I wish I could play poker with my fellow anglers at lake Wohlford!

[etucker1959]

I have never seen a worst case of fishing Malpractice in my Life! When I go to Irvine lake, I meet up with the other regulars there and many of them are excellent fishermen! Not just in catching the silly undersized stocked trout! But Bass, Carp, Crappie etc. (I didn't mention Trophy catfish because that's my department!) So when I go to lake Wohlford, I expect to see some of that same expert angling. (the fly fishermen are the exception) But for everyone else, let's just say if I was playing poker with them and they played their cards the way they fished. I would have their pink slips to their cars, the deeds to their houses and their women would have to pay off some debts to me, if you know what I mean!!! Lol

Me and my fishing partners, understand how the trout act and think in lake Wohlford. So much that we spent our whole morning trying to catch some of the out of season Crappie & Catfish. (we knew we could catch all the trout we want later) We did get a couple of bites and 1 hookup on the mystery fish, but nothing made it to the boat. So around noon, we went in search of the trout. Let me explain how the trout act and think in lake Wohlford, so if anyone goes there, they should be able to make a good catch. The lake is stocked with trout on average twice a month. Obviously the stocked weeks are better then the non stocked weeks. We go there all the time, so it doesn't matter to us, if it's a stocked week or not. However, for the casual angler who is only going down there a couple of times a year. (go on a stocked week) You can tell that by reading the lake Wohlford report here on FNN. I'll give you another tip on how to know what day their going to stock it. Go to the Escondido lake Dixon fish report. They tell the exact day lake Dixon will be stocked. Lake Wohlford get's stocked on the same day as Dixon. (I fish in a boat, so I go 2 or more day's after they stocked it) Why because they stock the trout at the Boat dock area and it takes a couple of day's, until the main schools of trout work their way down to the shallow East end of the lake.

So now you know what day's should be good, based on when they stocked their trout. You should also know what area of the lake, you should be fishing for trout in a boat. (the East end) So far so good right?????? Everyone who fished on Thursday Dec 22, 2022 in a boat got it right up to this point. (it was a pretty crowded day, with most boats rented out) So a lot of people knew what I just told you! Now here is where it all went wrong for them! Last week was a non stock week and all the trout had settled down in Willow cove in the East end of the lake. (so all the reports said they were biting there) So that's where everyone went and most people stayed their all day. They did pick off a few left over trout from the previous stocking on Dec 9. But nobody but me and Racer X went looking for the newly stocked fish from 2 day's earlier!!!!!!! Most people were content to pick off those few leftovers from the previous stocking in Willow cove!

So when you go looking for newly stocked fish what do you do??????

You play the percentages and head for the East end of the lake and you drift your boat with the wind! (the wind doesn't usually come up till 10:00 am) So their is no need to get there early, unless you fear they will sell out of boats. Maybe they would sell out on a Saturday, but the rest of the week I wouldn't worry too much about it! We went on a Thursday ($20 boat rental special for senior's) and had no problem renting a boat when we arrived at 9:00 am. When it comes to bait and tackle, light line a number 5 split shot and yellow corn Power Bait dipped in garlic. (so simple a rig) When it comes to drifting, divide the lake in 3 quadrants in the East end in your mind. Left, Center and Right! (High & Low) Low means right above the last air ratter is where you start drifting and High means, start below the 2nd air ratter. So far this season it's all been Low. So I started Left Low and got no bites! I then went Center Low, right around the last air ratter and BINGO!!!! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!!! The fish were all stacked up right next to the air ratter on the left side and all the way to the Buoy line! We were all done with a boat limit of trout in less then 2 hours! (we even missed 4 bites) These were all nice and beautifully Rainbow trout!!! We had 1 fish less the 2 pounds and all the rest were cookie cutter 2-3 pounders! At the same time we are knocking the snot out of them! Hardly anybody moved off the anchor in Willow cove! They all were just content to sit there and catch a few meager fish! I'm sure the Fly boats did Ok, but the bait and Mini Jiggers did a lot of sitting and working for a meager count at best!

Tip of the week.

Try to understand everything I wrote! Lol

Fish with Corn Power bait dipped in garlic in the East end of the lake, while drifting in a boat in the wind!