I have hit a new low. I have had slow fishing days. I have had trouble making bait. But today was a clean sweep. No bait, no fish. I dont know how everyone else's day went, but I hope it went better than mine. I am wondering if anyone else is having more trouble with their numbers this year as compared to last. Last year I can honestly say that I killed them. Our average fishing trip produced 8 to 20 fish. And most of the time that was on cut bait (anchovies) This year I started netting shad, tried anchovies, dead shad, jigging, you name it. My average trip has yielded maybe 3 fish.
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Don't feel so bad... Its been a little slow for me too.
I went out to Crawdad Cove today (Sat. 11/29) and had a very rough day. I drank a little too much during work Friday night, so getting up wasn't easy Saturday morn. I showed up at about 11am (waaaay too late), and trolled a big Castaic swim-bait around from 15-75 foot depths for nothin'. I tried that for about 3 hours, and went back to my truck. When I got back to shore, I noticed some trout swimming around, so I tied on an old Krocodile spoon and got one 10 inch rainbow on the fist cast. It wasn't what I went to the lake for, but at least something pulled on my line. I threw that spoon around for a while, but my fate was one small fish for the day. I left a little after 2pm.
It may have been different if I showed up at a good time of day, but I will take what I can get. Just stay positive and confident. Three fish a day at Mead is better than no fish, so just keep trying.
I gave up on quantity already.... I'm looking for that one big fish. I'll fish a week straight to hook into a 20 LB'er, so that's what I'm focusing on right now. I hope things go better for you on your next trip. Wish me luck on my 20 LB'er. I'll let you know when it happens.
The Whizzle
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Hi Tom,
Sorry to hear about your trip. I'm not sure if you're fishing in the Boulder Basin, but perhaps, the boat pressure is just too high there. I realize that the Boulder Basin is a large area, but I get the sense that most people fish there...hence, the boat pressure is fairly high most of the time. I've fished Boulder Basin on a 4 day houseboat trip a few years ago, but I wasn't impressed. The same goes for Overton Arm...although I can say that there were quite a few large catfish in Overton Arm. The Temple Basin is full of stripers. No matter how many I catch, I don't make a dent in the striper population. I definitely don't see many fishing boats going out of Temple Bar Marina.
The problem is Temple Bar is far as compared to Boulder Basin from Vegas. But if you ever want to do an extended or overnight trip, Temple Bar is the place to be. I hit the same spots two to four times a year, and the results are always the same. I've disclosed my favorite hot fishing spots in the past, but I'd be happy to give you or anyone else for that matter the locations if you're interested in trying them out.
The key is you have to be willing to go to Temple Bar...and you have to be willing to fish at night - basically from dusk to whenever you're tired of catching fish. Please let me know.
Best regards,
Paul
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Sorry it did not go so well. I could tell you had high expectations for the trip, looking into how the weather may affect you and all. Smart. Something that I found really has affecting my success is slowing down and paying attention to detail. Sometimes I get in a rush and miss the details. Not saying that’s what happened to you, but when I myself have poor results sometimes I find I missed a little detail. I am always asking myself if I am not getting bit why not? If I am getting bit I try to figure out why? How fast was the lure/bait moving, did the fish take it on the fall, what’s the wind doing? How could that have affected the fish’s decision to take the bait....or in some cases not. What was the fish relating too? Why is he here and not somewhere else? Etc. etc.
And when all that heavy thinking gets tiresome, I like to grab my confidence bait, or go to bait. For bass I like a 4inch black power worm, for trout it’s the Atomic Teaser for everything else its a big fat crawler. Next time you find it slow suspend a few fat crawlers just off the bottom, that should get something going. This has worked for me on strippers when they would not take an anchovy for anything. And if none of that works, have a cold one, (if it does work also have a cold one) at least your not a work! Just some thoughts, I am sure you will kill next time! Good luck!
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