Good Day! Yeah, it was a good day. It was pretty good to be out on the water and I learned a few things and basically enjoyed my time out there. I'm confirming my theme of keeping it simple as the basic baits and presentation are working out consistently. I'm also convinced after this morning's events that the theme should be applied to knots also. The fancy knots that I've been trying are not holding up. I tried a couple of loop knots to allow the baits to articulate on the end of the line. This articulation might be a slight improvement in presentation as I don't have an argument for or against this point. The compromise is the minimized strength of the rig. It seems that loop knot is the source of additional slack which under a strong strike produces a snapping effect. I tried both single and double strand knots and unfortunately arrived at the same conclusion, not suitable for me.
So I'll be sticking with the well known and suitable performing single, double palomar. This is a low fuss easy to tie knot. Nothing complicated and can be done well on all the line sizes that I use. Additionally, I've found that under field conditions, poor lighting, wind, etc. that some of those more complicated knots are not possible to create with reliable consistency. It does appear that the theme of simple is good still holds.
I arrived out at the lake shortly after 5am this morning. There was only one bass boat out on the water and they put in to shore shortly after I put out to water. There was a slight breeze this morning as you could feel the thermal difference of the water to ambient air temperature. Yes, the season is progressing nicely. More rain would be nice. Somehow it seems to form just fine, it then tends to migrate away from where we would like it. There were some high clouds overcasting the early morning light so I got in some extended twilight conditions.
It was interesting to see just how much effort I had to put into yak positioning. I would get the yak into a casting position, make the cast and work through the presentation. By the time the lure was fully retrieved it was time to re-position again. So I got a good workout today. Fortunately all that directed effort was productive in that I caught quite a few in the first fishing area by the rip-rap. No monsters there but good fun hauling in the little green sunfish. They are more than eager to hammer on that little grub. I did manage to loose the first jig/grub combination on an underwater snag. I was dissappointed at how easy it was to break off using one of the initial single loop knot. After that experience I changed over to a slightly heavier jig 1/8 oz (~ 4 gr) with the same grub bait. This did produce a few fish and was easier to cast. However, it just didn't seem to be as attractive. So eventually I switched back to the 1/32 oz ( 1 gr) jig head. After that move things picked up dramatically.
People started to show up to get into recreating at an early hour too. As they arrived, I made my way across the lake towards the dam area. I figured I would hit that area earlier than I typically do and see what it was like over there. I also took a more northern route to get there. Along the way I fired off the grub at various top water activity. That was fun as I got several strikes but no connections. I eventually got one after casting to a long past area of activity. It was a large healthy bluegill that managed to take out quite a bit of line. This was even on the heavier drag that I decided on for today. So that posture will also change as I'm going back to my lighter drag settings. More fun and it seems to be more successful too.
Upon making it to the dam I was joined by a long time fellow angler, Eddie. Eddy would also angle along side me at the local pond. He is another one of those avid anglers who just enjoys fishing, nothing fancy, just catch fish. He managed to walk the southern perimeter and arrive at the dam at roughly the same time I did. So I floated to within chatting distance and told him about me running over several of the top water action. I noticed he was going with his confidence bait, a wacky rigged senko.
I just finished telling him about my experiences with fishing the dam. I told him that I had to put the bait within about 15 cm of the shore line to get good consistent results. As I told him that, I sent a cast right in between several of the larger rocks and let it settle for a slight moment before working it back towards me. Within the first two hops the bait was sort of heavy so I tensioned up and reeled back in more aggressively. At first it just felt like I had snagged a weed, just heavy, then it figured out that it was connected to me. This fish started to pull the tip of pole towards the surface of the water. Fortunately the deep water of the dam doesn't hold too many snag opportunities so the fight was a gentle give and take play. Eddie saw the action, "that's what we're talking about!" It was a nice 30 cm or so large mouth bass. A good healthy fish with again really sharp teeth. I could feel my skin getting pricked by them. Checked my knot and line for good measure too.
It was later along the dam that I ran into the other well known angler, a blue heron. I had been slowly drifting along the dam running into quite a few green sunfish along the way. As I approached the center of the dam, there was this loud cackle that broke the silence. The heron had been standing there quietly trying to fish also when I happened by. As a consideration, I eased the yak out to deeper water to provide a wide berth as to not interfere further with the heron. I'm recreation fishing, so the heron has priority. I only wish I could have advised it to move over to the south pocket as that is where I caught and released a bunch of them.
Speaking of a catch and release, my first big catch and release of the day a long distance version was also at the grass beds near the dam. I managed to find a small pocket where I sent in a T-rigged double tail trailer. I had it lightly weighted with only a 1 gram sliding sinker on the end. The line went aggressively slack so I had to intensely wind in to get to where I could feel a loading on the line. I hauled back on it and it dove into the weeds hard. A single shake and that was it. Apparently that small wide gap hook didn't connect in. So it goes... It felt really heavy but I'll not get to see that one.
A quick venture to the north end of the lake produce a few nibbles with no solid connection. As the wind was picking up and the sun started to burn through the clouds, I figured it was getting close to time for me to head on out. The activity level on the lake was reaching an all time high. There were quite a few more boats and lots of small inflatables too. Also the noise level was much higher too.
I made my way back to the boat launch area where it was quite congested so I diverted to explore the grass beds along the way. As I flipped the double tail. I found it was only good where I could find a clear pocket. So I switched over to the 7 gram skirted jig. That configuration was just the ticket to land on the grass and gently drop through with a slight wiggle. As I made my way along the shore waiting for an opportunity at the loading dock. I saw a submerged tree limb. So I tossed the jig next to it. Just after the jig slipped through the floating mat, the entire mat erupted with a massive lifting from underneath. I remembered the tip that said if the mat moves go ahead and tension up as the fish as already got it. Yup, sure enough the little pole doubled over and the tip dipped into the water under the load of the heavy fish. It made two unrestricted massive surges and managed to strip line even with the extreme drag setting. < almost at max, approximately 90% setting on that reel > The second protracted pull concluded with the snap of the line. That was it. I can only guess that the size of that was big. Something that could lift that much grass had to be pretty sizable. I regret that it has my jig still with it. Hopefully the hook will loosen up rapidly and dislodge before too long. It may be time to reconsider braid for that particular reel. I'll think on it a bit more as it is apparent this is a good application for that.
So that was the last event of the day. The loading dock cleared up and I was able to put in to shore and head back home. More learning involved. I'm getting there.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Sharp teeth and aggresive fish
It was another mid-summer monsoon season morning out at Parker Canyon Lake today. The air was thick with humidity as I set out in the early morning darkness. Setting out early in the morning gives me at least a couple of hours of quality time on the water before the less desirable type get out there to recreate in their obnoxious manors.
A slight rant here, it seem like the lake was a magnet for some very miserable and bitter types today. It was challenging to find escape from the foul language and poor behavior. It almost seemed like they were seeking out an audience for their caustic behavior. I wanted no part of it but it was difficult to put enough distance or structure between us. It would be good if they would find somewhere else to recreate.
Ok, enough of that. Having been fortunate to spend time out at PCL the past few weekends I've sort of developed a pattern of areas to visit. The calm water in the early hours makes it easy to navigate and spot the surface activity. The lack of chop on the water makes for easy paddling too. Given all this time on the water I'm getting better at those subtle maneuvers to position the yak for optimum casting an bait presentation. I'm convinced now that the bait is more successful when it enters the water within 20 cm of the water line at the rip-rap. Those casts that don't quite make it to that range don't seem to produce the strikes.
This morning's early action was absent from any sizable strikes or connections. All of them were basically sub 10 cm. Still lots of fun to pull on the line and very enjoyable experience. Yeah, I enjoy them all regardless of size. I am really surprised that some of them are able to engulf the bait as when removing the hook it barely clears their mouth. All of them were green sunfish.
I have been pretty satisfied with using the Berkely Fireline for many years. However in the prior years it was the smoked variant of the fireline. Recently I've spooled up with the various versions of the crystal, white, and some of the latest fuzed. The three versions used mostly have been the 2, 4, and 6 lb test. A recent discovery was that using the 2 lb test in the rain produced a saturated spool which then made things very difficult to cast. The supple nature of the fireline is also a challenge when tying knots in field conditions. It is so limp it just sort of droops. So passing loops or manipulating the line properly is tough. Even passing it through the hook eyes is a bother too as the filaments from the braid are enough to deflect it and keep you from accomplishing a basic task.
The breaking strength of fireline is astounding. That stuff is tough. Way tougher than the advertised tensile strength. I got a calling to switch back to mono. Since I don't quite have access to bulk qualities of the smaller 2 lb test mono, I'll just stay with the 4 lb stuff. Fortunately that stuff is readily available in the 700 yrd spools at the local Wally World. So the plan is to run with that for awhile and see how that suits me.
Since I was not producing much size or volume from the rip-rap this morning I decided to move over towards the grass/weeds and try my luck in those areas. The change was a good thing, sort of as I was quickly able to get several substantial strikes which for a variety of reasons I missed or just plain out failed to connect on. Having suffered those missed opportunities I decided I'd better figure out what I was doing and improve my overall technique. I went back to the heavy line, 10 lb mono on the # 20 sized spinning reel. I'm starting to suspect the quality of that line as I lost a very nice jig after gently connecting with a clump of weeds. I'm guessing that I ought to re-tie more often.
I found my self with the bail open or freespinning or just tangled up when those fast strikes came on. So with the calamity of errors I had nothing to show for my time out at the grass. It was fun as the strikes were fairly aggressive and felt very impressive in size. By this time the sun was clear of the mountain and still occluded by the early clouds. Just enough to take the edge off but enough to get a gentle breeze working. So the glass surface was no more but I could still see a few disturbances off in the distance.
My lesson in preparation and a reminder to get my act together got me figuring out that I should prep a pole in the event that I get to cast to some surface action. So on my other fiberglass pole, I've got a small crawdad crank bait on 4 lb mono. This is a good distance shooter as the eyes on those fiberglass poles, ice rigs, are pretty large in diameter. Also the light mono seems to just fly through them nicely. I'm guessing that whippy pole action has some contribution too.
I get my chance about 2/3s of the way across the lake. As I'm approaching the dam I see several boils on the surface at various azimuths, fortunately all are within casting range. I sent it out to the first couple and I managed to target them too closely as the impact spooked them away. So I figured I needed to give them about a meter clearance and work towards them. That was the ticket. The third boil produced quite quickly after the lure hit the water. It was cool to see the fish on the surface perform a quick U-turn and nail the lure. You could see the dorsal half of the fish just breaking the surface to provide that tracking visual. As I brought it in towards me I was trying to see just how it was hooked so I could determine how to hold it. Them little trebble hooks are nasty sharp and somehow are like Chola cactus, they just seem to grab hold of you when you least expect it. My horror scenario was realized as the fish approached, there was no visual sighting of the small crankbait. The LMB had engulfed the entire crank bait and had it completely in the mouth. This is one of the primary reasons I don't use them much. So much for that experiment...
I got the fish along side the yak and cradled it. Of course things got from interesting to complicated right then and there. This LMB decided to just clamp closed. It actually seemed like it vocalized as it closed, nope! So I had to gently work the mouth open knowing that there were six good reasons to be very careful. I'm so glad that I had a handy pair of hemostats with very small narrow jaws. That made for a better situation for me and fish. The first upper set of hooks came out without too much fuss. The second set were just lightly snagged near the sphincter. So that was going to require some precision and diligence. A quick poke and slight twist and the hook is cleared. As I'm removing the crank bait, I'm not watching as close as I should. Yes, it happened, I managed to slice part of my knuckle as one of those sharp little hook points draws past. Fortunately the LMB was not out the water that long and didn't need reviving, it just nicely swam off. My knuckle was a bit of a bleeder for a bit and sure smarted too in the morning air.
By the time I reached the dam my rig with the 2 lb test line was good and saturated so it wasn't casting well at all. I was having to hold off the shore quite closely just to get the little jig close to the shoreline with consistency. There were several modest sized green sunfish with most of them again in the really small category that were willing to take the bait. Nothing too noteworthy but there was a lot of action passing along side me as I fished the dam area. Some of those folks with boats are not that considerate and they didn't hesitate to get well within my casting range. I've always subscribed to being outside of a cast length to avoid any issues. Guess that is not something that published or adhered to. So it goes. I could tell the frustration from one party that decided to cast right beside me as they were still struggling to get their first fish of the day. I countered with a cast of my own to the same general area only I got mine in tight to the shore and connected with a very cooperative green sunfish. It was small but it did some surface action to just add some visual to the whole thing.
By now it was time to start my way back as the sun was really getting strong. Also I was ready to get going too as I can only sit for so long without stretching or moving about. The breeze keep me vectored towards the shore which was fine by me. I figured I'd visit some of those holes in the grass before departing. That was a good plan too. One of things that I realized is that improved technique will get your bait where it needs to be. Also it is good to be alert as often there are many places your bait needs to be!
Since I was back in the grass, I switched back to the skirted jig and proceeded to re-try several of the holes to see if things has reset for another go. Yeah, I'm liking the grass hula action quite a bit more and more as I'm learning. It seems that you don't have to get it to a hole for success. I made a slightly off target cast which didn't make it to an opening in the grass. However it did just break through the matted surface by an inch or a couple of cms. I see this large rise and upset in the mat as something pushed up right at my jig. The pole loads up quickly and it is game on! This time I had the rig in a better condition for success, the drag dialed up, and bail closed. The strike was so strong that I didn't need to sweep back in response. The pole just loaded up and I could feel the hook was set the moment it hit. Wow, that was fun!
This one gave quite a bit of a pull. I was also surprised just how sharp the teeth were. It was down right uncomfortable to get my thumb in there. The photo just doesn't quite show all the details. Especially how wide and heavy it was. I guess it was accustomed to chowing down on critters as it sure didn't show mercy to my jig. I realized that my next run out to the grass is going to have a T-rigged creature bait to go along with the skirted jig. That should prove to be some good fun for a delicate presentation. More fun on the water!
Cheers!
A slight rant here, it seem like the lake was a magnet for some very miserable and bitter types today. It was challenging to find escape from the foul language and poor behavior. It almost seemed like they were seeking out an audience for their caustic behavior. I wanted no part of it but it was difficult to put enough distance or structure between us. It would be good if they would find somewhere else to recreate.
Ok, enough of that. Having been fortunate to spend time out at PCL the past few weekends I've sort of developed a pattern of areas to visit. The calm water in the early hours makes it easy to navigate and spot the surface activity. The lack of chop on the water makes for easy paddling too. Given all this time on the water I'm getting better at those subtle maneuvers to position the yak for optimum casting an bait presentation. I'm convinced now that the bait is more successful when it enters the water within 20 cm of the water line at the rip-rap. Those casts that don't quite make it to that range don't seem to produce the strikes.
This morning's early action was absent from any sizable strikes or connections. All of them were basically sub 10 cm. Still lots of fun to pull on the line and very enjoyable experience. Yeah, I enjoy them all regardless of size. I am really surprised that some of them are able to engulf the bait as when removing the hook it barely clears their mouth. All of them were green sunfish.
I have been pretty satisfied with using the Berkely Fireline for many years. However in the prior years it was the smoked variant of the fireline. Recently I've spooled up with the various versions of the crystal, white, and some of the latest fuzed. The three versions used mostly have been the 2, 4, and 6 lb test. A recent discovery was that using the 2 lb test in the rain produced a saturated spool which then made things very difficult to cast. The supple nature of the fireline is also a challenge when tying knots in field conditions. It is so limp it just sort of droops. So passing loops or manipulating the line properly is tough. Even passing it through the hook eyes is a bother too as the filaments from the braid are enough to deflect it and keep you from accomplishing a basic task.
The breaking strength of fireline is astounding. That stuff is tough. Way tougher than the advertised tensile strength. I got a calling to switch back to mono. Since I don't quite have access to bulk qualities of the smaller 2 lb test mono, I'll just stay with the 4 lb stuff. Fortunately that stuff is readily available in the 700 yrd spools at the local Wally World. So the plan is to run with that for awhile and see how that suits me.
Since I was not producing much size or volume from the rip-rap this morning I decided to move over towards the grass/weeds and try my luck in those areas. The change was a good thing, sort of as I was quickly able to get several substantial strikes which for a variety of reasons I missed or just plain out failed to connect on. Having suffered those missed opportunities I decided I'd better figure out what I was doing and improve my overall technique. I went back to the heavy line, 10 lb mono on the # 20 sized spinning reel. I'm starting to suspect the quality of that line as I lost a very nice jig after gently connecting with a clump of weeds. I'm guessing that I ought to re-tie more often.
I found my self with the bail open or freespinning or just tangled up when those fast strikes came on. So with the calamity of errors I had nothing to show for my time out at the grass. It was fun as the strikes were fairly aggressive and felt very impressive in size. By this time the sun was clear of the mountain and still occluded by the early clouds. Just enough to take the edge off but enough to get a gentle breeze working. So the glass surface was no more but I could still see a few disturbances off in the distance.
My lesson in preparation and a reminder to get my act together got me figuring out that I should prep a pole in the event that I get to cast to some surface action. So on my other fiberglass pole, I've got a small crawdad crank bait on 4 lb mono. This is a good distance shooter as the eyes on those fiberglass poles, ice rigs, are pretty large in diameter. Also the light mono seems to just fly through them nicely. I'm guessing that whippy pole action has some contribution too.
I get my chance about 2/3s of the way across the lake. As I'm approaching the dam I see several boils on the surface at various azimuths, fortunately all are within casting range. I sent it out to the first couple and I managed to target them too closely as the impact spooked them away. So I figured I needed to give them about a meter clearance and work towards them. That was the ticket. The third boil produced quite quickly after the lure hit the water. It was cool to see the fish on the surface perform a quick U-turn and nail the lure. You could see the dorsal half of the fish just breaking the surface to provide that tracking visual. As I brought it in towards me I was trying to see just how it was hooked so I could determine how to hold it. Them little trebble hooks are nasty sharp and somehow are like Chola cactus, they just seem to grab hold of you when you least expect it. My horror scenario was realized as the fish approached, there was no visual sighting of the small crankbait. The LMB had engulfed the entire crank bait and had it completely in the mouth. This is one of the primary reasons I don't use them much. So much for that experiment...
I got the fish along side the yak and cradled it. Of course things got from interesting to complicated right then and there. This LMB decided to just clamp closed. It actually seemed like it vocalized as it closed, nope! So I had to gently work the mouth open knowing that there were six good reasons to be very careful. I'm so glad that I had a handy pair of hemostats with very small narrow jaws. That made for a better situation for me and fish. The first upper set of hooks came out without too much fuss. The second set were just lightly snagged near the sphincter. So that was going to require some precision and diligence. A quick poke and slight twist and the hook is cleared. As I'm removing the crank bait, I'm not watching as close as I should. Yes, it happened, I managed to slice part of my knuckle as one of those sharp little hook points draws past. Fortunately the LMB was not out the water that long and didn't need reviving, it just nicely swam off. My knuckle was a bit of a bleeder for a bit and sure smarted too in the morning air.
By the time I reached the dam my rig with the 2 lb test line was good and saturated so it wasn't casting well at all. I was having to hold off the shore quite closely just to get the little jig close to the shoreline with consistency. There were several modest sized green sunfish with most of them again in the really small category that were willing to take the bait. Nothing too noteworthy but there was a lot of action passing along side me as I fished the dam area. Some of those folks with boats are not that considerate and they didn't hesitate to get well within my casting range. I've always subscribed to being outside of a cast length to avoid any issues. Guess that is not something that published or adhered to. So it goes. I could tell the frustration from one party that decided to cast right beside me as they were still struggling to get their first fish of the day. I countered with a cast of my own to the same general area only I got mine in tight to the shore and connected with a very cooperative green sunfish. It was small but it did some surface action to just add some visual to the whole thing.
By now it was time to start my way back as the sun was really getting strong. Also I was ready to get going too as I can only sit for so long without stretching or moving about. The breeze keep me vectored towards the shore which was fine by me. I figured I'd visit some of those holes in the grass before departing. That was a good plan too. One of things that I realized is that improved technique will get your bait where it needs to be. Also it is good to be alert as often there are many places your bait needs to be!
Since I was back in the grass, I switched back to the skirted jig and proceeded to re-try several of the holes to see if things has reset for another go. Yeah, I'm liking the grass hula action quite a bit more and more as I'm learning. It seems that you don't have to get it to a hole for success. I made a slightly off target cast which didn't make it to an opening in the grass. However it did just break through the matted surface by an inch or a couple of cms. I see this large rise and upset in the mat as something pushed up right at my jig. The pole loads up quickly and it is game on! This time I had the rig in a better condition for success, the drag dialed up, and bail closed. The strike was so strong that I didn't need to sweep back in response. The pole just loaded up and I could feel the hook was set the moment it hit. Wow, that was fun!
This one gave quite a bit of a pull. I was also surprised just how sharp the teeth were. It was down right uncomfortable to get my thumb in there. The photo just doesn't quite show all the details. Especially how wide and heavy it was. I guess it was accustomed to chowing down on critters as it sure didn't show mercy to my jig. I realized that my next run out to the grass is going to have a T-rigged creature bait to go along with the skirted jig. That should prove to be some good fun for a delicate presentation. More fun on the water!
Cheers!
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