Big Bear Lake Trolling for Holdovers

[TrouTracker]

Met up with a Big Bear local friend, Matt Keller, this past Sunday to do a little holdover trolling. Matt's considered one of the more knowledgeable angler's in Big Bear. It was a hot weekend on the mountain, with temperatures in the mid-80's. Surface temperature was 62 degrees, with water clarity at about 5'. Even though we were on a pontoon boat, the wind was pushing us around pretty good. We trolled with No. 1 Needlefish with a little copper coloration on one side and nightcrawler harnesses with half a crawler on the other. Trolling depth was pretty consistent at 14 and 19'.

Matt had us focused on the northwest side of Big Bear. We trolled the same area for the 3 hours we were on the water. We caught holdovers that had really nice colors, with most of them having a gold splash of color running down their sides. Matt suggested that these holdovers were possibly from last fall's stocking to the beginning of 2012. The hot ticket Sunday was the nightcrawler harness with half a crawler. A majority of the holdovers were caught this way, and dipped in Berkley Trout Dip with the corn scent. All trout were released with TLC.

It was a very informative day on the water, learning the trolling lanes from Matt. I learned a few days before going up that there was a trout derby that weekend with a 50K tagged trout in the water. At around 9:30 in the morning, it looked like the 405 freeway on a Monday morning. Thanks Matt for a great few hours trolling for those holdovers!

Local angler Matt Keller (left) and myself with first holdover of the day........



Second holdover that's just starting to lose it's markings. Big shoulders!



Third holdover that Matt says has been in the water for about a year. One of the biggest of the day.........



This was my First Mate "Aki". She loves to fish, just has problems reeling them in.......

[fishinone]

Thanks for the in depth report. Those fish are in nice condition.

[TroutOnly]

beautifull trout berry ,nice imformative report , i miss going up there,,,,,,,,bob,,,,,,,,,

[billy b]

CONGRATULATIONS

"We trolled with No. 1 Needlefish with a little copper coloration on one side and nightcrawler harnesses with half a crawler on the other. Trolling depth was pretty consistent at 14 and 19'. "

I was always impressed with how a size 1 needlefish worked ... personally loved the Metallic Perch and also the Rainbow. Sounds like you were running between Windy Point and the Dam ... an old favorite of mine.

Don't have a clue what this is "night crawler harnesses with half a crawler on the other" ???

Is Matt a guide?

[TrouTracker]

To Bob- Big Bear Lake has made a huge comeback since the good old days. The lake is healthy again with oxygen levels excellent throughout the water column. The holdover trolling isn't quite like DVL's glory days, but it's definitely worth the trip.

To Billy- To be honest, I was really surprised when Matt had all #1 Needlefish on his rods. Your lure colors are right on for Big Bear. The hot color for the past few years has been the watermelon pattern. I guess I'll be spending a few bucks on Needlefish!

As for the nightcrawler harnesses, they are like single blade "mini-flashers" with different color beads. Most of them have 2 hooks, with the second as a trailer. Just hook the crawler on the first hook and let the second hook trail behind. You don't have to thread the second hook to the crawler. The single blade/beads do the attracting and the crawler elicits the bite. Matt said the Berkley Trout Dip increased his bite percentages. Matt is a local guide, PM me for additional information.

[hamdenst]

wow, really beautiful trout. thanks for posting

[JAG107]

Nicely done! Thanks for the great report.

[stocker]

To Bob- Big Bear Lake has made a huge comeback since the good old days. The lake is healthy again with oxygen levels excellent throughout the water column. The holdover trolling isn't quite like DVL's glory days, but it's definitely worth the trip.

To Billy- To be honest, I was really surprised when Matt had all #1 Needlefish on his rods. Your lure colors are right on for Big Bear. The hot color for the past few years has been the watermelon pattern. I guess I'll be spending a few bucks on Needlefish!

As for the nightcrawler harnesses, they are like single blade "mini-flashers" with different color beads. Most of them have 2 hooks, with the second as a trailer. Just hook the crawler on the first hook and let the second hook trail behind. You don't have to thread the second hook to the crawler. The single blade/beads do the attracting and the crawler elicits the bite. Matt said the Berkley Trout Dip increased his bite percentages. Matt is a local guide, PM me for additional information.

Needlefish--I would make my own with some scrap metal and tin snips, they have to be one of the biggest rip offs in fishing but to each his own. Nice chromers!!!

[TrouTracker]

To Stocker- It was nice to catch those holdovers on the troll. Those Big Bear trout have nice full tails and fight really well for smaller size trout. I know what you are saying about Needlefish. But, they seem to be the ticket in the lake, so I guess I won't be "reinventing the wheel"...........

[diamondbear]

Barry , good report , thank you . Good to see you got up to my country [ you and your first mate Aki ] did good on a tough bite happening up at Big BEAR LK. . Today I went up to BBL because of your post instead of going hiking getting ready for deer season and it started out slow with little stockers and it turned wide open on big 16-17 inch. holdovers . The best fishing of this season today as the fish are being forced into the west end . // db