10-30-2007, 01:34 AM
[cool] [font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Been wanting to hit Huntington before I needed an auger to get my tube wet. Put together a trip with Flycasting, who had never fished it before. We both showed up a half hour early at our meetup spot. Guess we still both get excited about fishing. [/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Cancelled a trip last week because I did not want to trudge through snow to launch my tube. This week the snow has mostly melted. Air temp was a balmy 35 and water temp around 41 when we launched at midlake around 8 AM. Water later warmed up to 42 and the air to 49. Tropical heat wave.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Tyler hit the water first, while I messed around setting up my golf cart tube truck. It helped get my heavy craft down the long exposed bank easier, but doing that hill a couple of times got my aerobics going.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]No fish showing on the surface. Unusual for early morning on Huntington. We went different directions, casting, bottom bouncing and watching the sonar. I thought my sonar was broken but Flycasting wasn’t seeing any more than I was. Naked bottom across the whole lake. Only about 23 feet deep in the middle. Way down. [/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]I suggested that Tyler move toward the deeper water at the dam, since the tiger trout often school up there when the water is low. Not heeding my own good advice, I went the other way, toward the inlet. Tyler found some fish first. I got into a couple, but only scattered light bites. [/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]The customary bottom bouncing with jigs and bait had produced nothing, and we were starting to notice a few suspended fish about 5 to 7 feet under the surface. So we each rigged flies on a long unweighted line and trolled flies shallow while continuing to fish other stuff with our second rods.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Tyler was first to score…a fat 15 inch tiger on a black wooly bugger. I followed up soon after with one of similar size on a silver Hilton fly. We alternated back and forth, reporting our successes over the walkie talkies. Then Flycasting found what we had been looking for. Some larger fish right on the bottom…jigger thingies. He dropped down and got bit regularly. [/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]That was enough for my mother’s son. But, I was still over half a lake away from the dam area. So I trudged my tube back up the hill, loaded it into the car and drove around to the new launch ramp area. Nice…but still quite a hike down the exposed mud banks to be able to launch. But, hale and hearty young man that I am, I took it in stride and soon had my tube headed out to the deeper honey hole.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Before we started fishing I had told Tyler that Huntington could really be a good/bad example of the old 90/10 rule…that 90 percent of the fish would be in only 10 percent of the water. Today that 10 percent was a zone about 10 yards wide, parallel with the dam, running along about the middle 2/3 of the dam. We caught fish in water as shallow as 14 feet and as deep as the deepest spot we found in front of the dam…at 30 feet.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]I began marking lots of fish as soon as I got into the zone and catching them whenever I saw them on the bottom. I deliberately kept changing jigs and presentations, just to try to find something they WOULD NOT hit. Couldn’t find anything they would not hit when they were active. However, the best results for both of us was on some of my new Ultra Minnow jigs and my painted body jigs…in fire tiger and in pale perch color. I got several fish on spinners and even landed one on a fire tiger crank bait. [/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]At one point the fish were extremely active, and we saw quite a few at the surface. We caught several fish by just casting out the jig and letting it fall to the bottom, keeping a tight line. Then, when we got a “pop on the drop” we would set the hook and the fun began.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]We didn’t get any of the really large colorful tigers today. Got a few that were nicely colored, but no big hookjaws. Several that were around sixteen inches and lots of 13 to 15 inchers. Even the small ones have attitude and fight like fish several times their size. I think Tyler gained a healthy respect for those purty fishies.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]We released just about everything, except a couple that were deeply hooked…even on jigs. We had the lake to ourselves until just before we left. Another tuber was out fishing where I had started (unsuccessfully) earlier in the day. Hope he had better luck than I did.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]It was beautiful and glassy early in the morning. But, we only started getting bit after a little east breeze came up and made a good “fishing riffle”. It picked up and dropped down through the day, and the clouds moved over in late morning and pretty much hung around until we left about 4.[/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Just a note to anybody who might want to fish Huntington and who does not have a boat or tube. You can cast a bubble and crawler off the dam out into productive area. We caught quite a few fish within an easy cast from the dam. Also, don’t forget to take some bubble and flies or some hardware for when they come up and get active. [/blue][/size][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Cancelled a trip last week because I did not want to trudge through snow to launch my tube. This week the snow has mostly melted. Air temp was a balmy 35 and water temp around 41 when we launched at midlake around 8 AM. Water later warmed up to 42 and the air to 49. Tropical heat wave.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Tyler hit the water first, while I messed around setting up my golf cart tube truck. It helped get my heavy craft down the long exposed bank easier, but doing that hill a couple of times got my aerobics going.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]No fish showing on the surface. Unusual for early morning on Huntington. We went different directions, casting, bottom bouncing and watching the sonar. I thought my sonar was broken but Flycasting wasn’t seeing any more than I was. Naked bottom across the whole lake. Only about 23 feet deep in the middle. Way down. [/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]I suggested that Tyler move toward the deeper water at the dam, since the tiger trout often school up there when the water is low. Not heeding my own good advice, I went the other way, toward the inlet. Tyler found some fish first. I got into a couple, but only scattered light bites. [/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]The customary bottom bouncing with jigs and bait had produced nothing, and we were starting to notice a few suspended fish about 5 to 7 feet under the surface. So we each rigged flies on a long unweighted line and trolled flies shallow while continuing to fish other stuff with our second rods.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Tyler was first to score…a fat 15 inch tiger on a black wooly bugger. I followed up soon after with one of similar size on a silver Hilton fly. We alternated back and forth, reporting our successes over the walkie talkies. Then Flycasting found what we had been looking for. Some larger fish right on the bottom…jigger thingies. He dropped down and got bit regularly. [/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]That was enough for my mother’s son. But, I was still over half a lake away from the dam area. So I trudged my tube back up the hill, loaded it into the car and drove around to the new launch ramp area. Nice…but still quite a hike down the exposed mud banks to be able to launch. But, hale and hearty young man that I am, I took it in stride and soon had my tube headed out to the deeper honey hole.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Before we started fishing I had told Tyler that Huntington could really be a good/bad example of the old 90/10 rule…that 90 percent of the fish would be in only 10 percent of the water. Today that 10 percent was a zone about 10 yards wide, parallel with the dam, running along about the middle 2/3 of the dam. We caught fish in water as shallow as 14 feet and as deep as the deepest spot we found in front of the dam…at 30 feet.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]I began marking lots of fish as soon as I got into the zone and catching them whenever I saw them on the bottom. I deliberately kept changing jigs and presentations, just to try to find something they WOULD NOT hit. Couldn’t find anything they would not hit when they were active. However, the best results for both of us was on some of my new Ultra Minnow jigs and my painted body jigs…in fire tiger and in pale perch color. I got several fish on spinners and even landed one on a fire tiger crank bait. [/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]At one point the fish were extremely active, and we saw quite a few at the surface. We caught several fish by just casting out the jig and letting it fall to the bottom, keeping a tight line. Then, when we got a “pop on the drop” we would set the hook and the fun began.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]We didn’t get any of the really large colorful tigers today. Got a few that were nicely colored, but no big hookjaws. Several that were around sixteen inches and lots of 13 to 15 inchers. Even the small ones have attitude and fight like fish several times their size. I think Tyler gained a healthy respect for those purty fishies.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]We released just about everything, except a couple that were deeply hooked…even on jigs. We had the lake to ourselves until just before we left. Another tuber was out fishing where I had started (unsuccessfully) earlier in the day. Hope he had better luck than I did.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]It was beautiful and glassy early in the morning. But, we only started getting bit after a little east breeze came up and made a good “fishing riffle”. It picked up and dropped down through the day, and the clouds moved over in late morning and pretty much hung around until we left about 4.[/blue][/size][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][blue][size 3] [/size][/blue][/font]
[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][blue]Just a note to anybody who might want to fish Huntington and who does not have a boat or tube. You can cast a bubble and crawler off the dam out into productive area. We caught quite a few fish within an easy cast from the dam. Also, don’t forget to take some bubble and flies or some hardware for when they come up and get active. [/blue][/size][/font]
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