Mendo

Camped Mendo Friday til Sunday. Trolled the line on th ewst shore for 2 Stripers. Found small boils across the lake. Managed to Kayak up to a few for one fish on a Ghost Swimmbait. Lots of boats out but worth every minute of it. Troll the buey line with clear swimbaits at about 20ft for best results.

Very nice to bag 2. WTG!!! and welcome to NCKa.

Scott

WTG and welcome to the boards. I heard that the bite was on the slow side this weekend out there.

Freddie

Super slow

Lots of missed hits in the early morning. Once the boats got on the lake the bite was off except for the south shoreline cove... small boils but fish where there. I saw a guy land one ankered from his yak on live bait. Over all, I thought it was pretty good compared to other trips I've had on Mendo. All the fish that I missed and caught where in the 20ft depth range... a little cooler weather and after the holiday I will be there for more action!!

WTTM and way to find them!  no minnows and you GOT FISH! 
THATtakesArealFISHERMAN!

Did you fish at night at all?  Sometimes after the boaters go home, the fish move up in the water column.  Even more so when the weather is so damn hot.

I didn't do the ushual mindight run this time. The heat really catches up with you... I did get a hookup right as the sun went down. Great fight! Slow trolling the shad (ghost) swimmbaits is where it is at. It eliminates the hassle to get live minnows and they are damn cheap.

What swimbaits were you dragging...theres a lot of them out there!

THE STORM swimmbaits. Color-clear with the red mouth.

You said that you had a lot of missed hits.  Whenever I look at those swimbaits, it always strikes me that the hooks (on many of them) all stick out of the top of the lure.  Do you think you are getting short bit?  If you are towing a suspending or floating lure it is one thing, but if you deadstick a swimbait, they sink like a rock right?  Is there a way to rig a trailer hook on those things? Anybody?

Get a hook of appropriate size for the trailer hook. Tie on some braid or mono and put the hook in the tail and tie off to the eye or a split ring. If you want it more stealthy use a worm threader and run the line through the body. Thats how the original "Old School" rubber worms were rigged with multiple hooks.
 Or you could split ring a hook onto a swivel and hang it from the main hook. Then secure it by pinching the swivel or sliding a short piece of rubber tube like you would do on a spinner-bait trailer hook.

Whenever I look at those swimbaits, it always strikes me that the hooks (on many of them) all stick out of the top of the lure.

Is there a way to rig a trailer hook on those things? Anybody?

Although not easy on the fish, Storm makes a swimbait that has a treble out the bottom in addition to the hook off the top.

Granted it was only one day, but I did ok last year with the SB that Willsyak described only in gray - no missed hits and 2 decent stripers.  Like anything else, it depends on the fish and how the SB is being used.

I'll defer to the expert.  

Michael

This little fella?  This cheap thing has been one of the few that I have tried that actually works at mendo.

ahhh, its adorable...