nook wrote:
Capt. Ben and I hit the river around 0645, heading... (show quote)
Sounds like you had a great day! Thanks for the pictures.
Regarding your bail snapping closed on your cast...
Most of the time it's caused by momentum (I'll spare you from the boring physics lecture -- my wife thinks I mansplain too much).
To avoid the problem, make sure that:
1. the bail (when open) is facing away from the rod and
2. the handle to be past the bottom and not close to the top.
The other cause of free flyers is the line wrapped around the tip--I always give it a check with my finger before I cast.
In the pictures I had to use the rubber band to hold the line instead of my finger so I could snap the shot.
Bad position of handle
Bad position of bail
Good to go
Good to go
Good to go
Good to go
Jan 5, 2024 15:02:54 #
Nook wrote:
Capt. Ben and I hit the river around 0645, heading... (show quote)
Glad y'all had a good day. 👍
Jan 5, 2024 15:45:11 #
Thanks! I'm not sure, but I think I'm putting the bail opening left to right instead of back to front like in your pictures. Been doing it since the first time I ever casted.
I will definitely give that a try the next time out... Thanks.
And about mansplaining...as a retired nuclear engineer I know all about it. Just ask me! The Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector commented to our director that asking me a question was like asking for the time and learning all about how to build a clock
I will definitely give that a try the next time out... Thanks.
And about mansplaining...as a retired nuclear engineer I know all about it. Just ask me! The Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector commented to our director that asking me a question was like asking for the time and learning all about how to build a clock
Jan 5, 2024 16:38:12 #
Jan 5, 2024 16:43:06 #
Nook wrote:
Thanks! I'm not sure, but I think I'm putting the... (show quote)
Did you cover the effects of the gravitational pull, momentum and spring torque on the pendulum?
I did quite a bit of work for the NRC. One of my best projects was on the Ichiban Program -- I discovered why the Los Alimos' dosage (neutron and gamma activation) calculations for Fat Man and Little Boy were so bad--turns out that they didn't know the difference between concrete and dirt (swapped in their computer model). The NRC had to rewrite the guidelines for shielding requirements after I recalculated.
Jan 5, 2024 18:48:39 #
Papa D wrote:
Did you cover the effects of the gravitational pul... (show quote)
I agree with Papa. I always cast my Penns with the bail at 7 o'clock as the reel hangs. That's just before the stop that triggers the bail closure.
Jan 5, 2024 18:57:14 #
Flytier wrote:
I agree with Papa. I always cast my Penns with the bail at 7 o'clock as the reel hangs. That's just before the stop that triggers the bail closure.
Just before or just after? I try to keep it positioned so that if it spins, it has to go almost all of the way around before hitting the lift/trigger (ie, just past the lift/trigger). On my Penn, that's flipped just about straight down. (I'm unsure of where 7 o'clock is -- when viewed from rod tip or butt?)
Jan 5, 2024 19:00:44 #
Papa D wrote:
Just before or just after? I try to keep it positioned so that if it spins, it has to go almost all of the way around before hitting the lift/trigger (ie, just past the lift/trigger). On my Penn, that's flipped just about straight down. (I'm unsure of where 7 o'clock is -- when viewed from rod tip or butt?)
Butt. Actually that's where I cast my Van Staal from too, but that one is bailless.
Jan 5, 2024 20:55:06 #
Nook wrote:
Capt. Ben and I hit the river around 0645, heading... (show quote)
There you go Hal! Nice report and fish and that 26”er looks like it was fun!
Jan 5, 2024 23:07:43 #
Jan 6, 2024 01:26:45 #
40GRIT wrote:
¹ looks like it was fun!
Yup.
3 carcasses in the new Christmas present freezer so far!
Jan 6, 2024 09:00:09 #
kandydisbar
Loc: West Orange, NJ
Nook wrote:
Capt. Ben and I hit the river around 0645, heading... (show quote)
Great catches and great pics!!
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