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View Full Version : Great Day at Scofield



LOAH
11-02-2008, 12:12 AM
Today, the family and I had plans to fish Scofield and to meet up with a couple of forum members while we were at it.

We arrived a bit later than I had planned (as is somewhat expected with family outings), but still beat the sunlight to the water. :) Orvis1 and STEVO had already been there for some time and reported slow fishing from the shore.

There were schools of fish within arm's reach of the shoreline, but they were all about 5 inches long or so.

My wife had agreed to give me some float tube time upon our arrival since I've never floated there, despite the many hours I've spend fishing it. After I pumped up the tube and rigged up my rods, I shoved off for my maiden float atop the waters of Scofield.

3 rods accompanied me on this trip, each serving a different purpose. I had my fly rod equipped with a big white minnow imitating zonker, my new spinning rod with a black # 2 Blue Fox spinner, and an old Ugly Stik ready with a bubble and a baitholder hook.

My first order of business (and what I was most anxious for) was to get that zonker wet and try to sucker some feisty trout into giving it a nip.

It really didn't take long. 8) As soon as I had gotten out past the buoys, I had my first strike and a hard one at that! It wasn't a big fish by any means, but it put a show and fought for its life before I clipped it to my stringer. :lol: It was a classic chubby Scofield rainbow of about 15 inches.

The same fate befell the second taker as well, since there was a family to provide a fish dinner for. This rainbow was more densely speckled than the previous and by then, I remembered I had brought my camera :wink: :

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3230.jpg

From there, I hooked into a couple more before I noticed Orvis1 and STEVO packing it in. They went on to try the area by the dam and we agreed to meet up over there a bit later. I hope the shoreline treated them better over there.

Meanwhile, I was really wondering why I had never floated this place until now:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3231.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3233.jpg

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3234.jpg

These fish were a riot! I have to admit that it had been awhile since I had a notable amount of action on the fly and it was really good to see a frequent bend in my rod for a change. I was still open to keeping another fish, but I released all of those in hopes of something a little bit larger or perhaps a tiger, if one felt like playing.

Well I knew the fly rod was working and I had two other rods on board, so I threw a worm on, filled the bubble with water, and lobbed that out behind me a ways to sit while I worked my hardware for a bit.

After a little while of casting the Blue Fox with no success, I switched to a rainbow kastmaster and started picking up hits. I had a couple of really nice fish on for several moments, but lost them before they were in grabbing range. One of them threw my lure right back at me while performing a graceful sommersault about a foot above the water. Quite disappointing, but fun to watch anyway.

Eventually I brought a couple of mid sized rainbows that looked like replicas of my previous catches, but they were still really nice to fight with on the way in. While retrieving my kastmaster one last time, I saw my worm rod bounce and quickly attended to it as soon as I had my lure back.

The fight of the day awaited me once I set the hook. Again, it was nothing huge, but it was one angry rainbow of about 17 inches. After taking the tip of my rod all over the place, it joined the first two on the stringer and would complete the day's quest for a fresh dinner. :D

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3243.jpg

With that out of the way, I decided to make one last pass around the area with that zonker. That turned out to be even faster action than before, especially when I was headed back to shore. As close as 15 feet from the beach, I was still catching fish. I knew it was time to get my wife out there to get in on this.

Sonia came down and threw the worm out while I tossed the kastmaster in all directions, but for some reason, we couldn't get anything to even bite. Very strange, especially since I had just been mauled by active fish on the way in.

We sat for quite awhile but never saw another fish. The decision was made to go and find Orvis1 and STEVO, if they were still around. Hopefully, the dam would treat Sonia a little better. I was already satisfied with my fishing day, so anything else would have just been added bonus for me.

Driving by the dam, we didn't see them or their ride. I had a hunch that they'd be at the river, so I strolled down to check it out.

Found them:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3246.jpg

Orvis1 was bent on getting STEVO a fish on the fly rod and they were working hard at it. Once they were a little bit closer, I got to chat for a little bit and catch up. Apparently, they had a little bit of luck at the dam, but nothing too great. I'm sure they'll report on their day since they had another destination planned as well.

Orvis1 was nice enough to let me try out his fly rod (with floating line...I only have sinking) and it was really nice to feel the difference in casting.

Of course, I didn't catch anything with it, but it was still a nice change of pace to cast into moving water and actually get to watch the fish reject my offerings. :lol:

The river is really, really low:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3251.jpg

I left those two to continue the fly fishing lesson and made one last stop on the way out to throw a size 0 Blue Fox at the tiny surfacing browns:

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP3252.jpg

Tender, huh? A caught a handful of those and we called it a day. Sonia had lost the fishing bug and I think we all needed a nice early ending to one of our fishing trips (we were pretty tired anyway).

All in all, I had a blast with my tube on Scofield and I may have a hard time ever fishing from shore there again. :D Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend as much time with Orvis1 and STEVO, but I blame the rainbows for that. :P

Happy Fishing, Humans.

accadacca
11-02-2008, 01:53 PM
Sweet man. Gotta get out while you can. Going to be too bloody cold to bait a hook before too long. :haha: Nice lookin' bows. :eat:

LOAH
11-02-2008, 02:39 PM
A little cold won't stop me. I'll just dress warmer. The only problem with ice is that it prevents me from casting and that really sucks. Vertical jigging is not my specialty.

http://www.bogley.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9692

accadacca
11-02-2008, 02:41 PM
Yeah, I figured you'd say that. :haha: I am just not a winter fisherman... :cold: