Windy Day, Slow Bite Scuttles Fishing Plans

So sometimes, Mother Nature ruins everything. I had plans – and a backup plan – to fish around Sacramento on Saturday. Both trips involved my niece and her husband, Ashley and David Laver. We were first scheduled to fish the Feather River for stripers with Manny Saldana Jr. of MSJ Guide Service.

He had planned to do a double trip on Saturday, taking some clients in the morning and then getting us out for a few hours in the afternoon. But the fishing on the Feather and Sacramento Rivers just hasn’t been as strong as anticipated with water temperatures staying cooler for longer than you’d figure, so Manny and I agreed it wasn’t a great idea to go out.

No problem. Plan B was taking David’s and Ashley’s 17-foot boat onto Folsom Lake, just a short drive from their Citrus Heights home and try our luck with the bass there. We woke up Saturday morning and enjoyed a delicious scrambled eggs/steak/bell pepper/mushroom breakfast, but we also looked outside and saw their backyard trees blowing. Dave has fished massive Folsom enough to know that fishing in such blustery conditions would be – ahem – a challenge. Ashley was particularly undaunted so we at least decided to take the quick drive to Granite Bay and let their dogs run around a bit while pondering whether or not Plan B was feasible or if Plan C – a poke lunch and watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs – was our destiny.

By the time we got to Folsom, this is what we saw:

At least the dogs had fun! We’ll be back, but for this day, Mother Nature 1, fishing hopes 0.