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Thread: Lethargic Stocked Trout

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Whittier
    Posts
    2,455

    Default Lethargic Stocked Trout

    Has anyone else noticed how lethargic or reluctant the city lake stocked trout have been to bite after being stocked?
    Yeah I've heard all the answers like they don't bite right away,they don't bite till the next day, they have to settle down first ect ect.
    But it's not my first time fishing city stocked lakes,with that stated I have noticed on the last 3-4 stockings the fish just don't seem to want to bite! Anything for that matter,
    Jigs,bait,kastmasters,ect,
    Prior to this even one or two of the first stockings this year seemed to be wide open,just wondering if anyone else feels the same or is it just me and the few other guys I see all the time at our local lakes who feel the same.(Legg Lake,Laguna Lake, Wilderness,La Mirada)and a couple of others.
    Also by the time they may want to bite the cormorants have had there way with them.
    By the way all you guys who keep telling the coomerants have got them all please check the spelling its Cormorants and pronounced the way it's spelled.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    626
    Posts
    95

    Default

    Dude, how do you even know when to be there for the stock??
    By the time I hit the lake, ALL the trout are long gone.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Rancho Cucamonga
    Posts
    358

    Default

    rumor is they sedate them for the trip to the lake......

  4. #4

    Default

    Why would the stocked trout be lethargic? Just because they are raised in a hatchery where they are fed pellets for food, put in a truck and bounced around like a quarter in a washing machine and then shot out of a water cannon into some cement lined city park lake? Sounds to me like it has much more to do with the skill of the angler than the apparent lethargy of the fish.

  5. #5

    Default

    Last time I was at Glen Helen on stocking day, the newly stocked trout were all chilling on shore dazed and confused. People were just netting and snagging em. Someone next to me mentioned they drug em for the trip to the lake. IMO, stocking day is not "THE DAY", to be there.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Where the fish are
    Posts
    3,493

    Default

    Lake temperatures have a lot to do with it. The lower the temperature the more inactive the fish is this even applies to trout even though they live in cold waters.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Redondo Beach, CA
    Posts
    883

    Default

    Very good question. I just happened to be at my city park lake in the South Bay last Tuesday afternoon when the trout were planted and noticed how the trout did look lethargic. It was the first time I was around when trout were being planted.

    I headed back home and grabbed my 5 yr old son and started fishing about an hour after the trout were planted. Of course there were about 20 truck chasers standing next to the truck with their poles on their sides.

    My son and I both started off with 2 different Kastmasters....Second or third cast for my son he catches one. A few minutes later I got one. We ended up with 8 nice sized trout and I lost several of them...One time my line snapped. We had gotten a nice load of trout...only 450 lbs, but most of them were 13 1/2" + up. We used caught the trout on 3 different Kastmasters. I did look around the lake and it looked like some people were catching fish and many were not. I also had a second rod for me that I was using various power baits with Bite on Garlic and I got hit once but I caught nothing on it.

    Here are a couple of pics from day 1..Btw, I wear a size 12 work boot.


    A pic of my son with 6 fish...We ended up catching 2 more.



    I fished on Thursday which was day 3 and it had been light raining early in the day and then big winds came in...I had a couple of almost catches that I lost just off the shore...the bite went away with the winds came in so I left early.

    I ended up going out at 7am on Friday which was day and I caught my limit (actually released one smaller trout), but I had to work for it. I caught one on a Kastmaster, a couple on a 50 year old spinner, and the rest on various 30+ year old Panther Martin spinners..They look like today's #1 spinners. I caught the majority of the fish casting about 10 feet out and 20 to 30 feet to my left or right...I had to vary my retrieve and presentations, and really mix it up. I was able to see the trout swimming around and totally ignore or follow my lures. All of the fish I caught were over 13 1/2" long and one was at 14 1/4"...He had a nice hooked jaw and close to a full tail...Those were some of the greatest fighters I've ever caught in a small city lake.
    During my few hours of fishing that day, there were 10 other fisherman in the exact area and I only saw one other guy catch anything. Not sure what the case was...there were trout everywhere, but they still weren't really eating. I cut open their stomaches that day and they were still very empty. One had a few bird seeds in his belly.

    You are right though....For some reason, the trout have been tough this year for the first several stockings.
    All I can say is to hang in there and be open to trying various things and move around the lake.

    Brian

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Redondo Beach, CA
    Posts
    883

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Ifishtoolittle View Post
    Lake temperatures have a lot to do with it. The lower the temperature the more inactive the fish is this even applies to trout even though they live in cold waters.
    I didn't check the water temps, but the trout love the colder temps from what I've experienced. I thought I've always read the trout like 51 to 53 degrees or close to it. I don't think our City Lakes were any colder than that, were they?

  9. #9

    Default

    Honestly, every stocking that I was lucky to be there, ended up in wide open bites. Presentation and size of lures will also make a difference in getting bit or not. Try this next time, use a micro or 1/64 crappie jig after a stocking, add scent (got to find out for yourself which one works that day), color = (well, got to find out for yourself as well) I have a favorite color that always work for some reason, murky or clear worker, it gets bit. Just got to do some homework from your past experience on stocking days.

    Matter of fact, I went to Cerritos for the first time ever a couple weeks ago and got lucky, the stocking truck just pulled up. The worker netted the fish and flooped them into the lake, the fishes were stunned/dazed. I tried bait, kastmaster, trout worm and so on. No luck, got chasers but no takers. Went to my favorite color jig (size and color makes a difference) and bam, fish on, ended up catching about 30 all released. Those who I got the pleasure to fish next to, got the information on what I was using. Gave a couple favorite jigs to them and next thing you know, they were on. Oh yeah, PRESENTATION that day also made a difference. Like I said, you have to do your homework. That's what makes fishing fun, got to find out what the fish wants that day.

    Good luck to you next time you wet your line.

    Keep us posted on how you do.
    Last edited by Fysher; 01-05-2011 at 07:59 AM.

  10. #10

    Default

    there has been at least ,4 to 5 trout stockings at the pudd.of course, the plant chasers caught there limits, the day of the plant.at that spot .but then thinking the season, would take off for us fly guys,who are normally catch our limits. we found no signs like normal ,the trout arent schooling, like in normal years .we have had great success.even the normal spinning trout guys arent catching.there not dying off, or we would see signs.the birds, cant even get them.dont know the answer.where do approx..10,000 to12,000 trout hide in a smaller lake like the pudd. no bass have been seen chasing,like normal.will just catch carp till the trout start showing up...good luck..... mike the pmb....
    Last edited by PUDD MASTER BAITER; 01-05-2011 at 01:53 PM.

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