Round Valley Lakers
11/26/2017
A warm day at the end of fall just beckons for an attempt, on the 13' Hobie Outback kayak, at lake trout. Although this was just my second time lake trout fishing on Round Valley Reservoir, I ended up catching two beautiful specimens. The date of this fishing excursion was 11/25/2017
I started the day off by stopping at the local bait shop: Behre bait and tackle. Although they were not well stocked because it was the end of the open water season, Behre had medium and large shiner minnows, as well as the necessary assortment of lures that I needed: a bladebait and a Krocodile spoon. I purchased a dozen medium shiners, a Thinfisher bladebait, and a Krocodile spoon.
In my previous trip to Round Valley, I had fished the North Dam and North Tower of the Reservoir with only a bite and a foul hooked rock bass to show for it - given that this was only a one hour excursion, I deemed it very successful, so this time we launched out of the Southern launch site, and I fished the Southern Dam. The Southern Dam has much deeper water than the Northern Dam, so I assumed that the drop-offs, in the 50 degree water, would hold the hungry lakers. Given that I had no clue on how to catch any other species of trout, I completely disregarded the population of rainbow trout and brown trout that call the reservoir home.
First, I fished the shallow cove adjacent to the launch and the Dam with the spoon and bladebait, to no avail. Although there were many fisherman on the shoreline, I marked no fish in the shallow water of the cove. Next, I moved into the 70 foot water range near the South Dam. I immediately marked a school of bait and what I presume to be lake trout on the drop offs from 80 feet up until about 40 feet. The fish were probably keying into the shallower water because of the colder water and because of the bait that was present at these depths. I fished an under-spin jig with a 4'' DOA paddletail(reminiscent of Florida inshore fishing) and marked a fish follow the lure twenty feet off the bottom. I assumed that these fish were very finicky, so I switched my lure choice to be a 3/8 ounce Kalin Jighead with the same DOA Cal swimbait. As soon as I dropped the lure down to the bottom, on a drop off from about forty feet of water to about 70 feet of water, I felt solid weight and set the hook into the hard-jaw lake trout. The fish was a nice laker that was about three pounds.
After this first fish, I noticed quite a strange pattern: the lake trout that I marked out come off the bottom to investigate the lure that I was dropping down; however, the fish usually sniffed the lure, and then swam back to the bottom. In frustration I tied on a 3/8 ounce Hogy epoxy jig that was immediately bitten by a fish on its descent. Sadly, because of a terrible knot, the fish got away with the jig. I presume that the fish ate the epoxy jig because of its slow fall and realistic coloring that matched the forage of the lake: alewives and shiner minnows. I caught another fish casting a retrieving a Thinfisher bladebait on a drop-off of thirty to fifty feet of water. The Thinfisher was retrieved on the bottom and with a 1 foot slow hop. Surprisingly, live shiners on an egg sinker did not catch any fish, only a tentative look from a fish, but a live shiner on a jig got bit by a laker.
Next time I go for lakers, I will again target the South Dam, but this time I will be using 3/8 ounce Hogy epoxy jigs, swimbaits, and tubebaits. I think tubebaits will be the ticket next time because of the tantalizingly slow descent speed that will undoubtedly produce many more lake trout.
**If fishing in a kayak, it is paramount to safety to check WIND SPEEDS - Wunderground, wearing a life jacket, going with other kayakers, and if water temperature are low, wearing a dry suit. NO
FISH IS WORTH YOUR LIFE**
Jig dropping down to HUGE marks on the bottom.
Paul - 11/26/2017
A warm day at the end of fall just beckons for an attempt, on the 13' Hobie Outback kayak, at lake trout. Although this was just my second time lake trout fishing on Round Valley Reservoir, I ended up catching two beautiful specimens. The date of this fishing excursion was 11/25/2017
I started the day off by stopping at the local bait shop: Behre bait and tackle. Although they were not well stocked because it was the end of the open water season, Behre had medium and large shiner minnows, as well as the necessary assortment of lures that I needed: a bladebait and a Krocodile spoon. I purchased a dozen medium shiners, a Thinfisher bladebait, and a Krocodile spoon.
In my previous trip to Round Valley, I had fished the North Dam and North Tower of the Reservoir with only a bite and a foul hooked rock bass to show for it - given that this was only a one hour excursion, I deemed it very successful, so this time we launched out of the Southern launch site, and I fished the Southern Dam. The Southern Dam has much deeper water than the Northern Dam, so I assumed that the drop-offs, in the 50 degree water, would hold the hungry lakers. Given that I had no clue on how to catch any other species of trout, I completely disregarded the population of rainbow trout and brown trout that call the reservoir home.
First, I fished the shallow cove adjacent to the launch and the Dam with the spoon and bladebait, to no avail. Although there were many fisherman on the shoreline, I marked no fish in the shallow water of the cove. Next, I moved into the 70 foot water range near the South Dam. I immediately marked a school of bait and what I presume to be lake trout on the drop offs from 80 feet up until about 40 feet. The fish were probably keying into the shallower water because of the colder water and because of the bait that was present at these depths. I fished an under-spin jig with a 4'' DOA paddletail(reminiscent of Florida inshore fishing) and marked a fish follow the lure twenty feet off the bottom. I assumed that these fish were very finicky, so I switched my lure choice to be a 3/8 ounce Kalin Jighead with the same DOA Cal swimbait. As soon as I dropped the lure down to the bottom, on a drop off from about forty feet of water to about 70 feet of water, I felt solid weight and set the hook into the hard-jaw lake trout. The fish was a nice laker that was about three pounds.
After this first fish, I noticed quite a strange pattern: the lake trout that I marked out come off the bottom to investigate the lure that I was dropping down; however, the fish usually sniffed the lure, and then swam back to the bottom. In frustration I tied on a 3/8 ounce Hogy epoxy jig that was immediately bitten by a fish on its descent. Sadly, because of a terrible knot, the fish got away with the jig. I presume that the fish ate the epoxy jig because of its slow fall and realistic coloring that matched the forage of the lake: alewives and shiner minnows. I caught another fish casting a retrieving a Thinfisher bladebait on a drop-off of thirty to fifty feet of water. The Thinfisher was retrieved on the bottom and with a 1 foot slow hop. Surprisingly, live shiners on an egg sinker did not catch any fish, only a tentative look from a fish, but a live shiner on a jig got bit by a laker.
Next time I go for lakers, I will again target the South Dam, but this time I will be using 3/8 ounce Hogy epoxy jigs, swimbaits, and tubebaits. I think tubebaits will be the ticket next time because of the tantalizingly slow descent speed that will undoubtedly produce many more lake trout.
**If fishing in a kayak, it is paramount to safety to check WIND SPEEDS - Wunderground, wearing a life jacket, going with other kayakers, and if water temperature are low, wearing a dry suit. NO
FISH IS WORTH YOUR LIFE**
Jig dropping down to HUGE marks on the bottom.
Paul - 11/26/2017
Comments
Post a Comment