Trolling practice at Stevens Creek

Got up a bit late and did some chores around the house then headed out somewhere close and it was either Calero or SCR. Since I have never got a fish out of SCR I decided to pack it up and head out there.

Arrived sometime before 11:00 and on the water 30 minutes later. Marked a lot of fish right off the launch so I decided to put a Kastmaster in front of them. Two minutes into my troll, BENDO and a swing and a miss. Tried going through again and NADA . I setup pole #2 with a wedding ring and a small piece of power worm. Set that about 60-75 feet behind the kayak and headed toward the dam. About 5 minutes, BAM! SOlid hook up of a little stocker. THis started the pattern for the rest of the day. Set out the pole and watch the little guys tap the heck out of it then hook themselves. The ones I let hit to long swallowed it so home they went for dinner.

Finished off with 5 that went home and 5 released. Left at 3:15.

Overall it was fun, especially using my new ultralite. It was nice to be back on the water since January.

Very nice... I took the boys out there this afternoon to soak some bait. Too windy to drag the yak out with them so, we found a place along the shoreline and hit it. Nada... but the boys had fun exploring a bit. Nice day except for the wind.

Freddie

Yeah, Humboldt was like a windy refrigerator today - even with the sun out.  Way to de-skunk yourself for SCR.

Thanks for the report.   

wow, ncka hits SCR! (that is soooo sad,  ).

I got 4 between 4 and 6. one came on a spin'n'glo'n'bead'n'grub,  . rest on 1/3rd crawler behind shasta sling blade dodger. very windy. watched two guys in a bathtub (that's what it looked like anyways) and a trolling motor battle to get back to the launch. they had the trolling motor full blast. one guy paddling. one guy had to lie down to reduce wind resistance,  . I believe they made it,  whew, cause I was not in the mood for an on-the-water rescue.

abking, I took a shot of one of the ospreys(!!), however, it was too far away to be of any use. At first I thought it was too windy, even for them. But then, as the sun was coming down, they came out, and played "ride of the valkaries" while hunting planters. well, okay, they didn't play that. but they would have if they could! and sure enough, one nailed a planter. the cormarants may eat most of them, but the ospreys sure take it for showboating. Last fall I watched an osprey nail a surf perch! heck, who knows, could be the same ones.

well, I have to say that a few trips in the spring evne for scr minnows really helps with the feeling of one-ness with kayak that is so important once you hit the ocean. in fact, it's even better with some adverse conditions.

JM?

Did the wind get worse after I left? It wasn't that bad when I was out there. I continually made headway into the wind in the Hobie. Not very fast, but I still was moving forward.

I did see those poor guys in the "bathtub." They had it rough since they had little room in it. There were a couple of them in the morning. Rather be in the yak than one of those.

JM?

Did the wind get worse after I left? It wasn't that bad when I was out there. I continually made headway into the wind in the Hobie. Not very fast, but I still was moving forward.

I did see those poor guys in the "bathtub." They had it rough since they had little room in it. There were a couple of them in the morning. Rather be in the yak than one of those.

It probably got a little worse after you left.

The wind was pretty strong. probably some 20 knot sustained gusts. probably strongest around 5 p.m.? it died down a little right as the sun moved toward the mountain. It was no big deal on the yak, but would have been on a much bigger lake or the ocean. anyway, it was fun.

John

John,

Is the spin and glo the steelhead size or do they come smaller? Sounds like a good set up when the fish are on top. I was marking a lot of them no deeper than 10 feet all day.

They make them pretty small the top one is the size I use for steelies most of the time I really like the Black ones for Trout

black for trout, eh? figures, I got pink and chartreuse etc.

splash, I don't know the sizes I have. they are the smallest two sizes in the tray at fisherman's warehouse tho.

I actually ran that one with a trolling keel weight, it wasn't on top. I figured if I stopped, the weight would hit bottom, but I would not snag cause the spin'n'glo would float the hook and bait. of course, the weight could snag, but less likely than a hook.

The two largest (well, you know what I mean, we are still talking DFG planters) fish came on that rig as it sank in a turn, probably real near the bottom. the spin'n'glo has a lot of drag, it rises up when you go faster even with a trolling weight. by varying the speed, you can cover a lot of depths from 5 to 20 feet.

the way I had it rigged the fish had to actually eat the spin-n-glo pretty much it was directly ahead of the hook except for a bead. which they did, so that tells you how small they were.

mickfish I am very happy with my mcGyver trolling weight. a cheap ball bearing snap swivel. pinch a shot or two on the snap, tie to the ring. I remember you were looking for those winged trolling weights. I don't have those, but this worked well for me.

J

I had mine rigged like this.

it's not the best choice, kind of overkill for DFG trout and too big for the 10" and under ones.  mainly I just read about them here and elsewhere and wanted to try them cause I never used one before. practice with different tackle basically.

mickfish will give me a hard time for overanalyzing tackle, but one note worth passing on: the tail of that spin-n-glo is filed flat because the hole in it is not straight so it does not spin very well when pressed against the bead without modification. if you get the little ones check for the crooked hole. if the hole is angled due to being drilled crooked, it won't spin well unless you file the tail flat.

A power egg in front of an even smaller grub, with no bead is probably better for these little trout and much cheaper too. also has the floating properties and trout will probably eat it even better than the spin-n-glo. if you cut the egg in half, with flat side forward, it's like a 'wiggle-disc'.

J

it is not straight so it does not spin very well when pressed against the bead without modification.

Or you could just use a really small bead and it will spin like crazy

Nice to meet you OTW, Sunday. And once again my apologies for trolling 1200 or so feet of line behind me. If it wasn't 1200 feet then it was at least enough line for me to get a first hand glimpse of how easy it is to remove a Hobie drive and untangle some knucklehead's Trilene from it. Thanks for the patience.

Gerry

Gerry,

Like I said, You should have posted you got a 12'6" something out of SCR!!! Would have opened a few folks eyes just like the 14 pound bass story did.

It was great to meet you and your brother and able to fish with both of you. Hopefully I'll see you guys around. I plan on trying my luck "food chain" fishing at Calero.