Lexington Rez 12/16

Freeeeekn cold this morning but had to get a day on the water. Trolled and dropped bait for some trout but never bit. There was a ton of fish on the ff but I guess they were in chill mode. Decided to troll a mepps while going to the famed crappie spot but no takers. Ran into Yakuza on the way who was out on the Rez cruisng the Adventure with his puppy. Will talk more next time Yakuza! Got to the crappie spot and water was super low and nothing on the finder. Trolled around a crappie jig but no love. Decided to go to the faithful crank bait to see if I couldn't scare up some bass. Went to a spot I scoped a while back that seemed Bassy and BLAMMO.. FISH OOOOON! Nice 13 incher. a few more casts and KA-BLAMMO!! Almost snapped my line. Fought for about 10 minutes and pulled up a 17 incher!! Not only my personal best but by far the best at Lex. He was a big boy so put him back to make more big'uns. got 3 more after that from 13-16 1/2 inches. Started to get really cold with the wind and all so called it a day. What a great day!! Exactly what I needed! 

Z

Nice one and good job on the release - I usually release big females, dont get me wrong folks, Im not telling ANYONE what to do, its just what I ussualy do with big female bass. I dont give a hoot what anyone else does with thier legal fish.

Z, how big of a crank are you tossing and how heavy is your line?

J

Way to go and tough the cold. Nice fish Bryce!

Hey J,
The crank is one I got from a friend in Japan. The lure is made by this fly company Tiemco. http://www.ichibantackle.com/showproductdetail.asp?productid=911&name=FAT+PEPPER+JR+[DISCONTINUED]&manufacturename=TIEMCO The movement is awesome and the hooks are top notch (It's about 3" long without the lip). It has the bearngs inside that make it really good for casting. Although hard to find here, you can fnd em online.



I did find some on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320060974253
http://cgi.ebay.com/TIEMCO-FLAT-PEPPER-60F-GHOST-AYU-NIP_W0QQitemZ250060460534QQihZ015QQcategoryZ36153QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250060460534

And I had it rigged w/ 3# P-Line Fluroclear line.

Z

Nice work.

Boy I bet it was cold.  It was freeking freezing in Santa Cruz.

I couldn't make it as I was tree shopping but it is all good.

Did those fish come off the sharp drop off ledge near the mouth of the creek channel?

MolBasser

Nice bass! Haven't had much luck on Lex with crank baits except for SMB.

Scott

Nice bass! Haven't had much luck on Lex with crank baits except for SMB.

Scott

Hi, first post in this forum.
I don't think there is SMB in Lexington. Are you sure you are talking about this lake?

Zelander,

Great catches and with a crank bait nonetheless. I did not think they would chase a reaction bait with this cold water. Great job and thumbs up on the release of the big fish.

BTW,

I do keep a couple of fish from Lexington yearly. But the mercury content there is fairly high and I would not eat more than a meal per month of fish caught in the bay area. Anderson, Stevens Creek and Del Valle among others made the cut to the DFG unsafe list in recent years. I understand Lexington tested about 60% as bad as Andersons bass, but was not high enough though make the warning. But that is little consolation to me. Keeping the small ones like you did is much safer than the bigger ones. I understand that stripe bass in Del Valle is pretty bad too.

Again great report and I am glad to see a fellow angler in the Santa Clara Valley here on this board.

compa do you post on the fishsniffer site?

Z, that is a big deep diving crank to have on only 3# line!  glad I asked tho!

but maybe that is what got you longer casts,  deeper diving and better action!

and 5 fish which is a pretty darn good winter count I would guess.

I have a couple mid-depth crank baits I could try before I buy yet more lures!

also a couple countdowns. so I will hold the trigger on yet more lures for now.

I have heard lexington is the least mercury infested, but it always seemed a little too good to be true.

too bad they don't sell some kind of mercury test you can do yourself! or do they?

J

compa do you post on the fishsniffer site?

Z, that is a big deep diving crank to have on only 3# line!  glad I asked tho!

but maybe that is what got you longer casts,  deeper diving and better action!

Yes I am the same guy there. I fish with ken-fishinfool occasionally and he turned me onto this site lately.

I think the fish that Zeelander caught were still hanging around on the surface. Look at the coloration on those fish and you can tell they have been getting a lot of sun.

Like Z said, I was just out on scouting mission with the puppy.  But boy am I glad I went.  Can really scope out all the underwater structure when the lake is drawn down like it is.  Last spring when 6MHz and I hit Lex, we stayed pretty tight to the treeline and picked up all our fish there.  It made absolute sense to me yesterday, looking at all the dropoffs and contours that will be flooded come spring.  There is some really great structure on the south east shore.  Worth the paddle, and always good just to get out and condition the body.  And BTW, all the LMB I've ever caught out of Lex have been on shallow diving cranks.

Z, that's one hell of a haul for a freezing ass cold day!  None of the three float tubers I talked to did any good, so you were the hot stick yetserday.

compa, you are comprahe<something, something>? I read you guys posts, you really know the silicon valley bass fishing!

you are the guy always catching them, but never revealing spots online, I am thinking that is pretty wise.

fishin-fool is the black dude with the big smile? hah, see, that stuff sticks in your mind!

I really don't know bass, or fishing much although trying to learn fast.

I have caught a couple at lex and again at the forebay, not targetting them either time.  also some on topwater
on the east coast.  and once I saw the guy on TV with the orange T on his hat. bill something, 

great stuff on there, you fish-sniffer's got it down. do you have a kayak or are you float fishing mainly?

maybe the water's not that cold yet in lex even with it low and cold air. still a lot of water to cool down?

J

My handle on the Sniffers site is compadrejt and you are right that I don't reveal the locations I fish in on line. My reasons are that I believe there are many people that may or may not participate actively in the forums that monitor it and many of them keep all their catch. Most of the Silicon Valley lakes are small enough to cover with a kayak in a good day of fishing. 98% of my fishing is catch and release and those fish that I have been catching will be found in the same spots that I caught them  even as we speak. They are home oriented and will stay in the same area for a long time. If I were to reveal my spots these fish will not stand a chance. Someone will go and get them and may be keep them for dinner.

However I am known to share the knowledge with those that I think will do catch and release. And mind you that I am not strictly catch and release and am not against keeping some. I believe that some of our reservoirs need to be thinned out of some of the smaller fish such as Lexington, Anderson and Chesbro. What keeps me from doing that is their mercury content.

Ken-fishinfool is a person that used to post here as well. The person you are thinking off is fishingfool408 and we do fish together sometimes also. He has the big fish for the Silly Valley thread @ 12# and change and no one has been able to catch up with him yet.

You should keep at it with the bass fishing. It's a lot of fun and it is close by unlike trout and stripers   that you have to drive really far to get them. It's a lot of fun and rewarding to hunt them down.

I don't have a kayak but I have been hunting for a bargain. I can't afford to spend too much right now but I think I need one for when I have to go long distances to find the fish. It sure looks like a lot of fun!


I think the surface temp in Lexington is about 50 degrees now. I was floating it not too long ago and it was in the low 50's already. This is one of the deeper lakes in the Silicon Valley. But it is also in the colder area of the valley also and that is why it is the last lake to turn on in the Spring.

compa

if youre good at holding your breath go down with a hawaiin sling and wait about 3 minutes in a likely spot     those bass'll come right up and look you in the eye

I took a complete jackass to one of the best local spots for lmb and put a rod in his hand He caught an 8lb largemouth with help, he couldnt decide whether to land the fish or finish his cigarette Must be part Russian One of my brother's friends

LOL. You lost me there bluekayak. Why in the world do I need a Hawaiian sling? And why would you take a jackass withing?

compa,

blue ate a lot of stripers (mercury!) in his day as a professional diver (nitrogen!) and now he's a first time dad while being older than any of us (no sleep!)

 

guy sure can fish tho.

compa, somebody here posted data that showed lex to be pretty good. can you point us to hard data that says lex is bad? Not that I care but people on this site have eaten the crappie and much more rarely the LMB out of there because we saw some hard data that said lex was safe. if you search on this site for crappie and lexington, you'll find my question on this very topic and sixmhz reply.

the kayaks are good but they blow all over the place. I was thinking that some kind of deployable drag device and fins like tubers
use would give you the best of both worlds.

J