Lake Amador 12/22

I went after some Amador cutbows with my Kayak today.  I got on the water about 7:30 am and there was a light sprinkle.  From the launch I headed East straight towards Doney Bay.  I was trolling a threaded nightcrawler on one rod and a powermouse on the other.  I got all the way to Doney bay with no action so  I turned towards the North part of the lake hugging the shore and hitting all the points.   
 
First hit was in front of of Mtn Spring arm on the nightcrawler and landed a nice 2.5 lb trout. I continued trolling towards the spillway and hooked up on another 2 pounder on the nightcrawler before I got to the spillway.   Catching two fish within minutes of each other, I turned around and went back the way I came.  On the way back I landed a 3 pounder right in front of the point before mtn. springs.   
 
All in all I caught my limit of 5 and lost 6 others by 12:30 pm  (lots of action).  When I say I lost them I actually had them hooked for a few seconds and then they got off somehow.  Not sure if being lower on the Kayak affected my ability to keep the tip up or not and keep the fish on.   
 
I didn't get any hits on my powermouse (rainbow powerbait with a chartruse grub).  Then again, once I caught 3 on the nightcrawler I put nightcrawlers on both rods.   I never made it anyplace else in the lake because I kept hooking up in this stretch and there was no reason to leave.   
 
I did head all the way back into mtn. spring arm a couple of times.  It was very calm and quiet back there, except for a few monster splashes (that I assuemed were large fish jumping).  I went back to see if I could catch them but no luck.   
 
The rain didn't affect the bite one bit.  However, there was a lot more garbage and debris floating around than usual.  I'm guessing it's due to water levels rising and more runoff?

Good fishing! Sounds like you had the lake to your self. How deep  of water were your trolling.

Looks like an exceptional lake.  Were these the super fish?....Donaldson trout?
Pat

that is cool, I have been thinking about trying don pedro. just paddling in the rain towing something for trout.
(I was going to tow a tiny rapala or roostertail or kastmaster, or something, I don't know, but it sure sounds
like a nightcrawler is a good thing to have on a rod).

how accurate is this map?

I've never fished Amador for Bass or Catfish.  Generally speaking it's not a very big lake so the Trout spread out everywhere.  The main body of the lake is where most people troll for Trout and where many are caught.  However, lots of people have success trolling for trout back in the Jackson Creek arm and Doney Bay.  The map is accurate from a geography standpoint. 

Amador is an excllent lake to catch bigger trout.  2-3 pounds is about average, 4-5 pounds is frequent and there have been much larger trout taken from this lake.  I hear ist's a really good bass lake as well but I'm not much of a bass fisherman (yet).  The trout at Amador are on the top.  I troll threaded night crawlers with just a small swivle tield to the main line and about a 5-6 foot leader.  No weight, no flashers, no dodgers.....right on top.  The key at Amador is to troll slow.  When we troll in a boat we are going .8 MPH with our lines about 100-150 feet back.  I don't have a fish finder or GPS on my YAK so I just try and troll as slow as possible.  Once I get some fish on the stringer the drag of the fish help to slow me down.    This is really the only lake I troll in this manner.  Most other lakes I troll a little faster, use a dodger or flashers and a shorter leader. 

Yes, these are the Donaldson Trout imported from Switerland and then farmed on site.  Much different that the DFG trout.  Larger and more fight to these guys. 

A couple of downsides to Amador is: 1) it's not a very big lake but it's pretty popular due to the size of the trout and the amount of action.  As such it can get pretty crowded during weekends and holidays. this can be problematic when trolling on the top and so far back.  2) Amador is expensive. 

Minin Night crawlers have been very effective for me at Amador trolling as described above (you have to thread them up the line or foget it.)   Lots of people us the powermouse at Amador (small single hook or treble hook with a grub on the end and a small power bait ball formed around the hook as it's head).  One of the two usually produce limits once you find the fish.  People also troll rapallas, power worms, castmasters, etc....but I only know what works for me. 

It's a great place to fish to catch larger trout and get lots of action. 

thanks for the info Hitdog. I'm craving for BIIG trout  The power mouse sounds interesting....may give that a try at Del Valle sometime!

a picture of a threaded nighcrawler rig would be super helpful for me. I know that's asking a lot.

Hitdog's great report got me interested in going there. My son and I will hit it next week. 

There was a Sniffer Trout-fest at Amador today.
Here's a link to some of the results. Looks like they had a nice day:

http://www.fishsniffer.com/cgi-bin/forumsyabb/YaBB.pl?board=fresh_trout;action=display;num=1135380912

HD - got your pm. I'll let you know what day.   Thanks, Al

First time posting a picture, so I'm testing with just one picture.

Here the first step to threading a night crawler.  I have a worm threader in one hand and the night crawler in the other.  Take the worm threader and stick the worm about 1 inch from the end. 

Step 2.

thread the night crawler onto the worm threader.  You do this by pushing the worm threader up the body of the night crawler until it comes out the end of the worm.

Step 3.

Take the hook and put it into the end of the worm threader.  Pull the line down to keep the pressure on the hook so it doesn't come out of the hole in the end of the worm threader. 

Push the worm from the worm threader on the hook.  It will curve around the hook and up the shaft of the hook.  It will go over the eye of the hook and thread up the leader line.  Keep pushing the worm onto the hook until the entire worm clears the curved part of the hook and is straight from top to bottom .

Final picture of a threaded worm.  I'm sure you can accomplish the same without a worm threader.  Just take the hook, stick it directly into one end of the worm, push the worm through and have it come out about .5 inc to 1 inch from the other end of the worm?  Never tried it that way myself.

You'll know it's right if the worm went over the eye of the hook, onto the main line and the majority of the shaft of the hook and just a little bit of the worm (.5 inches to 1 inch) sticks out the bottom of the shaft while the hook curves to the side. 

The idea is for the worm to be as straight as possible so that it looks natural.  The end of the worm will wiggle naturally and attract the fish.   You'll need to get worm hooks because the eye is smaller to allow the worm to go over it easier and the shaft is straight up near the eye.   

HD, thanks!

have you seen this:

http://www.how-to-fish.com/catching_lots_of_trout_using_lig.htm

sounds like they try lures first (and troll faster) but go to a worm if nothing works which
tells me the worm is the best (probably then they troll slower too).
They also don't use the whole worm, just 1/3rd of it.
I guess that might allow a little less threading?

traded in my little kayak for a longer one. a rudder cable needs fixing or replacing, but
I hope to do a little trout trolling as warmup for salmon season once that is done.

Thanks.  Some good tips there.

I actually use mini night crawlers as they are easier to work with and work just fine.  I think they use worms as a last resort because the fish tend to swallow more worms than they do lures and they do lots of catch and release.  Also, you can reuse a lure over and over and I usually have to buy worms every time I go out. 

I use worms because they work.  I haven't met a trout yet that doesn't like a worm.   

I use an ultra light rod with 4 lb line and it makes it a lot more fun.  The most fun I have catching trout is when they are on the top and you don't need to use any weight.  That's why I like Amador....the fish are on the top!