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I got to ramp C at Hagg about quarter after 7 and was probably fishing by 8 or 8:15am. I was anxious to try out the new trolling rods and digital line counter reels I bought during the sportsman sale in February. I rigged up with a 1oz weight on a dropper and a small roostertail on one rod and a small panther martin on the other.
I let out 30' of line and figured I was fishing about 15-20' deep. I was totally stoked to watch those rods start to dance.
After 2 hours of trying a bunch of depths and changing lures a few times. I had yet to get a hit.The only fish I marked were about 15' and with the chop on the water I could not see any surface action. Eventually, I passed a guy and his son in a boat and they said that they had caught a few trout near the dam flatlining rapalas. I decided to keep one rod fishing closer to the surface with both rods. I had not given that method enough time earlier.
I put a small minnow plug on that rod and kept trolling. I missed a couple of hits and eventually broke the ice with a 10" stocker. At that point decided to get my other rod near the surface as well. I put a 1/8 oz sinker on the dropper and kept the roostertail and worm combo (with trailer hook). This turned out to be the ticket.
I got up closer to the dam and found a ton of fish. I did not mark fish but the bite was on. I switched both rods to roostertails (one green, one pink) and for a while it was hard to keep both rods in the water. Both rods had 1/8 droppers, 1/24 oz roostertails with 1/2 nightcrawler and a trailer hook and I had them both 30' back
What a blast! Between 11 and 12:30 I caught 9 trout and missed a bunch of bites. It was hard to watch both rods, I might put bells on the next time. Nothing big but all the fish were 10-12" long and they put a nice bend in those soft kokanee trolling rods. It will be fun when I get a big one on.
The bite was wickedly fast at first and seemed to attract some attention. Soon there were quite a few boats trolling in the area
With the beautiful weather the lake was pretty crowded. The extra traffic slowed the bite a bit but also seemed to make the fish bite a bit more softly. I guess they were a bit skittish.
I would have kept fishing that area, but the plan for the day was for my wife to meet me at ramp C at 1:30 with my son. I decided to fast troll back to C at 12:30 hoping to catch an aggressive fish. I did not get any bites trolling 2.5mph back towards the ramp.
When I got to the mouth of the Sain creek arm and I slowed down and immediately missed a couple of bites and picked up my 11th trout. By then it was 1:30 so I racked the rods and went to the ramp. Timing was perfect as they had just arrived.
I loaded Zach into the kayak and asked him what he wanted to do. He said go fish for perch so that is what we did. The wind had become a bit gusty so we slowly headed into the Wall creek arm (beside Scoggins arm) to keep the chop from splashing over the gunnels. Even at the back of the cove it was kind of gusty. I found a likely looking spot and we anchored up. At first Zach said he just wanted to watch, but as soon as I caught a perch he asked for his rod
The perch bite at that spot was not great, but Zach caught one decent sized one and I caught a handful of smaller ones. Eventually Zach became bothered by a few bees that kept coming around. He said he was ready to head back. We decided to jtroll back to the ramp.
We had a few bites and picked up the 12th trout on the way back. I asked him to reel it in but he said that he wanted to net it. Always interesting what is fun to a kid. He did a great job of netting the fish. I have a new net (actually bought two new nets and put the bag from one on the handle of the other). Zach said he really liked the new net. It is really light, handle length is good for the kayak and the netting is that thick, clearish rubber that does not snag the hooks at all.
All in all it was a wonderful day on the water. My wife is a saint for make the hour and twenty minute round trip drive just to drop Zach off. When she dropped him off the line to launch and take out was wrapped all the way around the parking lot and most of the way up the hill. Crazy busy in the afternoon! Glad I have a kayak. I took out in the grass beside the ramp - no waiting
I only took one pic on the day, just to show off my new net. Here is a beastly 10 incher
I let out 30' of line and figured I was fishing about 15-20' deep. I was totally stoked to watch those rods start to dance.
After 2 hours of trying a bunch of depths and changing lures a few times. I had yet to get a hit.The only fish I marked were about 15' and with the chop on the water I could not see any surface action. Eventually, I passed a guy and his son in a boat and they said that they had caught a few trout near the dam flatlining rapalas. I decided to keep one rod fishing closer to the surface with both rods. I had not given that method enough time earlier.
I put a small minnow plug on that rod and kept trolling. I missed a couple of hits and eventually broke the ice with a 10" stocker. At that point decided to get my other rod near the surface as well. I put a 1/8 oz sinker on the dropper and kept the roostertail and worm combo (with trailer hook). This turned out to be the ticket.
I got up closer to the dam and found a ton of fish. I did not mark fish but the bite was on. I switched both rods to roostertails (one green, one pink) and for a while it was hard to keep both rods in the water. Both rods had 1/8 droppers, 1/24 oz roostertails with 1/2 nightcrawler and a trailer hook and I had them both 30' back
What a blast! Between 11 and 12:30 I caught 9 trout and missed a bunch of bites. It was hard to watch both rods, I might put bells on the next time. Nothing big but all the fish were 10-12" long and they put a nice bend in those soft kokanee trolling rods. It will be fun when I get a big one on.
The bite was wickedly fast at first and seemed to attract some attention. Soon there were quite a few boats trolling in the area
With the beautiful weather the lake was pretty crowded. The extra traffic slowed the bite a bit but also seemed to make the fish bite a bit more softly. I guess they were a bit skittish.I would have kept fishing that area, but the plan for the day was for my wife to meet me at ramp C at 1:30 with my son. I decided to fast troll back to C at 12:30 hoping to catch an aggressive fish. I did not get any bites trolling 2.5mph back towards the ramp.
When I got to the mouth of the Sain creek arm and I slowed down and immediately missed a couple of bites and picked up my 11th trout. By then it was 1:30 so I racked the rods and went to the ramp. Timing was perfect as they had just arrived.
I loaded Zach into the kayak and asked him what he wanted to do. He said go fish for perch so that is what we did. The wind had become a bit gusty so we slowly headed into the Wall creek arm (beside Scoggins arm) to keep the chop from splashing over the gunnels. Even at the back of the cove it was kind of gusty. I found a likely looking spot and we anchored up. At first Zach said he just wanted to watch, but as soon as I caught a perch he asked for his rod
The perch bite at that spot was not great, but Zach caught one decent sized one and I caught a handful of smaller ones. Eventually Zach became bothered by a few bees that kept coming around. He said he was ready to head back. We decided to jtroll back to the ramp.
We had a few bites and picked up the 12th trout on the way back. I asked him to reel it in but he said that he wanted to net it. Always interesting what is fun to a kid. He did a great job of netting the fish. I have a new net (actually bought two new nets and put the bag from one on the handle of the other). Zach said he really liked the new net. It is really light, handle length is good for the kayak and the netting is that thick, clearish rubber that does not snag the hooks at all.
All in all it was a wonderful day on the water. My wife is a saint for make the hour and twenty minute round trip drive just to drop Zach off. When she dropped him off the line to launch and take out was wrapped all the way around the parking lot and most of the way up the hill. Crazy busy in the afternoon! Glad I have a kayak. I took out in the grass beside the ramp - no waiting
I only took one pic on the day, just to show off my new net. Here is a beastly 10 incher
