30 Hrs

Recently I had to drive up to our families cabin to handle some quick business. Its 2.5 hrs into the foothills from home, but it is also 30 mins from front door to the launch ramp of Lake McClure. I've been wanting to tow up and give it whirl but during the seasons I want to go something has always come up. All I needed to do ai the cabin was load some stuff up to haul out. I decided this may be a good trip to make with my dad and son, you know, quick trip to the cabin and get a half day of fishing in. Go up one afternoon, clean up and then fish the next morning. No problem. Well, I woke up got the boat cleaned out and loaded the lake tackle, loaded what I needed for the cabin and got the work sorted out at Toxic. By the time my dad was ready, we got on the road, stopped to mail something, hit Home Depot for supplies, and stopped for gas it was well into the afternoon. 3 Hrs later with a Bass Boat, the fam and a thrown together dinner of hot dogs and pringles we got at "Don Pedro Market" (for those that know, its just a west coast Bodega, not much of a grocery store) we arrived at our little slice of nowhere. Its a cool property with big trees, plenty of room and nice place to rest your head. Black tail are usually up before the sun munching the grass surprised by our sudden interjection of gear and doors banging around their normal sanctuary. It's well worth the drive. My dad has never been and doesn't really travel much so my son showed him the property and they hacked shit with knives and whooshed on the rusty zip line thrown up for the kiddos.

I got to work and loaded the back of the truck while they opened up the house and got comfortable. There's a loop in the drive for easy boat positioning so after I finished doing the BS i plugged in the ol Ranger and went inside. Some Kirkland all beef franks were waiting for me like a shining beacon of heartburn and next day Imodium A-D, but I threw some cheese on them sumbitches and enjoyed the sunset. Man, this went smooth as silk. Were gonna wake and go fish too? Awesome.

Next morning I find out my dad and son stayed up all night till 330 watching Harold and Kumar and God knows what else. Fuck. Here we go. I just had my coffee and sat in the boat and rigged up. Whatever, topwater spotted bass are overrated anyways. Fuck. They stumbled out at 6:30 we cleaned up the cabin and washed the dishes because I planned on leaving the lake by Noon so we could get home and I could get back to work. We set off to the gas station to grab ice at 7. They open at 8 and there's only one in town. WELL BOYS! We ain't waiting, that stuff is cold enough for a short trip. Got down to the ramp and prep the boat. Find my bow strap has snapped and the bow has been ping ponging up and down for the drive. Nice. No biggie I'll just tie a knot to get me home. Off we go bright and early for the end of the shade lines. First stop, find em and my son smacks a spot on a swimmer. AWESOME! Two casts later i go to throw my Mink and it snaps off and sticks to my calf like glue. 3x 1/0 treble buried to the bend. Fuck. I grab pliers and just yank it out. I dont have time for this, the shade is almost gone. So after bleeding all over my new Seadek like a gaffed tuna we move spots. First cast at the next spot BOOM my son hooks a 2.5lb largemouth. Killer, that all I wanted, now just need my dad to catch one. Shade was gone and i ran around trying to find some bites but it was hard to explain the technique and have them both on 3 hrs sleep. My son was already out cold on the boat. 1230 we called it, I wanted my dad to get one and we tried to no avail but that's fishing. We load up the rig and head out. At the gate there's a line of boats and trucks parked. Come to find there's an overturned propane truck blocking the road and no one is leaving for 3-4 hrs. Fuck. Guess we are going swimming. Relaunched, ran to grab some ice and food if we could from the marina shop. They had ice and choco tacos... no food. Cant win today, but we found a cove with a waterfall still running and went swimming. After waiting out the propane crisis and swimming till we were bored we made one more stop to try and nab a bass for my dad. BING!! He got a spot on dropshot last point we fished. That was my goal for the trip. Of course I wanted to catch a ton, but with my graphs blinking and my lack on knowledge on that lake, I was cool with the results. Success!

We loaded up and began the short drive home. The drive seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. Sliding into homebase around 730 pm to drop off my dad and then get home by 8pm wasn't what I planned! NOTHING about the trip went as planned. The weed whacker I took to do some trimming went kaput right away, graphs were not cooperating, fat treble to the leg, late start, no sleep... The list went on and on. Yet somehow, through all the mishaps and bullshit, this was one of the best fishing trips of my life. What a success. As you get older but also watch the people around you get older you realize the journey IS THE JUICE. The memories made and experiences had while making them, thats this shit you remember and cherish more than the destinations. "Remember that one time you did....." are some of the best memories, the back drop or location is usually unimportant or just adds extra spice to the story. I'm a high strung guy and never feel like I can complete my goals for the day or year, but the more time I spend chasing them the more I think the goals are an end but the journey is juice, experience over achievement. There's no time to sleep. Next weekend is my BDAY weekend and were gonna fry some fish and relax with friends and family. The weekend after that im going to San Pedro to the soft opening for the LA FISHING ALLIANCE, watch my social for updates on that, but im bringing a bunch of limited stuff and salt protos. That means the next two weeks I got a lot of work ahead of me, but that's the juice right? The journey. So Ima build my ass off and squeeze in a trip I have no time for and make some memories with good people, even if the plans go completely off the rails, Im betting it's

going to be epic.