Half an ounce of lead

[Gettin' Jiggy Wid It]

Limited out by 10 am this morning trolling wedding ring with half an ounce of lead. Only one fish went about a pound, the rest were dinks. Had fun catching and releasing a couple as well.

About 20 boats on the lake, which is a lot for a monday. And probably 50 or more folks fishing from the bank all around the lake. I didn't see many fish being caught though. When i fished mondays in november, i saw maybe 6 boats or so on the lake usually.

I spent the first hour trolling up around scoggins, trying to get into some of the larger fish. Rapala Original Floater and a couple of other plugs yielded nada. Wedding rings did not produce in that area of the lake either.

When i headed towards the dam from boat ramp C, a lot of stockers were feeding at the surface. There were about 4 boats trolling along the west shore, so i flatlined a wedding ring and picked up a dink...and then...a bald eagle flew over real low...and all those trout swirling at the surface vanished. I didn't catch another fish until i put on a half ounce of lead. That eagle scared 'em good. Then the sun came up a little higher, and that may have made them submerge as well. It was weird though...swirls everywhere at 8 am...EAGLE...swirls gone for good at 8:01.

 

[troutdude]

Nice report, thanks. Glad you got some fish too.

On Saturday, we saw a Golden Eagle swoop down by the dam. Now I know, why we were catching fish OFF the bottom...LOL!

 

[SiletzTroutKiller]

A bald eagle and a golden at the same lake? I didn't think they got along too well.

 

[bernduffy]

I angled and dangled on Monday as well. Water temp 48. Cold at 8am, but beautiful fresh and warm spring day by 4pm. It was so great to be back at Hagg. Been a long winter. First time rowing new Cataract carbon/fiberglass shaft oars. I should have upgraded to these a long time ago. The lighter weight and stiffness improved my rowing efficiency by quite a bit.
I trolled up and down Scoggins to no avail. Lots of complaints from bankers and boaters at how slow things were compared to the weekend. Possibly pressure taking a toll? Did see a few 10-12" stockers taken. A fly guy in a toon caught what looked like a 20 incher near the C ramp fishing deck.
I boated 3 9-11" and lost 2 takedowns. One on a flatline, the others about 10' down. After trying an assortment of lures (rapalas, rebel crawdads, wedding rings, spinners, spoons) I once again scored with the pro-troll watermelon trout killer in the same areas off ramp C that I left off fishing in the fall. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Creative experiment of the day: I had a pink wedding ring with no blade, so I threaded a small pink spin n glo in front of it. I was thinking the floating nature of the SpnGlo would screw up the angle of the w/r, but darned if it didn't catch one! Think I'll call it a Wed N' Glo.
Nature sight of the day: baby buffleheads!
I won't be able to get back for a couple of weeks, so it was nice to hit the water so early in March.

 

[troutdude]

A bald eagle and a golden at the same lake? I didn't think they got along too well.

The one that I saw, was darkly colored. But, fully grown with NO white head. Plus, it did not look like an Osprey either. So, Golden was my next choice.

 

[troutdude]

Creative experiment of the day: I had a pink wedding ring with no blade, so I threaded a small pink spin n glo in front of it. I was thinking the floating nature of the SpnGlo would screw up the angle of the w/r, but darned if it didn't catch one! Think I'll call it a Wed N' Glo.

It's great when an experiment works!

Sometimes, its the color. Sometimes the changed action; that does the trick.