As the season winds down........

Steve K · Oct-27-2005, 03:16 PM

I have a friend who has his trailer set up at Crowley, so I went up Firday after work to fish with him and a couple of other guys. He and I in my boat and tho other two in his boat. I caught and released a real nice little brown around 16" and that was it for the afternoon for me. As a matter of fact none of us caught anything after around 5:30 P.M. The other boat ran out of gas around the corner in Chalk Bluffs Bay, so I towed them in. A good test for my outboard recently out of the shop, and it performed flawlessly. After a couple of beers around the campfire, I headed for home.

Back up on Saturday morning, I reinstalled my trolling plate and then we took care of the fuel situation, mixing it at the fuel dock. We headed out for the day and I could not get bit to save my butt! We were in touch by cell phone throughout the day; they were reporting single and double hookups. I decided to give it up at round 2:00 P.M. My friend's tackle box was in my boat, so I tracked them down to return it to him, just in time to see one of the other guys CPR a 3.5 lb brown. I said, "Sucks to be me, maybe I need to hire a guide!"

Gave it the day off on Sunday; watched a little football and the World Series game two, but on Monday I was heading back to Bishop from a service call I had just completed in Mammoth Lakes. It was around 2:00 as I drove past Crowley. The skies were darkening a bit and the wind was just starting to pick up. A storm was headed our way and they always say that when the pressure goes down, the fish come up. I bailed out of work a little early and hopped in the truck already hitched to the boat and hauled ass up the hill. In all the years I've been fishing Crowley, it's been mainly trolling Rapallas with leadcore. I put out the leadcore rig and placed it in one of the rod holders, and then grabbed my flatline outfit. I fish 10 lb line with an Ambassadeur 5500C3 on a 6'6" graphite rod I built just for this purpose. It's a Shikari blank, rated 10-17 lb. Perfect for yanking 11 and 13 CM Rapallas. The wind was really starting to get with it as I hooked my first one. It was a gorgeous male cutthroat in full spawning colors; just a beautiful fish. I abandoned the leadcore outfit, reeling it in and putting it in the rack, and continued to troll in the windy I conditions prized by trophy brown hunters. With only a little while left to fish, I set up for my last run along the shoreline, heading back to the marina from Little Hilton Bay. I hung what felt like a heavy fish, and with the wind at my back, even after I cut the engine I was drifting along at around 3-4 MPH. Not an easy feat at that speed, I managed to haul in a nice 3 lb rainbow, very full bodied and pretty to look at, too.

With only an hour to fish, I had released two nice fish and gotten rid of the skunk from Saturday. Fished again last night, a couple of hookups but both spit the hook close to the boat. Again, both fish came on the flatline rig, no leadcore. Well that's about it for Crowley. I'm headed to Bridgeport Reservoir for the weekend, dragging the boat up the hill on Friday after work and spending the weekend with another buddy who's bringing his camper down from Gardnerville. We're going to finish off the season right where we started it six months ago on opening day. Wish us luck, and I'll get back to you early next week with another report.

greeper · Oct-27-2005, 07:26 PM

thanks for the report, I'm debating on heading up there on 11/9.

Steve K · Oct-27-2005, 08:24 PM

They're going to roll up the sidewalks, so to speak, at Crowley on the 1st. Several of the resorts don't think much of the extended season. Public access lakes like Bridgeport Reservoir and Silver Lake and Convict Lake will still be open at the ramps. If you're planning on using any facilities, best to call ahead. We launched a couple of years ago at Bridgeport Reservoir the first or second weekend in November and did nothing all day but freeze our asses off! We'll see. I like a little breeze on the water, but I also like temps in the 50's and 60's, especially in an open boat.

greeper · Oct-27-2005, 08:58 PM

actully I'll be in a tube, I did it a few years ago, it was freezing and snowing but we slayed some big browns... I'll probably fish Crowley, a few creeks, Owens, Upper Twin in Bridgeport and possibly North Lake if I don't have to hike in.

Smitty · Oct-28-2005, 12:04 AM

Kick ass report Steve.....a healthy Cutt, brown and a 3lb 'bow ain't too shabby. Glad to hear your rig is back in prime condition....hope to hitch a ride with you at least once next season(gas & beer on me of course!).

Lookin forward to the Bridgeport Res. report.....

-smitty

Steve K · Oct-28-2005, 08:09 AM

Yeah, I spent $2500 on the outboard brand new in 1990, and only about a grand in maintenance and repairs this year. But she runs like a scalded dog; sure gets me across the lake to my favorite spot in a hurry, and then with the trolling plate down, it'll troll under 1 MPH. That's a perfect speed for Needlefish, Flatfish and jointed Rapalas, although the jointed Rapalas run a little better at around 1.5 MPH.

The alternative to repairing this one was to buy new, around $5,000 to $6,000 for 40-50 HP four stoke. That was an easy decsion.

Steve K · Nov-03-2005, 06:44 PM

RE:"I'm headed to Bridgeport Reservoir for the weekend, dragging the boat up the hill on Friday after work and spending the weekend with another buddy who's bringing his camper down from Gardnerville. We're going to finish off the season right where we started it six months ago on opening day. Wish us luck, and I'll get back to you early next week with another report."

OK, so it's late in the week, but we had a pretty good time. Got there on Friday night and sat around in the camper sharpening hooks, getting things ready for the next morning, and generally just bullshitting and catching up.

Saturday, we were up and launched early, before sunrise. Had to clean the ice/frost off the windshield and seats, pretty chilly. Trolled around for about 3-4 hours in the morning, mostly leadcore outfits for nada. Took a midday break and then went back out in the afternoon for 3 hours from 3-6 P.M. In short, fishing was a bust, one fish all day, a perch snagged in the dorsal fin.

Sunday, we slept late and started fishing around 9:00 A.M. Headed up towards Rainbow Point-Buckeye Bay from the dam and trolled the two leadcore outfits and one flatline rig until we finally got one on the surface in about 18' of water. Abandoned the leadcore and both of us trolled flatline, straight mono with Rappalas. Working the shallows along the shoreline from 5-12' feet deep we managed to put another 5 fish on the stringer, including some fat football rainbows and one male hookjaw brown around 3.5-4 lbs. Called it a day at 2:00 P.M., said our goodbyes, still planning our Lake Powell trip for next year in July.

As I got to Crowley about an hour and a hlaf before sundown, pushing south towards home, I just had to stop and fish one more hour. Released a couple of small ranibows fishing in Hilton Bay, and called it quits.

Since the season is open until the 15th of this month, it's looking very tempting to go back up and fish at least one day this weekend. It's probably going to be Sunday at Bridgeport Reservoir again or at least Convict Lake.

Seaya

Smitty · Nov-03-2005, 09:53 PM

Thanks for the follow up report....haven't been up since Sept so I appreaciate the fix.

Steve K · Nov-05-2005, 09:55 PM

re: "Since the season is open until the 15th of this month, it's looking very tempting to go back up and fish at least one day this weekend. It's probably going to be Sunday at Bridgeport Reservoir again or at least Convict Lake."

I'm definitely blasting off at Oh-Dark Thirty in the morning. Picking up a fishing buddy in Mammoth and heading back to Bridgeport to fish the day at the Reservoir. Wish us luck, report to follow.

Steve K · Nov-08-2005, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve K

re: "Since the season is open until the 15th of this month, it's looking very tempting to go back up and fish at least one day this weekend. It's probably going to be Sunday at Bridgeport Reservoir again or at least Convict Lake."

I'm definitely blasting off at Oh-Dark Thirty in the morning. Picking up a fishing buddy in Mammoth and heading back to Bridgeport to fish the day at the Reservoir. Wish us luck, report to follow.

It was Bridgeport again and once again we enjoyed pretty good fishing. Went up with a different fishing buddy who had called me on Friday about the time I was reaching for the phone to call him. Picked him up at the Breakfast Club in Mammoth around 6:30 A.M. on Sunday morning and headed on up to the reservoir. Got on the water around 8:00 A.M. and went right back to the same location that had produced for us the previous week. Began trolling and the first fish of the day was about 3.5-4 lbs, a nicely colored male hookjaw Brown. Netted it in a cool rubber release net and did the CPR thing. The net has a rather shallow rubber net on it that won't grab all the hooks on your lure and allows a quicker, cleaner, and easier on the fish release.

We continued working in the shallow water on the west side, running from 4-10 feet until about 2:00 P.M. when we called it a day. We caught and released about eight nice fish, and had a couple just come unbuttoned. Like fishing for wahoo, you have to remember to keep turning the handle when targeting brown trout, because they have tough mouths, especially the bigger ones. Several of the rainbows were in the 3-4 lb class. Nice fish, full bodied, exactly what you'd expect during football season.

The one that got away was a very nice brown, 8-9 lbs our estimate. He bit on a 9mm Black/Gold Rapala tied onto an 8 lb P-Line Fluorocarbon leader connected to 10 lb Trilene Big Game. When browns get hooked, they start rolling, trying to throw the lure and sometimes get all wrapped up in the line. This fish came slowly to the boat, made a turn about 25 yards from the stern and swam out to the left. As it finally came up behind the boat we could see the dorsal fin sticking out of the water, a definite trophy. I'm sure the line was either wrapped around it's gill flap or stuck in his mouth. Just as my buddy Matt was about to slip the net underneath him, the line broke and he swam away with my lure, having gained his freedom. These fish are smart, tough fighters and will break your heart. Lots of respect from me, they're survivors; explaining why so few of the big ones actually get landed.

With another great weather weekend forecast, I've got to go do it one more time. I'll be trailering up again on Sunday morning the 13th to give it one more shot, and finish off the season with another valiant effort. Wish me luck.

Steve K · Nov-14-2005, 02:12 PM

Made the final trip yesterday, and although the fishing was not as red hot as it had been the previous two trips, we still had a great day. Released a couple of rainbows and my buddy from Bishop had a good hit but it did not stick. That's about it. Going to plan a trip or two up to Pyramid Lake for some winter Cutthroat fishing. North of Reno, Pyramid is larger in surface area that Tahoe and has some pretty good fishing. Largely catch and release, they have some interesting regulations.

"Size limits are based on total length of the fish (the distance between the tip of the nose and the extreme tip of the tail).

Legal keeper" size for trout is 16 to 19 inches, and/or 24 inches & longer. Only one trout over 24 inches allowed in possession.

Catch limit is two trout per day, but not more than one of them may be 24 inches or longer. For example, you may keep two trout between 16 and 19 inches; OR, you may keep one between 16 and 19 inches, and one over 24 inches."

We fish it with downriggers, trolling Flatfish, Tor-P-Do spoons and Kwikfish.

Seaya

Smitty · Nov-14-2005, 08:59 PM

Thanks for the last two reports Steve....sounds like a damn good time, especially the near catch on the 8-9lb brown.

Do you know if they still catch decent numbers of cutts up at Walker Lake? Saw some pics of my grandfather from the 70's I think....he was holding up a Cutthroat that must have been at least 10lbs.

peace,
smitty