Clear Lake with my son

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wozniasm
Going camping to Clear Lake for my Father's Day gift to myself AND my son, after 10 years of not wanting to camp or fish, asked if I would like him to go. :dance:Well, you can imagine the answer! :lol:
Totally excited and now with a toon and tube, we can both be out on the water at the same time.
He's had casting instructions with a fly rod so nymphing will be a breeze for him.
Can't wait to get pics of him on the water, in camp and catching trout!
Picked up some intermediate sinking line with help from Onthefly's recomendations :clap: so I'm gonna try for those brookies :think: I never got in to on the last trip...
 
O
OnTheFly
It should be prime. Will you be camping near where we put in or in the campground? The water might be low enough to drive down the bank to find a spot. Have fun out there!
 
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AtmosphericWrath
I was just up there Monday and the water was incredibly high, perhaps 30-40' above normal for this time of year. Trees fully submerged that should not be.
 
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wozniasm
OnTheFly said:
It should be prime. Will you be camping near where we put in or in the campground? The water might be low enough to drive down the bank to find a spot. Have fun out there!

Back to where we were. May toss in the gear and visit the other end to see how crowded it is there but I loved the spot you showed me.
 
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wozniasm
AtmosphericWrath said:
I was just up there Monday and the water was incredibly high, perhaps 30-40' above normal for this time of year. Trees fully submerged that should not be.

It was like that on my first trip a few weeks back but didn't hurt the fishing at all. Thanks for the warning!
 
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ColoradoTroutMan
Good luck and have a great time! :)
 
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cowboysfan
Have a great time, I know what it means to get to spend time with your son, It seams that after they grow up you never get any time with them.
 
Troutski
Troutski
The very best Fathers day gift of all; spending it with your son or daughter, enjoy yourselves and tight lines... Mmmmmm Brookies, love to eat 'em right after I catch them. We want pictures, lots of them..

Chuck
 
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AtmosphericWrath
Have a great time and cherish these moments. Really maximize the day enjoying every aspect of it. I had been up there many times in the past with my Father and now miss dearly never being able to again with him. Heck, I remember one time we went up the end of May. There was snow along the sides of US 26 a few miles from Government Camp all the way to the Clear Lake road. The Road itself was sketchy with 1-2' of snow on it, yet there were some ruts in it. I insisted to him that we just head down there, taking it slow and easy. I am sure glad we did because Fishing was incredible. We caught many 16-18" Rainbows and some 14-18" Brookies. I lost at least a 5 pounder that jumped behind the boat, then came off. We trolled up the left arm(If you're looking from the Boat Ramp) about 60-80' offshore in maybe 6-8' of water using Spinner/Worm and I got one really nice what appeared to be redside 18" on a F4 Frog Flatfish with no weight. Seems the larger fish are up that left arm. Anyhow best of luck to you both.
 
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lilsalmon
hope your having a great time!!!!
 
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GDBrown
Pictures! We want Pictures! :lol:

Faster!
 
T
TimberTodd
Enjoy every moment woz.
 
L
lilsalmon
waiting with anticipation.....:whistle:
 
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wozniasm
Well, took a few pics of my son but it's on a mini-card and can't locate the converter. Anyway, no porn to show but what a story to tell!
Got there about 6 PM on Friday, set up camp and the mosquitoes were like clouds! We hit the water as soon as possible to avoid them but that was a joke - they were all over the lake; even in the center!
With a son with Asperger’s, bugs are a major fear but he was a trooper and dealt with the deet and swatting the ones that didn't care.
A few hits Friday but we were focusing on his first chance in the toon which frustrated the hell out of him as far as maneuvering. I had time in the new tube which I didn't set up correctly but figured it out by Saturday as far as the separation bar and how to clip the seat to the bar. this caused me to be very close to the water even with chest waders. No issues, made it fine and the scuba fins really shot me through the water.
Had a major group of undesirables (several families; maybe 40 in all) at the launch location a few of us went to two weeks ago so made it down about 1/8 mile and found a spot next to an older gent and his late 20's son - good people, good campers. They forgot their net and lost many due to not having one. They asked if I had an extra and did so they had it for Saturday.
Since my son isn't physically buff, rowing got the best of him so I did the "limousine" set up hooking him to my toon while he sat in the tube. Quite a site to behold!
Did get a 13 incher in the net but it literally jumped out of the net, spit the hook and jumped back into the lake. That's a first for me! LOL!
Got it on a crystal olive bugger that did so well before. They were hitting worms on a wedding ring and PB for the most part.

Later Saturday, one of the undesirables started shooting at Canadian Geese killing two and injuring one. The worst part was that we were lined up with the shot so I was freaking about skipping bullets and the fact my son had to watch that crap. They waded out getting the two dead ones and the injured one, they beat it against the tree to finish it OFF. Too far away to ID the jerk but I wasn't going to let that crap go.
I rowed as fast as I could to get back to camp but no cell signal so I took a run to the pay campsite and gave the camp host my personal info, cell number and the story where she forwarded it to the Sherriff. Once back at camp just before dark, the Sherriff boat shows up as they started shooting fireworks! He spent at least 45 minutes in their camp so I hope he found the geese and pistol. Couldn’t see if they had anybody on board when they left due to darkness. Did I mention the 9 foot bon fire they set up (no exaggeration)?
After the Sherriff left, we listened to their music till about midnight but it didn’t keep me from falling asleep. Left as soon as I could on Sunday morning and took a different route rather than pass by the undesirables’ camp.
All in all, I was very proud of my son for sticking out the bugs and wished it was a better trip for him not to see people like that. We still had a great time doing the father/Son time together. Met some nice folks as well!
 
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lilsalmon
Nice report. That is cool you got to spend it with your son. Too bad the riffraff was there too. Some people should just stay home so that others can have an enjoyable trip without the fuss.
 
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GDBrown
Glad to hear you stuck it out and reported the problems. When we don't report things like that it just sends a message to the perps that their behavior is accpetable, when it is not!:mad:

Hope you can do it again without the live bugs sometime. I've had to leave camps a time or two because the bugs were so bad. I don't tolerate them even on my good days...... & why do I love to fly fish?

GD
 
W
wozniasm
lilsalmon said:
Nice report. That is cool you got to spend it with your son. Too bad the riffraff was there too. Some people should just stay home so that others can have an enjoyable trip without the fuss.

Look at the bright side, they "didn't" stay home and I had the oppertunity to turn them in and "hopefully" cost them a whole bunch of money to teach them some decency! Maybe teach them a lesson, maybe not... We can only hope!
They sure didn't get their moneys worth by getting a non-pay campsite!
Still didn't take away the entire trip with my son so I Win!
 
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wozniasm
GDBrown said:
Glad to hear you stuck it out and reported the problems. When we don't report things like that it just sends a message to the perps that their behavior is accpetable, when it is not!:mad:

Hope you can do it again without the live bugs sometime. I've had to leave camps a time or two because the bugs were so bad. I don't tolerate them even on my good days...... & why do I love to fly fish?

GD

Very true on reporting.

Going again? Plan on it GD! Love that lake!
May invest in one of those hats with mesh!
 
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giveneratry
Wow, what a story, glad ya made the best of it and pulled some good time out of that debacle..The wife had mentioned clear Lake and I was researching it for camping for us and the 3 kids when I came upon this,,think I'll have to pass on it! lol I'm new out here and have tried quite a few places that seem to have groups of loud mouthed punks milling around doing what they do best! ( being annoying as all hell)
 
W
wozniasm
giveneratry said:
Wow, what a story, glad ya made the best of it and pulled some good time out of that debacle..The wife had mentioned clear Lake and I was researching it for camping for us and the 3 kids when I came upon this,,think I'll have to pass on it! lol I'm new out here and have tried quite a few places that seem to have groups of loud mouthed punks milling around doing what they do best! ( being annoying as all hell)

Don't think of this is as the norm for Clear Lake. Once in a while, you come across idiots - this was an isolated incident (I'm hoping) and when you go to the no-pay sites, it sometimes happens. We did meet and camp next to a very nice father/son team. Non-pay sites are like the highway: there's always at least one idiot that messes things up.

The campground at the south end (pay sites) of the lake is very nice and you have a camp host to watch over stuff and they have your basic rules. Try that first with your family!
 
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