Team Bridgeport 2012

 Before I forget, I wanted to note that the Disco was again the boat selected for this trip. This time without the leg straps. In a way, it was time to take off the training wheels.


Our days on the lakes have traditionally been recovery days from the creek stomping and as usual they were both relaxing and healing.








Of course the Polarcat was the first to plunge into the more than just "cold" waters of the high country lakes. Then came the taunting.



Followed by those who would not be taunted.  Still, it stung.



And as with most other years, the mid day winds took us off of the water and into the shelter of the creek.

and I didn't swim.

Robinson Creek
The past few years JT has brought his spawnlings. Under his watch they have grown both strong and sturdy in the ways of Team B-port.






Well fairly sturdy.

Strong work old friend.

With JT working with the spawnlings and the SLF busy being Bijou's handler, The Polarcat and I would be dueling it out to see who would take home the "coach" award and take their place as the king of robinson creek.
Here are the visuals.





























We dissected Robinson creek with the surgical precision that only 2 friends who have picked angles on this stream for the past 19 years could do. In the end it was the Polarcat who proved the superior hunter.  This year......

Beautiful, man - just freakin' beautiful! Looks like great times were had by all.

Why do you not have some hipster kayak angler Tumblr blog streaming this stuff into my Google Reader?  Love it, man.  Sweet collection of images!

Sweet report Terry. Sorry that the wind kept you guys off the lakes, but it looks like the creeks were full of fish. I can just imagine around every rock, stump or log there hides a bow/brown ready to pounce on a lure. Hopefully I can join you guys next year. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the report Terry,

Still struggling with my camera so more pics will be added later but here's a couple so far.

Here's a few more pics.

We had a bit of a low water year as evidenced by Tubbs bringing his offspring down the spillway.

When you have tough conditions OTW, you work on your creek skills.  Syd is developing her own skills, as well as getting help from Jebidiah, while Terry helps out Colin as he starts out on the creek.

Something new happens every year (this year will go down as the year of the bear).

Hydro - "Shirk!!!!

Me - "What?"

H - "Are you up?  There's a bear in camp!!"

Me - "OK"

a few minutes later from outside (giggling like the Joker)

H - "Shirk!! J.T.!! are you guys out of your tents?"

Me/J - "No, there's a bear in camp!!"

Always a new memory

Year 20 here we come

PolarCat

Nice snaps -- I've heard tell of that wading wet business. One of these days, I'm going to have to try it.  Looks like lots and lots of fun was shared.  19 years? That's awesome!

Some photos of a San Diego trip to the Sunset Cliffs Kelp

Departed the Dana Landing launch area at 8:30am.  Water was glass for much of the day.  Took about an hour long paddle to get to the kelp beds.  Once there, the target was to catch some calico bass in preparation for a full team visit coming up at the end of summer.  The calicos, however, had no intention of joining the party on this day.  So a change of tactics was in order.  Rather then fish the kelp stringers on the surface, I started dropping into the holes in the kelp and sinking the swimbaits to the bottom.  A couple of yo-yos and a quick retrieve to the surface got most of the strikes on the day.  All rockfish.  Biggest was 16 inches but lots of fun anyway.

On the trip in, I trolled a swimbait and got bendo on a beauty of a spotted bay bass.

Last photo is the weapons on choice

Polar

These 5 photos didn't show previously

PS - Some help with identification will be greatly appreciated

Thanks

 Thanks for the teaser PC!
Really looking forward to heading down there and getting salty.
I want a spotted bay bass, a calico, a sheeps head, a yellow tail, a cuda, and...well,  the list goes on.
more good times ahead!

 This is the time of year when Clear lake resembles the primordial ooze. Due to the ooze factor I spent way more time on the SUPs with the SLF and company, on the crystal cool blue lakes, instead of fishing this summer.
Truth, it wasn't just the slime and stench that kept me off the mother lake. I really do enjoy the SUP experience.



Still there are big fish to be found hiding under the blanket of summer cheesiness.
I was recently down at a lakeside B&G (aka Home2) appreciating my beverage of choice and a basket of onion rings. The rings are great but I decided to document what lurks beneath and there is no better catalyst than deep fried onion.



These conditions will make the next adventure that much sweeter.
Just a few projects to complete on the boat and 2 tours at work, and we are on the road to San Diego.
Since we missed comic-con this year it will more about the fishing AND we are hunting the elusive... sheepshead! very exciting.
Hoping that we can document a monster or at least someone falling out of their boat.

Any shared sheepshead wisdom is welcome.

 I don't know if any of us are exactly sure how it happened but this adventure got dubbed "Socal Man-fest".
Disturbing, but we got a ton of milage out of it. As we pulled into Poway we couldn't help but notice signs for someone running for office with the last name of Mangum. It was almost too easy. Im not sure how many times I "sat in man-gum" but it just kept getting funnier. Well, I thought so anyway. But Im getting ahead of myself. Let me start over.
 I had worked a 24 hour shift and it was a saturday. In my line of work saturdays have a lot of the "Hold my beer and watch this!" factor going on and this particular shift was no different. I was beat down tired.
Fortunately I had the Man-mobile packed and ready to initiate the launch sequence and the stoke of gathering with the Team Bridgeport posse fueled my somewhat broken body.

It took just over 6 hours to reach my first stop to gather up the Kraken and his gear. As Polepole knows all too well, the power ballads and philosophical conversations focused on both the marvel and DC universes were now in full swing. It was officially a road trip, NO, a Man-trip.

Some hours later we found ourselves driving through Bakersfield when the need to Man-feast hit.

Epic.

The 2 of us, along with the Kraken's navigation girl, managed to stay sharp and make SanDiego on schedule and arrive safely at the palace of the Polarcat.
Just in time. I didn't have much left.

The arrival of Jebidiah Tubbs was slightly delayed, so we decided to hit mission beach for some surf fishing.




I was still in a bit of a recovery mode so this ended up being the perfect day trip as well as the moment that  we made our first Man-fest friend. Anika was visiting SD from Germany and going all out in her attempts to learn how to ride a skim board and later boogie boarding. Who could blame her for getting excited about having her picture taken with 13 feet of Man-flesh.





Everyone found success and stoke in the surf fishing. We spotted so many fish and had such a blast I knew that we would be back.
That night, the last player arrived and as usual, the moment was magic.


Well, we have really struggled this year in the big fish department. Fish have been hooked but with failures to land and document. We have also been cursed with winds and choppy conditions all year and this trip was no different. One of the reasons that I believe we struggled was that I had insisted on bringing the RTM boat that doesn't have electronics and both J Tubbs and Polarcat have FF on their repairs list.
Only the Kraken was able to call upon the power of the 3rd eye. He was able to put us on some fish but 4 would,ve been much better than one. Other kayak anglers were struggling as well. It was kind of one of those "you should have been here last week" scenarios. Never let it be said that poor fishing has ever stopped Team Bridgeport from having fun and making friends.




























I think the last Polarcat picture really captured the vibe of this trip. I've got permagrin just writing this report. It also reconfirmed how much fun we had night fishing in the surf.
I did have the unnerving pleasure to step on 2 guitar fish that night. The " Pulled up your dress and screamed" brand of hazing was of course soon to follow but this is something that I cant wait to do again, and scheduled around a full moon. Man-tastic!

 I hope that someone finds a bit of inspiration here, gathers up some friends, and blasts off to catch much bigger fish than we did this year. 
Take care NWKA.

As always, great adventure,story,pics.....thanks hydrospider. Inspiration for sure!