Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - Printable Version +- Fishing Forum (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum) +-- Forum: Utah Fishing Forum (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=386) +--- Forum: Utah Fishing General (https://bigfishtackle.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=58) +--- Thread: Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 (/showthread.php?tid=902188)

Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [#0000FF]Joined up with HighNDry and his son Daniel for a tube and toon trip to Huntington (Mammoth) Friday. Air temp mid thirties and water temp mid forties as we launched about 8 am. GoFish435 from Price stopped to chat on his way to launch further up the lake. His walkie talkie wasn't working so didn't get to exchange info with him on the water. Got an email from him later saying his two person group left Huntington early...because of poor fishing...and went to Cleveland. My day got off to a bad start. After fishing along the dam and seeing very little on sonar...and nothing on my jig-fly combo rigs...I kicked toward the southern shoreline to see if there were any fish in deeper water. Was using the electric motor on low setting for better speed when I got a monstrous strike on my right side rod. It bounced once and then catapulted out of my "quick-draw" rod holder and out into the water. Gone forever. Made that rod over 25 years ago and just finished rewrapping the guides on it. Had one of my best Okuma ultralight reels on it...and freshly respooled line. %@#$&%# Didn't get another hit for a couple of hours. Saw only a very few individual fish here and there. Rarely a double or a triple. No schools or concentrations. And couldn't coax any bites out of the fish I did see. Glenn (HND) did better. He had brought his fly rod and was fishing an intermediate line with a black marabou leech. A few of the widely scattered fish found it interesting and rewarded him with some tugs and acrobatics. He was glad he had brought the fly rod. I kept switching jigs and flies on my usually killer jig/fly rigs. All the stuff that has produced well in the past went completely unmolested. I was developing a complexion...or whatever. Couldn't believe the number of other anglers on the lake. Several other tubers and tooners and 3 or four boats trolling all around us. Also a few bank tanglers but never saw them catch anything. I did see several trout brought in by the guys in the boats. Usually small ones cranked in across the surface and then tossed carelessly out of the boat, with a comment such as "damned rats". Rats is evidently the colorful local colloquial term for the small planters from this year's restocking efforts. With treatment like that you gotta wonder about the survival rate of the newbie planters. The early morning breeze got stronger as the day wore on...as forecast. Blowing in gusts, first from one direction and then another. Concerned about being stranded at one end of the lake if the wind kicked up blowing the wrong direction I headed back toward the ramp and the dam. Finally went over some marks on sonar and got some tentative ticks. Missed the first few. Then finally hooked and brought in a "rat". Jiggled him off at the tube without lifting it from the water. I think he had a better chance at survival. Then, in quick succession, I hooked and lost two pretty decent tigers. One was a beautifully colored "male phase" fish that would have probably gone over 18". Fought it all the way to the tube before he forgot how to hold on. The second was a high jumping lighter colored fish that let go at the top of the second jump. About the same size as the first one. I began to think that maybe I could salvage the day after all. Nope. I did end up catching about 10-12 more of the smaller fish...with the biggest maybe a footlong. When I got back near the dam I suddenly started seeing some schools of fish. Now that was more like it. In past times the schools of fish are more competitive and bite more aggressively. Not these. They were all swimming around with mouths tightly closed and upraised fins. Only a very few bites and more missed bites than hookups. I used the walkie talkie to advise HND and Daniel that there were now more fish by the dam and they soon joined me...HND towing his son behind his motorized toon. They also got into a few of the more aggressive rats. We decided that even catching a few of the small ones was better than catching nothing. So we played with them until the wind got serious in early afternoon and then headed back for the big city. UNPAID POLITICAL COMMENTARY: I think I am done with Huntington. There are fewer tigers being planted and there is a lot more pressure...from other tubers, from boaters, from bank tanglers and especially from ice anglers. That poor lake gets hammered these days. Many of the anglers fish to keep a limit. But all the rats they throw back likely have a poor survival rate and that further reduces the available population. I reviewed my records going back to 2006. My worst trip prior to this year was last year...when I only caught 15 fish, but almost all of them were bigger than 14 inches...with some over 16 and one 18. Other years I have had days of 50 to 75 fish, with multiple catches over 18 inches. I have joked that Huntington is the only water I fish anymore that holds only trout. After a bit of reflection...after yesterday's trip...I think I have made my last trip to Huntington. [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - flygoddess - 10-25-2014 I always say a big part of fishing is attitude, and when something goes wrong (like loosing the setup) it is hard to get the catch attitude going. At least for me, I don't know why other than I loos patience. Beautiful land scape though. I got my broke rod replacement Thursday and it is beautiful, but I opted for the river yesterday. My catch weren't as pretty but with a couple over 28" it is worth the pull. Thanks for the report. [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - fishday - 10-25-2014 Great post TD as usual. Sorry for your loss on the rod and reel--sounds like it was a favorite. Friggin trout to add insult to injury. I watched my buddy do that the other day at DC while trying to fish with two rods--fish hit one the other took a bath. Shoulda went to Stary. Excellent day on the water yesterday, wind stayed down for the most part and fish in the usual spots. Consistently marked fish and what appeared to be big globs of something on the bottom in places. Caught 8 small eater eyes--12-14" mostly males-- and one SS in about 3.5 hours. Jig and 1/2 crawlers. All in the middle of the day--got there about 12:30 and left at 4. Sometimes it pays not to be the early bird I guess. Solunar said 12-3 and whatdayaknow. [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - hodie9 - 10-25-2014 I had the same experience last Sunday Pat. Fish scattered and not wanting anything I put in front of them. I even had the one huge hit like you did. I didn't lose the rod though. Sorry to hear you did. The only positive for me was there was only one other person on the lake that day and no wind. Beautiful day. Just wish the fishing was better. [signature] Re: [flygoddess] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [#0000FF]Glad you got your rod replaced. Highly unlikely I will ever see the one I lost again. I still have 5 other blanks just like it but nothing can ever replace a time proven and favorite rod. Glad those big scaly "tigers" are still showing some love. A few degrees cooler on the water temps and they will get kinda sluggish til spring. [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [fishday] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [#0000FF]Thanks for the words of appreciation and consolation. I got to thinking. That is actually the first fishing rod I have ever lost over the side of my tube in over fifty years of fishing afloat. And it was a freak thing. The rod holders I use are designed to hold a rod more firmly as more pull is exerted on the other end. I have successfully hooked and landed thousands of fish with them...some over ten pounds...and never a broken rod, broken line or loss of a rod. Then wham...a complete outfit gone in seconds...just because of the way those goofy tiger trout behave. Glad you had a good trip to Starvy. I had my best fishing from just before noon to about 1:30 last Monday. Would have stayed and fished longer but the breeze started kicking up...and I was tired after kicking all over Rabbit Gulch for several hours. What depths were you fishing and at what depths did you see the "globs" of fish? [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [hodie9] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [#0000FF]The beauty of that little lake is always worth the trip. But it is way better when the fish cooperate too. [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - fishday - 10-25-2014 Depths I caught fish at were anywhere between 25 and 40 ft with most fish marked at around 35 or 40. The globs might have been algae but some of the time there would be fishy marks on top of the glob. No takers around the globs though. Water temp was 57. Caught about half of the eyes at the mouth of RG. That trout must have run just right to pull that rod out. I bet you have a solution in mind, or already in play, to that unforeseen problem. I have some glue backed neoprene material I just got samples of if you would like to try and incorporate it with your holder. Maybe a llittle strip on the leading edge. [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - WaveWolf - 10-25-2014 [#484848]I know you can remake the rod, but the reel and the line......Grrr.[/#484848] [#484848]In looking at the rats, I wonder if the DWR is stocking the tigers a little bigger than in the past. I hope so.[/#484848] [#484848]I don't think very many survive out of a 50,000 minnow drop.[/#484848] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TyeDyeTwins - 10-25-2014 As a younger angler than yourself I think I should add some wisdom here. No fishery stays the same forever so hit hard when they're good! [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - RockyRaab - 10-25-2014 TD and all other brethren... I learned a rod-saving trick from other kayakers. I could describe it in a thousand words, but... It's a stretchy keychain thing I get at the dollar store, plus a keeper I add to every rod I own. Closeup of that: Key chain coil: a dollar Split ring and zip tie: pennies Saving a precious rod: priceless [signature] Re: [fishday] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [#0000FF]I have purchased and made hundreds of different rod holder designs for float tubing. The ones I use now are the culmination of many years of trial and error. And until Friday I had never had any kind of problem. That kwazy tiger trout just pulled a double whammy that first loosened the rod and then pulled it free at the precise moment when it was vulnerable. The rod holder is simple...fashioned from a PVC fitting of 3/4" by 1/2". With proper cutting and shaping it allows me to quickly drop a rod butt into the hole and then lay it down to lock it in place. And when a fish hits I can grab it and lift up to set the hook without having to pull the rod out of a tube...like most rod holders. I know I have caught a whole lot of fish the past couple of years that I might not have with different holders. And I have caught multiple species with it...including wipers, big cats, walleyes, perch, crappies, trout, etc. The fit is exactly right for the 1" rear handle grips on my rods. No room to add any additional material...like neoprene. And the increased friction of a fish pulling down usually increases the holding power too. Freak accident. Sounds like more fish are starting to school up at the outer points of RG. That was a good spot during the cooler weeks before iceup last year. Your "globs" could have also been schools of baby perch. The little 1.5 inch yearlings form tight balls on the bottom in deeper water about this time of year. In times past that was something I looked for. Once I found the food the perch and walleyes were usually not far away. Trout too. [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [WaveWolf] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [quote WaveWolf][#484848]I know you can remake the rod, but the reel and the line......Grrr.[/#484848] [#484848]In looking at the rats, I wonder if the DWR is stocking the tigers a little bigger than in the past. I hope so.[/#484848] [#484848]I don't think very many survive out of a 50,000 minnow drop.[/#484848] [/quote] [#0000FF][size 3]As I recall, plantings are made during the summer and the newbies are about 6-7 inches. They grow fast on a rich invertebrate diet and reach 10-12 inches by late fall. With the big tigers in there they can't plant fingerlings. Munch munch.[/size][/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - high_n_dry - 10-25-2014 Fun trip, and we enjoyed it as always. Thanks The scenery was good as was the company. Catching, well we earned all of them this trip, and from the sonar feedback I was getting going across the lake I could tell it wasn't going to be a fast and furious day. It was still a nice day to play hookie from work. Scheduled off of course. I knew from the disappointment in your voice, after your prized rod was rudely removed from your tube, it wasn't going to be a great day no matter how it ended up fish wise. Too bad we weren't able to GPS that exact spot it went in. I have some diving buddies I work with that would likely be willing to help us out, and it still could be an option if we want to give it a go and remember about where it was when it went down. I'd be willing to take them over there and give it a go if you would like. Water clarity may be the biggest limiting factor though. [signature] Re: [TyeDyeTwins] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [quote TyeDyeTwins]As a younger angler than yourself I think I should add some wisdom here. No fishery stays the same forever so hit hard when they're good![/quote] [#0000FF]Wise words, indeed. Especially so in Utah, where our fisheries are subject to so many vagaries of weather and other environmental factors. Just last week I was reviewing past trips on different waters...via my collection of fishing logs. I was shocked and demazed at how different my reports are now compared to those of the past. And if I go clear back in my rememberies...before I kept fishing logs...the differences are even greater. Deer Creek is a good example. Before smallmouth bass were introduced the lake held good numbers of largemouths...often reaching 5-6 pounds. And perch literally paved the bottom of Deer Creek. You could catch hundreds...almost anywhere on the lake...virtually any time of the year. Trout were pretty much the same except there were more browns. Nowadays we can count on a few dink smallmouths, still lots of rainbows, fewer walleyes and some new "exotic" species like bullheads, crappies and white bass. Perch are still there but very hard to find in numbers...consistently. Yuba is another prime example. Going way back, it was full of chubs with a few brown trout and occasionally a rainbow or cutt. Then it went through cycles of newly introduced smallmouth and walleyes eating up all the chubs and going into a stunting mode...before perch "miraculously" appeared...to feed the hungry hordes. The perch population exploded and the walleyes grew big and fat. Ditto for the smallies. Chubs gradually died out. But new plants of hordes of rainbows turned the lake into a prime trout water. Still some ups and downs in the cycles but a much broader based ecosystem in that lake. Yuba? Perhaps no other fishery in Utah has seen so many changes and so many up and down cycles. Subject to ten year weather cycles, Yuba's water levels rise and fall...as does the fishery. Some years have seen absurdly abundant populations of big perch and walleye. These were usually followed by drought and dieoffs. After the big drought ending in 2004 there was a big planting of rainbows to establish a fishery until other species could reestablish themselves. The bad news was that only carp and pike did any kind of reestablishing. Some perch were planted and did provide a good perch fishery for a couple of years, but then the blossoming pike hordes pretty much cleaned out both them and the trout. Only a scant few walleyes and perch still show up. And now the pike seem to have taken a downturn as well. We can see similar ups and downs on just about every water. Sometimes it is a result of natural weather patterns and cycles. Other times there are necessary modifications or improvements to dams or other infrastructure that create problems for anglers. End result is the same. Many years ago I wrote some dark verse. One such outpouring was "Change is Permanent". The repeating refrain was "Times, tides and people change. Doesn't it seem kinda strange...that things don't go from bad to good...and never turn out like we hoped they would." You are definitely right. Take advantage of the good times while they are upon us. But how can we know when things are good and not doomed to get worse? I tend to be an "optimistic pessimist". I am one who believes that my glass is half full...but that some sucker is gonna come along and knock it over. [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [high_n_dry] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [#0000FF]Yes, it was a good trip...with good company. Always good to share the water with ya. And good to see Daniel again...now that he has graduated and is a wage slave. I think he got the worst of the long trip and the long hours after having to work a swing shift in order to join us. Thanks for your offer of assistance in recovering the rod. But I have already chalked it up as a donation to the fishing dieties...for their past kindnesses on other trips. How could I be so ungrateful as to want it back? Anyway, the expenses involved in putting together a dive recovery trip would far outweigh my out-of-pocket to replace the gear. Dominoes Nabisco...or however that goes. Interestingly enough, I came close to tossing over a marker buoy and dragging some jigs around on the bottom to try to snag the rod or some line. But I didn't. If that fish stayed hooked up I would really like to hear the story he told the other fishies about how he got his lip ornament and that wierd thing he was dragging around behind him. Wonder if fish can concoct as good of stories as anglers. Next trip will be closer to home. Maybe Lincoln Beach again. Those walleyes can't avoid you forever. [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - gofish435 - 10-25-2014 Thanks for the detailed report, Pat. I'm sorry for your loss, you must have hooked Walter. I'm thinking that maybe it was a good thing my radio didn't work. I'm not sure I would have wanted to hear what you had to say and the FCC would have been coming after you. It was good to meet Glenn and Daniel. It's too bad the lake wasn't kinder to them after the long drive. My fishing log tells the same story of declining success on Huntington. The DWR has been stocking the same amount (around 10,000 at 4" to 5") for at least the last twelve years. I think your observation of the popularity of the lake and the amount of harvest that takes place is catching up with the available resources. I know that Mammoth is about the only water you ever fish that only has "slimmers" so I would hope sometime in the future you will give it another shot. Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us, [signature] Re: [gofish435] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - TubeDude - 10-25-2014 [#0000FF]Thanks Tom. In spite of my post-trip negativism I suspect that I will succumb to the draw of that purty little lake again in the future. I'll have you know that my language over the airwaves, following my lost rod thing, was nothing but polite and within all legal boundaries. However, what I said off the air was nuclear. As you can see from the trees in our pictures, it knocked all the leaves off the aspens. There are likely multiple reasons for the decline in productivity at Mammoth. We have discussed some of those. I personally believe that the change in regulations on Scofield has redirected some of the former meat fishermen from there to Mammoth. Much harder to catch keepable fish at Scofield these days. Increased pressure and heavier harvest...on a small lake...has to have an impact on the numbers. My floatilla partners both had a good time, in spite of the lesser returns. That was a cool picture you posted...rub a dub dub, three dudes in a tube...or whatever. [/#0000FF] [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - N.E.T.O. - 10-26-2014 Pat, Friday must have been an unusual point in the space time continuum or something as I also lost a rod, first time ever, over the side of the boat at Strawberry. I launched at Renegade and and was fishing with two poles. Jigging with one, casting with the other, with a bobber. On the first cast I lost the brand new bobber, and motored over with the electric trolling motor on the rear (backwards) and retrieved the bobber. During this time I left my jigging pole down and I never have them in pole holders so I can grab it and set the hook faster. Well, the .59 cent bobber retrieve was successful, so I turned the handle on the electric motor to full forward to get back to my secret spot (at which point I would turn the spot lock back on on the i-pilot to stay put). A couple seconds later I heard the sound of my pole hitting the boat and then a splash and thought maybe I'd hooked a fish and it was surfacing. So I went to grab the jigging pole...and that's when I realized that was what the spash was. The sound of my Jigging pole going overboard. Out of the four poles I had with me, it had the most expensive reel on it, and was also my favorite. A Black Max baitcaster. If anyone finds it in the Renegade area it was attached to a cheapo Rhino pole..but the reel is nice and has fireline on it. Anyway, I've broken poles before but I have never in my whole life ever lost a pole over the side of the boat. I always make fun of the people that happens to (mainly Arron, my cousin) and say that they need to pay more attention. And...I'll say it again. To myself this time. It was the first time for me also loosing pole over the side of the boat. Also, I did well at Strawberry yesterday, in fact it was my best day there all year. Went back today and only caught half as many. The bite shut down about 9:30 this morning, but the early morning bite was awesome! [signature] Re: [TubeDude] Huntington...Ho Hum 10-24-14 - brookieguy1 - 10-26-2014 Pat, I'm no longer a tiger fan, (they've just lost their novelty to me), but I made an annual trip to Mammoth last Spring with my BIL and sons. We caught very high numbers of 15-17" tigers. Unless all these were caught over the summer, the numbers of decent sized tigers should be fairly high. But as you say, meat hunters could have came into play over the season. [signature]