Member Report: Larry N. at Diamond Valley Lake - 2/24/2007

[The Sea Hag]

Please put this down in your "My List of Things to Do Before I Die"......................

1.) Go on a professional guided fishing trip with Mark Franco!


For those members that come to the meetings, he came and gave an enthusiastic presentation at one of our meetings last year. Mark handed out his business card with a $50 discount, usually costing $350. I always wanted to try a guide so I thought this was a great opportunity and came with good recommendation from John Hart.


I had been trying to find time to book Mark for one of his guided fresh water fishing tours for the past two months. Finally on February 24th, Saturday, I got a reservation.

One of my 10 year old daughters jumped at the chance to go fishing with me. My other twin daughter, well, she opted to go shopping at the mall with Mom and get their nails done. (It would have been cheaper for me to bring them along!)

I invited two of my good buddies to join us. I was worried because it had rained the day before and was scheduled for rain the day after. But that Saturday Mark must have ordered blue skies and 70 degree weather. The weather was gorgeous!

We met at the Diamond Valley Lake marina at 8:30 am. He supplied all the equipment. All we needed was a fishing license and food. We started the day trolling in his covered pontoon boat. A pontoon boat is the only way to troll, it was so comfortable and relaxing.

The day started off slow on the troll with only one 1.5 pound trout. We must have had 5 poles trolling with two on a down rigger. This was my first experience trolling and he taught me a lot. By mid morning he wanted to try along the shoreline near the Marina. There is where we started to clean up! I caught the next fish which was 7+lbs! He showed me how to finesse the trout in on 2# test. It took about 15 minutes to catch the biggest trout of my life.

After that we had four more at least 4#s each. We also had a father and daughter hook up at the same time. Mark had so much patience, enthusiasm and encouragement showing my daughter how to fish. She had a great time and already told me she wants to go again.

I can't say enough about how much fun she had. The other boats around us were getting miffed at us. We we doing all the catching and they had empty sacks. It must have been our guide!

By the end of the day we had 15 trout totaling 32 pounds. If you've got kids, you gotta go with Mark.......I know my daughter will be fishing with me in the future because of Mark. If your reading this Mark, we're going after the bass nextime!


The moral of the story is "Don't miss our monthly club meetings at Edward's Steakhouse, you'll miss these gems!"

Your Purser, Larry