Lake Almanor - 8/14 - 8/16

Will be heading up to Almanor next weekend (14-16th).  More of a family camping trip, but will have the yak along for some smallie (maybe browns) action.  If anyone will be in the area let me know.

tight lines,
beenfishin

   I'll be there.  Staying at the cabins at Wilson's Camp Prattville, on the West Shore.  I'm not much of a bass fisherman, but I NEED to catch something.  LMK if you want to hook up.

Right on, smallies are my bag so we should be able to scratch up a few.  We're arriving Saturday (no reservations, just wing it) so I'll probably get out Sunday morning (maybe a few quick evening excursions too).

Cool.  I have a bunch of bass lures from a fishing camp my son went to so I should have something that will work.  I still want to catch a trout if I can though, and this report looks promising...

http://www.almanorfishingadventures.com/fishing_report.html

Both smallies and trout have been staying strong up here the past few weeks.  We're getting towards the end of the Hex Hatch on the west shore, but the fish are still gobbling up Hex nymph imitations.  This last week I've been going the "easy" route by anchoring with my kayak, then suspending a cricket-mealworm combo about 20 feet under a slip bobber.  In a good evening you'll get 3-5 trout between 14 and 24 inches, a mixture of rainbows and browns.  I've also been nailing some nice smallmouth throwing 4" ripbaits across rocky points in the mornings and evenings.  Fishing is best from 7:30pm til dark.

Right on Clayman, thanks for that!  Can you be a little more specific on that trout rig?  I usually just fish off the bottom when I'm fishing bait, and not familiar with you "slip bobber" method.  I promise I'll leave some fish for ya!

A slip bobber allows line to slide through the middle of it.  You start by placing a tiny little string on your line to act as the "stopper." You can vary where you tie the stopper depending on how deep you want your bait.  I've been fishing about 20 feet down, so I'll count out about 20 feet of line and place the stopper there.  Then you slide on a small bead, then your slip bobber.  Finally, you just tie on your hook and place a few split shot a couple feet above the hook.  When you cast out, the split shot will sink and your line will "slip" through your bobber until it hits the bead and stopper.  I like using slip bobbers because they allow my bait to drift across an area to imitate a Hex nymph swimming to the surface. 

You can also just fish your bait straight down without a bobber, as long as you're fishing in 20 or so feet of water.  That's what my friends have been doing and they've been catching a lot of nice fish.

Sweet, thanks for the info Clayman!

http://www.fishermanswarehouse.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=4432

Check out the bobber stops on the above FW link.  I've been using these instead of the string stop and they have been working better for float/slip bobber fishing.  Lots of other uses too - carolina rigs, texas rigs, etc.

Well, the war department has changed our plans...looks like were heading up to Siskiyou instead of Almanor.  Sorry Marin, knock 'em dead though!

You got it.  Will be sure to report back.  BTW, when I click on that Fisherman's Warehouse link, I get a warning that the "site may harm my computer."  Tried to access directly by typing into the address bar - same thing.  Then tried Google, and the following link appeared with the link to the FW website:

http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=45449&topic=360&hl=en&?sa=X&ei=lsphTIXAIIPksQPE5OWOCA&ved=0CCEQ2gEwAQ

Anybody know what's going on here??  (I think I'll post a new topic on this)

I just clicked on the link and it went to the FW webpage with the bobber stops.

The first error page I got indicated it might have something to do with my security settings, but when I Googled it and got a similar warning (on the Google search results page) I got a little worried.  I could just live dangerously and click on it anyway!