04-16-2007, 05:07 PM
After consulting with you all and getting a couple of responses, my dad and I headed up to Deer Creek Saturday morning. We arrived at the State Park ramp at about 6:15, temperature was in the brisk low 20s. We lauched, and in an effort to keep our hands warm, we trolled out of the harbor, past Walsburg bay and along the shoreline to Rainbow Bay. Dad was trolling a #4 Silver Flatfish on lead line with 3 colors out, I was trolling a Silver Rapala CD7. There was a little bit of surface action, not a lot of marks on the graph.
Just inside Rainbow Bay, dad got a powerful hit on the flatfish and he reeled in a nice 20 inch Rainbow with very, very bright colors--the picture doesn't really do it justice, it was a very pretty fish. Using my second pole permit, I put out a second line with a deep diving Crystal minnow in additon to the CD7. Dad caught another, smaller, but still good sized rainbow on the flat fish (this was also in Rainbow Bay).
As we got closer to the Island Ramp, we crossed over to the west side of the lake and trolled along the shore. After Dad caught his third fish (another decent sized and healthy looking rainbow) I decided it was time to use a flatfish also. I got out a #4 Rainbow pattern flatfish. We went about 100 yards and we doubled up, two healthy rainbows in the 15-18 inch range. I tried some other lures on my second rod--an F9 Silver Rap, a TD5 in perch (this got a nice hit, but I long line released it), but nothing worked as well as the flatfish.
Later (around 10:30) we headed over to the island, trolled the shoreline then started casting into the stickups and brush on the north end of the lake between the highway and Charleston Bridge. There were lots of fish in there. Saw lots of big carp, smallies, and even one good sized LMB. Dad was getting frustrated getting hung up in the brush, I was trying out all kinds of new things from my tackle box. I got hits on a perch colored #8 X-Rap--was pretty cool, let it sit, twitched it and BAM! Mr. Small mouth came right from the bottom and tagged it. Didn't hook up, but it was pretty cool watching it all happen just like it is "supposed to." Dad threw a black and silver Berkley Frenzy and a SMB hit it almost at the boat. Dad boated it and, by Deer Creek standards, it was a good sized smallie (pic included). It measured out at 15 inches and just under 2lbs. Dad was excited and less upset about hanging up in the brush. I got another explosive hit on a perch colored DT 6, but did not hook up, also got a hit on a nose hooked, weightless senko. There were lots of bass in the brush and they seemed pretty aggresive, but I am still trying to figure out bass fishing on at least some kind of basic level so I can have more catches and not just "hits."
Around noon the wind started to pick up, so we trolled about half-way back from Charleston to the State Park, then brought in our lines and headed home. Final Count: 8 Rainbows, 1 small mouth bass, in about 6 hours. Probably a pretty modest number to some, but we had a lot of fun and, while it was pretty chilly, it was a beautiful day (see pics).
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Just inside Rainbow Bay, dad got a powerful hit on the flatfish and he reeled in a nice 20 inch Rainbow with very, very bright colors--the picture doesn't really do it justice, it was a very pretty fish. Using my second pole permit, I put out a second line with a deep diving Crystal minnow in additon to the CD7. Dad caught another, smaller, but still good sized rainbow on the flat fish (this was also in Rainbow Bay).
As we got closer to the Island Ramp, we crossed over to the west side of the lake and trolled along the shore. After Dad caught his third fish (another decent sized and healthy looking rainbow) I decided it was time to use a flatfish also. I got out a #4 Rainbow pattern flatfish. We went about 100 yards and we doubled up, two healthy rainbows in the 15-18 inch range. I tried some other lures on my second rod--an F9 Silver Rap, a TD5 in perch (this got a nice hit, but I long line released it), but nothing worked as well as the flatfish.
Later (around 10:30) we headed over to the island, trolled the shoreline then started casting into the stickups and brush on the north end of the lake between the highway and Charleston Bridge. There were lots of fish in there. Saw lots of big carp, smallies, and even one good sized LMB. Dad was getting frustrated getting hung up in the brush, I was trying out all kinds of new things from my tackle box. I got hits on a perch colored #8 X-Rap--was pretty cool, let it sit, twitched it and BAM! Mr. Small mouth came right from the bottom and tagged it. Didn't hook up, but it was pretty cool watching it all happen just like it is "supposed to." Dad threw a black and silver Berkley Frenzy and a SMB hit it almost at the boat. Dad boated it and, by Deer Creek standards, it was a good sized smallie (pic included). It measured out at 15 inches and just under 2lbs. Dad was excited and less upset about hanging up in the brush. I got another explosive hit on a perch colored DT 6, but did not hook up, also got a hit on a nose hooked, weightless senko. There were lots of bass in the brush and they seemed pretty aggresive, but I am still trying to figure out bass fishing on at least some kind of basic level so I can have more catches and not just "hits."
Around noon the wind started to pick up, so we trolled about half-way back from Charleston to the State Park, then brought in our lines and headed home. Final Count: 8 Rainbows, 1 small mouth bass, in about 6 hours. Probably a pretty modest number to some, but we had a lot of fun and, while it was pretty chilly, it was a beautiful day (see pics).
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