I got out last week for 7 days and 7 nights on the CA Delta with my brother, Mark, from MI. What was intended as a week of catching turned out to be a week of fun and cruising.
We headed for the marina a couple of hours after he landed in Sacramento. After spending the night in the marina loading and cleaning, we headed out Saturday morning, headed for Rio Vista and points north. Rumors of sturgeon stacking up in Cache Slough turned out to be erroneous, but we enjoyed plying the waters of the Deep Water Channel, Cache, Prospect, and Miner Soulghs for the first 3 days. The wind was relentless, but we found good protection just off Miner Slough near the south end of Prospect Island.
Tues night we headed into Delta Marina in Rio Vista to duck out of the wind, empty the holding tank and join up with an angler friend on Wed AM. We spend Wed fishing in Broad Slough, Chain Island, Montezuma Sough and Horseshoe Bend before calling it a day and returning to Delta Marina just before dark.
All we hooked into by this time are a few undersized stripers and some catfish. Not even a strugeon nibble.
Thursday we spent most of out time north of the RV bridge along the east bank and on the Sacramento between Vierra's and Isleton. We got a respite from the wind, but no change in our hookup ratio!
We decided to swing back by the Delta marina late Thurs afternoon to top off on fuel before settling in for the night. Since we had lots of time this week, we had been trying reduced power settings and part-time single engine operation during the week to save fuel. The result was a 28% reduction in our fuel consumption with a 1.5 kt (19%) loss of speed.
We headed out of the wind in 3-mile Slough, but couldn't buy a bite, so we called it a day as the dinner hour approached. We tied up to the Outrigger dock thinking they were closed, but were surprised to find the harbormaster/restaurant owner present. So we ponied up for an overnight stay ($0.50 per foot) and enjoyed their electrical hookups for the night.
We made it home on Friday midday without any further fishing. We ended up with a week on the water high on memories, but low on catching. But I'd rather that than the other way around. It was great to be able to spend another week on the water with a brother who shares my love for all things boating and fishing.
In all, we covered 124 miles in 20 hrs 24 minutes of cruising. We spent 7 days and 7 nights on the water with 4 nights at anchor and 3 nights tied to a dock. Using 30 lbs of dry ice and 3 frozen one-gallon water jugs, we kept our food and bait frozen for 5 days and very cold through the 7th day. In fact, there was still mostly ice in the jugs when we left the boat on Friday evening. We threw shad, eel, pile worms, nightcrawlers, and sardines. We ate like kings, laughed like hyenas, drank like fish and slept like babies.
I can't wait until next year when our other brother wants to join us!! (He can have the top bunk!)
I'll close with a few pics from the week and a link at the end to a photobucket slideshow for those so inclined.
Heading out for the start of our trip
The new ferry, real McCoy II north of RV
Tucked away for the night in Miner Slough
Mark strikes first with this killer striper
Not to be outdone, I fight back with this monster cat!
Then it turns into a cat fight!!
Those little cats can really put up a fight! ;-)
We woke up in the main channel of Miner Slough with these two guys hanging onto our anchor chain. (12 in round, 10-12 ft long)
Showing off some new spreader and cockpit LED lights
Fisean showing us how it's done! (Hey, at least it's a striper!!)
"Slipper Fishing" at its finest!!
When the weather gets bad, there's always "Indoor Fishing"
The obligatory sunset shot
Here's the link to the slideshow of all the shots.
http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p21/akroeger/2011%20CA%20Delta%20Excursion/?albumview=slideshow
We headed for the marina a couple of hours after he landed in Sacramento. After spending the night in the marina loading and cleaning, we headed out Saturday morning, headed for Rio Vista and points north. Rumors of sturgeon stacking up in Cache Slough turned out to be erroneous, but we enjoyed plying the waters of the Deep Water Channel, Cache, Prospect, and Miner Soulghs for the first 3 days. The wind was relentless, but we found good protection just off Miner Slough near the south end of Prospect Island.
Tues night we headed into Delta Marina in Rio Vista to duck out of the wind, empty the holding tank and join up with an angler friend on Wed AM. We spend Wed fishing in Broad Slough, Chain Island, Montezuma Sough and Horseshoe Bend before calling it a day and returning to Delta Marina just before dark.
All we hooked into by this time are a few undersized stripers and some catfish. Not even a strugeon nibble.
Thursday we spent most of out time north of the RV bridge along the east bank and on the Sacramento between Vierra's and Isleton. We got a respite from the wind, but no change in our hookup ratio!
We decided to swing back by the Delta marina late Thurs afternoon to top off on fuel before settling in for the night. Since we had lots of time this week, we had been trying reduced power settings and part-time single engine operation during the week to save fuel. The result was a 28% reduction in our fuel consumption with a 1.5 kt (19%) loss of speed.
We headed out of the wind in 3-mile Slough, but couldn't buy a bite, so we called it a day as the dinner hour approached. We tied up to the Outrigger dock thinking they were closed, but were surprised to find the harbormaster/restaurant owner present. So we ponied up for an overnight stay ($0.50 per foot) and enjoyed their electrical hookups for the night.
We made it home on Friday midday without any further fishing. We ended up with a week on the water high on memories, but low on catching. But I'd rather that than the other way around. It was great to be able to spend another week on the water with a brother who shares my love for all things boating and fishing.
In all, we covered 124 miles in 20 hrs 24 minutes of cruising. We spent 7 days and 7 nights on the water with 4 nights at anchor and 3 nights tied to a dock. Using 30 lbs of dry ice and 3 frozen one-gallon water jugs, we kept our food and bait frozen for 5 days and very cold through the 7th day. In fact, there was still mostly ice in the jugs when we left the boat on Friday evening. We threw shad, eel, pile worms, nightcrawlers, and sardines. We ate like kings, laughed like hyenas, drank like fish and slept like babies.
I can't wait until next year when our other brother wants to join us!! (He can have the top bunk!)
I'll close with a few pics from the week and a link at the end to a photobucket slideshow for those so inclined.
Heading out for the start of our trip
The new ferry, real McCoy II north of RV
Tucked away for the night in Miner Slough
Mark strikes first with this killer striper
Not to be outdone, I fight back with this monster cat!
Then it turns into a cat fight!!
Those little cats can really put up a fight! ;-)
We woke up in the main channel of Miner Slough with these two guys hanging onto our anchor chain. (12 in round, 10-12 ft long)
Showing off some new spreader and cockpit LED lights
Fisean showing us how it's done! (Hey, at least it's a striper!!)
"Slipper Fishing" at its finest!!
When the weather gets bad, there's always "Indoor Fishing"
The obligatory sunset shot
Here's the link to the slideshow of all the shots.
http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p21/akroeger/2011%20CA%20Delta%20Excursion/?albumview=slideshow