Ryan and Amanda's Fishing Hole, located 20 miles north of Sacramento, offers year round fishing and seasonal hunting. The operation is a licensed fish farm, with 18 ponds totaling 120 acres of ponds and ten miles of shoreline, according to Jeff Vogt, the club's owner. The club, now offering a limited number of memberships, features both catch-and-release and catch-and-keep fishing for big channel catfish, largemouth bass, rainbow trout and white sturgeon.

"We raise our own fish as organically as possible with the best feed," said Jeff. "We feature catfish up to 10 pounds, bass to 4 pounds, trout to 3 pounds and sturgeon to 5 feet long."

Sheldon had "pre-fished' the lakes for a couple of hours the previous week and urged me to get up there, so we set up a trip for Thursday, November 21. When I arrived at the property, I was amazed by the size and number of the ponds. Jeff said the two largest ponds were 15 acres each.

"The spinnerbaits were hot last time," Sheldon advised me. "Toss your bait in the pond over there because that's where we landed the big ones last time."

Sheldon hooked up immediately in the pond he started fishing, but the pond I first tried didn't produce anything. Chuck, one of the club's staff, started fishing in another pond, catching one bass after another on a plastic worm, and yelled at us to get over there. Sheldon and I moved over to that pond and began hooking fish on just about every cast.

Sheldon caught his fish throwing Flukes, Senkos and spinnerbaits, while I fished with Texas-rigged 4 inch Magic Worms in a variety of colors. I also caught a half-dozen fish while using rainbow Crave Bait. We had an absolute blast catching one fish after another!

The bass were fat, incredibly healthy-looking largemouths averaging 1-1/2 to 2 pounds with lots of fish in the 2 to 4 pound class. Every one was a hard-fighting little football. Who says that farm-raised fish can't fight? We lost count of the fish we caught over the next several hours, but it was in the hundreds.

We decided to take a break from the bass since our thumbs were getting sore from lipping the fish before we released them back into the water, so we drove over to one of the catfish ponds, where we joined Jeff's children, 6-year-old Ryan and 2-year-old Amanda. After they caught a catfish with a hot dog piece, Sheldon and I moved in for a little relaxing catfishing. The big cats took a little more finesse to entice, but we soon landed around 8 catfish in the 1-1/2 to 5 pound class. Most of these fish jumped and swirled on the surface after we hooked them on mackerel and nightcrawlers.

I was still fishing for cats when Sheldon shouted, "The spinnerbait bite is hot right now," he said. "You got to get over here!" After getting my truck unstuck from a ditch that I had drove into in my excitement, I joined him and found incredible bass action on spinnerbaits, plastic worms and silver/white Hum Dingers until dark. What a blast!

On the following week, Allen Bonslett took his children, Elizabeth and Derek, to the club and also found wide-open black bass action. "We were originally planning to go for the catfish also, but the action was so good for bass that I didn't want to leave the bass pond," said Bonslett. "It was comparable to the great bass action you find on the Umpqua River." They caught the fish on a variety of lures and were as impressed as Sheldon and I were by the fat, healthy bass that they hooked.

The club plans to hold monthly tournaments for adults and children, according to Vogt. They also have several two man "baby bass boats" and paddle boats. There is plenty of room for R.V. parking for overnight stays. Member access is available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

Duck, goose and pheasant hunting is also included on 350 acres of rice ground. "We have 7 sets of four man blinds," added Vogt. "There is also an area for trap shooting and plenty of room for working and training your dog in the off season."

The club is offering a limited number of annual memberships for $180 per month and $250 for family memberships. Included in the membership will be use of all facilities for fishing and hunting and up to 400 pounds of catfish, 50 pounds of bass and 100 pounds of trout. They are also offering daily passes for $50.00 each.

Call (916) 655-3590 for directions and an appointment to see the club.