Stevens Creek / Cupertino - Sunday - 4/30/06 (pics)

Chuck-
You have 2 months to even out your tan. You don't want to be looking like a white gringo at the ranch. Get on it!!!

Freddie

if you have to wear shorts, just get real surf trunks, two inches too big in the waist.
should come to your knees. at least... 
and whatever you do, no elastic waistbands! finally leave the underwear at home too, not
needed south of the border, 

leave the hotpants to jessica simpson.



 

it's tough love around here.

I'm pretty white, just call me caspar, but my wife is practically transparent, my kids are too,
sometimes they get a freckle or two, that's about it. have to wear hats and rashguards
everywhere, or pray for fog.

J

Catch from saturday stevens creek

polecat - how do you like your marauder? I can only assume that your enjoying it since you fished Stevens Creek two days in a row

I stopped by the picnic area after lunch today.  Spotted a half dozen or so crappie hugging the shore near the lower picnic area parking lot.  Dangled powerbait salmon eggs in their face, tried the tail half of a small Gulp worm, tried a small jig swimming all around them...nothing.
 
They're waiting for fish-sex and not eating.  Coolest part though was seeing trout swim by the edge several times (including one nice fat beefy fish).  Looked like they were patrolling to see if there are any fresh crappie fry to munch on yet.
 
I tried tossing the jig ahead of the big one that came by but that's a sucky spot to cast from land and I caught a tree on the retrieve...time to head to work instead of re-rigging.
 
From the water, I'd suggest tossing anything that looks like a small fish (or the usual Kastmaster assortment) to try to pick up the patrolling trout.  The crappie had zero interest in anything even if it bopped them upside the head...

thwack - if you don't mind a short hike, walk past the dam and make your way to the cove across the boat launch - walk the edge of the trail and you'll see some monster bass hugging the shoreline  Use a whole lively night crawler with no weight to it  and toss it, let it sink to the bottom and watch the bass gulp it down

polecat, I think I saw you on saturday in the distance. I was out from about 10 to 12:30.

what did you catch your fish on?

Mooch,
 
I don't mind a hike at all if it'll get me into something more cooperative than those sex'd up crappies I met today.  My evenings for the rest of the week are booked with family stuff, then camping Fri/Sat with my son's scout troop.  So, I had to take my Outback off my truck (to haul camping stuff this weekend).  That means my only way to get to that cove is on foot until hopefully late Sunday!
 
That cove is about the only part of the lake I didn't get a chance to scout Sunday evening when my son and I were pedaling around (no poles, just exploring).  Water temp was 63 every where I checked except one hidden cove off the narrows - it was 62 (very steep sides block too much light I guess).  I'd like to get back in there and see what's hanging out (after pestering the bass you mentioned).
 
I tossed a bunch of stuff at those crappies again after work.  They'd chase various things but the only consistent hits I got were on a bright orange worm (hunter's/safety orange!).  It was a fairly small/thin worm, not the usual plastic bass worm.
 
Problem is, they'd nibbe the tail and not take enough to get to the hook.  Mostly small crappie but I saw a couple nice sized ones, a couple shapes that were likely trout and another big something that cruised by.
 
Somebody in a float tubed was fishing the same general area about an hour after I started.  He was using a white crappie jig with red at the tip.  Said he "tore them up yesterday" with that combo.  He had a fish on (pan sized trout I think) but lost it half way through the retrieve.  Both of us had various other nibbles in that area.
 
He said the bite there starts about 6:00pm (which was when I needed to head home today...d'oh).
 
Thanks for the info!  I've been trying to find where the bass are hiding.  Figures it would be the one place I hadn't checked yet.

Mooch I like the marauder alot has plenty of storage room and its fast and it handles good. I stayed completely dry every time on the lake.The only time i got wet was about a week ago. I launched out of palo alto harbor at 6:00pm and paddled as far the last channel marker pole against the wind & chop what a workout had to turn around and head back in by 8:00pm got Little wet. Need to time it on morning high tide weekend.Thwack i was trolling a yozri snap bean from cabelas looks like a micro crankbait size of thumbnail trout seem to like it. When i first picked up my cobra marauder from Sean i felt like the kid who got his first new bike for Christmas thanks Santa i mean Sean. Picture below at Susuin city harbor exploring the sloughs.

I have some tiny rapala fat raps, but you have to be moving decently to get any action on them.

I googled yozuri snap bean, got this:

http://www.fish307.com/fish/YoZuriSnapBeans.htm

mooch, could be your new secret lure!

I bet if they added a longer lip to those tiny lures - you'd have a fish killer at the end of your line  If you look closely at the Risto Rapala I was using, it has a smaller / shorter body compared to the shad rap - but they have the same lip. I figure, if you can present a small "bite-size" lure to go a little deeper (like half way through the water column) - you get a fair chance of hooking up.

just my 2 cents....

If you are trolling you can put a fat split shot up the line?

I got a pile of used tiny cranks off ebay, the manns 5+ looks like a winner.

J

If you are trolling you can put a fat split shot up the line?

Good idea! Let me know how it works out for ya. Better yet, remove the hooks off a small cast master and use that for weight. Then the plug looks like it's chasing a small fry  It might just trigger a bigger fish to join in the frenzy

I  ALWAYS use 4# mono when trolling (matched with a really good medium/light action rod = Gloomis is my top choice)  IMO, the light line gets me deep enough.

Polecat - Thanks for the tip. I'm pretty sure I have a couple of those snap beans in my tackle box.  Picked them up locally I think (though Cabelas has sent plenty of stuff to my house in the past but I don't think they're where I got these...).
 

All - For a better lip on those...seems like a drop of superglue could attach whatever size lip you wanted to experiment with...just need to find some stiff plastic and trim it to shape (might be easier to trim after gluing it on).  I'd glue it under the current lip to avoid interfering with where the line ties on.  Might be able to use something as thin as milk jug plastic but might need to go 2x that for sufficient stiffness.
 
Dropping to 4# line would be smart (probably why I haven't done it yet).  I think my reel's spare spool already has 4# on it.  I spotted it last night while pawing through the big tackle box (which never goes on the yak with me since loosing it would bankrupt me).
 
Thanks!

The material you probably want to use for lips is Lexan. You can get locally at Tap plastics.