Big Report - Small Fish

[LDUBS]

I encountered heavy fog on the way to the lake this morning. Fortunately, it cleared as soon as I left the central valley. But it did slow me down and put me on the lake about half an hour later than normal. I guess we can’t have sunshine all the time.

At the lake it was overcast with a lot of smoke from the fires but not as bad as home. Temps got to the mid to 60’s. Water temp was 59 – 60 deg’s. No wind. Just a light breeze that barely put a ripple on the water.

I only managed to put three in the bag (15”, 16” & 17”). All are nice healthy looking fish. I was trolling at 3 mph, in deep (120’) water as well as over some submerged banks (80’ -90’ deep). All the action happened between 20’ -30’ OTW. Popular color today was chartreuse/silver. Headed back to the ramp about 11:00.

I lost three good takedowns. In each case about half way to the boat I managed to allow slack in the line & they shook the hook. Shoot, I should have had a limit. No one to blame but myself. :?

Anyway, no trophy sizes but that hasn't stopped me from doing a report yet.

 

[JNG]

Lucky bum! :lol:

 

[LDUBS]

Lucky bum! :lol:

I ain't complaining. haha

BTW, speaking of luck, when things slow down I eat one of the sandwiches I packed because a strike is bound to happen right when you are taking a bite. Usually works but I have to admit sometimes it takes a lot of sandwiches.

 

[gnappi]

Gads, I miss trout fishing. Good on ya.

 

[richg99]

Pretty fish.

I just can't get a handle on fishing so deep. Too many years fishing Southern Wisconsin swampy lakes, I guess. Heck, down here in South Texas, two feet is too deep sometimes.

 

[LDUBS]

I guess the driving factor is rainbow trout like it at about 55 degrees. In the foothill lakes I fish, you have to go deeper to get to their preferred habitat. However, they will obviously come shallower to feed if they need to. In a few more weeks as the temps come down I’ll be trolling at 5’ to 12’.

I enjoy this method fishing. Downriggers take the guesswork out of depth control. In fact you can see your downrigger weight on the FF so you know the exact depth of your lure. These fish are suspended in a water column that for me is typically 120’ to 150’ deep, though in some areas it is 200’+. By the way, fancy side or down imaging isn’t of any real use to me. In fact, I seldom even see the bottom on my screen. Kind of a good thing cause when I need to upgrade I won’t have to pay for the fancy imaging technology.

For rainbows I troll pretty fast (2.5 – 3 mph) and cover a lot of ground. I was taught to use the 100’ rule, meaning the depth of the downrigger and the setback equals 100’. So if I’m down 25’ the setback is 75’. Last year I switched over to limber 7 ½’ fiberglass kokanee rods. These are going to be nothing like the rods used for LMB. It is easy to load them up on the riggers without causing premature releases. I set the drag fairly light and turn on the clickers (nothing better than that wrrrrrr sound of the clicker as line strips out for a decent fish). When they are hooked most of these rainbows will come right up to the surface and jump trying to shake the hook.

Sorry to be long winded. I'm not going to catch any sitting here on the couch so next best thing is talking about it. Haha.

 

[richg99]

Well, I've heard of armchair quarterbacks. Not sure there is too much of a difference.