12-18-2006, 03:49 AM
[black]Yesterday I fished Roberts gravel pond in search of the elusive yellow rainbow (aka banana trout). We didn’t start fishing until later in the afternoon. The ice was like glass and we could see the bottom as we walked onto the pond. Before I had a pole in the water I saw a yellow fish swim below me. We couldn’t keep small perch (3”-6”) off our hooks. [/black]
[black]Here’s a mess of perch that I took home. These 43 perch from Roberts Gravel Pond ended up weighing 3lbs even.[/black]
[black]![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20152]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20152)
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[black]After about 15 minutes one of my poles had a solid bite. I soon had a 12” rainbow on the ice that I quickly put back down the hole. Unfortunately it was a regular rainbow and not one of the yellow rainbows I was after. A few minutes later one of my dad’s pole went down. On one of his jigs there was a banana trout and the other had a perch. [/black]
[black]![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20153]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20153)
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[black]A few minutes later one of my poles had a solid bite. My brother standing next to it saw the yellow rainbow down the hole but didn’t pick up the pole until the fish was gone. It headed in the direction of one of my other poles 10 yards away and hit it hard. My brother was able to get to the rod but the fish fell off before he pulled it out of the hole. About a half hour later while watching perch that were waiting in line to be caught I saw a yellow rainbow come by. He hit my jig a couple times but I wasn’t able to hook him. My brother who was fishing only 5 yards away was able to set the hook on it and caught his first yellow rainbow. About a half hour later it was getting close to dark so we started to reel up our poles. I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to catch one of the yellow rainbows I was after. As I was getting ready to reel up one of my last poles I saw a yellow rainbow swim by my hole. He struck at my jigging rapala a couple times but it was too large for him to get in his mouth. He then finally took the small ice fly below the jigging rapala and I quickly pulled him out of the hole. My brother took a quick picture and I put him back down the hole for someone else to catch. He is the first yellow rainbow that I have caught and he easily goes 7”. He might even go 7 1/2".[
] His size didn’t really matter to me, all I was after was one yellow rainbow.[cool][/black]
[black]![[Image: gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20154]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20154)
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[black]I didn’t measure the ice but it was about 6” of solid clear ice everywhere we checked out. We also found the Berkley crappie nibbles on a small ice fly to work better than perch eyes, night crawlers or other baits. I also caught my yellow rainbow on small ice fly and crappie nibble.[/black]
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[black]Here’s a mess of perch that I took home. These 43 perch from Roberts Gravel Pond ended up weighing 3lbs even.[/black]
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[black]After about 15 minutes one of my poles had a solid bite. I soon had a 12” rainbow on the ice that I quickly put back down the hole. Unfortunately it was a regular rainbow and not one of the yellow rainbows I was after. A few minutes later one of my dad’s pole went down. On one of his jigs there was a banana trout and the other had a perch. [/black]
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[black]A few minutes later one of my poles had a solid bite. My brother standing next to it saw the yellow rainbow down the hole but didn’t pick up the pole until the fish was gone. It headed in the direction of one of my other poles 10 yards away and hit it hard. My brother was able to get to the rod but the fish fell off before he pulled it out of the hole. About a half hour later while watching perch that were waiting in line to be caught I saw a yellow rainbow come by. He hit my jig a couple times but I wasn’t able to hook him. My brother who was fishing only 5 yards away was able to set the hook on it and caught his first yellow rainbow. About a half hour later it was getting close to dark so we started to reel up our poles. I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to catch one of the yellow rainbows I was after. As I was getting ready to reel up one of my last poles I saw a yellow rainbow swim by my hole. He struck at my jigging rapala a couple times but it was too large for him to get in his mouth. He then finally took the small ice fly below the jigging rapala and I quickly pulled him out of the hole. My brother took a quick picture and I put him back down the hole for someone else to catch. He is the first yellow rainbow that I have caught and he easily goes 7”. He might even go 7 1/2".[
] His size didn’t really matter to me, all I was after was one yellow rainbow.[cool][/black] [black]
[black]I didn’t measure the ice but it was about 6” of solid clear ice everywhere we checked out. We also found the Berkley crappie nibbles on a small ice fly to work better than perch eyes, night crawlers or other baits. I also caught my yellow rainbow on small ice fly and crappie nibble.[/black]
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