Monday, June 30, 2008

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.
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Baby wipes: your best friend when you only have port-o-pottys.
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A cart full of fresh vegetables, disposable tableware, baby wipes, and several gallons of water for drinking/cleaning/showering (yes showering!).
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Then a trip to Garden Grove to a Korean supermarket for what else, KOREAN BBQ!!
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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.
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The total for 20 lbs? About $100.00.
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Back to Vic's house to pack up the car.
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These came in handy.
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Everything had to be packed in his tiny little Scion TC. Surprisingly, we were able to put a lot in there.
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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.
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The lake.
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And our campgrounds.
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Checked in at the tackle shop.
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Picked up our camp permits, fishing permits, and some bait.
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Nightcrawlers.
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We get the last 2 adjacent campsites after some searching.
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Vic had some trouble setting up the tent...
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After my help, we gotter done.
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Vic's friends from LA made it about half an hour later, after a trip to Phil's BBQ (jealous).
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We got camp setup before sundown so we got some fishing in at the jetty. Pictured below are William, Jeff, & Marcos.
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No luck with the fish. Headed back to camp and made dinner.
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Jeff manned the grill during the whole weekend. We appreciated the cooking!
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Marcos's Columbian x Korean BBQ burger collaborative project: hamburger patty with cheese, korean bbq, and crushed potato chips. Delicious.
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A little late night poker. Harrison got to the site around 1am. We kept the neighbors up until 2am.
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And what's camping without an AIR MATRESS?! (weak.)
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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.
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The view from the site.
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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.
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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.
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The lake used to be much larger before it started to dry up. This side used to be part of the lake too.
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It was pretty slow for the first 2 hours. Patience is key.
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Finally around 7:30 Vic gets a nibble.
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First catch of the weekend!
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Things started to pick up. Vic caught his second fish pretty quick.
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William got in on the action too. His trick: fall asleep holding the fishing rod, and wait for the alarm clock.
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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!
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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.
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GO MARCOS!
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Yea it got really slow again...
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Back to camp for lunch. More k-bbq and hotdogs.
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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.
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The guys of course provided support in moral form.
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Fuckin MacGyver this guy. (MacGyver > Jack Bauer any day.)
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Harrison and I took first dibs.
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Marcos got a shower too.
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Sexy time.
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Saturday afternoon activities proved to be a daunting task. So we lived our camping experience to the fullest: we made a trip into town.
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Julian is a quaint little town. Plus it had plumbing facilities which we were in dire need of to relieve our plumbing.
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The town is famous for their apple products. We of course had to try some apple pie.
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Nothing more American than Mom's apple pie.
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À LA MODE! In this heat you know it had to be done.
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2 minutes into the meal, the pie was demolished.
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William scarfed his slice fast and was eyeing Vic's.
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Jeff and Marcos cleaned up house.
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Down the block was the Julian Cider Mill.
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We're really roughing it now.
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Back to camp for more fishing (there really isn't anything else to do out here).
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First catch of the evening.
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Marcos caught a real fish this time. But it was too small and had to be thrown back.
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Jeff hit up the tide pools for the small ones.
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Jeff's first fish!
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He caught this one at least 3 times...
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My first catch!
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Vic catches Jeff's fish with his homemade pole.
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Vic and I went back to the tackle shop to clean up the fish from earlier that morning.
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Chop the head off, slice down the belly, pull the guts out, and wash out the blood from the spine.
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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.
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Jeff provided some support.
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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.
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This will be a painful reminder of the lost battle.
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The jetty was definitely another failure. Damn it.
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Back to camp for dinner: k-bbq, hamburgers, and trout.
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Called it a night early to get some extra rest. On Sunday we tried a different spot at the lake.
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Spot seemed promising as Vic caught the first fish 20 minutes into it.
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Isn't that Jeff's baby fish?
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Jeff caught a catfish!
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Then it got really slow and hot. So we made spears.
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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!
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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.
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One more picture of Vic, FTW!
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For more pictures check out these facebook photoalbums.
Jomo's Pt 1
Jomo's Pt 2
William's Pt 1
William's Pt 2
Marcos's

Peace!