Boat, fish, camp and, above all, bond
This story might sound like an adventure yarn about an early warm-weather day last week at one of California’s best lakes for boating, fishing and camping.
It rather is the secret formula for how the outdoors can sustain family connections and friendships for life.
Last week, we were on Shasta Lake. It is thriving again with cool, clean water and 370 miles of shoreline, and is 95 percent full. The temperature hit 93 degrees Wednesday afternoon, and with water temperatures of 57 to 65 degrees, the bass fishing, swimming and other water sports ignited for us like the good ol’ days.
And yet, with Memorial Day weekend still three weeks off, we had the place to ourselves.
At Dekkas Rock Campground on the McCloud Arm, you have your choice of campsites. At Sugar Loaf on the Sacramento Arm, it’s your choice of cottages. And at shoreline points and coves on the Pit Arm, there were times when it seemed you could have your choice of fish. In one sequence, my son
Jeremy caught seven bass in nine casts. In another, my other son, Kris, went 5-for-7. On back-to-back trips, we caught about 80 and kept a limit. The fillets from Shasta bass are the sweetest-tasting fish in California. We also had hundreds of missed strikes that drove us crazy. A good kind of crazy.
Near the head of the McCloud Arm, where a National Forest Service bridge crosses the lake, Kris climbed up 15 feet and took a flying leap into the cool water for his personal coronation to the start of summer well ahead of the actual date.
After such a long, wet winter — 144 inches of rain at the PG&E gauge on the Pit River Arm — the sun felt like magic rays washing over us. The oaks are glowing in electric green from their fresh buds, the hills are aglow with blooming blueeyed grass. We saw nesting Canada geese and osprey one day, a bald eagle another, and myriad songbirds calling for mates with the prettiest songs of spring.
Years ago, I married into a family, helped raise the two boys, watched them catch their first fish, ride their bikes. And over the years, we’d be out with the dogs, hiking and camping, maybe tracking wildlife.
Twenty years later, we are much the same. It’s that next trip that keeps us connected, something to look forward to.
That’s the secret. The outdoors can keep you connected for life.
I’ve heard a lot of parents say that their adult kids don’t stay in touch. That might be because there isn’t a shared adventure to look forward to that will bring them together.
The same is true with Millennials; I’ve got two of them. I’ve also gotten to know many of their friends, some who say it often feels like a chore to visit their parents. But add in the promise of a shared adventure, like a fishing trip to Shasta, and the chore turns into anticipation for the chance of something great happening.
The same approach works with family and lifetime friends.
Back in the day, my flawed premise was that the best way to stay connected to friends was to take part in long wilderness treks and mountain climbs and always have another mountain to climb next year. But because of injuries or health issues, many cannot sustain expedition-level fitness over the years and, in turn, that connection can be lost as a foundation to connect.
Over time, the strongest bonds I’ve seen between parents and children, and also between lifetime friends, have been around campfires, in boats and in duck blinds.
I’ve always asked, “What sets you free? Hike. Bike. Camp. Fish. Boat. Watch wildlife. Explore.”
If you want to hang out with your kids more and keep your friends for life, this is how you do it.
About that trip: People who fish want specifics, so here they are. From dawn to 9 a.m., the bass at Shasta are 5 to 15 feet deep, just migrating from the secondary points into the coves. We tried all colors; they wanted white. We settled on pearl-white and glimmer-blue Fat Albert grubs with a twisttail on a ¼-ounce Dart Head Jig, and a white plastic mini frog rigged Texas style with a
1⁄8-ounce brass bullet head on a 3/0 wide-gap off-set Gamakatsu hook. Wherever you could find rocks, what also worked great were ¼- to ½-ounce diving Fat Rap-style hard bait lures. In one sequence, we caught four strains of bass — smallmouth, northern, largemouth and Florida — 14 to 17 inches, in five casts.
Epic precipitation
The official rain and snow totals are not yet complete, but with early summer conditions arriving in many areas, here are the leaders for the winter season: Total precipitation: 154.56 inches (rain and snow combined) at the Huysink gauge in the American River watershed in the Sierra Nevada; rain: 150.40 inches at Venado on the Russian River in Sonoma County; season snowfall: 788 inches at Sugar Bowl off Interstate 80 near Donner Pass.
Outdoor notes
Best lakes with boat-in
campsites: Shasta Lake, Bullards Bar (near Camptonville), Big Lake (MacArthur), Trinity Lake (northwest of Redding), Lake Sonoma (northwest of Santa Rosa), Union Valley (Crystal Basin), Loon (Crystal Basin) and Stone Lagoon (Redwood Empire coast).
Big year for frogs: With all the water and the return of warm weather (in past years, the ephemeral water was largely gone when temperatures heated up), this is going to be a remarkable year for frogs and bullfrogs. In the past two weeks, I’ve seen frogs where I’ve never seen them before. Sure enough, Bob Robeson reports bullfrogs have already shed their tails at Skyline Park in Napa, and are out on the hunt.
Deer alert: Since Monday, when I published a driver alert for deer, I’ve seen the carcasses of many more along the highways. As spring arrives in the mountains and vegetation emerges, the deer will soon appear to eat, often crossing highways to do so. A full moon next week means night drivers should be alert: Drive slowly, hand on horn, ready to blast (your horn), brake and divert. And watch out for the followers.
Q&A
Q: Hiking the Cataract Trail, I saw a largish brown animal swimming in the water near the shore of Alpine Lake (near Bolinas-Fairfax Road, Marin County). It seemed too big for an otter. Do you know what it could have been? — John Loudon
A: What seems most likely is that John sighted a fisher, rare for Marin but reportedly sighted previously in the LagunitasBon Tempe-Alpine Lake watershed along Lagunitas Creek.