07-22-2013, 02:17 AM
I'm determined to catch my PR rainbow this year and this reservoir I feel is my ticket. Headed out on Saturday, while not a total bust, I had to really work hard for the fish.
Water is pretty low. The deepest spot I found near the dam was 23 feet. I took a pic from the bottom of the boat ramp as well a pic of my kayak/canoe hybrid called a Nucanoe I fish from. Started off trolling and quickly picked up a decent 18" near the east side about 200 yards from the dam. Thought it was a good sign but came up empty for the next hour. Switched tactics and started drifting and tried just about everything in my tackle box.
Eventually I found that the fish were hanging out on a ledge where the depth quickly changed from 20 feet to 10 feet as well as in the shallows on the edge of the weeds in 7 feet of water. I picked up a small 12 incher that looked like it was straight out of the hatchery and one more that I didn't measure but was probably around 15". The bite was really lite and I missed a few. I set the hook on a hog that peeled drag and went air born. As I reached for the net he spit the hook and my heart sank. Oh well that's fishing.
I'm kicking myself for not bringing my fly rod. I'm not the best at fishing still water but I think I could have had much more action fishing near the reeds with a chironomid on a long leader and floating line. Any thoughts on that?
Talked with a few folks at the ramp and on the water, seemed like success was spotty for most people. I'm determined to go back and redeem myself.
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Water is pretty low. The deepest spot I found near the dam was 23 feet. I took a pic from the bottom of the boat ramp as well a pic of my kayak/canoe hybrid called a Nucanoe I fish from. Started off trolling and quickly picked up a decent 18" near the east side about 200 yards from the dam. Thought it was a good sign but came up empty for the next hour. Switched tactics and started drifting and tried just about everything in my tackle box.
Eventually I found that the fish were hanging out on a ledge where the depth quickly changed from 20 feet to 10 feet as well as in the shallows on the edge of the weeds in 7 feet of water. I picked up a small 12 incher that looked like it was straight out of the hatchery and one more that I didn't measure but was probably around 15". The bite was really lite and I missed a few. I set the hook on a hog that peeled drag and went air born. As I reached for the net he spit the hook and my heart sank. Oh well that's fishing.
I'm kicking myself for not bringing my fly rod. I'm not the best at fishing still water but I think I could have had much more action fishing near the reeds with a chironomid on a long leader and floating line. Any thoughts on that?
Talked with a few folks at the ramp and on the water, seemed like success was spotty for most people. I'm determined to go back and redeem myself.
[signature]
on the water level. Great you got a few.
] And yes Chironomids always work for me as well as some special buggers.