Forebay Oct 19

Went down and launched about 1430 from the old boat ramp. Nobody was picking up anything and the channel was clean--no single marked fish. The wind was giving me a 1/2 to 1 knot drift which kept pulling up my T-14 so I headed back to shore, packed up the kayak and took the float tube over to the Islands--handles much better in the breeze when fly fishing.

Hooked up a smallish Schoolie and right as the sun hit the levee, several pulls from 3 separate large fish. they self-released.  I need to check my hook for sharpness more often--that 7-weight couldn't pull home the dull hook. The fish came in just as I had to go in and the wind picked up in the last hour which made staying where I marked fish difficult. Headed in with 10 minutes to go on the official off-the-water sundown time. talked with an Almond farmer who was out there in a kick boat--he said they had a freak strong storm the day before and he thought it might have affected the fishing--he got nothing and I've seen him catch good-sized fish before.

Note of Caution: boats have to be off the water by sundown, sundown being defined by the time they put on the whiteboard at the entrance stations. Check it and give yourself time to beach. It's a $175 fine if cited and there is one ranger when on duty who plays it by the book.

Good info, Marmot, and welcome back to the board after your hiatus.   

better than building WAF or working I always say!  it sounds like the fishing widows are small and short lived there......IwouldGOcrazy!
Thanks for the report!  did you know there are Catfish in there too?

Fish Hunter, I have seen a few shore anglers pull monster catfish out of there. And a few plastics fishers get nice 5-6 pound Bass as well. I keep telling myself to bring a bass rod and some plastics for when the wind bows me off and I can wade fish the weed beds and off the rip rap--I've seen some nice bass taken that way while hunting Stripers.

Abking, thanks for the kind words. Good to be back fishing.

I caught my personal best 5.5lb bass out of the forebay while dragging a stick bait over the weeds. Mooch and I had a double digit 1lb bass day there a few year ago as well.

Went down and launched about 1430 from the old boat ramp. Nobody was picking up anything and the channel was clean--no single marked fish. The wind was giving me a 1/2 to 1 knot drift which kept pulling up my T-14 so I headed back to shore, packed up the kayak and took the float tube over to the Islands--handles much better in the breeze when fly fishing.

You are the one and only that owns a yak but prefer a tube in here!  I can relate to that since I fish a tube also.

I have not been able to find the black bass in that lake yet. I know the bigger fish are not by the power poles for sure. Any ideas?

I have had my best luck near the Mederios (sp?) launch ramp in the weeds from about the shore campgrounds over to the bridge (135?). Mostly on spinner baits but others have done well on slow sinking worms. I think it would be a great frog spot.

Marmot did you see any dragon flys yet? That place gets silly with the dragon fly spawn.

The Medeiros area is IMHO one of the best areas there for kayak launches: you have the old boat ramp, no jetski/waterski traffic, a very productive area of weed beds through the flats to the channel and you can troll along the channel down to the islands to fish the holes and then back up along the weed edges and finish the evening in the flats. If I'd just take some time to hone my plastics skills I could go for those weed beds when it's too windy to fly fish

Bill, I have never caught a 5-lb Bass there--that's some skill dude. The Damselfly hatch is usually peaking in August, but a few came off in the early afternoon sun and warmth a couple of weeks ago--two crawled out on my float tube to dry and then flew off. I have seen the Striped Bass boil all around just slurping in the hatching nymphs--when that happens they are so keyed on them that I have not been able to get a rise on a popper or it on a streamer though it might just be pilot error.

Compa, I prefer the float tube only when I plan to mostly fly fish there in a wind--I usually don't want to anchor because you need to find the schools and they are constantly moving around. If I switched to spinning and bait casting tackle I'd use the kayak there but I started out fly fishing for Stripers there and you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.

Bill, is this recent or is it old news? That is a very big area and the weeds are everywhere throughout the lake. Come to think about it the biggest I have ever caught there was only 3 lbs. But then I normally don't bother with them unless the stripers are not biting. There are tons of these little buggers all over the lake now.



Surfing Marmot, it is not any different to work a lure on spinning or bait casting gear than on fly grear. They all require two hads to do unless you are fishing with plastics or slower moving lures. But the stripers don't like slower moving lures so you are forced to use 2 hand anyway if you want to target them. The only way to catch a striper if you are moving slowly is to bait fish IMHO. But lures are so much fun! 

I think I haven't adequately explained what I mean--I do use conventional gear and it is a lot easier on the kayak. Let me provide a little detail on the problems wind presents to fly fishing heavy lines, deep presentations, and fast strips on a kayak The added problem with fly fishing is the fact that you are dealing with light flies, running lines that tangle easily, and heavy shooting head lines.

First,  the fly has so little weight you have to use a really heavy shooting head of about 27 feet of T-14 backed by 125 yards of running line about the size of 30-pound monofilament (T-14 is 14 grains per foot which is slightly heavier than lead core trolling line) to get down 10-25 feet and it drops 9 inches per second so you count down quite a bit. If the wind blows you around it pulls the line up a lot and you don't get your fly where the fish are for very long.

Second, while you can cast and retrieve from a spinning reel almost 270 degrees from a kayak so the wind spinning you around a bit is no problem, with heavy shooting heads lines, you have to strip the running line into your lap so it doesn't tangle on the next cast. Stripping and maintaining good fly action is difficult unless the fly and line stay straight line out front of you--it can quickly become a tangled mess that fouls the next cast or if a fish strikes and you need to take up that line and get the fish on the reel.

Ahh! I understand now. But when I went out on the kayak with John and it was like 20 mph winds, it was really hard to control even with spinning gear. I guess it must be like anything else, skills have to be learned!

I agree 20 mph makes any fishing difficult and certainly less enjoyable. But even a 5 mph wind makes fly fishing frustrating. I have conventional gear at 10 without a lot of frustration unless it was fishing Senkos or similar that require a real slow action.