Bassfan
01-12-2014, 09:08 AM
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http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y492/p846713/013_zpsc8f0e35b.jpg (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/p846713/media/013_zpsc8f0e35b.jpg.html)
http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y492/p846713/014_zps49547192.jpg (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/p846713/media/014_zps49547192.jpg.html)
After a very disappointing Castaic trip last week I was back at it this Saturday (Jan. 11). The line was let in the upper gate at 6:30 and per the new procedure they pre-checked the cars and boats in the dark and when 7:00 came around a flood of fishermen went right in.
While I waited to get in I saw several stripers chasing trout on the surface of the lake. They had just stocked on Friday and although I didn’t see the trout at the launch the stripers were pointing to where they went. I launched quickly and had two 8” swim baits ready to troll. As I headed to the target area the stripers were “boiling” coming up a few at a time and crashing the trout. One guy cast a lure to the spot where a striper just surfaced and got hit right away by a nice size fish.
My plan was just to troll for them so I didn’t even have anything appropriate to throw so at 7:10, the swim bait rigs went in and at 7:20 one rod went off with my first ever swim bait troll fish, at 4 -5 lb. It was just like in the video with Bill Siemantel, very exciting.
Kept trolling a bit further and then decided to motor back to the area where I started and repeat the same path. As I was letting out the second line, the first rod started screaming but not in a good way.
A guy in Bayliner ran behind me and snagged my new BBZ 8” and was hauling ***** down the lake with it.
I yelled and luckily he stopped before he got all my line but the swim bait was gone along with 70 ft. of braid that was wrapped in his prop. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to see the lost swim bait floating somewhere but nothing. My loss will be a great prize for the guy that finds it.
That was the end of trolling for the day and with the boat traffic the surface activity died early so it was time to try bait. Motored to an area near one of Ron/fishinone’s many, many spots and anchored.
Weather was great with only a very light breeze. There were some water skiers making huge waves but that’s the way it is. Got to talk with Dan and Lulu when they were wrapping up their day.
Saw lots of activity on the fish finder but the bite was very slow. Picked off a bunch of small ones every now and then but looking at the graph it seemed like it should have been wide open. Just threw the small ones back.
Around noon, things got a little better. It still took a while in between bites but instead of small ones, I started to get mostly bigger sizes. After having 5 bigger ones in the cooler, I decided to keep one of the 1.25 lb. size ones so it would show in a photo how big the others are by comparison. The biggest was just under 7 lb. and most of the rest were 3-4.5 lb.
That decision cost me in the end because as I was reeling in the 10th keeper fish to end the day the 2nd rod went off and another 4 lb. one was on that line. The little one was dead by now so I had to throw back the big one.
After a day with so many nice fish, I can’t complain.
Note to Fishingwithdave; This is what I wanted for us last week! We have to try a do-over whenever you’re ready.
http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y492/p846713/013_zpsc8f0e35b.jpg (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/p846713/media/013_zpsc8f0e35b.jpg.html)
http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y492/p846713/014_zps49547192.jpg (http://s1277.photobucket.com/user/p846713/media/014_zps49547192.jpg.html)
After a very disappointing Castaic trip last week I was back at it this Saturday (Jan. 11). The line was let in the upper gate at 6:30 and per the new procedure they pre-checked the cars and boats in the dark and when 7:00 came around a flood of fishermen went right in.
While I waited to get in I saw several stripers chasing trout on the surface of the lake. They had just stocked on Friday and although I didn’t see the trout at the launch the stripers were pointing to where they went. I launched quickly and had two 8” swim baits ready to troll. As I headed to the target area the stripers were “boiling” coming up a few at a time and crashing the trout. One guy cast a lure to the spot where a striper just surfaced and got hit right away by a nice size fish.
My plan was just to troll for them so I didn’t even have anything appropriate to throw so at 7:10, the swim bait rigs went in and at 7:20 one rod went off with my first ever swim bait troll fish, at 4 -5 lb. It was just like in the video with Bill Siemantel, very exciting.
Kept trolling a bit further and then decided to motor back to the area where I started and repeat the same path. As I was letting out the second line, the first rod started screaming but not in a good way.
A guy in Bayliner ran behind me and snagged my new BBZ 8” and was hauling ***** down the lake with it.
I yelled and luckily he stopped before he got all my line but the swim bait was gone along with 70 ft. of braid that was wrapped in his prop. I spent the next 15 minutes trying to see the lost swim bait floating somewhere but nothing. My loss will be a great prize for the guy that finds it.
That was the end of trolling for the day and with the boat traffic the surface activity died early so it was time to try bait. Motored to an area near one of Ron/fishinone’s many, many spots and anchored.
Weather was great with only a very light breeze. There were some water skiers making huge waves but that’s the way it is. Got to talk with Dan and Lulu when they were wrapping up their day.
Saw lots of activity on the fish finder but the bite was very slow. Picked off a bunch of small ones every now and then but looking at the graph it seemed like it should have been wide open. Just threw the small ones back.
Around noon, things got a little better. It still took a while in between bites but instead of small ones, I started to get mostly bigger sizes. After having 5 bigger ones in the cooler, I decided to keep one of the 1.25 lb. size ones so it would show in a photo how big the others are by comparison. The biggest was just under 7 lb. and most of the rest were 3-4.5 lb.
That decision cost me in the end because as I was reeling in the 10th keeper fish to end the day the 2nd rod went off and another 4 lb. one was on that line. The little one was dead by now so I had to throw back the big one.
After a day with so many nice fish, I can’t complain.
Note to Fishingwithdave; This is what I wanted for us last week! We have to try a do-over whenever you’re ready.