my life: pictures & captions: The One (or Two) That Got Away: Lake Cuyamaca

I haven't gone camping in about 10 years, and probably haven't gone fishing in 15. So I was pretty pumped when Vic invited me to this camping/fishing trip about a month ago. Friday morning we made a trip to Ralphs to pick up a few supplies.

Baby wipes: your best friend when you only have port-o-pottys.

A cart full of fresh vegetables, disposable tableware, baby wipes, and several gallons of water for drinking/cleaning/showering (yes showering!).

Then a trip to Garden Grove to a Korean supermarket for what else, KOREAN BBQ!!

And no you're not mistaken, that's 10 pounds of spare ribs. We also had an additional 10 pounds of boneless meat. 20 lbs total.

The total for 20 lbs? About $100.00.

Back to Vic's house to pack up the car.

These came in handy.

Everything had to be packed in his tiny little Scion TC. Surprisingly, we were able to put a lot in there.

Then we're on the road to Lake Cuyamaca. It's about 8 miles southwest of Julian which is in east county of San Diego. Yea I had no idea either.

The lake.

And our campgrounds.

Checked in at the tackle shop.

Picked up our camp permits, fishing permits, and some bait.

Nightcrawlers.

We get the last 2 adjacent campsites after some searching.

Vic had some trouble setting up the tent...

After my help, we gotter done.

Vic's friends from LA made it about half an hour later, after a trip to Phil's BBQ (jealous).

We got camp setup before sundown so we got some fishing in at the jetty. Pictured below are William, Jeff, & Marcos.

No luck with the fish. Headed back to camp and made dinner.

Jeff manned the grill during the whole weekend. We appreciated the cooking!

Marcos's Columbian x Korean BBQ burger collaborative project: hamburger patty with cheese, korean bbq, and crushed potato chips. Delicious.

A little late night poker. Harrison got to the site around 1am. We kept the neighbors up until 2am.

And what's camping without an AIR MATRESS?! (weak.)

We got up the next morning at 4:30am to make sure we got the best spot for fishing. Vic brewed some hot chocolate for the crew.

The view from the site.

We drove to the other side of the lake to the pier spot where Vic and Jessica caught 20 fish between the two of them 3 weeks ago. We were hoping for the same good fortune.

Turns out that the pier is tiny and we could barely fit 3 people comfortably. We made our way around to the handicapped fishing spot.

The lake used to be much larger before it started to dry up. This side used to be part of the lake too.

It was pretty slow for the first 2 hours. Patience is key.

Finally around 7:30 Vic gets a nibble.

First catch of the weekend!

Things started to pick up. Vic caught his second fish pretty quick.

William got in on the action too. His trick: fall asleep holding the fishing rod, and wait for the alarm clock.

This guy (Dallas) caught a 10lbs catfish while fly-fishing a few spots down. He was reeling for a good 30-45 minutes. That's a damn big fish!

As a family was walking by, Vic was catching his third fish. They got so excited they asked if they could take a picture with the catch. Cute.

GO MARCOS!

Yea it got really slow again...

Back to camp for lunch. More k-bbq and hotdogs.

After lunch Vic made a shower. Items needed: rope/twine, 2-gallon water jug, styrofoam cup, rubber glove, toothpick, a tree to hang it from.

The guys of course provided support in moral form.

Fuckin MacGyver this guy. (MacGyver > Jack Bauer any day.)

Harrison and I took first dibs.

Marcos got a shower too.

Sexy time.

Saturday afternoon activities proved to be a daunting task. So we lived our camping experience to the fullest: we made a trip into town.

Julian is a quaint little town. Plus it had plumbing facilities which we were in dire need of to relieve our plumbing.

The town is famous for their apple products. We of course had to try some apple pie.

Nothing more American than Mom's apple pie.

À LA MODE! In this heat you know it had to be done.

2 minutes into the meal, the pie was demolished.

William scarfed his slice fast and was eyeing Vic's.

Jeff and Marcos cleaned up house.

Down the block was the Julian Cider Mill.

We're really roughing it now.

Back to camp for more fishing (there really isn't anything else to do out here).

First catch of the evening.

Marcos caught a real fish this time. But it was too small and had to be thrown back.

Jeff hit up the tide pools for the small ones.

Jeff's first fish!

He caught this one at least 3 times...

My first catch!

Vic catches Jeff's fish with his homemade pole.

Vic and I went back to the tackle shop to clean up the fish from earlier that morning.

Chop the head off, slice down the belly, pull the guts out, and wash out the blood from the spine.

Back to the jetty. I was messing around and just dipped my pole in the water and got a big bite. Fought the catfish for a few minutes, and then the knot around the hook got loose and the big one got away. 30 minutes later I get another big bite. We definitely didn't want this one to get away so Vic coached me through the whole process.

Jeff provided some support.

15 minutes later, the line snaps and we're all bummed. Vic said that the catfish was probably around 10lbs and that it probably swam under a rock to rip the line.

This will be a painful reminder of the lost battle.

The jetty was definitely another failure. Damn it.

Back to camp for dinner: k-bbq, hamburgers, and trout.

Called it a night early to get some extra rest. On Sunday we tried a different spot at the lake.

Spot seemed promising as Vic caught the first fish 20 minutes into it.

Isn't that Jeff's baby fish?

Jeff caught a catfish!

Then it got really slow and hot. So we made spears.

Afterwards we packed up camp and left Sunday around noon. The final tally: Vic caught 4 trout; William caught 1 trout; Jeff caught 1 catfish; Marcos, Harrison, and myself didn't catch anything worth eating or taking back. :sadface:

Stopped at the Valero's gas station for gas and a bathroom break. The line was long. Caught Harrison behind the dumpster!

And yes I did wear the same shirt the whole weekend. No point in changing it since the other shirts would just get dirty/ruined and I can just get another one of these from Jay Dread. When I got home, I took a 30-minute shower, and a 4 hour nap.

Good times with some new friends.