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Hunting Tigers at Huntington 10-23-13
#1
[#0000FF]It's been a couple of years since I last fished Huntington (Mammoth) up on the Skyline. The last couple of previous trips were somewhat disappointing...lots of fish but mostly smaller ones. This trip produced a bit larger fish but not many of them. Goes that way sometimes.

Launched about 8ish. Air temp 28 and water temp only 41. Figured it would be a few degrees warmer still. Nope. Glad I had a couple of pairs of good wool socks under my neoprenes. Got cool but not uncomfortably cold.

The water level was also up a bit higher than I expected. In years past I have had to hike a ways down from the end of the ramp to launch my tube. Brought my new deer cart tube/motor/battery carrier but didn't need it. Only about 8-10 feet from the end of the ramp to the water. But steep.

Most years the tiger trout are schooling up in three or four defined areas this time of year. Not this year. I worked through all the usual suspect spots and was demazed at how few fish showed up on sonar. In fact, it was well after 8:30 before the first fishy mark moved across my screen...and shortly after that I went bendo on my first tiger.

After that I used my electric trolling motor to move me slowly in big S turns...from shallow to deep...from near shore to out in the middle...from one end of the lake to the other. I varied my offerings from spinners to single flies on flatline to bubble and fly to jig-fly combos. I kept changing up depths and colors. Not many fish on sonar and even fewer on the end of my line.

A couple of times I saw fish hanging near the bottom and stopped to do some vertical jigging. Good exercise for me but none for the fish. Most of the fish I saw were suspended about mid-depth over water deeper than 20 feet. 25 to 30 feet showed the most fish. I did see a few over the deepest spot near the dam...in 40 feet. But they just swam on by with middle fins upraised.

On "normal" late fall trips I usually find a good concentration of fish and then work through an assortment of lures and flies to see what DOESN'T WORK. When the fish are plentiful and active I can only fish one rod at a time. On this trip I kept two rods out all morning...with a changing assortment of offerings.

Boy am I glad I came up with the "Copper Pat" pattern a few years ago...for the Boulder Mountain Boys. That was the hot ticket today...both in marabou jigs and in "hot head" flies. Something about the combo of metallic copper head and body...and root beer marabou tails...that those tigers really like. I only caught a couple of fish today on my "silver-back black".

Even though I was not seeing a lot of fish on sonar, there were evidently a few cruising at mid-depth. I got a lot of hits from fish I had not seen on sonar. In that clear water they often come in from the side and will never show up on TV. Not ashamed to admit that I missed a lot of those hits too. The fish are either too experienced to get the hook...or not experienced enough. But it kept me a little more active so I did not develop rigid hypothermia.

I don't carry a clicker and I don't make marks on the side of my tube whenever I catch a fish. But I keep semi accurate accounts of what I am catching. I think I caught about 15 or 16 tigers today...from 13" to almost 18". I lost one that would have gone over 20...the only colored up one today. And I kept 4 about 16 inches each for the table.

Not the worst day I have had on Huntington but definitely not the best either. I have had a few trips of over 100 fish...up to 22 inches.

I have a concern that the ice fishing is not likely to be stellar this year. In years past the fishing in October and early November has set the tone for the first ice fishing around Thanksgiving. Good numbers in the fall usually translate to good ice fishing. Maybe I just didn't find the magic spot this year but all the ones that typically hold fish were empty. Hope the problem was mine and not a problem with fish numbers in the lake.


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#2
Nice to see you hitting the pond heavy. Interesting on the amount of fish you were seeing though.
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#3
Great report and pictures. You got to love it when you have a calm day on Mammoth. The water level is still dropping, it's probably down another two feet from when I was there two weeks ago. Don't feel bad about missing some fish. I don't know what it is about Mammoth tigers but if I catch 30% to 40% of the fish I hook I feel pretty good. You couldn't have picked a nicer day to fish at 9,000 feet in October. Thanks for the helpful information.
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#4
[#502800]Nice going ........ Good smokers ....... 28/41 degrees? ....brr....... You must have had on your arctic armour. [/#502800]
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#5
[#0000FF]Yep. I was properly grateful for the nice day. But it did get cool enough that I had to put my gloves back on when the breeze started kicking up.

I didn't lose many once I hooked them today. But I sure did get a lot of "tentative inquiries". And some of those tigers keep coming back and smacking it several times. You'd think the hookup ratio would be better. Oh well.
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#6
[quote WaveWolf][#502800]Nice going ........ Good smokers ....... 28/41 degrees? ....brr....... You must have had on your arctic armour. [/#502800][/quote]

[#0000FF]Those fish are too good for smoking. Beautiful red meat. Very good flavor too. Just right for foil broiling in the oven...after filleting, skinning and boning. Better than salmon.

And yes, I was properly attired for the prevailing conditions (cold). My mama din't raise no fool. Well, maybe sometimes.
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#7
Gotta love the Copper Pat. And the Green Meanie. And all the other magic 'Bou.
And your numbers caught are as good a representation of true fish count as there is. In other words, if Pat ain't catchin'...they ain't there!
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#8
[#0000FF]Thanks fer the kindly comments. I know YOU like the copper jigs. Keep me busy making them for the Boulders. Greens and blacks too. But the greens didn't get a sniff on Huntington yesterday. I guess the fish in there don't have any green leeches or damsel nymphs on their menus. But a couple of the ones I got yesterday were full of small snails. Pretty hard to tie a size 20 snail jig.
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#9
I think that was your best report all year! Thanks for posting it up TD.
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#10
[#0000FF]Thanks fer the kindly comments.

My pleasure in gathering the info and pics to post.

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