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DANNY SMOKIN JIGZ
10-02-2014, 07:57 AM
Good Morning FNN,
i am planning on participating in the 2014 Troutfest event and was curious on your reviews. I am debating on either walking the shorline or float tubing the lake. If anyone has any experience with either itd be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance and tight lines.
-Danny

iPhish
10-02-2014, 05:28 PM
I too am fishing the tourney. Big Bear is mainly a trolling lake. From the reports I've seen fish are scattered around west end of lake. Smaller spoons been working really well. So I'd say float tube is going to be most productive. I'm trolling so I have a boat and am by myself. Maybe you want to try on your own Saturday and if you'd like to partner up on my boat Sunday I'd be interested. PM me your contact info and I'll reach out to you tonight. I'm heading to BBL tomorrow morning and will be there for Fridays meeting. ---Michael

Trout Daddy
10-07-2014, 06:05 AM
Danny

There is not any trout in so cal this year. No trout season either, LOL!

dattack
10-07-2014, 12:59 PM
So how was the tournament?

Jez
10-07-2014, 01:26 PM
From what I experienced, it was fairly slow. I fished both mornings 630am start, caught 2 in the first 40 minutes trolling, and then the bite died. When I weighed in Saturday, quite a few people were disappointed. I'd say the average was 2 fish per person. Most of them 1lb. Sunday morning was the same result. I worked every possible lure that normally produces fish up here. Worked in slip bobbers to no avail. I frequent BBL quite often, and this was pretty rough. The weather was great, but I heard from a local guide that when the Santa Anas blow fishing is tough. (winds from the east.. catchings the least - winds from the West..fishing's the best). Largest fish was 7.75lb.

JAG107
10-07-2014, 04:01 PM
Thanks for the report, Jez. It's always hard to find TroutfesT reports on here. Were the fish all mostly coming from the west end still?
This tournament bite has been typical the past 2 years I have fished it. The pre-tourney hype is crazy sometimes, only leading to severe disappointment to many anglers at the scales. It's tough getting beat up on the water for 8 hours 2 days in a row for maybe 2-5lbs of fish. Last year the wind was horrible on Saturday, and not as bad but still rough on Sunday. 2 years ago I managed a sat. limit of 5.6lbs, and only 2 fish stocker size on Sunday. Last year I did worse. All trolling. When I saw the weather pattern coming up, I decided to skip this year. The past 2 years have had Santa Anas, with 2012 having temps over 110+ down the hill during the week before and during the tourney. Honestly maybe they should move this tournament to July or August when the bite is better, and just tell the personal watercraft and wakeboarders to take a weekend off. I wonder if the bite is better at the other tourneys they have during the spring?

DANNY SMOKIN JIGZ
10-08-2014, 07:53 AM
The bite has been good at north shore on assorted mini jigs tipped with a mealworm. Also saw a few people soaking powerbait with about a 3 foot leader scoring some fish. The average fish is only about 1-2 lbs.

GdHkSet1
10-12-2014, 09:04 AM
Sorry off subject- when does fishing season end up at BB-launching a boat...?
Thanks

HBAR
10-12-2014, 09:20 AM
Thanks for the report, Jez. It's always hard to find TroutfesT reports on here. Were the fish all mostly coming from the west end still?
This tournament bite has been typical the past 2 years I have fished it. The pre-tourney hype is crazy sometimes, only leading to severe disappointment to many anglers at the scales. It's tough getting beat up on the water for 8 hours 2 days in a row for maybe 2-5lbs of fish. Last year the wind was horrible on Saturday, and not as bad but still rough on Sunday. 2 years ago I managed a sat. limit of 5.6lbs, and only 2 fish stocker size on Sunday. Last year I did worse. All trolling. When I saw the weather pattern coming up, I decided to skip this year. The past 2 years have had Santa Anas, with 2012 having temps over 110+ down the hill during the week before and during the tourney. Honestly maybe they should move this tournament to July or August when the bite is better, and just tell the personal watercraft and wakeboarders to take a weekend off. I wonder if the bite is better at the other tourneys they have during the spring?

I fished the event for the first time last year, team mate and I weighed in 5 fish each 7.34 and 6.62 on Saturday, on Sunday team mate weighed in 5 fish I weighed in 4, we ended up in 2nd and 3rd places, my son and other buddy weighed in fish but not enough to put them on the board. It was the first time taking out my boat (yes there were some issues but they got resolved), and after that it was personally my best trout season ever. Wasn't able to make it up there for this years event from what I read there were like 100 less people at the event from last year.

JAG107
10-12-2014, 09:46 AM
Sorry off subject- when does fishing season end up at BB-launching a boat...?
Thanks
I think the west public ramp closes this week or may already be closed, the east ramp will close in early Nov, check the BBMWD site for dates. IIRC it's pretty much over by end of Oct usually.

GdHkSet1
10-12-2014, 09:57 PM
I think the west public ramp closes this week or may already be closed, the east ramp will close in early Nov, check the BBMWD site for dates. IIRC it's pretty much over by end of Oct usually.
Thanks for the info.

Jez
10-13-2014, 11:51 AM
All my fish came from the West end, and I think that was true for most. I know a few people hooked up on the East End in the triangle. I only have two lead core rods, and my trolling speed is too fast, so I'm sure that didn't help. From my experience, I catch the best fish in Spring, but I've also had good success in June (fishin for 50k). The quality and volume of fish is better.

Does anyone know the ideal trolling speed for BBL?

Something Fishy Here
10-13-2014, 09:28 PM
East ramp closes for the season at 3:00 PM on November 30.

Doghunter
10-14-2014, 06:23 AM
When I'm trolling Big Bear I have caught a lot of fish at speeds of anywhere between 1.25 to about 3 mph, it really varies every trip I've been there. I have trolled quite a bit around the charter guys and they seem to troll a bit on the faster side. The best thing to do is not keep a constant speed, I like to make a lot of sudden burst of speed to a action to the lures, and also I like to make a lot of S curves.

Blair

JAG107
10-14-2014, 08:10 PM
Troll speeds depends on the lure usually. Speedy shiners work best over 2mph for me, where needlefish work better at 1.2-1.8. I have had minimal success with cranks (rapalas, etc) at any speed. The color, size and shape of the spoon seems to be more important than the speed.

GdHkSet1
10-15-2014, 08:59 PM
East ramp closes for the season at 3:00 PM on November 30.

Thanks for the 411, I got some time to make it up there.

GdHkSet1
10-15-2014, 09:03 PM
When I'm trolling Big Bear I have caught a lot of fish at speeds of anywhere between 1.25 to about 3 mph, it really varies every trip I've been there. I have trolled quite a bit around the charter guys and they seem to troll a bit on the faster side. The best thing to do is not keep a constant speed, I like to make a lot of sudden burst of speed to a action to the lures, and also I like to make a lot of S curves.

Blair

I'm running a 50 merc, thinking about putting a troll plate on to slow her down. I may get a hand held GPS to figure just how fast I'm going, I too get bit on the inside rod mostly when making s turns my flashers get that sweet zone and bam a hit.

Doghunter
10-16-2014, 12:22 AM
I'm running an 18hp on a 14' aluminum boat and the small trolling plate easily takes the speed down to about 1.2 mph. I also have a Lowrance 5 series fish finder with GPS on it. I find that I'm constantly watching my fish finder and watching the speed I'm trolling at, and also all the other info.