July 8th
Sunny, clear sky at 83°
Water Clarity: gin clear to 30′
Water temp 65°
Wind 0 in am-10 mph pm
Application: Trolling
So every year our family and extended family (friends) go to Little Grass Valley Lake to camp, drink, collect grayfish for a boil, paddle board and do some fishing.
Here it is July and the campground was still in partial snow, downfall and not ready for campers but the forrest service on the day we arrived with our reservation just opened it up, so we had the whole place to ourselves.
After a couple of long days of drinking games down at the waters edge, a young friend of mine named Alex asked me to go fishing with him, as he brought his boat up and wanted me to see it. I jumped at the chance as I know the lake has Small Mouth in it. I was a bit taken back to see his boat, although nice and well kept it turned out to be a trolling boat. A modified deep V Tracker, with a Merc 40 horse on it and set up for trolling.
I have only been trolling for fish once about 55 years ago but he asked and it was fishing…sort of….lol
So we went out and he showed me how it all worked. It seemed like a lot more work to catch a fish that you don’t hook and don’t play to get it onboard, but what the heck.
So we launched and got set up to troll. We circled the middle of the lake several times and swept by the shallow end looking for them shallower.
The reels were the Diawa Lexa 100, with the line counter on it and the line was 15 lbs flouro attached to a
15lb electric down rigger. You troll a Wiggle Hoochie or something similar, and attach it to quick release on the down rigger. You then look on the sonar and if you see them at 30 feet (this is where we found them) you run the down rigger to just above them at 25 feet or so….
Then sit back talk about everything in the world because its kind of boring lol. Not going to lie, other than having a few beers I was bored. Around and around we go in large circles adjusting the rigger to the fish depths we spot.
We only stayed out for 4 hours and never did get a bite. We all know how that goes. So we loaded out and went back to camp.
Now don’t get me wrong, even though it was a boring way to fish, I enjoyed the time on the water. With that said, I missed working for the bite. I miss casting and shooting for a target, I miss the feel of the bite and the fun of the hook set!
Give me bass fishing anyday. If looking for a good conversation look Alex up. I told him I’d throw him under the buss…consider it done.
RB Angler and Shooter
Mike Rogers
