11-12-2009, 12:35 AM
[cool][#0000ff]After last week I figured I knew where the fish would be at Huntington and that it should be good for at least one more tubin' trip before hard water time. I figured right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Based on weather forecasts for the general area, I figured that it would probably be about mid 20's air temp in the morning and fairly calm until about 11 or so...after which it should turn windy. Wrong on all counts. Sometimes I love it when I'm wrong.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Tropical paradise. 40 degree air temp at the dam when I got there about 6:30. Water temp was colder at 37.5. Dropped a degree since last week. It was cloudy but calm. Looking good. But, there was a small patch of floating ice along the dam in one area. It won't be long.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]What a day! I caught 25 tigers in the first hour and anywhere from 15 to 25 per hour until I left at 2 PM. Want a count? Fuggetaboudit.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Found the fish where I left them last week. Stacked up along one area out from the dam. Fish all the way from bottom to almost the top in water from 30 to 49 feet deep. (see sonar pics)[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was one of those days to try to find something the fish would NOT hit. Only found a couple of things that would not catch fish. Had hits on everything I tried, but could not hook up on spinners or diving crankbaits. Also did not catch anything on a pure orange jig...but did get hits.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did not even bother with bubble and fly rigs this week. I kept two rods rigged with a jig and fly setup and kept changing the jigs and the fly patterns just to see what worked...or wouldn't. I caught fish on several colors of jigs and just about any fly I tried. I sometimes rigged the jig on the bottom and the fly drop shotted a couple of feet above. On the other rod I would rig the jig on the drop shot and let the fly trail on a 2 foot leader. Didn't matter. They ate it all. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I kept two rods soaking...as per my permit. I would cast out about 30 feet and set the first rod in my "quick draw" rod holder. By the time I got the second one out the first would be bendo. I had doubles on multiple times and landed doubles several times. The smaller fish make that possible. It would never happen if they were all bigguns.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Biggest I brought to net today was about 17 inches. Got quite a few in the 15 inch bracket. Most were "teen-inchers", "foot longs" and "under footers". I did have a purty hooky over 20 inches that I would have released anyway. I wanted some pics of him in the water. Just as I was ready to shoot he did the tiger flop and gave me the jig back. Mighty thoughty. Creative release.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I expected wind before midday. Never got more than a light breeze. I had figured I would be fighting wind coming into the ramp about noon. I figured wrong. It was almost glass when I got off the water about 2. But, I dealt with it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the small tigers I caught had a 6 inch heavy leader snell with a snap swivel hanging out it's mouth...and it still hit my fly. I took my fly back and cut the leader off from the other hook. Tough little guy. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Another tiger cub had a wierd-shaped nose. Kinda looked like it might be a cousin to Flipper (the dolphin). Wonder if DWR is experimenting with some new hybrids.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Great day on the lake...and I was ALL ALONE. No other boats, tubes or toons. A couple of bank tanglers fished a while to the west but left quickly. Either caught a quick limit or had enough of nothin'.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Now I can close the book on Huntington tubing for this year. I'll be ready for the ice fishing though.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Based on weather forecasts for the general area, I figured that it would probably be about mid 20's air temp in the morning and fairly calm until about 11 or so...after which it should turn windy. Wrong on all counts. Sometimes I love it when I'm wrong.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Tropical paradise. 40 degree air temp at the dam when I got there about 6:30. Water temp was colder at 37.5. Dropped a degree since last week. It was cloudy but calm. Looking good. But, there was a small patch of floating ice along the dam in one area. It won't be long.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]What a day! I caught 25 tigers in the first hour and anywhere from 15 to 25 per hour until I left at 2 PM. Want a count? Fuggetaboudit.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Found the fish where I left them last week. Stacked up along one area out from the dam. Fish all the way from bottom to almost the top in water from 30 to 49 feet deep. (see sonar pics)[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It was one of those days to try to find something the fish would NOT hit. Only found a couple of things that would not catch fish. Had hits on everything I tried, but could not hook up on spinners or diving crankbaits. Also did not catch anything on a pure orange jig...but did get hits.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I did not even bother with bubble and fly rigs this week. I kept two rods rigged with a jig and fly setup and kept changing the jigs and the fly patterns just to see what worked...or wouldn't. I caught fish on several colors of jigs and just about any fly I tried. I sometimes rigged the jig on the bottom and the fly drop shotted a couple of feet above. On the other rod I would rig the jig on the drop shot and let the fly trail on a 2 foot leader. Didn't matter. They ate it all. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I kept two rods soaking...as per my permit. I would cast out about 30 feet and set the first rod in my "quick draw" rod holder. By the time I got the second one out the first would be bendo. I had doubles on multiple times and landed doubles several times. The smaller fish make that possible. It would never happen if they were all bigguns.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Biggest I brought to net today was about 17 inches. Got quite a few in the 15 inch bracket. Most were "teen-inchers", "foot longs" and "under footers". I did have a purty hooky over 20 inches that I would have released anyway. I wanted some pics of him in the water. Just as I was ready to shoot he did the tiger flop and gave me the jig back. Mighty thoughty. Creative release.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I expected wind before midday. Never got more than a light breeze. I had figured I would be fighting wind coming into the ramp about noon. I figured wrong. It was almost glass when I got off the water about 2. But, I dealt with it.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One of the small tigers I caught had a 6 inch heavy leader snell with a snap swivel hanging out it's mouth...and it still hit my fly. I took my fly back and cut the leader off from the other hook. Tough little guy. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Another tiger cub had a wierd-shaped nose. Kinda looked like it might be a cousin to Flipper (the dolphin). Wonder if DWR is experimenting with some new hybrids.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Great day on the lake...and I was ALL ALONE. No other boats, tubes or toons. A couple of bank tanglers fished a while to the west but left quickly. Either caught a quick limit or had enough of nothin'.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Now I can close the book on Huntington tubing for this year. I'll be ready for the ice fishing though.[/#0000ff]
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