The 9th was a long day for Tim Alpers and his trout delivery. He loaded his tanks at 4:00 a.m. and started out from the Eastern Sierra. At 3:00 p.m. he gave us a call from Temecula to let us know that he ran into stop-and-go traffic on the 15 up in the L.A. area..... and experienced some mechanical problems...imagine that! By 4:30 p.m. he was at Lake Cuyamaca. You would think that the man would be tired. A colorful and animated person......he jumped out of his truck with a "Yeehaw and a Yahoo". Tim shook everyone's hand and gave each of us "Alpers" pins. He was here long enough to throw down a bet of $100.00 that ALL of his fish would be active, and not go belly-up even after the long trip. (Nobody took him up on his bet). We helped him drop his fish in the Lake and the fish were jumping by the light of the full moon as it rose in the east. Tim says that "these fish will give the anglers something to pursue, active..... like Alpers trout are, they will scamper around, they're wild as hell, they won't come out of the Lake fast and they will have a good effect for several months to come. Then he was off to San Diego to find parts for his truck.

Jess Ranch was unable to stock on the scheduled day as a result of mechanical problems, but will be out early next week with 1,200 pounds of trout. Then, the next plants will be Mt. Lassen (1,000 pounds) on the 21st, and another DFG (1,000 pounds) plant on the 22nd of the month....this will provide some interesting fishing with the mixture of trout during the upcoming winter months.

During the last few days anglers were back at the bait and tackle shop buying a bag of ice for their stringer of trout before 9:30 a.m.

The bass action is still on with Melvin Langhorn, a native San Diegan from Chula Vista, having an epic week catching and releasing (7) Florida Strain Large Mouth Bass over 5 pounds using "swim-baits" and "sinkos". Melvin has become a frequent visitor here at the Lake learning the habits of our bass, studying our structure, and documenting conditions. His patience (over time) has paid off. Melvin rarely leaves the Lake without catching and releasing some whoppers. He believes in releasing the fish back for another angler to enjoy and to allow the fish to grow...

Some other Notable Catches......

***Jason Sokoff of Oceanside...Friday 11-4....5 trout with the largest weighing in at 2 pounds on night crawlers at Lone Pine in less than 3 hours. Scott Copeland of Shelter Valley caught 1- trout and 11-catfish with the largest @ 2-1/2 pounds on nightcrawlers at the "T" dock

*** Thomas Arande of Imperial Beach....Tuesday 11-8....5 trout while using minijigs and chartreuse power bait at the north finger jetty....(a 20 minute limit).

***Thomas Arande (again) and Louis Arce of Imperial Beach....Thursday 11-10....10 trout , 2-pound largest....( 2 hour double limit). Chartreuse power bait and minijigs.***Jim and Samantha Leibold of Lemon Grove....10 trout ( 2 pound largest) on night crawlers and power bait on the Dyke

***Mike O'Mara of Chula Vista.....5-trout ...1-1/2 pound largest caught at pumphouse cove. Thomas Aranda, Tony Wiggins, and Faustina Aranda of Imperial Beach ....15 trout, 2 pound largest a variety of bait on the dyke.....a two hour triple limit. And Dylan Bell, age 11 of Poway a 2- pound trout from the dyke using white trout teasers.

Keep your lines tight and rods bent......... "Dusty Britches"