onthewater102
Well-known member
Took the tin out on one of the few power generating impounds in the state, Lake Lillinonah. Considering it was mid-November I was not expecting to find water between 50 and 55 degrees but it is cooled off so rapidly lately I thought the fish would be in wintry locations anyway, thankfully I was right. The lake gets down to about a hundred feet deep down by the dam and the center channel is about 60 feet deep for most of the run only in the upper northern stretches does it get shallower on average.
The power company draws the lake down five or six feet for a few weeks every November so property owners can maintain their waterfront and for them to do repairs so I was one of the few boats that was able to get out with the launch all but dried up. My old Mariner did not like the 23° that it was when I first launched and flooded on my first attempt to start it. So my game plan of riding around checking my waypoints and looking at the sonar to figure out where there were concentrations of fish got thrown out the window. I put the trolling motor on high and got over to the stream mouth cove alongside the boat launch. There were fish in 10 FOW willing to bite my 3.8 paddle tail swimbait, but they were all 12" 1lb class, not a bad start, but not what I was fishing in 23° weather looking for.
After getting a few of the smaller fish I started making my way to a submerged roadbed in the middle of the stream mouth to see if bigger fish might be down deeper, and as its about the only structure on the otherwise silty flat it's always worth a look. Nothing there, but a few hundred yards past it out on the main part of the lake I catch a view of bait being pushed to the surface so I put the trolling motor on high and get over there. Nothing is interested in the 3.8" paddle tail, nor the 3.3 I had on my other rod. I try the bladebait I had tied on with no luck, but that was easier to downsize and on the first few casts I start getting bites but I kept losing the fish halfway up the water column probably just skin hooking them. Finally got a fish on the blade into the boat, a nice 2+ smallie, healthy and fat. At that point I took the 3.8 paddle off and tied on a 1/4 oz jig head with a 2.8" paddle tail and it was game on. The next two hours were fantastic, punctuated by a trip back to the launch to get my brother.
I regret not changing out the trebel hooks and split rings on the blade bait, as I lost the biggest fish on the day on the surface just outside the reach of the net, skin hooked again just like so many others but I can't complain. The bite died at 11ish, possibly coinciding with the dam being shut down, possibly just that time of day. I should have tested to see if they'd take a finesse jig with a crayfish body worked on the bottom, but I didn't, so who knows if I passed up chances on more fish. They scattered around a wider area when I came back around 2:30, some fish tight to the bottom still but many had suspended out in the main channel 20'-25' down in 50' deep areas and I had tunnel vision for the blade bait.
The power company draws the lake down five or six feet for a few weeks every November so property owners can maintain their waterfront and for them to do repairs so I was one of the few boats that was able to get out with the launch all but dried up. My old Mariner did not like the 23° that it was when I first launched and flooded on my first attempt to start it. So my game plan of riding around checking my waypoints and looking at the sonar to figure out where there were concentrations of fish got thrown out the window. I put the trolling motor on high and got over to the stream mouth cove alongside the boat launch. There were fish in 10 FOW willing to bite my 3.8 paddle tail swimbait, but they were all 12" 1lb class, not a bad start, but not what I was fishing in 23° weather looking for.
After getting a few of the smaller fish I started making my way to a submerged roadbed in the middle of the stream mouth to see if bigger fish might be down deeper, and as its about the only structure on the otherwise silty flat it's always worth a look. Nothing there, but a few hundred yards past it out on the main part of the lake I catch a view of bait being pushed to the surface so I put the trolling motor on high and get over there. Nothing is interested in the 3.8" paddle tail, nor the 3.3 I had on my other rod. I try the bladebait I had tied on with no luck, but that was easier to downsize and on the first few casts I start getting bites but I kept losing the fish halfway up the water column probably just skin hooking them. Finally got a fish on the blade into the boat, a nice 2+ smallie, healthy and fat. At that point I took the 3.8 paddle off and tied on a 1/4 oz jig head with a 2.8" paddle tail and it was game on. The next two hours were fantastic, punctuated by a trip back to the launch to get my brother.
I regret not changing out the trebel hooks and split rings on the blade bait, as I lost the biggest fish on the day on the surface just outside the reach of the net, skin hooked again just like so many others but I can't complain. The bite died at 11ish, possibly coinciding with the dam being shut down, possibly just that time of day. I should have tested to see if they'd take a finesse jig with a crayfish body worked on the bottom, but I didn't, so who knows if I passed up chances on more fish. They scattered around a wider area when I came back around 2:30, some fish tight to the bottom still but many had suspended out in the main channel 20'-25' down in 50' deep areas and I had tunnel vision for the blade bait.
