howard prairie smallies

[redeye]

finally water temp over 50.. 4th trip to howard and only 6 fish to show for it up to 2 pounds. went thurs. evening about 5 pm till 8 lots of dinks on rip bait and senkos but caught the three biggest doing something new with my favorite tube. the best three went 8.5 all smallies and very fat an healthy even the dinks were chunky.. should really get hot with the weather heating up the lake fish were all in 10 feet with the bigger ones in 15 to 20 water clarity is visible to 13 feet. kinda wishin i would have hit the rogue valley open last weekend but took the little lady over to willow so she could outfish me again:shock:

 

[Combat Chuck]

Very cool. Howard has become so good for landing fat trout and smallies! Whats the new thing you were doing with the tube... I like tubes! ... and welcome to OFF

 

[redeye]

thanks combat, like a lot of people i have read and gleened techniques and tips from this sight for awile and in my opinion its the best i have found for southern oregon.... as far as the tube trick all i was doing was fish it like you slow roll a spinnerbait if i reeled to slow no bite. too fast no bite . it sounds simple enough however my boy in the back had a hard time.. but dont feel bad he has his days where he throttles me. those are the days when his smack talk earn him the right to run the trolling motor in the wind

 

[SturgeonSurgeon]

Found a nice hole out where I live. Small Mouth everywhere. Water temp about 80 year round. There is a plant that uses the river water to cool machinery and when it gets hot the pump it back out into a slough that feeds back into the river. Caught around 20 smallies the other day one was 14 inches and about 2 lbs..........it was so much fun. Can't wait to go back and it only like 5 mins from my house.

 

[colbypearson]

theyre eating the shiners thats why they are fat, howards gonna be a mecca if it keeps up.

 

[redeye]

theyre eating the shiners thats why they are fat, howards gonna be a mecca if it keeps up.

its darn close now ive seen a 7 1/2 LM come out last year and my best smallie is a 5 3/4 slab out of howards last year..... the fish are getting bigger each year and 3#ers are becoming more common

 

[eat, sleep, fish]

theyre eating the shiners thats why they are fat, howards gonna be a mecca if it keeps up.

Have they decimated the crawdad population up there? It used to be easy to get a trap full of ones 6"+, but I haven't tried it since the small mouth became a problem.

 

[Combat Chuck]

Have they decimated the crawdad population up there?

Yes, Is what I have been told.

 

[colbypearson]

Yes, Is what I have been told.

i see crawdad traps there all the time, i wouldnt assume they were gone if there is consitently 10-20 traps i see in a day without looking to hard mostly off the marina to the north in that channel.

 

[Combat Chuck]

i see crawdad traps there all the time, i wouldnt assume they were gone if there is consitently 10-20 traps i see in a day without looking to hard mostly off the marina to the north in that channel.

I think thats the moorage for the sailboats.

 

[colbypearson]

I think thats the moorage for the sailboats.

Nope theyre crawdad traps, lots of sailboat ties also but a gallon jug anchored by a metal cage couldnt hold a sailboat lol.

 

[Combat Chuck]

Nope theyre crawdad traps, lots of sailboat ties also but a gallon jug anchored by a metal cage couldnt hold a sailboat lol.

Well no... lol. Guess I didn't look close enough.

 

[redeye]

crawdads

crawdads

tubes and crawdad imitations are my goto baits at howard prairie... when the boys and i stay there we always flip rocks and flora to see what critters are there.... last year we saw and caught plenty of dads... bit just for fun they were soon released