The Editor’s Note: Memories of the Mother Lode

ALLEY SPRINGS—I’ve always

Vhad an affinity for California’s Mother Lode country – that loosely defined area east of Stockton straddling the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierra foothills of Calaveras County, home to Mark Twain’s celebrated jumping frogs in his iconic short story.

But in reality, it’s all of the Gold Country that is ingrained in my memories. There was the annual winter “snow trip” to Sonora my dad and I would take along with his car club and the bowling alley down the street from our hotel we’d play a few games at during the weekend; the summer home our family friends invited us to in nearby Columbia; and some of the best fondue I’ve ever eaten at a quaint restaurant in Jamestown.

But it’s the four fisheries known as the Mother Lode lakes – Camanche, Pardee, New Hogan and Amador – that have always been kind of my childhood obsession. So while I wasn’t going to have time to fish them on a Sunday last month, I certainly wasn’t going to let an opportunity to at least reminisce a bit slip by.

My cousin Mike and his wife Cherie left their Bay Area roots and moved to a beautiful 5-acre spread in Valley Springs, a tiny community surrounded by those four Mother Lode lakes. And they were kind enough to host our extended family’s Greek Orthodox Easter celebration on April 24.

On the drive with my family, we stopped at Camanche Lake, the most complete resort among the quartet of lakes. I remember the summer camping trip I took with my sister, brother-in-law and some friends way back in the early 1990s. Years later when I lived in Southern California I took a trip north that included multiple fishing excursions, including spending a beautiful spring morning trolling for trout at Camanche (we got skunked, but the massive country breakfast we enjoyed at a Highway 99 diner near Lodi kept us full and content).

The family and I made a quick stop at the popular Camanche trout pond, and I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic about fishing here as a child as I watched all the kids wet their lines in hopes of something scooping up their Power Bait and nightcrawlers.

The lake itself looked a little low – that’s become sadly the norm in our droughtstricken state – but people were still out and about on this sunny Sunday.

On the way to Mike and Cherie’s home in Valley Springs, I saw mileage signs for Pardee – I loved fishing there on a trip with my mom when I was a tween – Amador and New Hogan. All of the lakes have been renowned for their fishing productivity, including Amador bass and Pardee

Camanche Lake, one of the four Mother Lode lakes of Calaveras County, offers special memories for the editor. (CHRIS COCOLES)

The trout pond at Camanche is a popular destination for young and older anglers alike hoping to catch a stocked rainbow. (CHRIS COCOLES)

kokanee, from back in the day.

That first trip to this region way back when I was a kid still resonates with me. I wish I still knew where those Kodak camera snapshots I took of all four lakes when we drove around the area. They’re all special to me so many years later.

Hovered around the grills at Mike’s house while taking in the aroma of sizzling leg of lamb and chicken, I told him how nostalgic I felt being back in the Mother Lode. He and Cherie will soon be moving to an even bigger property up the road in Angels Camp – not far from another iconic Gold Country lake, New Melones. Maybe I’ll make some more memories the next time I visit them in one of my favorite parts of California. -Chris Cocoles