muskalungee  11/07/2006 - 16:50  Trip Reports  Impoundments   

Well, it was indeede Denver and it was late October...but it sure didn't feel like it. I had to travel to Denver for work this week and my buddy Chris took said he was free to take me out to hit the Chatfield Reservoir to chase some smallies (and maybe some walleye). If you remember, a few years back I hired a guide and we did pretty well out there. (read that story here)

We hit the water at about 1030 and the temp was already approaching 70 degrees. It was absolutely unbelievable that we had conditions like these in the last week of October. We decided to hit the dam area and work it for a while for smallies. The rocky shore and bottom in the dam area really looked like a great place to start, but fishing was still pretty tough. We tossed Senkos, Grubs and hard jerkbaits towards the shoreline, but the algae on and near the bottom really made it tough. We ended up with only one real hit, and I brought that one to hand on a slowly worked X-Rap, and she hit it on the pause. After a few hours of minimal action, Chris introduced me to the art of trolling. Since I’ve never done much fishing from a boat like this, I really have no experience with it, but I wanted to at least give it a try.

At first I thought it was pretty boring (most likely my ADD), but it was nice to just leisurely sit back and chat while enjoying a boat ride at the base of Rocky Mountains. It didn’t take long until Chris said “Fish On” as he saw my rod pulsing aggressively. It didn’t feel like much of a fish (and it wasn’t) but it was still fun reeling in anything that was that far behind the boat.

After that we worked our way out to the old road bed where the walleye guys were sitting and jigging away. We must have missed the key bite time b/c they cleared out not long after we started headed that way (or we scared them away). We couldn’t even mark any fish there so we headed out to the dock area to see if that largemouth was still around and hungry. No luck there either, just a Jack’s Worm caught up in the trolling motor. ☺

With the afternoon progressing and nothing left but a little bit of hope, we headed back to the dam area again to see if the fish moved back in for an evening feed. Chris picked up a really nice Rainbow on a white Berkely Swimming Grub, which was really surprising b/c it just didn’t seem like a place that would be holding a trout. As the sun started to go down it got rather chilly but we perservered trying to see if we could pick up a walleye coming in for some evening chow. However, I guess a walleye wasn’t in the cards, but we did get a surprise. A few minutes into swimming my trusty yozuri, I felt what I thought was the familiar thump and tug of a walleye. As it got closer to the boat Chris and I noticed that I had foul hooked it and we both could tell it wasn’t a walleye, but we couldn’t figure out what is was.

Carp? Nope. Sucker? Nope. This thing had a tiny little mouth, was paper thing, slimy as heck, and smelt like it had been rotting on shore for a week. Even after I got it in hand we had no idea what it was. Turns out it was a Gizzard Shad! What the? Unfortunately the picture doesn’t do it justice as I couldn’t wait to get that stupid thing back into the water.

What a great time, thanks again for everything Chris!
Muskalungeee!
-Mike

muskalungee  05/01/2006 - 17:58  Trip Reports  Impoundments   

This weekend I finally had a chance to get out with my Pop and take him on the maiden voyage for his new Pamlico 100. As a right of passage, I presented him with his Mdfishing.org Yak Sticker to let him know he was “in”. (see picture)

OK, on to the report. To break him in slow we headed out a local reservoir to chase some greenies. I figured the lack of current would be a good thing for him to really get his sea legs before we took off for the river. This was a good idea in theory, but when we arrived to the impoundment we were greeted with some serious

muskalungee  05/01/2006 - 17:56  Fishing  Impoundments   

Poppy's first fish from a kayak was this nice spring greenie from a locol reservoir. See trip report Here

muskalungee  04/12/2006 - 20:55  Trip Reports  Impoundments   

Well, I’m on the board. With my brother back in town for the week, (taking a break from his time down in Mississippi working with Samaritan’s Purse to help rebuild after Katrina) we decided we’d take advantage of the weather and try a little scouting mission on a body of water I’ve wanted to check out for quite a while now.

The air temp was approaching 70, but the steady winds seem to be keeping the water temps down a bit which led to some tough fishing. The good news is that we saw a lot of fish, the bad news was that they really weren’t too active. They are definitely in pre-spawn mode on this particular impoundment, as they the shallows or sit just off shore in 10-15 feet of water. We didn’t see any bedding activity yet, and I think if the water had just been a few more degrees warmer we would have been in real good shape.

The ideal technique was dead sticking a senko and keeping it as still as possible for as long as possible. The only problem was that the wind was blowing us around so much we couldn’t keep the bait in the same spot for more then a few seconds. But in those few times that we could, we caught fish….well I did. :) I ended up with two fish, the largest pictured above was a hard fighting and chunky 16”er. Steve didn’t get anything this time, but I think I speak for both of us when I say that just getting time on the water with each other was reward enough.

muskalungee  04/12/2006 - 20:54  Fishing  Impoundments   

Captwalleye  01/07/2006 - 20:43  Trip Reports  Impoundments    Anybody been out yet? I've hit that pond three times,and the lake once since the new year started.The pond is hot as far as catching fish.They aren't giants,but their fish,and fun to catch.My
score is 26 Largemouth so far.All but one on some sort of jig.The oddball was on a suspending jerkbait.They're all healthy and pulled my line admirably.
The lake is being stingy.Just getting excercise walking in and out,
and cold when it gets dark.I may go there tomorrow evening,and see what happens.Sooner or later,we'll meet.The fish and I,that is.
I've got a couple other ponds to check out and will do so soon.The one has the potential for lunkers.It's where I usually drag a five lb plus out of in the spring.The cattails get so bad there I only fool with it in the spring.I need to do a trim job on those cattails.If it freezes up real good I'll do a major number of a trim job.That would make that place a pleasure to visit.

smalljaw  09/17/2005 - 11:24  Fishing  Impoundments    Good Afternoon, Just found your website and I am enjoying it. I have submitted a picture for the post. It an 18" largemouth I caught in Columbia in August. It was a last cast buzzbait smashing.....lots of fun. Take it easy, Ben Clare

ShawnLittle  07/12/2005 - 08:21  Impoundments    Was planning on canoeing and camping on the Susquehanna this past weekend but Cindy made the river look like Ovaltine as the area we were going to fish recieved 3 inches of rain the night before our trip. Had to come up with a back up plan, so I was looking for an impoundment that didn't recieve as much rain and could handle the rain they got. What I came up with was DEEP CREEK LAKE. I had previously never been there before and my fishing partner said it was a great place the last time he went years ago.

We loaded up the canoe and headed to Deep Creek Lake State Park, which was completely awesome, and arrived their Friday night.

TightLine  07/11/2005 - 20:48  Impoundments  Liberty  Watercraft    If you see it then head for the hills!!

TightLine  07/11/2005 - 20:46  Fishing  Impoundments  Liberty    One of a pair! I caught a couple of two pounders on another spot out in the lake.