Went fishing a few days back, but not on a kayak. Sometimes you need help from others to get to where you want to fish! Another PB to Greens Lake, but no kayak this trip. A big moon on the way down, and upper 40”s air temp – you know what a PB gives you? Windchill of 30mph!! Brr.
So, we get to a channel with nice outgoing flow, nothing! Move to another, nothing! Finally a 3rd location and we find some fish – but they are undersized. And tend to be in deep water. We caught a bunch of small flounder, then began catching some small trout – We call them Mike’s Trout cause we know a guy that seems to be cursed with 14” trout!
By the end of the day I was essentially jigging in a 10’ hole at a bend in the channel. It worked, but all Mike sized trout and flounder. One flounder swallowed the jig a bit, so I open the mouth and look in – two jig heads!! Well, I managed to get mine out but the other is still there!
So, I caught on a jerk shad, a Joe Bite Me and a white swim mullet, the last two jigging. The boat captain was using live shrimp and caught more that I, but also smalls. But we both caught!
So, I took a different path to the fish, different methods – most fish released to live and get bigger.
Here’s hoping that TKF will find what it needs, however unconventional, to live on and get bigger!
Oh, and one more thing - keep posting and replying to posts. One way to ensure the demise of TKF is to stop posting!!
CPR – to live on and get bigger!
- YakRunabout
- Posts: 784
- Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:34 am
- Location: Magnolia
Re: CPR – to live on and get bigger!
Great pics! I have a couple of friends who have boats. I can chase them down the road with a kayak (zero interest in them) so if I want to fish with them it's in a boat.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing.
Re: CPR – to live on and get bigger!
Nice photos and sentiments. Fishing with more than one person from the same boat to the same water is always interesting. I've seen it go where it really doesn't matter what's tossed at them or who is tossing it at them, the fish might eat anything that will fit in their mouths, to where one specific lure will work and that one lure must be tossed by one specific fisherman who somehow has mysteriously mastered the only presentation that will work. It might go where one guy gets almost all trout and the other guy redfish using the exact same lure.
It seems like in the winter fishing rivers and deep cuts are when these same water from the same boat scenarios mostly play out, but I always am fascinated by how it shakes out when the day is done. It's a mostly level playing field that doesn't necessarily produce equitable results.
The people in the boat are interesting, too. Some don't care about the results and some get ticked off is someone else pulls ahead. I have a friend that gets mad if I lose a fish, the long or not so long distance release, because I can be pretty lackadaisical about landing trout and often forgo the net.
Anyhow, I don't care if it's a boat report, it's a report and there's value in those, boat or kayak.
It seems like in the winter fishing rivers and deep cuts are when these same water from the same boat scenarios mostly play out, but I always am fascinated by how it shakes out when the day is done. It's a mostly level playing field that doesn't necessarily produce equitable results.
The people in the boat are interesting, too. Some don't care about the results and some get ticked off is someone else pulls ahead. I have a friend that gets mad if I lose a fish, the long or not so long distance release, because I can be pretty lackadaisical about landing trout and often forgo the net.
Anyhow, I don't care if it's a boat report, it's a report and there's value in those, boat or kayak.
- YakRunabout
- Posts: 784
- Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 10:34 am
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Re: CPR – to live on and get bigger!
Good observations, Karstopo! I think I have seen all of those in the last couple of months. When I mentioned the boat captain, I meant a friend that owns the boat, not a boat for hire. The boats owner happens to be named Mike, but not the same as in "Mike's Trout" fame! I referred to him as the boats owner, so as not to connect him to the other.
As I mentioned he used live shrimp throughout, which is normal for him. I am normally using plastic. He generally out catches me by a lot, but much of his count is crab, croaker, hard-heads, etc, or just stolen bait. I don't get many of them. On this day even his shrimp were not catching early on! Later, when the bite picked up some he still had more count.
As I mentioned I finished by jigging in a deep spot in the channel. The silver/white chicken boy was catching, so I thought I would try the white swim mullet - it did fine as well. The chartreuse jerk bait was not productive in this deep spot - was it the color, or perhaps the curly tail on the others? Like you say, find what is working and let it work.
As I mentioned he used live shrimp throughout, which is normal for him. I am normally using plastic. He generally out catches me by a lot, but much of his count is crab, croaker, hard-heads, etc, or just stolen bait. I don't get many of them. On this day even his shrimp were not catching early on! Later, when the bite picked up some he still had more count.
As I mentioned I finished by jigging in a deep spot in the channel. The silver/white chicken boy was catching, so I thought I would try the white swim mullet - it did fine as well. The chartreuse jerk bait was not productive in this deep spot - was it the color, or perhaps the curly tail on the others? Like you say, find what is working and let it work.
Re: CPR – to live on and get bigger!
I can't really post a side-by-side comparison between live shrimp and artificials (almost everyone I fish with uses artificials) but I can say there have been plenty of times when I have been with someone and one of us is wickedly killing the other on catch rate by using different lures. And I know it is the lure and not the presentation because as soon as the lure change is made, the other starts catching as well. Sometimes it is a different lure type (shrimp v. mullet v. swim shad) and sometimes it is the color (dark v. light, light green v. dark green). And yes, there are plenty of times where it just doesn't matter where they are biting no matter what you put in front of them (love those days) and there are days where they won't bite regardless of what you put in front of them (love those days, too, just not as much).
- Ron Mc
- TKF 5000 Club
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Re: CPR – to live on and get bigger!
Our last trip to Estes, in the hole at the 100-yr cut, I was getting strikes on everything I threw, even a surface explosion on a yo-zuri, but a dad and son who staked a Dargel on the inside edge were taking specs on live shrimp.
Other times in the holes at the cuts, couldn't count the dinks brought to hand on lures (this one's 15, but went home, anyway)
Thanks for the nice report and photos.
Other times in the holes at the cuts, couldn't count the dinks brought to hand on lures (this one's 15, but went home, anyway)
Thanks for the nice report and photos.
- Kayak buddy
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Re: CPR – to live on and get bigger!
Nice
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