Socal-Mike
11-28-2005, 09:05 PM
Well Thanksgiving was a blast and the time with the family was great, but it was my time now. Time to do some fishing.
Talked with F57 (dana from another site) and we decided to meet up at Irvine Lake for some trout huntin. Being the Vine holds some fatt catts, of course i brought a couple cat poles with the 20# test and some fresh mack to boot.
Arrived at the lake at 515 to find a line of about 70 cars in front of me, plus the campers fromt he night before :eek: Damn trout season. Got a hot coffee, paid for the boat rental and back to the car i went to chat with 57 for a while. Finally at 6am, they open the gates. Now i know the lake is open from 6am, but when theres over 100 cars in line...id figure they would start letting people in a lil earlier, but no dice. I was in line at 515 and paid my fee at 630, people way in the back didnt get in until after 7 im sure.
Anyhow, we hit the west shore first by the first cove for nothing. The day didnt look too hott so we moved after a couple hours to a submerged tree closer to the dam in a cove. Messed with some bluegill for a couple hours and Dana hit a lil 1# trout on a crawler, right on the bottom. Had powerbait poles out, nightcralwers and a huge chunk of mack gutts flylined. Nothing but lil gills on the cralwers. So we go back to grub and releive ourselves around 1115.
12 noon and its back on the water with a few gills between the two of us. We hit the shoreline along trout island, actually seen a couple trout landed for a change...not for us tho. Instead we pushed off a nice sized boat who was having engine problems...me poking at this big boat with an oar..in our beater rental. It worked tho, no collission. Also dealing with constant boat traffic cruising thru our fishing spot...SERIOUSLY, SHOW SOME FREAKIN RESPOECT.
An hour passes and we decide this isnt just gonna work today. Weve had every PB brand known to man tossed out, crawlers and ive been tossing jigs all day......no trout love once so ever. Not to mention the water was down about 10 feet from the last time i was there, dont know if that had anythign to do with it. We decide to go back to the trees in the flats and mess with some more gills and maybe a redear or two. Dana had done real well in this spot before.
We move, the waters too shallow..what was once around 10 feet is now below 5. The once submerged trees look like an abandoned island! So we find some stranded trees way back in the flats...all dried out. All poles in the water including the cat poles...nothing. About 30 minutes passes and i decide to jig a lil bit...its 130 now and the days coming to an end shortly...i need to get on something, ANYTHING :cursing:
Its a regular plastic pink and white tube jig..with a mealworm trailer. I got it rigged up on my 7' pole and micro spinning reel, 2# izorline. First cast, lads about 5 inches from the tree.
Nice cast, i think to myself and begin my slow retreive. No bouncing or "jigging" so to speak, just a very slow retreive..barely keeping it off the bottom. About 2 full circles on the reel and my pole gets absolutely HAMMERED :eek: I mean BENDO!!!!
I immediately declare "fish on" and say darn this has to be a fat gill....then the drag screams BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ--- we both look at each other and agree, this isnt a gill. This has to be a fat trout :0a5:
Whats this feeling? HEAD SHAKES!!! OMG i say, this is a damn Kitty! :thumbsup:
Just as the head shakes she breaks the surface about 10 feet out...FATTY he says. BZZZZZZZZZZZZ- is the sound again, shooting toward the trees like a missle.
"Dont let it get to the trees, dont lose em man!!" 57 tells me.
"I cant put much force man, this is 2# test!!! and i usually dont lose fish on purpose!" as i try and keep pressure on it.
Luckily, she decides to make a run back to the boat...i gain some leverage. Shoot, now the other poles!! tangling poles! 57 helps with the quik untangle and the fight resumes. Dive, shake, dive....then she breaks the surface again. Dive! Bottom of the boat, swing the pole around and dipped in the water, guiding her back around to the side. She was tired i was tired and this Izorline made a beleiver out of me. Held up great.
It took three attempts, but 57 finally got the beast netted next to the boat.
Only my third or fourth fish EVER on a jig/lure and by far the best fight.
She weighed in at 5.3#s (nothing too big but a beast on trout gear)
I was out of filets, so yes i did keep her and it was actually quite tastey.
So the day ended with just 2 gills and one cat for me, but was a blast and wouldnt trade it for 15 trout! Geeze i miss sittin at the vine, smelly, bloody mack everywhere, staring at the stars, waiting for that one big buzz from the bait clicker...and loving every minute of it!
Here she is and the rig i caugth her on, sorry $20 walmart digital doesnt do it any justice.
Jigged Kitty (http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d...ed714/kitty.jpg)
Will repaste the pic once i get it re-sized.
Until next time........
Talked with F57 (dana from another site) and we decided to meet up at Irvine Lake for some trout huntin. Being the Vine holds some fatt catts, of course i brought a couple cat poles with the 20# test and some fresh mack to boot.
Arrived at the lake at 515 to find a line of about 70 cars in front of me, plus the campers fromt he night before :eek: Damn trout season. Got a hot coffee, paid for the boat rental and back to the car i went to chat with 57 for a while. Finally at 6am, they open the gates. Now i know the lake is open from 6am, but when theres over 100 cars in line...id figure they would start letting people in a lil earlier, but no dice. I was in line at 515 and paid my fee at 630, people way in the back didnt get in until after 7 im sure.
Anyhow, we hit the west shore first by the first cove for nothing. The day didnt look too hott so we moved after a couple hours to a submerged tree closer to the dam in a cove. Messed with some bluegill for a couple hours and Dana hit a lil 1# trout on a crawler, right on the bottom. Had powerbait poles out, nightcralwers and a huge chunk of mack gutts flylined. Nothing but lil gills on the cralwers. So we go back to grub and releive ourselves around 1115.
12 noon and its back on the water with a few gills between the two of us. We hit the shoreline along trout island, actually seen a couple trout landed for a change...not for us tho. Instead we pushed off a nice sized boat who was having engine problems...me poking at this big boat with an oar..in our beater rental. It worked tho, no collission. Also dealing with constant boat traffic cruising thru our fishing spot...SERIOUSLY, SHOW SOME FREAKIN RESPOECT.
An hour passes and we decide this isnt just gonna work today. Weve had every PB brand known to man tossed out, crawlers and ive been tossing jigs all day......no trout love once so ever. Not to mention the water was down about 10 feet from the last time i was there, dont know if that had anythign to do with it. We decide to go back to the trees in the flats and mess with some more gills and maybe a redear or two. Dana had done real well in this spot before.
We move, the waters too shallow..what was once around 10 feet is now below 5. The once submerged trees look like an abandoned island! So we find some stranded trees way back in the flats...all dried out. All poles in the water including the cat poles...nothing. About 30 minutes passes and i decide to jig a lil bit...its 130 now and the days coming to an end shortly...i need to get on something, ANYTHING :cursing:
Its a regular plastic pink and white tube jig..with a mealworm trailer. I got it rigged up on my 7' pole and micro spinning reel, 2# izorline. First cast, lads about 5 inches from the tree.
Nice cast, i think to myself and begin my slow retreive. No bouncing or "jigging" so to speak, just a very slow retreive..barely keeping it off the bottom. About 2 full circles on the reel and my pole gets absolutely HAMMERED :eek: I mean BENDO!!!!
I immediately declare "fish on" and say darn this has to be a fat gill....then the drag screams BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ--- we both look at each other and agree, this isnt a gill. This has to be a fat trout :0a5:
Whats this feeling? HEAD SHAKES!!! OMG i say, this is a damn Kitty! :thumbsup:
Just as the head shakes she breaks the surface about 10 feet out...FATTY he says. BZZZZZZZZZZZZ- is the sound again, shooting toward the trees like a missle.
"Dont let it get to the trees, dont lose em man!!" 57 tells me.
"I cant put much force man, this is 2# test!!! and i usually dont lose fish on purpose!" as i try and keep pressure on it.
Luckily, she decides to make a run back to the boat...i gain some leverage. Shoot, now the other poles!! tangling poles! 57 helps with the quik untangle and the fight resumes. Dive, shake, dive....then she breaks the surface again. Dive! Bottom of the boat, swing the pole around and dipped in the water, guiding her back around to the side. She was tired i was tired and this Izorline made a beleiver out of me. Held up great.
It took three attempts, but 57 finally got the beast netted next to the boat.
Only my third or fourth fish EVER on a jig/lure and by far the best fight.
She weighed in at 5.3#s (nothing too big but a beast on trout gear)
I was out of filets, so yes i did keep her and it was actually quite tastey.
So the day ended with just 2 gills and one cat for me, but was a blast and wouldnt trade it for 15 trout! Geeze i miss sittin at the vine, smelly, bloody mack everywhere, staring at the stars, waiting for that one big buzz from the bait clicker...and loving every minute of it!
Here she is and the rig i caugth her on, sorry $20 walmart digital doesnt do it any justice.
Jigged Kitty (http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d...ed714/kitty.jpg)
Will repaste the pic once i get it re-sized.
Until next time........