Calaveras Lake is more than 3600 acres that is very accessible, even if you don't have a boat.
Manny Martinez has been guiding on the lake for decades. He even holds the lake record for redfish - a whopping 41" 30-pounder.
Martinez says that this year, there's plenty of fish biting. "This big monster redfish that were brought in in the '70s has exploded now."
Exploded is right. We were seeing tons of baitfish and big reds on the fish finder. It wasn't long after Martinez set the lines, the first one hit.
The reds put up a good fight. In most places, most fishermen would be happy with one 5 or 6 pounds, but we were just getting started.
Martinez explained how he'd listen to the sound of the fishing cable as a giveaway that we'd hooked a fish: "When it does that 'weeee' sound, it's on!"
We didn't have to wait long before it made that sound again. This time, I heard it. This time, it was a big boy.
This fish had no intentions of getting into the boat. It did everything in its power to stay out, and it had lots of power. Every time I would reel and gain a foot, the red would drag out two.
It took more than 6 minutes to finally convince this fish I wasn't giving up either. It was amazing - the biggest one we caught, measuring 30 inches in length and weighing about 22 pounds.
The weather started getting a little nasty. It started spitting rain, and the wind kicked up; below the water, the fish didn't seem to mind, one bit.