02-06-2010, 08:35 PM
I went out to CJ yesterday for a few hours for my first trip of the year. I don't have a boat, so I tried around Cottonwood campground and off the bridge below the dam.
I was hoping the crappies would be moving into the shallows near the boat launch at Cottonwood with the warmer weather we've been having, but all I saw was a few perch caught. Guess it's still too early for them. Give it another month or two. I was there in late March early April last year and was usually able to catch them on every cast. Nice sized ones between 10"-12", some even bigger.
Just before dark, I moved to the bridge below the dam and got a couple of bites. I managed to catch one trout about 14", but I was only there for about half an hour before it got too dark. The trout was in sorry shape, so I threw him back. It looked like some kind of flesh eating bacteria had gotten to him. There was a huge sore about the size of a nickle on his side, sunk right down to the meat. Just about gagged looking at it. All of the other fish I've caught from the area have been clean, so it's probably just a fluke. I probably could have caught more if I had started fishing from there earlier.
As for trolling below the dam, I'd say no. The bridge is about 300 yards downstream from the dam, and there are signs posted saying boats are not allowed between the bridge and damn due to the possibility of large flows of water happening at any time.
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I was hoping the crappies would be moving into the shallows near the boat launch at Cottonwood with the warmer weather we've been having, but all I saw was a few perch caught. Guess it's still too early for them. Give it another month or two. I was there in late March early April last year and was usually able to catch them on every cast. Nice sized ones between 10"-12", some even bigger.
Just before dark, I moved to the bridge below the dam and got a couple of bites. I managed to catch one trout about 14", but I was only there for about half an hour before it got too dark. The trout was in sorry shape, so I threw him back. It looked like some kind of flesh eating bacteria had gotten to him. There was a huge sore about the size of a nickle on his side, sunk right down to the meat. Just about gagged looking at it. All of the other fish I've caught from the area have been clean, so it's probably just a fluke. I probably could have caught more if I had started fishing from there earlier.
As for trolling below the dam, I'd say no. The bridge is about 300 yards downstream from the dam, and there are signs posted saying boats are not allowed between the bridge and damn due to the possibility of large flows of water happening at any time.
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