4 days at The Loop and Crowley 7.4-7.7.13
After fixing a minor boat trailer boo boo (axle U bolts were loose and shifted a whole foot after I went up a curb on the way out of town!), I finally got the family on the road and up the 395 for some camping and fishing. I got my 3 year old daughter casting her princess pole pretty well with a rubber fish before we left, so I was hoping to get her on her very first fish this trip.
We camped at Grant Lake for the trip, and as always the facilities and staff were great. Grant is the only lake on the Loop where your phone won't get a signal, so it was a perfect spot to get away from it all! Thursday I launched the Trophy and did a little evening trolling, remembering some good spots to pull past, and they produced 5 bows in about 90 minutes, all 10-12" stockers (all released). One nice thing about staying at Grant, you pay $10 to launch for your whole stay, and also have the option to moor your boat for $10/night if you wanted to also. I later took the kids down to the shore to our favorite spot and whacked 2 quick ones for dinner on the pink pinched crawlers. Today pink was the magic color for lures and bait. We got hit by an awesome Sierra thunderstorm and holed up in the tent for 2 hours before it let up.
Anyway, got back out there at first light Friday and it took over an hour to get hit. They would not bite til the sun hit the water then it was a steady pick at them. I released 2 that were pushing 2 lbs and 3 more little stockers. Went back to camp, fed everyone breakfast then hit June for some major wind, talk about tough trolling! Only managed 3 fish in 4 hours, getting blown all over the place. The day before someone had caught a 5+ bow, which gave me hopes of landing a trophy but it wasn't meant to be.
Saturday was spent between Grant and Silver, with Silver giving up one 11" brown on a Taz but it was also windy as hell there too. Gusts would throw sheets of water across the lake, and people's stuff on shore would go flying. It was tough for everybody dealing with the wind. Crowds were fairly light the whole weekend, even though the campsites were all 100% full. Water temps at the Loop were consistent at 62-65 depending on the time of day.
Sunday it was time to leave, but not without a stop at Crowley on the way. I've only fished it once 2 years ago and got theso it was mission: catch something today, and it took all of 5 minutes to accomplish that with a beautiful brown. Water temp was 68 warming up to 70, and it was super green and BILLIONS of flies everywhere. After 3.5 hours it was time to leave, with 2 nice browns, a cutt and a fat perch on the catch list. I was super happy to have picked up my first perch and a cut along with it! Only kept one of the browns which was mortally wounded, and the perch. My daughter was not interested in bait fishing, so her princess pole did not produce her first fish, but to my surprise she was using it to "troll" her fake fish and yelling "Get the net get the net! It's a big one!" Maybe next trip she'll be ready, but in the meantime it was a total blast taking the kids out on the water and making memories. Thanks for reading!
Grant Lake PM
Crowley brown
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Originally Posted by JAG107
