08-26-2004, 09:59 PM
[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url][#0000ff]Woke up to rain on the roof a couple of times last night. Got up at 4:30 and saw only broken clouds. The fisherman's optimism in me motivated me to finish loading the car and get a sleepy TubeBabe in the front seat too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Rain on the windshield as we went by Park City. Sky clearing to the south. Pressed on. Through the gate at Hailstone just after opening at 6:15, where the lady told us "you are the only two, so far." Dodged a deer on the way to the PWC launch ramp. Backed down to launch the float tubes. No silly PWC folks to crowd us.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Light wind, 50 degree air temp, and a bit of chop coming straight into the ramp out of the south. We've fished in worse. Far worse. By the time I took the Jimmy up to park it and came down to launch, the breeze had died down somewhat. It was a nice sunrise poking through the clouds.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe scored first, on a fiesty 16 inch rainbow. It wasn't long until I had my smallie spinner whacked by a 17 inch rainbow. We saw evidence of other trout working the surface. Too bad they were not our intended victims.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp was just under 65 at launch, and did not climb more than a half degree before we got out at 1 PM. Saw only a little algae bloom. Probably on the way out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We were trying some new jig spinners and other spinners I have been experimenting with...in purples and perch colors. Of course the silly perch will eat anything that doesn't eat them first, but we did get to play with some smallies up to a foot or so. TubeBabe got big fish honors with a fat 17" smallie that would not come up and turned her around several times in her tube.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Our sonar showed lots of fish in depths from 6 feet to about 18 feet. However, most of the active ones seemed to be in the 10 to 14 foot depths. The ones on the bottom responded well to vertical jigged Roadrunners. The suspended ones smacked a slowly retrieved spinner just fine. On many casts with a spinner, I got hits shortly after the spinner hit the water. On other casts, I got hit only after letting the lure touch down on the bottom and then beginning a varied retrieve back to the tube.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As usual, small perch pecked the heck out of anything we tossed. The key to getting larger fish was to keep reeling until we got a solid thump or a heavy pull. Striking on every little bump resulted only in a lot of exercise and frustration. Sometimes the heavy pull turned out to be a smallie. Other times it was a "porky perch". I landed several for the table, and lost several more that I would have liked to have put in the basket.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]During one period of flat calm, I saw "nervous water" close to shore. Thinking it might be a feeding smallie, I pitched a small spinner nearby. It was slammed and a large fish rocketed for deeper water. Several minutes later, I could see a large brown trout, with my spinner hanging precariously in his lip. A power dive helped him finish dislodging it and I got my spinner back without having to unhook another slimer. Actually, I would have liked to touch him. He looked to be about 5 pounds. Pretty fish for someone else to catch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]All in all, a fun getaway. Won't have much more opportunity to fish midweek now, since I will be doing the old 8-5 routine. We are planning to wander down Saturday morning again for awhile. Hope to look up CBR and anyone else who can make it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Rain on the windshield as we went by Park City. Sky clearing to the south. Pressed on. Through the gate at Hailstone just after opening at 6:15, where the lady told us "you are the only two, so far." Dodged a deer on the way to the PWC launch ramp. Backed down to launch the float tubes. No silly PWC folks to crowd us.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Light wind, 50 degree air temp, and a bit of chop coming straight into the ramp out of the south. We've fished in worse. Far worse. By the time I took the Jimmy up to park it and came down to launch, the breeze had died down somewhat. It was a nice sunrise poking through the clouds.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]TubeBabe scored first, on a fiesty 16 inch rainbow. It wasn't long until I had my smallie spinner whacked by a 17 inch rainbow. We saw evidence of other trout working the surface. Too bad they were not our intended victims.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Water temp was just under 65 at launch, and did not climb more than a half degree before we got out at 1 PM. Saw only a little algae bloom. Probably on the way out.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We were trying some new jig spinners and other spinners I have been experimenting with...in purples and perch colors. Of course the silly perch will eat anything that doesn't eat them first, but we did get to play with some smallies up to a foot or so. TubeBabe got big fish honors with a fat 17" smallie that would not come up and turned her around several times in her tube.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Our sonar showed lots of fish in depths from 6 feet to about 18 feet. However, most of the active ones seemed to be in the 10 to 14 foot depths. The ones on the bottom responded well to vertical jigged Roadrunners. The suspended ones smacked a slowly retrieved spinner just fine. On many casts with a spinner, I got hits shortly after the spinner hit the water. On other casts, I got hit only after letting the lure touch down on the bottom and then beginning a varied retrieve back to the tube.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As usual, small perch pecked the heck out of anything we tossed. The key to getting larger fish was to keep reeling until we got a solid thump or a heavy pull. Striking on every little bump resulted only in a lot of exercise and frustration. Sometimes the heavy pull turned out to be a smallie. Other times it was a "porky perch". I landed several for the table, and lost several more that I would have liked to have put in the basket.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]During one period of flat calm, I saw "nervous water" close to shore. Thinking it might be a feeding smallie, I pitched a small spinner nearby. It was slammed and a large fish rocketed for deeper water. Several minutes later, I could see a large brown trout, with my spinner hanging precariously in his lip. A power dive helped him finish dislodging it and I got my spinner back without having to unhook another slimer. Actually, I would have liked to touch him. He looked to be about 5 pounds. Pretty fish for someone else to catch.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]All in all, a fun getaway. Won't have much more opportunity to fish midweek now, since I will be doing the old 8-5 routine. We are planning to wander down Saturday morning again for awhile. Hope to look up CBR and anyone else who can make it.[/#0000ff]
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