Two for Five Today

[LDUBS]

I managed to lose three and put two in the boat. I'm not too unhappy because one of the two is 4.9 pounds -- about as close to 24" as you can get and the Tin Boat ruler don't lie (haha). The pics are kind of disappointing but that's all I got.

I was trolling at 35' OTW. Surface temp ranged from 73 to 77 deg's, which I thought was quite a spread considering it was all deep water.

The water level in this lake is way down. The two outside lanes of the four lane concrete ramp are high and dry. Drought out here is becoming a little too routine. We voted to set $billions aside some years ago and not one single water project has happened. Welcome to LaLa Land.

 

[jethro]

Oh wow, that's a good one there! Nice work.

 

[eeshaw]

Nice fish! What's the legal size in order to keep them, is there a minimum?

 

[LDUBS]

Nice fish! What's the legal size in order to keep them, is there a minimum?

For trout there is no size limit. There is a 5 fish bag limit. Large mouth have a 12" minimum. That is for this lake. Some places have special rules/restrictions, but I think this is pretty much the standard rule for most other lakes in the state.

 

[Attwanl]

I don’t know much about trolling…. What does 35’ OTW mean?
I have been reading about your drought problems out there, they where showing pics where the water line used to be. I was shocked how low some of the lakes were.
Nice fish though

 

[LDUBS]

I don’t know much about trolling…. What does 35’ OTW mean?
I have been reading about your drought problems out there, they where showing pics where the water line used to be. I was shocked how low some of the lakes were.
Nice fish though

Sorry about the abbreviation. It is an old habit I need to break. OTW = On The Wire,which is shorthand meaning the depth reading from the down rigger counter. I use Scotty electric downriggers with a 12 pound downrigger weight. I believe they have 150 feet of stainless cable, but the deepest I've ever trolled them is 65 feet. With the down riggers, I typically use the 100' rule, meaning the depth + the set-back equal 100'. So if I'm going to fish 35' deep, I will put out 65' of line: 35' + 65' = 100'. However, if I'm targeting less than 20' deep I will increase the set-back.

We are having another bad drought year. My go to lake is 47% of full. This time of year it would always be less than 100%, but not this low. I'm guessing it is down 15 - 20 feet or so below normal levels for June. I'm seeing rocks and tree stumps that I didn't even know existed. BTW, leaving the ramp to the no-wake buoys I pass over a ridge that shows 36' deep on my Navionics contour map. Fish finder was showing 6'. Kind of an eye opener.