New Hogan 8-20: Seaplanes & Deputies - Printable Version +- Fishing Forum (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum) +-- Forum: California Fishing Information (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=343) +--- Forum: California Fishing Information (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=13) +--- Thread: New Hogan 8-20: Seaplanes & Deputies (/showthread.php?tid=438661)

New Hogan 8-20: Seaplanes & Deputies - FishWisher - 08-23-2008 After eight productive trips to Hogan I suppose it was time for a skunk, although the fish tried to do their part. The short story: I had three good strikes that stuck long enough for me to begin working the fish to the boat. Every single one came undone within seconds. That is very frustrating – especially when I was using the exact same rigs I had used the last two weeks and reeled in five stripers. And I don’t remember a single fish coming unbuttoned the past two weeks. I’ll blame it on the unusually heavy amount of bait in the water; perhaps the fish were not striking to feed, but were hitting so lightly that the hooks just didn’t stick deeply. Incidentally, the hooks are barbless on my new Pro-Troll rigs. I changed them to barbed hooks after this trip and I hope that will correct this problem. I’ve never seen more bait balls than I did this trip. They were everywhere it seemed, and when I did find the stripers they were just inside the mouth of the river arm feeding on the abundant bait – which I believe are shad. I marked the bait everywhere I went. And there was a 3/4 moon this trip as well, so the stripers had been very well fed during the night and not exactly on the prowl for the anchovies I offered. A seaplane entertained me during the early morning. It was a beautiful twin-engine plane with massive floats. He practiced landings and takeoffs a few times, and then was gone. A photo of that beautiful plane is on my website. Later, a couple Calaveras County Sheriff deputies launched their boat to retrieve a rather nice looking cabin cruiser that apparently had been abandoned at the shoreline inside the upriver arm. I don’t know the story of that boat, but the sheriff had a flatbed trailer along, and I believe they somehow loaded it onto the trailer and soon after they were gone. I didn’t see them when they left. That was a strange incident. Maybe next week I can land some stripers... I hope the barbed hooks will do the trick! Photos on my homepage - including the ramp situation: [url "http://www.fishwisher.com/"]http://www.fishwisher.com[/url] [signature] Re: [FishWisher] New Hogan 8-20: Seaplanes & Deputies - Dryrod - 08-24-2008 [font "Garamond"][#008000][size 4]Thanks for the story & pictures FishWisher. That seaplane sort of looks out of place on the bank of the river/lake. I assume that he had his wheels down.[/size][/#008000][/font] [signature] Re: [FishWisher] New Hogan 8-20: Seaplanes & Deputies - tubeN2 - 08-24-2008 We all get the chance to spoon a few once in awhile. lol Those stripers can be tricky too. Barbless hooks are fine for them but as long as you accompany it with a fast tip rod and keep constant pressure on them. I'm sure you are aware of this but I would like the other readers to understand the principal of barbless hooks on big fish. As we are approaching the New Moon in Cali, you should be able to get the fish out of their lockjaw status and onto the "Bite Me" status. Thanks again for your report and we look forward to the next one.[cool] [signature]