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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