PersonalBest
08-24-2011, 10:53 AM
First time Float tubing Jenks lake
I was invited to meet up at Jenks Lake with a buddy of mine (Blue Wagon) that Pontoons the Lake regularly and just had to go. I pulled out the old gear, wiped off the cobwebs, purchased stuff that was needed and got my 12 year old son ready to go. We arrived about 6:30 AM on 8-21 to find Blue Wagon already on the lake and catching fish. We then rushed to catch up. I started to assemble the gear and float tubes to find out …Ohhh noooo… brand new just purchased super duper deluxe pump was stuck open and would not inflate the boats. Equipment failure. (:Note to self: Always check new equipment Before you need it. Especially Parachutes. )
After finally getting ready ..we hit the lake. The Lake was glassy and really clear. I could sight fish for the schools of Trout in the early A.M. If you get there early you may want to keep near the shore. The fish seem to hug the shoreline looking for prey until it heats up. (*Midday/Afternoon is in the middle of the lake:Wink:) We found a Thick Green Forest of weeds and aquatic plant belt surrounding the Lake. It stretches about 20 feet from the shoreline. If you are at the beach or pier you will have to cast out at least 20 feet to keep your bait/lure out of this muck. I had a number of break offs using 4 lb test due to the toggle war and the trout wraping around the weeds/brush.
We finally met up with Blue wagon on his majestic orange Pontoon (picture to be added). Blue Wagon was slaying Trout like a madman he had landed about 3 already and had one on as we paddles up. He was getting hit on Berkley florescent orange floating mice tails. So we pulled out the Mosquito hooks, orange power trout worms and white power eggs to mimic the working bait and rigged up. When we cast out we starting getting strikes right away but not solid hooks. I ended up shortening the worm by punching ¼ of it off so I would not get missed hookset and it worked. When the action stopped we tried PB and found peach/orange/green PB that worked well. My son threw a few darker colored foxtail lures and was able to get hits on them also. Seems most of what we put out in the water got the bite even though the mice were clearly hot that day.
C:\++2011 pictures\Float tube 8-21-11
Final Score was Blue Wagon-17, Personal Best-9 and my son-2 trout. Fish were mostly smallish (compared to other lakes and DFG plants) >9 inches long with a few respectable ones that were larger. Blue Wagon easily got his limit of larger fish from the bunch to take home. My son and I C&R the ones that we caught.
Only issues :
Equipment failure – My bad.
The Crowds - The buses seemed to roll in at 10:30 with the day campers. There was a large number of kids with no supervision. At times the pristine setting turned into a Loud Obnoxious music video nightmare. The crowd sound is loud and was echoing in the area I was in.
The weeds - 20+ feet to cast over from the shore. If you are not catching cast farther.
Yahoos – Playing loud music from boom boxes, screaming at their wives/kids, whizzing 4 ounce sinkers at you ( When you catching and they are not, the haters hate what can I say.)
No frills/ extras – No running water, cleaning stations, concessions etc. I like it more wilderness and less 7-11’s anyway.
Otherwise it was a great trip! The lake is definitely on our radar for fishing. Thanks again to BlueWagon who introduced us to Jenks and showed us how to catch fish in style. Also phishin phool, Koshaw, IncredibleHuck blackwhitemax, Viejo who’s posts and answers really helped make this trip a success!
Tight Lines…..PersonalBest
I was invited to meet up at Jenks Lake with a buddy of mine (Blue Wagon) that Pontoons the Lake regularly and just had to go. I pulled out the old gear, wiped off the cobwebs, purchased stuff that was needed and got my 12 year old son ready to go. We arrived about 6:30 AM on 8-21 to find Blue Wagon already on the lake and catching fish. We then rushed to catch up. I started to assemble the gear and float tubes to find out …Ohhh noooo… brand new just purchased super duper deluxe pump was stuck open and would not inflate the boats. Equipment failure. (:Note to self: Always check new equipment Before you need it. Especially Parachutes. )
After finally getting ready ..we hit the lake. The Lake was glassy and really clear. I could sight fish for the schools of Trout in the early A.M. If you get there early you may want to keep near the shore. The fish seem to hug the shoreline looking for prey until it heats up. (*Midday/Afternoon is in the middle of the lake:Wink:) We found a Thick Green Forest of weeds and aquatic plant belt surrounding the Lake. It stretches about 20 feet from the shoreline. If you are at the beach or pier you will have to cast out at least 20 feet to keep your bait/lure out of this muck. I had a number of break offs using 4 lb test due to the toggle war and the trout wraping around the weeds/brush.
We finally met up with Blue wagon on his majestic orange Pontoon (picture to be added). Blue Wagon was slaying Trout like a madman he had landed about 3 already and had one on as we paddles up. He was getting hit on Berkley florescent orange floating mice tails. So we pulled out the Mosquito hooks, orange power trout worms and white power eggs to mimic the working bait and rigged up. When we cast out we starting getting strikes right away but not solid hooks. I ended up shortening the worm by punching ¼ of it off so I would not get missed hookset and it worked. When the action stopped we tried PB and found peach/orange/green PB that worked well. My son threw a few darker colored foxtail lures and was able to get hits on them also. Seems most of what we put out in the water got the bite even though the mice were clearly hot that day.
C:\++2011 pictures\Float tube 8-21-11
Final Score was Blue Wagon-17, Personal Best-9 and my son-2 trout. Fish were mostly smallish (compared to other lakes and DFG plants) >9 inches long with a few respectable ones that were larger. Blue Wagon easily got his limit of larger fish from the bunch to take home. My son and I C&R the ones that we caught.
Only issues :
Equipment failure – My bad.
The Crowds - The buses seemed to roll in at 10:30 with the day campers. There was a large number of kids with no supervision. At times the pristine setting turned into a Loud Obnoxious music video nightmare. The crowd sound is loud and was echoing in the area I was in.
The weeds - 20+ feet to cast over from the shore. If you are not catching cast farther.
Yahoos – Playing loud music from boom boxes, screaming at their wives/kids, whizzing 4 ounce sinkers at you ( When you catching and they are not, the haters hate what can I say.)
No frills/ extras – No running water, cleaning stations, concessions etc. I like it more wilderness and less 7-11’s anyway.
Otherwise it was a great trip! The lake is definitely on our radar for fishing. Thanks again to BlueWagon who introduced us to Jenks and showed us how to catch fish in style. Also phishin phool, Koshaw, IncredibleHuck blackwhitemax, Viejo who’s posts and answers really helped make this trip a success!
Tight Lines…..PersonalBest