Getting Pretty Cold at Electric
This morning, I awoke with no idea where the day would take me. I had a thousand spots running through my brain and all of them had an ugly weather forecast.
After arguing with myself for awhile, I figured that time might be running out for the higher elevation central lakes such as Huntington and Electric. Hopefully I could get my tube out on E-Lake for the first time and not get snowed out.
There was a little worried voice in the back of my head when I approached the summit of Fairview Canyon.
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The snow wasn't very deep, but the air was quite cold and the creek on the way up was running under a sheet of ice. Fairview Lakes were frozen over and I wasn't sure what to expect of Huntington.
Luckily, I was greeted by open water!
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There was quite a bit of ice clinging to the shoreline rocks along the dam though. The feel of winter was in the air and I can't imagine it will be too long before the soft water is gone.
The uprooted trees near the boat launch always catch my eye:
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I thought I'd drown a worm and throw a kastmaster around for a spell before heading out to my main destination. It was about that same time that I realized I didn't have my tackle box. :shock:
No kidding! Of all the things I could forget, I forgot the bulk of my gear. Now I would have to make due with 1 brass Blue Fox and 1 brass Kastmaster. Luckily, I had my other tackle box (smaller...never use it), but it only provided a worm threader, a size 16 treble hook (for the minnows), and some tube jigs without jig heads. :roll:
Of course, I had my fly rod and all of my flies. I just didn't have the arsenal of hardware I've been collecting (the stuff that I haven't lost yet :lol: ).
Well, I was determined to carry on anyway and started hurling my kastmaster out in all directions while the worm hung below a bubble. I got a couple of mid sized tigers (looked about 15 or 16 inches) to follow my retrieve, but I couldn't coerce a strike.
Following Murphy's Law, the kastmaster (one half of my available lures) shot off to the middle of the lake with a *pop* from my line while casting. O|*
Shortly thereafter, I tried to reel in my worm, and the line failed. I don't know how it happened, but my only swivel was now gone, as well. :|
Call it a sign, I guess. I grabbed my poles and went back to the car. Time for Electric:
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Armed now with my the Blue Fox, my fly rod, and my minnow trap (and 1 treble), I pumped up the tube and climbed down the dam.
Before I launched, I wanted to get a feel for the bite and tossed the BF around for a short while. Fish were following me in, but wouldn't hit the lure. It was pretty frustrating to watch as they would swim up aggressively only to give it a sniff and leave. I did get my first glimpse at a few of the tigers, but never got one to hand.
A big rainbow (I'm almost positive it was a bow) kept cruising by to taunt me and even chased my fly for a few strips, but never gave me the pleasure of meeting it. I've never caught a rainbow out of Electric, either.
Finally, I got a hit on my spinner about 30 feet out and reeled in a pretty cutt of about 16 inches. I didn't get a picture of it right away and figured I'd get one later...I forgot (it was a typical yellow/greenish cutt from Electric).
With one fish under my belt, it was time to get my tube wet...Right after checking the minnow trap and finding one redside with a very round belly. 8)
I heard that dark buggers were working pretty well, so I threw on a black one for starters. After kicking back and forth a couple of times in front of the dam, I had only gotten one missed bite and decided to toss my minnow out in the far corner, opposite the road.
It didn't take long for my cast to produce and I had a really colorful cutthroat on the other end.
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Back to the fly rod, I switched to a big bead head olive bugger and picked up another decent cutt on the first strip of the first cast.
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For some reason, that was the last bit of action I would have on the fly. The wind had picked up a little bit and my legs were starting to get a little bit cold, so I kicked back to shore and checked the minnow trap again. From the cloud of redsides surrounding the trap, I had only trapped about 6 usable minnows. :? Not very much, but I'll take it.
The weather looked threatening and I had agreed to keep the day somewhat short, so I headed home, stopping to grab a pic at the healing grounds.
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It was good to get back to the central area and have another go with the soft water before it's too late. Remembering my gear would've been nice, but my family and I enjoyed a fresh trout dinner, once again.
Happy Fishing, Humans.
