Wow, look at all that structure in the duct....
Wow, look at all that structure in the duct....
Cool info. thanks
OK people....do your homework....cause I AM ! (all the time)Originally Posted by Nessie Hunter
FYI......
Here are a couple of pics of the SHAPE of duct in Hesperia area (pretty common to all areas)... When it was drained. Only about a foot or less of water at the time..
2-2007 drained for repairs and clean up...
Shape is \_/ not V ..... Flat bottomed....
Depth here is about 15' when full pool....
.
the more ya know...the more U'll catch !
OK...in the top pic above....most will look and just see bends...which cause current deviations and so forth (great in itself)
but what I see in pic #1 above is:
A trough oportunity !
this run TOTTALLY allows easy access for your lure to run MAX distance within the strike zone without running up the transistion or "foot" (as I call it) of the duct.
(see attached)
Study up Guys and Gals...theres gonna be a quiz on this soon !
Ha ha ha,
Gary
Last edited by gletemfeelsteelgary; 04-17-2009 at 03:38 PM.
awesome tip gary never thought of it like that.....
bringing this back up to the top for review
Are there any secrtions of the aqueduct we should avoid or would be a waste of time? Or types of areas we should target? Examples: long straight sections, turns, pump houses, gates, sections before/after the aqueduct goes underground etc.
There are a TON of spots you can walk in some are off the beaten path where there are others with picnic tables.
U just need to try different areas out, some areas don't produce fish but that doesnt mean you cant go there the next day or the next hr for that matter and contact fish...they are on the prowl..and on the move in search of forage, I've caught them near gates,siphon inlets, siphon outlets, bends and even long straightaways in places where you cannot see any sort of structure and doesn’t necessarily make sense, just keep casting…..b4 you know it something will dance with you !
I’ll remind you that I am no expert or an authority on the ductm (i've only been fishing it for a few months), I am sharing what works for me only and I’m sure many other approaches produce as well.
P.S.
I believe those picnic areas you mention are the “shade” spots and don’t quote me but I am guessing they are there for the duct staff, not that you couldn’t sit on them and take a rest.
To sum up, all of the areas you mention above could potentially produce fish, you just need to keep trying different areas and now, especially with warming water temps, try different retrieve speeds and depths..different times of day or night !
I don’t think any area could be a waste of time, I’ve fished certain zones/areas at least 6-10 times w/o a hookup but I still periodically go and try there….gotta keep running it up the flagpole so to speak….you’ll get ‘em
I hope this helps,
Gary
P.S.
I like the idea of "off the beaten path areas" they don't get as much fishing pressure
Last edited by gletemfeelsteelgary; 05-06-2009 at 04:22 PM.
Thanks for the shared info. I will try the kpn skinny shad and hopefully this time, I will catch my first striper.
Light strikes happen in all sorts of varieties, many people probably don’t even know they got struck when they happen.
One has to be 100% in tune with the feel and tension of the lure when it pulls through the water, any deviations from that should be considered a strike and the hook-set.
(of course there is debris in the water that will fool you as well)
It isn’t always an obvious strike.
I’ll remind you that I have not been fishing the duct for years so I don’t want to come off like I know everything about the duct.
I simply state and share what works for me and in some degree of regularity.
Many times the fish strike in a much more aggressive attack that clearly is felt as a “strike”-no brainer there but there are many variable strikes that occur and in different water/weather conditions.
I’ll also remind you that most of my fish I catch at night as well, the strike pattern may very well be different than that of a fish feeding during daylight, I could not speculate until I fish more during daylight.
There are a number of strike patterns I’ve witnessed, I’m sure there are more than I personally have even experienced to date.
* The load up strike : this was happening b4 the weird funky weather/barometer fluxes happened. They would grab hold of the lure and Straight tension would occur and be felt.
When I began fishing there, I confused this with a snag until all of the sudden I
felt a “Thump…thump..Thump” It took a few times to adapt.
This strike is certainly notable, there is a whole lot of pressure when it occurs.
*The Crushing strike: I’ve only experienced this once, the very 1st time I fished the duct, the water was moving solidly and I actually worked the lure
downstream, cross current, somewhat fast, the striper came up high on the
Transition, and was obviously chasing the bait down, he CRUSHED it !, hit it
like a freight train, instant bendo and drag pulling, unfortunately I lost that one
due to it shaking off and I haven’t experienced that pattern since, the weather was
really hot then so I wouldn’t be surprised to see that pattern kick back into gear
as the weather has changed to steady hot patterns.
The fish striking the lure again is a no brainer on this one, you’ll know it when
it happens.
*The Batting strike: this was common when the water was still cold and would occur in between those hard barometer flux we were having.
There were short stages when the fish fed and this is how those strikes were (again at night)
I’d be retrieving slowly with my left index finger gently riding in front of the level wind on my Shimano baitcaster mounted on 7 ½’ crucial graphite rod, this method and gear combo allows you to feel those most subtle variables during a retrieve, a very very very slight “tick” would be all that was felt and an IMMEDIATE strike response was necessary to incorporate the hook set, there were a few fish that I’d hook up on the nose or in the eye, plus many were hooked on the tail hook as well which is far from the normal bite when the fish actually GRABS the lure.
All that is a clear indicator that the striper were attempting to “KNOCK OUT” the bait and eat it after. They seem to approach the lure and turn HARD on it to swat it, couldn’t say for a fact but that is my assessment, hence why you don’t feel the strike much and the lure isn’t solid in their mouth.
*The T-BONE strike: There were a few times when the fish were coming out of the batting pattern, they would T-BONE strike, basically chase it down in a real docile fashion and “T-BONE” the lure from the side, the telltale signs of this behavior are the instances when both sets of treble hooks are hooked into their mouth, most commonly belly hook on top upper lip and tail hook on lower jaw.
I saw a post from fellow FNN’r “SENG” from lake skinner that had a pic where the striper t-boned the lure…..same pattern (see Seng’s Skinner post “another KPN success story 5-7 http://fishingnetwork.net/forum4/showthread.php?t=32967) you’ll see what I speak of.
*The Standard solid bumping strike: This is the more common bite I’ve experienced lately.
A solid bump or thump is felt during the retrieve, they seem to be getting a little more aggressive day by day so therefore the bumps get a little stronger.
It’s almost as if the striper is “grabbing hold of the lure” but not really engulfing it entirely, though he grabs it, a quick powerful hook set must be laid down to seal the deal, other wise you’ll come up short, good SOLID SHARP STRONG hooks should be used, I’ve had 1 fish bend a #2 owner stinger hook and that’s a real SOLID hook, walmart specials and lures of sorts are gonna leave you disappointed in the event of a big toad.
*The “ENGULFING” strike: this has only happened to me once, it’s where the striper basically “EATS” the lure, no messing about, it’s just grabs it inside it’s mouth entirely and commits 100%, the one instance I had with this type of strike happened about a week ago and the fish was in the 15 lb class.
That fish broke off with my hand on his lip but I never got a chance to see how far up in it's mouth the lure was but it was nowhere in sight.
No brainer here, set the hook and hold on for the ride.
Well I think that about covers it (I hope) that should answer all your questions and give you more insight about why I say what I say on my posts, there are clearly many variable that go with the territory, if one waits for the strike to always be a solid crushing strike, one may potentially miss out on many other hookups.
It’s all about getting in tune with the lure while your’e running it, sensing everything going on and “focusing” all your attention to what the lure does at any given moment.
Hope this helps,
Gary
Last edited by gletemfeelsteelgary; 05-11-2009 at 03:20 PM.
thank you for the awesome tips gletemfeelsteelgary.
a friend and I tried the duct for the first times and didn't get any hits on the lures. we did get two huge hits on the soaked anchovy, got my heart pumpin!!!
still trying out different things but would love to give it another go.
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