troutdog
03-12-2010, 02:45 AM
Let me start by saying the chunky Irvine Lake trout I had grown accustomed to over the years are BACK! :Big Grin:
Talked to my buddy Cruz and his cousin "Scoochie" about getting in a day of mid-week fishing. The consensus had us driving an extra 40 miles in pursuit of some rainbows, but I assured them Irvine Lake had stepped up their game and been stocking some solid fish. They stayed away all of last year so I knew it would take a little coaxing. I told them it was time to give the Vine another shot and they would not be disappointed as long as we rented a boat. As it turned out I'm glad they listened.....
Got to the lake around 6:20am and waited for my buddys after they learned the cafe was closed, understandably as we all but had the lake to ourselves.
Check out this shot towards the dam, can't wait to compare it to what it is going to look like this Saturday for the Berkley Cup! :LOL:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits009.jpg
Headed to the first spot and it didn't take long for my orange powerworm dipped in "Bite On Garlic"(I got at the Team57 Salmonoid Saturday event) to get inhaled by a solid fish....
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits002.jpg
Another beautiful day at the Vine, with rarely another boat in sight all day
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits003.jpg
The bites started fast and furious for me and I had 3 fish within the first hour, unfortunately my companions hadn't a nibble. Of course I started to hear mumbles about having the lucky spot blah-blah-blah so I said "hey lets switch spots, I like yours better anyways!". To this point my buddys were fishing pb in the traditional colors(green, chart, garlic and yellow corn), so I hooked them up with some orange plastics, as well as a handful of power eggs and made sure they were not casting past the zone as a 15 foot cast was the ticket. For some reason I switched over to some powerbait. If for nothing else to keep from limiting out before 9am as many anglers here on FNN cant attest to, the fishing has been nothing short of phenomenal. Five minutes after moving spots and switching to some salmon egg pb, my indicator gets wings and takes off into flight!
Another healthy Irvine rainbow destined for the frying pan....
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits005.jpg
Okay at this point I thought the guys were going to take the boat and leave me there because they still had not gotten on the board. Now that the lucky spot theory was dispelled, I really started to hear some groaning when it suddenly dawned on me what it could be:Idea: I had both guys reel in their plastics and dipped the offerings into the bottle of "Bite On Garlic" that I had been using.
Shortly thereafter....yup you guess it, fish on! WTG Cruz!http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits007.jpg
After catching that trout, the "magic dip" as they were calling it went on every bait that hit the water and the results were awesome at the end of the day. We decided to make a move when the bite petered out, but the wind was getting nasty and limited our options so we stopped at the "VineAssist Chateau" for the rest of the afternoon :LOL:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits014.jpg
Hey what was that shiny thing dangling in the upper left corner:???:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits016.jpg
The wind started to kick up, but we kicked back and filled our limits before calling it a day...
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits018.jpg
Nice batch of chunky bows....
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits017.jpg
There a ton of good scent products out there and personally I really like "Bang" when baiting down, but Tuesday "Bite On Garlic"was the hero as far as I'm concerned and always has a spot in my tackle bag now!
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits020.jpg
See you at the lake this weekend and thanks for reading,
TD
Talked to my buddy Cruz and his cousin "Scoochie" about getting in a day of mid-week fishing. The consensus had us driving an extra 40 miles in pursuit of some rainbows, but I assured them Irvine Lake had stepped up their game and been stocking some solid fish. They stayed away all of last year so I knew it would take a little coaxing. I told them it was time to give the Vine another shot and they would not be disappointed as long as we rented a boat. As it turned out I'm glad they listened.....
Got to the lake around 6:20am and waited for my buddys after they learned the cafe was closed, understandably as we all but had the lake to ourselves.
Check out this shot towards the dam, can't wait to compare it to what it is going to look like this Saturday for the Berkley Cup! :LOL:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits009.jpg
Headed to the first spot and it didn't take long for my orange powerworm dipped in "Bite On Garlic"(I got at the Team57 Salmonoid Saturday event) to get inhaled by a solid fish....
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits002.jpg
Another beautiful day at the Vine, with rarely another boat in sight all day
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits003.jpg
The bites started fast and furious for me and I had 3 fish within the first hour, unfortunately my companions hadn't a nibble. Of course I started to hear mumbles about having the lucky spot blah-blah-blah so I said "hey lets switch spots, I like yours better anyways!". To this point my buddys were fishing pb in the traditional colors(green, chart, garlic and yellow corn), so I hooked them up with some orange plastics, as well as a handful of power eggs and made sure they were not casting past the zone as a 15 foot cast was the ticket. For some reason I switched over to some powerbait. If for nothing else to keep from limiting out before 9am as many anglers here on FNN cant attest to, the fishing has been nothing short of phenomenal. Five minutes after moving spots and switching to some salmon egg pb, my indicator gets wings and takes off into flight!
Another healthy Irvine rainbow destined for the frying pan....
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits005.jpg
Okay at this point I thought the guys were going to take the boat and leave me there because they still had not gotten on the board. Now that the lucky spot theory was dispelled, I really started to hear some groaning when it suddenly dawned on me what it could be:Idea: I had both guys reel in their plastics and dipped the offerings into the bottle of "Bite On Garlic" that I had been using.
Shortly thereafter....yup you guess it, fish on! WTG Cruz!http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits007.jpg
After catching that trout, the "magic dip" as they were calling it went on every bait that hit the water and the results were awesome at the end of the day. We decided to make a move when the bite petered out, but the wind was getting nasty and limited our options so we stopped at the "VineAssist Chateau" for the rest of the afternoon :LOL:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits014.jpg
Hey what was that shiny thing dangling in the upper left corner:???:
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits016.jpg
The wind started to kick up, but we kicked back and filled our limits before calling it a day...
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits018.jpg
Nice batch of chunky bows....
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits017.jpg
There a ton of good scent products out there and personally I really like "Bang" when baiting down, but Tuesday "Bite On Garlic"was the hero as far as I'm concerned and always has a spot in my tackle bag now!
http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj285/troutdog_photobucket/Vinelimits020.jpg
See you at the lake this weekend and thanks for reading,
TD