Carmen res. rocks!

[Hooked on fishin']

Well, we just got home from another trip to trailbridge campground, this time with NO kids!! We arrived late Tuesday evening ,and after setting up camp had about a half hour of daylight. So we hit the reservoir just behind our campsite, my wife's first cast, fish on! This would set the tone for most of our trip. She caught three in that first half hour, so we had fresh fish for a late supper!! The next day we hit Smith, lots of fish jumping, but not much biting. After about two hours of no action, I caught one just before we left, we went to Carmen. What a change!! We killed 'em there! Limited out all three days!! It was awesome! Even though it was hot up there, it was still cooler than here in town. On our way home we stopped at Leaburg and I caught a 16 incher! All in all a great trip! I wish I could go there every week!! Here are a couple pics, I was too busy fishing to take many and forgot to bring the camera a few times but anyways enjoy! first two pics are the 16 inches from Leaburg. the rest are Carmen.

 

[TTFishon]

Sounds like a great trip. What did you guys catch them on?

 

[Hooked on fishin']

Not too many, although there was a large group of kids that seemed to have no adult supervision camped next to us. They were rude, loud and walked through our campsite several times, but other than that n o issues. There were quite a few open sites, and since we were gone fishing the whole time and not in camp the kids did not bother us too much... I think it was some kind of church camp or youth camp, we heard them singing one night...I thought they used closed sites for that type of camping and there were way more than 12 people in that site, but we just grumbled too ourselves since they did not touch any of our stuff. We were fishing kastmasters and the small blue fox spinners that the blade is painted like a fish, i forget what they are called, and used powerbait with pro-cure trophy trout gel at carmen, which seemed to be the magic formula. I could not get even a follower at Carmen on lures but the bait-gel combo was like magic!!

 

[beaverfan]

Sounds like you had yourself a good ol' time. I've never been down that way. I'll have to check it out sometime. How were the bugs?

 

[Hooked on fishin']

The bugs were not too bad, I lathered up with OFF to keep 'em away, but I don't think I actually even got bitten. They were worse in the camp at night than at the water, and I bank fish, so all in all pretty good. I hate to think that I probably will not get up there again until next year...

 

[Troutski]

Smith....Trailbridge...Carmen...

Smith....Trailbridge...Carmen...

Those three res. are great...you should really get a hold of a boat and do the camping thing in the back of Smith. Talk about quite and calm, the fishing is much better in the back of the lake than near the dam, the Brookies hang out in the back...my favorite.:dance: Thanks for the pictures and great post.

Chuck

 

[Hooked on fishin']

Those three res. are great...you should really get a hold of a boat and do the camping thing in the back of Smith. Talk about quite and calm, the fishing is much better in the back of the lake than near the dam, the Brookies hang out in the back...my favorite.:dance: Thanks for the pictures and great post.

Chuck

yea, someday I will get a boat. that campground sounds like just the ticket!! i did catch my first Brook though, so did my wife, I think it may have been the same one, they were both small. What a beautiful fish though! They are still in there, I didn't want to keep them at just barely 8 inches, not when they were lip hooked and I knew I would catch more fish, cuz we were absolutely killin' em!We went to Clear lake and checked it out, didn't fish though, not much bank action. Maybe we will go there and rent one of the boats next time, I'm dying to try some Brook after reading so much about them here!

 

[TTFishon]

There's a trail to the campground in the back. I've hiked it several times. It's not the greatest trail but it gets you there.

 

[JeannaJigs]

That trail to the campground at the end of smith is evil, but it does get you there. I prefer the boat route Carmen is my favourite reservoir, smith and hills creek are tied for second. We used to camp at the campground above carmen, called Ice Cap, and we would ride our bikes down and fish all day from the bridge until we got our hands on a tiny little raft, and then our parents couldn't keep us on the bank during daylight hours. I love taking my pontoon up there, it's perfectly designed for that water. There's some beastly fish in there, last time I was there had one almost yank the rod out of my hand, and i got a glimpse of it when it jumped, and then it snapped the leader (was running a 2 lb leader) I have since decided that 4lb sufficiently gets the job done, they don't seem to be spooked by it at all...of course now I haven't hooked into anything quite that big since. Lots of good memories at Carmen for sure though.