MaDFisher55 and I met up at Huntington this morning to get in a possible last open water shot before hard deck. Good move. Air temp was a surprising 32 at launch. Balmy. Water temp was only 38. Brrrrr. Not long 'til auger time.
Launched at 7:25. First fish jinx out of the way within about 5 minutes. Mark followed soon after. Both fish under fifteen inches. Not many over that during a whole day of fairly fast fishing. Lots of fish. No bigguns.
They say that most lakes are subject to the 90/10 ruleā¦90 percent of the fish will be in only 10 percent of the water. That really proved true at Huntington today. I started off near the dam and caught several fish quickly. Mark started and stayed near the dam and did not stop catching all day. I violated my game plan, which was to stay near the dam too. I really blew it. I kicked and fished all the way to the west end and circled the whole lake. The last two hours were spent kicking back against a breeze that was not too strong but made it a chore to keep moving at any speed. Mama Natureās last name must be Murphy.
**I caught quite a few fish, but never got into any real concentrations. When I finally rejoined Mark near the dam I couldnāt believe what I was seeing on sonar. The whole screen was full of fish from top to bottom in about 40 feet of water. And, they were active. Some fish were slurping little white bugs from the surface. Others would whack flies at mid depth. I got quite a few by fishing a jig and fly combo and bottom bouncing it. **
My game plan originally was to be off the water by noon or one oāclock. But, Mark and I were having so much fun playing with the tiger cubs that we ignored our agreement to head inā¦several times. I fished the last hour or so with the same chartreuse Ultra Minnow jig head and a piece of worm that I had used on Yuba two days earlier. The little tykes loved it. I was bendo as soon as I got past mid depth on most drops. The jig would just stop on the way down and when I tightened up there was a fish on it.
As I mentioned, no big tigers today. Plenty of 13 to 15 inch and a couple of LOST bigguns. Of course they can be anything you want until you bring them in to verify. Also did not score many ābrightsāā¦the male colored fish with all the purty colors. I did get one on a Marmalady fly that was only about a foot long but sure was pretty.
Glad we were able to get together Mark. I am sure that Kevin will be jealous.
Yes I am jealous. Now I am wishing I just pulled out the round tube and told Mamatrout I was going fishing anyway. Oh well I can always head up there when the hard deck shows up. Sounds like Murphy might be getting someone else to follow around now???[:p]
Nothing new. Murphy and I are old friendsā¦at least we know each other very well.
I am used to having to kick back against a wind when none was forecast and it is entirely against the normal pattern of wind for a given lake. The wind direction kept changing today and (you guessed it) it always blew directly against my back when I was trying to get somewhere. The last straw was when we were going in. Mark made it to the ramp on glassy water. As soon as I started for the ramp a strong breeze started blowing DIRECTLY OFF THE RAMP TOWARD ME.
But Iām tough. Married life has taught me that no matter what happens I must DEAL WITH IT. Wish I had a dollar for every time TubeBabe has laid that on me.
We missed you, but not that much. We did talk about youā¦and laughed a lot. Deal with it.
Nice report, Pat! That picture on your sonar tells me that the tigers are ahead of or right on schedule as far as getting in their ice season patternā¦ Iāve ice fished that lake like 4 times now and everytime I do, itās always been somewhere in less than 75 yards out from the dam. Iāve never had to go farther because the fishing was always great in at least some spot close to the dam. Some years itās just 10 or 20 yards away, others itās 50 yards away, but not too far out.
One year (I think it was 3 ice seasons ago) I was with Fishing Waters and his son. After doing āokayā but not excellent on the side closest to the road, we set up on the far half of the dam (from the road). I donāt know if thatās the West side or which direction (get turned around up there after all of the turns and winds in the roads on the way up the canyon), but we were fishing in 35 or 40 feet of water and it was like what you reported from today - literally on every drop or almost every drop we would have a fish on before it got to the bottom. We couldnāt use our 2nd poles because there was too much action on just the first pole and weād miss too many fish if we were trying to watch both poles. I think we all caught about 40 fish or more each that day once we found the right spot. Came back the next day and Bass Ackward was with us and I think a friend or two of his. Same thing, we NAILED them! I was kicking myself that I had to leave early to catch the holy war game down at Olympics Stadium, but it was worth it since Harline made āthe catchā to win the gameā¦ The rest of the guys kept slaughtering the tigers the rest of the day after I left.
There is something about this time of year there where the tigers really congregate near the dam and I donāt know if itās because of groceries congregate there or if itās the water temp or thermocline or whatā¦
I canāt wait for the hard deck in a few weeks there. I now wish I wasnāt taking my kids to NV for Turkey Dayā¦ Oh well, Iāll hit it the next weekendā¦[crazy]
Iām jealous- that is one of the most beautiful lakes and Iāve only fished there once.
Beautiful pics and beautiful fish.
I noticed on your sonar that some of the fish icons are solid while others are just an āoutlineā of the fish. Does that have something to do with how far away the fish are from the transducer?
I noticed on your sonar that some of the fish icons are solid while others are just an āoutlineā of the fish. Does that have something to do with how far away the fish are from the transducer?
Youāre on the right track. The Humminbird 565 has a ādual coneā transducer. It has a standard 20 degree cone plus a 60 degree cone for wider coverage of the surrounding water. On the display any fish that swims through the narrower 20 degree cone is displayed as all dark black. Those that swim within the wider 60 degree cone are displayed as outlines only. I have liked that feature since I got the 565. Lets me know that there are sometimes fish in the general vacinity even if they do not show up in the 20 degree cone.
Looks like you guys had a good time. I think I might try to get up there in the mourning.
Hey if you go, look around the road down to the ramp. I think I set my camera (in a black case) on the top of the truck bed and drove off. If you see itā¦ let me know.
Looks like you guys had a good time. I think I might try to get up there in the mourning.
Hey if you go, look around the road down to the ramp. I think I set my camera (in a black case) on the top of the truck bed and drove off. If you see itā¦ let me know.
Thanks
Mark
Sure thing Mad Iāll keep an eye out. I hope I get into the fish as well as you guys did. [;)]
pkred wrote:
Looks like you guys had a good time. I think I might try to get up there in the mourning.
Hey if you go, look around the road down to the ramp. I think I set my camera (in a black case) on the top of the truck bed and drove off. If you see itā¦ let me know.
Thanks
Mark
Sure thing Mad Iāll keep an eye out. I hope I get into the fish as well as you guys did. [;)]
Thanks pkred, its a long shot but ya never know. I posted a look out on the Utah board.
Like TD said if you stay off the middle concrete thing in the middle of the dam and out in about 35-40 feet of water they are very thick in there. I left the area and worked the south east shore line and did not get a single hit on sonar. So I went back and spent most of the day in the same spot.
MaDFisher55 and I met up at Huntington this morning to get in a possible last open water shot before hard deck. Good move. Air temp was a surprising 32 at launch. Balmy. Water temp was only 38. Brrrrr. Not long 'til auger time.