What do you do when you get to your favorite fishing spot and find there’s somebody already there? First of all, stay calm, and don’t give away any of your secrets! Maybe you find you’ve suddenly got spectators to the battle with your big fish. Play it cool, and pretend there’s actually nothing much going on. Before long, your audience […]
One great thing about where we live is the proximity to Lake Natoma and its attached ponds. The Big Guy grew up in the area and has been hiking and fishing around Lake Natoma nearly all his life. His most enthusiastic fishing companion for more than ten years was our Doberman-Rottweiler, Buster. All the Big Guy had to do was pick up his fishing rod and Buster was at the front door, whining, impatient to go. The ponds have been formed partially by the remnants left by large gold dredges that operated on the American River at Mississippi Bar from about 1900 until 1962. Most connect to what is now Lake Natoma, allowing bass and other sunfish shelter in which to build their spawning beds and guard their young. Patience pays off: Sometimes instead of fishing from the shore, we’d use a small aluminum boat. Instead of an outboard motor on the back, the Big Guy would attach an electric trolling motor to the bow of the boat. Since there is a 5-mph speed limit on the entire lake, the trolling motor is a great way to get around. Buster was right at home in the boat, mostly because he’d been spending time there since he was a tiny pup. In his younger days he would play for awhile on the shore and then climb into the rear of the boat, curl up on a blanket and go to sleep. But […]
Salmon season is an annual event in my life, since we live relatively close to the American River, and The Big Guy is basically obsessed with catching and eating salmon rather than buying it at the supermarket. So every year — usually from late August through October — our normal schedule begins to revolve heavily around salmon fishing. I was […]
I shot these pictures back in July 2004 near the Lucas Wharf Restaurant using my new Nikon Coolpix 5700. Back then I rarely felt brave enough to photograph people — it’s something I’m still working on, but I’ve come a long way. I’m actually a little surprised I managed to make these shots; but now I’m really glad I did. […]
Higher Elevations, Summer 1987 When we weren’t traveling to the coast or fishing in our own backyard, The Big Guy and I liked spending a day or two up in the mountains — especially during the summer when the temperatures were uncomfortable in the valley. Back then our house had only an old “swamp cooler” and sometimes it just wasn’t […]
Pond fishing near Rocklin, Summer 1989 The site of the Spring Valley Ranch in Rocklin was one of our favorite local spots to fish for bluegill — a picturesque, undeveloped area dotted with old oaks and numerous small ponds. Nowadays if you go looking for our fishing grounds all you’ll find is the Whitney Ranch development — a lot of […]
July 1986 — Camping and fishing at Prosser Lake. Prosser Creek Reservoir, near the California-Nevada state line, was one of the first places The Big Guy took me camping. It was a roughly 2-hour drive from our house east on Interstate 80 in my 1970 VW Bug; we left home at eight in the evening and by 11:30 we had […]
Surf Fishing, 1988 Heading over to the coast, minus the dogs this time but accompanied by John, one of The Big Guy’s college/fishing buddies. We traveled in an old VW microbus formerly owned by The Big Guy’s older brother. What it lacked in comfort it also lacked in power, and we barely made it up some of the hills along […]