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Guide wants fish, not excuses
Ed Zieralski, San Diego Union Tribune
June 16, 2002
ANGELS CAMP – As a fishing guide in California Gold Country, Bruce Hamby figures he's heard and seen it all.
But he couldn't believe his ears one recent morning when two of his fishing clients took turns telling him, in their own way, that it wasn't that important to catch a lot of fish.
I went first, offering my standard monologue about how the experience of being on the water is what it's all about for me, saying this shortly after I'd hooked a Kokanee salmon on the troll, only to lose it a few feet from Hamby's outstretched pole net.
I've gotten good at delivering that speech lately. Lots of practice.
Hamby clearly wasn't pleased. An owner of a truck company, complete with a trucker's wide-body build, the big guy didn't hold back.
"These salmon have very soft mouths," he said to me, sounding more like a truck driver trying to keep his cool. "You really have to finesse them in, not horse them in. If you don't let them have their way, you'll just rip the hook out of their mouth."
My fishing partner, Don Vachini, went next. The Kokanees, and maybe one large brown that slammed one of the trolled rigs, had us 4-0. Hamby's fish box remained empty. Vachini, a free-lance outdoor writer from Petaluma who works full time as a physical education teacher at a middle school, told Hamby it wasn't that important to him to fill a stringer for the article he wanted to write.
That's when Hamby decided he'd seen and heard enough.
"You guys need to understand something here this morning," Hamby said. "It may be all about the experience to you guys, but to me, it's about how many salmon I put in that there box, not how many we release.
"Right now, you guys don't have any fish in the boat, and I'm watching some of these other people out here land them left and right. I'm not looking too good to my peers right now."
Ouch! Neither were we, we guessed.
Vachini and I sneaked a look at each other as Hamby adjusted his four downriggers. We felt like schoolkids who'd been taken to the woodshed. I've had guides and fishing partners throw out some criticism, some stern tips about not keeping the rod tip up, or not winding fast enough and such, but this was something very different.
"OK, Bruce, I'm going to get serious," I said, trying to make light of it.
"Please, Ed," Hamby said. "Get very serious."
A couple hours later, after getting very serious, we had eight Kokanee salmon and two rainbow trout in the box. That total didn't count the dozen or so we missed and the couple we released because they were too small. All were caught between 40 and 50 feet deep on dodger and flasher rigs trailed by hoochy lures tipped with corn, spiced with Pro Cure. Got all that?
Hamby was right. It was a lot more fun boating the smallish Kokanees than it was watching them squirm off via LDR, my term for long-distance release. And he became a lot more fun, too.
"Some people say I'm a little rough around the edges," Hamby said.
Nah, really?
Hamby, 55, said he's been fishing New Melones Lake before it was "new." That means he goes back to pre-1980, before the Corps of Engineers constructed the New Melones Dam, one of the more contentious federal public works projects ever done. Protesters took to chaining themselves to the rocks on bluffs above the Stanislaus River, which forms the lake, but to no avail. The project, although delayed because of the chained protesters, was completed.
"I fished this area in 1958 before it became the 'New Melones,' " Hamby said. "But now it really gets a lot of pressure. It's one of the few lakes that has free entry, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and there's always people fishing it somewhere. I'd kind of like to see them charge a little bit to ease some of the pressure."
Hamby said it was common 10 years ago to catch 10-pound brown trout. But now a 6-or 7-pound brown is a trophy here. One of his clients the previous day caught a 4-pound brown. But the lake is teeming with Kokanee, and it also has largemouth bass.
In addition to Melones, Hamby also guides on Lake Shasta for king salmon and rainbow trout, on Pine Flat Reservoir for king salmon and on Don Pedro for rainbow trout. He fishes from a 22-foot Fish Rite jet boat, equipped with four digital downriggers.
Hamby is one of the recommended guides at the Glory Hole Sports off Highway 49 in Angels Camp. Owner Melanie Lewis said few guides spend as much time on the water as Hamby.
"He and Wayne Douma of Fish On Guide Service are our two best," Lewis said.
Lewis said the big news last week was the big bass caught from shore under the Parrotts Ferry Bridge. Thomas Gerbing landed a 17-pound, 5-ounce largemouth that measured 30 inches and sported a 23-inch girth. Gerbing said he used a black-red-tailed Renegade plastic worm to fool the giant bass.
Considering the thousands of Kokanee salmon and rainbow trout planted in New Melones, it's only a matter of time before bass fishermen figure out that a bass with those measurements has the frame for world-record proportions. If they thought the gold rush brought folks in here, wait until they see what the Big Bass Frenzy drags into town.
But that bass caught by Gerbing won't be getting any bigger. Just like the Kokanee caught aboard Hamby's boat, this fish was hauled out. It was resting comfortably in the cooler at Glory Hole Sports earlier in the week. It broke the lake record by four pounds, and it wasn't going anywhere, except to the taxidermist's shop.
For information on Lake Melones, call Hamby at (209) 599-2023 (www.sierrasportfishing.com) or Glory Hole Sports at (209) 736-4333 (www.gloryholesports.com)
Ed Zieralski, San Diego Union Tribune
June 16, 2002
ANGELS CAMP – As a fishing guide in California Gold Country, Bruce Hamby figures he's heard and seen it all.
But he couldn't believe his ears one recent morning when two of his fishing clients took turns telling him, in their own way, that it wasn't that important to catch a lot of fish.
I went first, offering my standard monologue about how the experience of being on the water is what it's all about for me, saying this shortly after I'd hooked a Kokanee salmon on the troll, only to lose it a few feet from Hamby's outstretched pole net.
I've gotten good at delivering that speech lately. Lots of practice.
Hamby clearly wasn't pleased. An owner of a truck company, complete with a trucker's wide-body build, the big guy didn't hold back.
"These salmon have very soft mouths," he said to me, sounding more like a truck driver trying to keep his cool. "You really have to finesse them in, not horse them in. If you don't let them have their way, you'll just rip the hook out of their mouth."
My fishing partner, Don Vachini, went next. The Kokanees, and maybe one large brown that slammed one of the trolled rigs, had us 4-0. Hamby's fish box remained empty. Vachini, a free-lance outdoor writer from Petaluma who works full time as a physical education teacher at a middle school, told Hamby it wasn't that important to him to fill a stringer for the article he wanted to write.
That's when Hamby decided he'd seen and heard enough.
"You guys need to understand something here this morning," Hamby said. "It may be all about the experience to you guys, but to me, it's about how many salmon I put in that there box, not how many we release.
"Right now, you guys don't have any fish in the boat, and I'm watching some of these other people out here land them left and right. I'm not looking too good to my peers right now."
Ouch! Neither were we, we guessed.
Vachini and I sneaked a look at each other as Hamby adjusted his four downriggers. We felt like schoolkids who'd been taken to the woodshed. I've had guides and fishing partners throw out some criticism, some stern tips about not keeping the rod tip up, or not winding fast enough and such, but this was something very different.
"OK, Bruce, I'm going to get serious," I said, trying to make light of it.
"Please, Ed," Hamby said. "Get very serious."
A couple hours later, after getting very serious, we had eight Kokanee salmon and two rainbow trout in the box. That total didn't count the dozen or so we missed and the couple we released because they were too small. All were caught between 40 and 50 feet deep on dodger and flasher rigs trailed by hoochy lures tipped with corn, spiced with Pro Cure. Got all that?
Hamby was right. It was a lot more fun boating the smallish Kokanees than it was watching them squirm off via LDR, my term for long-distance release. And he became a lot more fun, too.
"Some people say I'm a little rough around the edges," Hamby said.
Nah, really?
Hamby, 55, said he's been fishing New Melones Lake before it was "new." That means he goes back to pre-1980, before the Corps of Engineers constructed the New Melones Dam, one of the more contentious federal public works projects ever done. Protesters took to chaining themselves to the rocks on bluffs above the Stanislaus River, which forms the lake, but to no avail. The project, although delayed because of the chained protesters, was completed.
"I fished this area in 1958 before it became the 'New Melones,' " Hamby said. "But now it really gets a lot of pressure. It's one of the few lakes that has free entry, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and there's always people fishing it somewhere. I'd kind of like to see them charge a little bit to ease some of the pressure."
Hamby said it was common 10 years ago to catch 10-pound brown trout. But now a 6-or 7-pound brown is a trophy here. One of his clients the previous day caught a 4-pound brown. But the lake is teeming with Kokanee, and it also has largemouth bass.
In addition to Melones, Hamby also guides on Lake Shasta for king salmon and rainbow trout, on Pine Flat Reservoir for king salmon and on Don Pedro for rainbow trout. He fishes from a 22-foot Fish Rite jet boat, equipped with four digital downriggers.
Hamby is one of the recommended guides at the Glory Hole Sports off Highway 49 in Angels Camp. Owner Melanie Lewis said few guides spend as much time on the water as Hamby.
"He and Wayne Douma of Fish On Guide Service are our two best," Lewis said.
Lewis said the big news last week was the big bass caught from shore under the Parrotts Ferry Bridge. Thomas Gerbing landed a 17-pound, 5-ounce largemouth that measured 30 inches and sported a 23-inch girth. Gerbing said he used a black-red-tailed Renegade plastic worm to fool the giant bass.
Considering the thousands of Kokanee salmon and rainbow trout planted in New Melones, it's only a matter of time before bass fishermen figure out that a bass with those measurements has the frame for world-record proportions. If they thought the gold rush brought folks in here, wait until they see what the Big Bass Frenzy drags into town.
But that bass caught by Gerbing won't be getting any bigger. Just like the Kokanee caught aboard Hamby's boat, this fish was hauled out. It was resting comfortably in the cooler at Glory Hole Sports earlier in the week. It broke the lake record by four pounds, and it wasn't going anywhere, except to the taxidermist's shop.
For information on Lake Melones, call Hamby at (209) 599-2023 (www.sierrasportfishing.com) or Glory Hole Sports at (209) 736-4333 (www.gloryholesports.com)
