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Thread: Crowley Lake report May 23-24

  1. #1

    Default 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.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Chino, Ca
    Posts
    375

    Default

    Were you rigging your Tasmanians line thru with bead or the metal wire?

  3. #3

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Matt44 View Post
    Were you rigging your Tasmanians line thru with bead or the metal wire?
    I always rig thru the line with a bead and a owner treble. The action looks great when pulled alongside the boat. My only guess may be I'm going a little too fast with those at 2.0-2.5mph. With my trolling plate down I go down to 1.0, which is too slow for most lures. Trolling with the plate down in windy conditions is lunacy, so I was kinda forced to go on the fast side to keep control of the direction.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Chino, Ca
    Posts
    375

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    Were you on the DR? I like running lead at Crowley since its pretty shallow in most areas. I had great success on the bleeding frog trolling in Hilton. It wasn't red hot though that's for sure!

  5. #5

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Matt44 View Post
    Were you on the DR? I like running lead at Crowley since its pretty shallow in most areas. I had great success on the bleeding frog trolling in Hilton. It wasn't red hot though that's for sure!
    I was running both. Did not get bit on lead, one bite was at 10' and Sunday was a topline bite passing Hilton. I had much better numbers in 2 hours back in July '13. Tackle shop said it must be the weather. I don't fish the lake often enough to know the best troll lanes or best times to troll, just what little info I can find on good sites like this one.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Chino, Ca
    Posts
    375

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    Iv only fished it a handful of times and have done pretty well. This last trip was no where near others though, I got all my fish from 645 pm to 8 pm late evening troll. Had one fish in the early afternoon all trip...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Norwalk
    Posts
    180

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    Thanks for the great report. McGee is an awsome place to camp or RV they are top notch...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Gardnerville, NV
    Posts
    2,500

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    Anybody try some of the pink Taz's ... Panther ... Abigail ... etc? Of course, we're talking 13.5 size. And yes pitch the wire insert and tie through to the treble with a bead.

    I believe Bleeding Frog is their most popular up there.

  9. #9

    Default

    I went with the family to Convict last week, had a great time. Also fished many creeks in the area. We ended up with 27 total, including 9 browns, the largest at 3.3 lbs. In fact the Alper's truck was planting our first day there. Thomas Bouyants and kastmasters were working great on the lake. Caught most on powerbait, and one with a fly and bubble. I saw a lady with a good 10 lbr she caught with an inflated crawler and a bubble. All the kids caught fish, some there first. In fact my girl's ex never took them anywhere, even camping. We rented a cabin which was nice, fed the dear, chipmunks and raccoons by hand. Overall it was a great break that the whole family needed, and the kid's are hooked on fishin! . Just a couple of pics, will take more next time.Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by avraider; 05-28-2015 at 03:08 PM.

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