AnglerBob
05-03-2012, 11:33 PM
“You guys gonna try it again, eh?” The tackle shop guy asked with some incredulity. “Actually,” I admitted, “it’s just me today. Bassmaster Jack couldn’t make it.” We’d tried this a few weeks ago, reserved the Wednesday 1/2 price rental, drove two hours to the lake and it was raining sideways. Jack cut his losses and went home; I toughed it out for one fish. Now I wanted revenge, but Jack was busy prepping for a fly-fishing trip to Colorado. It wouldn’t be as fun without him, but the lure of big water, warm spring skies and hungry post-spawn bass was too much.
At the tackle shop I purchased some basic Roboworms and Senkos, the usual stuff for DVL. I’d heard creature baits and spinnerbaits were working too, but the staff didn’t know much about that, so I passed. I wish Hemet had a local tackle shop that opened during the pre-dawn rush—I’d hit it every trip (hint, Last Chance!). There are no good local tackle shops near me unfortunately.
It was a cool and cloudy day with water temps of around 65 and air pretty much the same. There were stiff winds most of the day, but not as bad as DVL often is. Fortunately, I got a good trolling motor battery this time and was mostly able to hold positions.
The rental dock staff had advised that Ralston Cove and the quarry were the hot spots, but I wanted to hit some main lake areas first in case the winds became intolerable later. I started out making a left out of the marina, fishing the cove and point near the east dam. No love there, so I headed across the lake and worked the points on the other side. Nothing for an hour, and I was beginning to think I’d forgotten how to fish. Then, as I neared a deep-water spot on the point, I caught the first fish, a nice 1.5lb “keeper.” Another one quickly followed; then I’d worn the spot out.
But the pattern was beginning to emerge. The spawn seems to be entirely over, and the fish have spread out a bit more and gone deeper. There are still plenty of fish in the shallows, but only where you find deep water nearby. Rock walls and steep dropoffs were my best spots today.
Pulling into Ralston cove, I hooked a nice fish off a point, but the area was being hit heavily and it seemed most fish there were developing lockjaw. I moved outside to a sunken-tree area I call the Enchanted Snag Forest. Beautiful habitat, but no biters, so I headed for the quarry, picking off fish on various main-lake points that looked good. Didn’t have any luck in the quarry, but the structure just outside gave up a fish or two.
By now it was early afternoon and the bite had slowed. I considered trolling the dam for trout but realized I hadn’t brought any leadcore and thought the trout would likely be starting to submerge in the warming weather. Instead, I crossed the lake and worked my way around the north shore. I saw a bunch of stationary boats near the saddle dam who appeared to be striper fishing, so I gave them a wide berth and hit up the island nearby. The wind had gotten pretty intense, so I decided to tie off to some trees and still fish—a wise choice. I was able to fish much slower, which the fish wanted. Creeping a senko along the bottom, I picked up two more fish and lost a third. Repeating this pattern at another island, I ended my day with one more small fish before coming back to the marina around 4:30 pm.
Fun day, and lots of fish, although none larger than a 2.5-er I horsed out of some trees on 10-lb mono and a BPS Extreme rod. All were taken on Senkos and drop-shotted purple Roboworms in 4- and 6-inch lengths. Spinnerbaits and Texas rig were tried briefly to no avail. Ended up with eight, plus two LDRs for a fudged double limit. I suspect the pros out there were doing much, much better.
There’s a lot of snags out there, so I recommend rigging stuff weedless as much as possible. I’d read about this technique of weedless-rigging finesse baits where you just impale the bait on the tip of the hook, not poking it all the way through—it helps. Jack had turned me onto the Owner weedless wacky hooks for the Senkos, which were great, but for dropshotting I like the red Standout hooks (you can get them from Cabela’s) which really present the bait at an optimal angle.
One cloudy lining to this silver day, which I offer as a warning by example: upon returning to the rental dock, the boat attendant examined the prop and said, “looks like I’m gonna have to charge you for all three blades.” I saw only the feeblest of scratches and couldn’t recall hitting anything, so I was kind of amazed; unfortunately, I hadn’t taken a “before” picture, which I note many renters routinely do. I pleaded my case to the other boat guy, but he held firm. “We definitely don’t send them out like that,” he insisted with a conviction implying a level of dedication to marine maintenance that would be hard to imagine by anyone who’s seen their rental fleet. Not the end of the world, but a $45 lesson I could have done without. Be careful with those rentals! I suggest leaving the outboard tilted up and just rowing.
Only one photo today as I just had the crummy phone camera.
All fish and snags released to fight another day.
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu17/AnglerBob/2012-05-02_12-43-44_644.jpg
At the tackle shop I purchased some basic Roboworms and Senkos, the usual stuff for DVL. I’d heard creature baits and spinnerbaits were working too, but the staff didn’t know much about that, so I passed. I wish Hemet had a local tackle shop that opened during the pre-dawn rush—I’d hit it every trip (hint, Last Chance!). There are no good local tackle shops near me unfortunately.
It was a cool and cloudy day with water temps of around 65 and air pretty much the same. There were stiff winds most of the day, but not as bad as DVL often is. Fortunately, I got a good trolling motor battery this time and was mostly able to hold positions.
The rental dock staff had advised that Ralston Cove and the quarry were the hot spots, but I wanted to hit some main lake areas first in case the winds became intolerable later. I started out making a left out of the marina, fishing the cove and point near the east dam. No love there, so I headed across the lake and worked the points on the other side. Nothing for an hour, and I was beginning to think I’d forgotten how to fish. Then, as I neared a deep-water spot on the point, I caught the first fish, a nice 1.5lb “keeper.” Another one quickly followed; then I’d worn the spot out.
But the pattern was beginning to emerge. The spawn seems to be entirely over, and the fish have spread out a bit more and gone deeper. There are still plenty of fish in the shallows, but only where you find deep water nearby. Rock walls and steep dropoffs were my best spots today.
Pulling into Ralston cove, I hooked a nice fish off a point, but the area was being hit heavily and it seemed most fish there were developing lockjaw. I moved outside to a sunken-tree area I call the Enchanted Snag Forest. Beautiful habitat, but no biters, so I headed for the quarry, picking off fish on various main-lake points that looked good. Didn’t have any luck in the quarry, but the structure just outside gave up a fish or two.
By now it was early afternoon and the bite had slowed. I considered trolling the dam for trout but realized I hadn’t brought any leadcore and thought the trout would likely be starting to submerge in the warming weather. Instead, I crossed the lake and worked my way around the north shore. I saw a bunch of stationary boats near the saddle dam who appeared to be striper fishing, so I gave them a wide berth and hit up the island nearby. The wind had gotten pretty intense, so I decided to tie off to some trees and still fish—a wise choice. I was able to fish much slower, which the fish wanted. Creeping a senko along the bottom, I picked up two more fish and lost a third. Repeating this pattern at another island, I ended my day with one more small fish before coming back to the marina around 4:30 pm.
Fun day, and lots of fish, although none larger than a 2.5-er I horsed out of some trees on 10-lb mono and a BPS Extreme rod. All were taken on Senkos and drop-shotted purple Roboworms in 4- and 6-inch lengths. Spinnerbaits and Texas rig were tried briefly to no avail. Ended up with eight, plus two LDRs for a fudged double limit. I suspect the pros out there were doing much, much better.
There’s a lot of snags out there, so I recommend rigging stuff weedless as much as possible. I’d read about this technique of weedless-rigging finesse baits where you just impale the bait on the tip of the hook, not poking it all the way through—it helps. Jack had turned me onto the Owner weedless wacky hooks for the Senkos, which were great, but for dropshotting I like the red Standout hooks (you can get them from Cabela’s) which really present the bait at an optimal angle.
One cloudy lining to this silver day, which I offer as a warning by example: upon returning to the rental dock, the boat attendant examined the prop and said, “looks like I’m gonna have to charge you for all three blades.” I saw only the feeblest of scratches and couldn’t recall hitting anything, so I was kind of amazed; unfortunately, I hadn’t taken a “before” picture, which I note many renters routinely do. I pleaded my case to the other boat guy, but he held firm. “We definitely don’t send them out like that,” he insisted with a conviction implying a level of dedication to marine maintenance that would be hard to imagine by anyone who’s seen their rental fleet. Not the end of the world, but a $45 lesson I could have done without. Be careful with those rentals! I suggest leaving the outboard tilted up and just rowing.
Only one photo today as I just had the crummy phone camera.
All fish and snags released to fight another day.
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu17/AnglerBob/2012-05-02_12-43-44_644.jpg