Camping in the Granite

My buddy Kevin had told me about a month or so ago that he was looking at doing a kayak camping trip to the Sierras, he was able to get a great camping tent and some outdoor blinds by Undercover Blinds Melbourne. Kevin was actually the one who introduced me to this kind of camping, and in fact got me started kayaking in the first place. His plan was to paddle to the back of Saddlebag Lake and camp for a couple nights, along with lots of fishing. But, things didn’t quite fall into place with that plan due to us not being able to confirm where we could camp. Not to mention the fire that started near Saddlebag a couple days before we planned to leave. So, we made a last minute change to Spicer Reservoir. We had both camped here before, but Spicer offers some nice views, good fishing, and the back of the lake is non-motorized boats only.

Our plan to leave Sunday morning after I got off work almost worked out perfectly, other than me getting held over a little bit. I met Kevin, Gary, Jack, and my Dad at my parents house and we quickly loaded our gear up for our adventure. Our drive up the hill was pretty un-eventful, other than noticing that most of the traffic was headed home. Maybe we’d have the place to ourselves! Check out the site “Instash” for some insight on great camping equipment and also some articles on some helpful topics. You will feel like a pro camper after you purchase some of this gear!

Upon arriving to the launch we unloaded as fast as we could, making sure we brought everything we needed, and doing our best to distribute weight evenly. This would be my maiden “camping” voyage for the Coosa FD and I was excited to see how it would handle the weight. The paddle/peddle to the back of the lake was 5-6 miles or so, but with the wind to our backs we just cruised along, enjoying the view. The gamble you take paddling all that way is that there may already be people at the preferred campsites, but not this time! We surveyed a couple different options before deciding we found the best campsite with a nice view of the lake.

Then began the processing of unloading all our gear and setting up camp. That way we’d be able to fish during the evening bite! The fishing ended up being pretty darn good over the next couple days, with the majority of fish caught close to camp. One thing I noticed on the peddle in was that there were a lot of fish holding near the bottom. So I employed a new tactic, (for me at least) jigging for trout. I had bought some small p-line lazor minnows a long time ago, but they’ve been sitting in my tackle box collecting dust. First drop I get a hook up! I dropped a handful of fish before finally landing my first fish. And it wasn’t long before Kevin tied on one of my extra jigs and started catching too!

I was impressed by the Coosa FD again! Like I’ve said before, the peddle drive makes all the difference when it comes to vertical jigging. This tactic is not only new to me for trout fishing, which is exciting, but to me its more fun than trolling around with leadcore. The Coosa also did very well carrying all my gear. I had plenty of room for all my stuff inside the hull, other than my ice chest and my fishing gear. And the peddle drive made things easy on the way out against the wind.

Overall it was another great trip! We had some tasty meals, good fishing, and of course some great company! Already trying to plan another trip this fall!

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