Made it out today in my tube for a multi-species, warmwater focused outing. Yesterday the W was serious, today was a reprieve, and tomorrow the cold front is supposed to get chilly and more W. So I wasn’t sure if the fish would be in a mood to cooperate.
I was on the water around 8am and wearing every layer I packed. The days have been mild but it’s October and the sun didn’t hit the water for a while. I marked some fish but only picked up one dink bass before 10. I decided to try the sunny side of the lake and made my way towards a weedy point. As I crossed out of deeper water and found 15’ there were several fish on my finder. My best flurry of the day started with a chunky smallmouth that got off at the net. Then two quality caprs that towed me around. Then a very chunky smallmouth. All these fish took a craw jig fished right on the bottom in 15-22’.
When that was over, I went back on the hunt. I found a few schools of perch that were interested in my craw.
And several smaller bass.
Eventually my bite dried up. I was still marking fish in a more shallow area so I switched up to my camolux intermediate and an unweighted minnow. As I reached the edge of the flat, I turned towards the bank and started to strip to avoid snagging up in the weeds. I got a solid grab and then dead weight. Then big headshakes and the fish rolled leaving a huge disturbance 60’ away. Big fish. If this was another smallmouth or capr, it was a different class. I got pulled out towards deeper water, then in circles. When I worked it close enough, I had trouble processing. My fish ID skills are pretty good but this fish was totally out of place. And it didn’t fit in my net.
An adult Chinook was not on my bingo card. It ate my little minnow in primo crappie water!
I gave it another 90 minutes or so but I was kinda rattled. Wild stuff in the desert!
I was on the water around 8am and wearing every layer I packed. The days have been mild but it’s October and the sun didn’t hit the water for a while. I marked some fish but only picked up one dink bass before 10. I decided to try the sunny side of the lake and made my way towards a weedy point. As I crossed out of deeper water and found 15’ there were several fish on my finder. My best flurry of the day started with a chunky smallmouth that got off at the net. Then two quality caprs that towed me around. Then a very chunky smallmouth. All these fish took a craw jig fished right on the bottom in 15-22’.
When that was over, I went back on the hunt. I found a few schools of perch that were interested in my craw.
And several smaller bass.
Eventually my bite dried up. I was still marking fish in a more shallow area so I switched up to my camolux intermediate and an unweighted minnow. As I reached the edge of the flat, I turned towards the bank and started to strip to avoid snagging up in the weeds. I got a solid grab and then dead weight. Then big headshakes and the fish rolled leaving a huge disturbance 60’ away. Big fish. If this was another smallmouth or capr, it was a different class. I got pulled out towards deeper water, then in circles. When I worked it close enough, I had trouble processing. My fish ID skills are pretty good but this fish was totally out of place. And it didn’t fit in my net.
An adult Chinook was not on my bingo card. It ate my little minnow in primo crappie water!
I gave it another 90 minutes or so but I was kinda rattled. Wild stuff in the desert!