Crowley Lake report May 23-24
Took the fam up along with the boat for a weekend of camping and fishing fun. The weather was looking worse and worse as we made our way, and we were hit with some scattered showers Friday afternoon at the camp. This was our first time staying at McGee, and I gotta say that campground is great! Beautiful scenery, a running creek stocked with trout within steps from the tent, and very quiet and secluded. Not to mention, very quick access to Crowley!
Having the kids along, there was no daybreak rush to get launched. I got the boat in around 8:45 both days. Here's what happened:
I started the troll just like 2 years ago in July, heading straight north towards Alligator point, only this time, there was no action at all. 4 lines out, some top and some DR, switching lures, but it was just dead. There was a gauntlet of fly casters and B&W'ers lined up at the mouth of the north arm, and again at Gator Point. Not much catching was witnessed. I trolled all the way up and then back, and headed to McGee Bay and that's where I got a nice 2lb brown on a frog needlefish at 10' DR. Man that fish was a fighter, it was jumping and making some good runs for being pinned to 6lb test. I got my hopes up, circled around, made another pass, nothing. Tried again, nothing. Then heading east towards Hilton, I see what I usually see at Irvine, a rental boat beelining about 20 yards behind me running perpendicular to my path, and I vainly tried to wind in my one topline rod, but it was too late. ZZZZIIINGGGG there it goes, with a $15 lure racing away from me. So I rolled up the 2 DR weights and made chase. I chased these guys literally from McGee Bay to the dock area, until I finally got 10 feet away from them waving my arms they finally stop. All I wanted was my lure back, and I got lucky and it was just snagged on their transom, not wrapped up in the prop. Very nice guys, I always approach these situations as nicely as I can, because getting pissed doesn't get your lure back. So anyway I make it back out, and the weather is getting worse, the wind is picking up, and the black clouds are rolling in. Here comes every boat on the lake flying in all at once to beat the storm. This was as good as sign for me as ever to cut my losses and call it a day.
Sunday was a whole lot better weather wise, and got hooked up with a nice bow right out the gate at 9am on a frog buyant. All the tazmanian devil success stories weren't panning out for me though, I dragged a bunch of those all morning saturday and sunday for no bites. But like saturday, it was a one and done on the troll. I gave up and set up the bait rods in McGee in about 25' of water along with a bunch of other boats, and was rewarded right away with another nice bow caught on a mice tail. Everyone else was on a steady bite too, but it was just the one for us on bait. It was really sunny and we were getting cooked, so we called it at 5 hours on the water for 2 fish. We took a little break and headed to Convict for some shore action.
Convict is such a beautiful place, even if you don't catch anything it's still a day well spent. Today though we kept the skunk away by catching another nicely spotted bow on the same mice tail. Lots of other anglers were skunked that we talked to, so we were thankful for our small bounty and headed for camp for a tasty trout dinner. I tell you, there is just nothing better than orange meated rainbow trout grilled over a campfire with just a little seasoning, lime and butter.
On the way home we stopped in Lone Pine to check out the Western Movie Museum that we always say "we never stop in, we should do it this time!" when we pass, and of course the traditional pie from Pizza Factory to chow on during the long haul home.
I apologize for the lack of pics, I was too busy enjoying the scenery to snap any shots.
