afternoon trolling scr 2008/04/06

I went over for a couple hours for the sundown bite, scored two on trolled plastics instead of nightcrawlers.

one on each rod, the shasta sling blade with beetle-spin plastic, one on spin-n-glow-n-bead-n-grub with trolling weight.

with crawlers, the fish hook themselves pretty reliably, but I had a lot of drivebys on the plastic on the sling blade rod.

osprey's trying, but not doing as well today, I saw some other kind of seabird (tern?) nail a very small trout (?).  we got cormarants, terns and ospreys all after the trout.

big carp come to the south east shallow corner and a fly caster said he saw one today, could be interesting with a bread ball.

forget the GPS and camera but remembered the net.

J

Nice report JM!  I need to hit that lake up again soon.  I do stop by to fish from shore on my way home from work.  But need to get back on the water too.  Guess ill wait till next plant and hit it up.  Need a place to try out my new sail too! 

Thanks for the report.

I stopped by at lunch time a couple days ago.  Water temp was almost 61.  Saw some guy pull two small trout out by the picnic area (soaking bait or power bait most likely).
 

cormarants, terns and ospreys, big carp...

...forget the camera...

OK, John, just so long as you think of me when you remember that you forgot it!   

Thanks for the report and implication that you'll take and share pictures next time, if you remember...   

John -

I like your SNG-grub combo invention. If you scaled it down in size it might be good for kokanee also. I will make a few and give it a try. Do you think they work better with dodgers or without?

Scott

John -

I like your SNG-grub combo invention. If you scaled it down in size it might be good for kokanee also. I will make a few and give it a try. Do you think they work better with dodgers or without?

Scott

scott, imo, without.

I'm thinking the spin-n-glow is basically a spinner, so should be enough vibration and action (and drag) without the dodger. you probably need some sort of keeled(?) trolling weight ahead of the SNG since it floats and spins. you could use flashers for that. I used a long leader 4 to 5 feet since I just had split shot on a snap swivel as my weight.

In contrast, I prefer to have a lure/bait with no action behind my dodger (think 1" to 3" of worm or plastic or fly), and use flashers or nothing ahead of lures with action.

J

Way to get out there John. I guess I'll try and hit the lake one afternoon this week as well. But I'll be looking for bassies Though I could  bring along a light rod with a Kastmaster for trolling.

Was out in my buddies boat yesterday afternoon-evening at Stevens Creek.  I left the yak at home.  Talked briefly to one guy on a Yellow Yak trolling two rods up from the boat launch.  He had just got hit (so had both of us).  Was that you?

Saw the osprey snag a trout and then it got pestered by a cormorant and dropped its catch.  (I was pulling for the osprey, but he couldn't get much height or speed carrying the trout).

We ended the evening C&R 11 trout.  We were both trolling nightcrawlwers behind a flasher.

We were out there till 1:00 and only got 1 to hook itself. Got a lot of drivebys as well as three LDR's, When the clouds came over it got cold and it even rained on us. Still had fun and the Ospreys had a better morning going 3 for 3 on the catches. Boy do they splash hard when they hit the water.

I ran right over the top of a lot of trout on the surface, but they didn't want to hit. Maybe a fly would have worked better than what I was using. May have to try yhat next time.

John -

I like your SNG-grub combo invention. If you scaled it down in size it might be good for kokanee also. I will make a few and give it a try. Do you think they work better with dodgers or without?

Scott

scott, imo, without.

I'm thinking the spin-n-glow is basically a spinner, so should be enough vibration and action (and drag) without the dodger. you probably need some sort of keeled(?) trolling weight ahead of the SNG since it floats and spins. you could use flashers for that. I used a long leader 4 to 5 feet since I just had split shot on a snap swivel as my weight.

In contrast, I prefer to have a lure/bait with no action behind my dodger (think 1" to 3" of worm or plastic or fly), and use flashers or nothing ahead of lures with action.

J

John -

Thanks for sharing, really like the concept. Will experiment with different bead combos to get it to suspend horizontally at 5-10 ft. Will let you know what I find out. BTW, PM me if you want to hook up at XJ-SB2S or XS-SC2L or XS-EB2D this Saturday. I can bring my tandem down and we can let the boys go for it. 

Scott

My buddy and I fished off the dam at 6:30pm Sunday eve and had a trout shoot out.  He landed three,  I lost two and landed one before dark... it was kinda slow.  Dang,  I owe him dinner.   He was throwing out a small gulp minnow with a bubble and getting action on that thing.  I got mine using power bait on a bubble on the surface.

I didn't see any yaks out there so you must have been away from the dam.  I did see a guy a guy on a Livingston near the dam and he said it was slow.   I'll try and look for you next time I'm out there!  I think we will be there Tuesday eve again.

Dave

Was out in my buddies boat yesterday afternoon-evening at Stevens Creek.  I left the yak at home.  Talked briefly to one guy on a Yellow Yak trolling two rods up from the boat launch.  He had just got hit (so had both of us).  Was that you?

Saw the osprey snag a trout and then it got pestered by a cormorant and dropped its catch.  (I was pulling for the osprey, but he couldn't get much height or speed carrying the trout).

We ended the evening C&R 11 trout.  We were both trolling nightcrawlwers behind a flasher.

Dan, yep, that was me, in between fish and after quite a few hits on my plastics didn't stick. plastics do work, but the nightcrawlers are the best bet if you want to land them. also, all my fish this year have been in the main body, so was fun to get a couple down the arm.  you guys looked very civilized in that little craft!

Tak, I went by the dam first, no hits but fish jumping on the surface, watched a guy land two there. I was probably trolling a little too deep. continued down the other way to two fish there. it's been awhile since a plant I suppose, so it is slow, but not quite stopped, 

the osprey's, cormarants and terns are the real show there this year. worth the effort.

thornley, I'm sure you will catch some bass if you head out there! bring your camera for abking! I am bringing bass gear these days, ready to try, and yesterday would have been good, but trolling is pretty relaxing and hard to stop when it produces regularly.

GB2, small plastics are definitely a good option for dfg-size trout trolling, where plugs are almost too big. I'm busy this weekend, but might hit SCR again before the season is done there, and very soon, santa cruz out of the harbour as I rented a house walking distance to the launch for a couple months again this year.  c'mon down for some bottom-bouncing trolling, I got a variety of inventions to try for that one,  .

J

Nice John!

There are quite a bit of birds in SCR. It's great to watch the ospreys dive in for the kill. I have also seen a large kinfisher on that lake when we were there last time.