Slow Berry, Fast Currant

[LOAH]

After reading a lot of successful reports from Strawberry, my family and I took a trip to see if we could get in on some of the action. We parked next to the water near the Aspen Grove marina and walked the shoreline in search of a decent spot with some wind blockage.

The fishing was pretty slow, but we got to play with a couple of slot cutts, a rainbow, and a chub.

Here's my cutt:



Sonia got a pretty good one:



My boy has taken a liking to messing around with the camera and actually got a pretty neat shot of his favorite target, his Mama, and the bay in the background:



Not bad for a 4 year old, I thought.

A little while later, he got to reel in a rainbow for Mama:





That got his attention and helped him enjoy the day a bit more.

The wind picked up and my plan B spot started tugging at my thoughts. Soon enough, we were off to test the new pavement on the road to Currant Creek. Apparently 13 of the 19 miles are now paved and as smooth as can be. The top section of the road is still a washboard in all the usual places, but they've dumped a bunch of fresh gravel where the road normally slides off the hill.

Pulling up to one of my favored fishing areas, one truck was leaving and the rest of the area was all ours. Opting to stay in the car for awhile, my wife let me get some focused fishing in where I could find a break in the thick weeds.

The Blue Fox struck first with an acrobatic rainbow coming in:



After that, I couldn't buy a bite with it, despite seeing fish all over the place. The two spinning rods and the fly rod I brought with me would all get their fair share of use over the next couple of hours and I ended up with quite a few fish landed (although not all photoed).









There was a lot of surface action and I was hoping to get some dry fly action, but it wasn't meant to be this time. My size 18 Parachute Adams was getting rejected by anything that showed curiosity and a rubber-legged hopper only got a cheek rub. The killer caddis worked out on a couple though.

Using a dead minnow pulled in a really good tiger, as did a powerbait minnow on a jighead.





They're highly visible in the water right now, as they nearly glow in the dark with their golden shine. They've also been eating their spinach (or their neighbors). The two big ones were really strong and thick. Fighting them in was a riot.

What used to be a lake dotted with small ripples from rising cutthroat has been transformed into a boiling surface of heavy splashes. The tigers are doing very well in there and the rainbows are round. Sadly though, I didn't bring in any cutts this time. Perhaps I'll have to hike in to a different spot to find the real locals, next time.

Happy Fishing, Humans.

[ibenick]

Awesome.

[PolarXJ]

I'd say the tigers are doing well there. The last time I was there, was ice fishing. I caught one tiger and the rest were cutts.

[accadacca]

[JONBOYLEMON]

After hearing a good report we headed up to Current Creek. Had the 2 boys with me. After 20 minutes of drowning a worm under a bobber, my youngest got a 12" Rainbow to the waters edge when he flipped off the hook. For the next 4 hours we got nothing but keeper weeds. My friend and his boy got one 12" rainbow each. Good fat ones that were enjoyed last night upon getting home. Wish we had taken the time to go to the upstream side of the little bay as recomended but it looked a little steep for my young boys. Now I wish we had made the short trek!!!!! We ended up walking across the dam and then up the other side a ways before we found a place where weeds seemed to not be as bad. Some really nice weeds were pulled in though. Had we spent all day there we probably could have had a 30' wide swath of weeds removed and up on the banks with all our weed success!!!!! Anyways it was gorgeous up there.

[LOAH]

Geez, I'm sorry your trip wasn't better in the qty dept.

I'm not sure which bay you were referring to, but that steep side is a good spot, year round. My last trip, however, was spent in one spot, fishing the channel on the north end, between the weeds.

[JONBOYLEMON]

I was pretty sure it was going to be a long day after seeing the weeds. We drove up the side of the lake and saw a place to access the steep side from the overlook area, but with little kids I was not sure I wanted a kid in the lake very bad. Where do you park to cut down to the lake???


I was going to go to the spot where you show a red lion your blog. Wish we had..... Oh well, a bad day fishing is better than most other things. Maybe if you think its justified I will get back up there this year and try your spot. Its 2 hours from the house though so I wonder if there are other places to spend valuable time.

[LOAH]

I've accessed that spot from the overlook (long hike around the bay, steep down and up) and hiked in from the other side, by the inlets. Both are about the same although much less vert from the inlets.

As far as justifying a two hour drive, that's up to you. For me, personally, I'll take the long drive for the fast action and strong fighting fish.

Using minnows (and imitations) will help separate the bigguns from the dinks.

[JONBOYLEMON]

I see where you keep saying things about trapping red sided and using them, but I am a little confused on how to catch them and then how to fish them.

As for the 2 hour drive, it is a great drive as far as 2 hour drives go. Hopefully before the snow flies I can post a success story from CC.

PS, thanks for all your great post LOAH. It has resurrected my old flame for fishing from long ago where I caught every LM Bass in a very large lake in Missouri. I miss those big fat fighters. Those guys could break a pole if you were not careful....

[LOAH]

Well thanks for reading them.

Minnow traps can be bought for around $12 at Sportsman's Warehouse, Cabela's, CAL Ranch Stores, and others. The last time I used mine, I just threw a few crackers in the cage and tossed it out into a place where I could see minnows. 12 Ritz crackers got me 10lbs+ of minnows. Just bag them in dozens (thereabouts) and freeze them until you're ready to use them.

The hook that's worked best for me has been a size 16 treble hook. It's really small and usually you can hook the minnows, one barb at a time, into the mouth and out the eyes, plus one under the jaw. Toss them out gently in an area that looks fishy and either wait for it to settle or twitch it back in slowly.

When a fish eats it (often times you can see it happen), open your bale and feed it line for a little while. Now shut the bale and let your slack line tighten up to where you feel the first resistance and then give a firm hook set.

It's really not a good option for catch and release fishing since the hook is usually way down the fish's throat.

For C&R, I'd use a circle hook through the eyes, entering from the outside. When using circle hooks, you don't really "set" the hook, but just start reeling instead. The hook is designed to drag against the lip while you're pulling it out of the fish's mouth, grabbing it right at the corner of the mouth in most cases.



Sometimes the hook still doesn't drag the way it was supposed to and you'll miss the fish. Setting the hook will usually just pull it out without dragging.

[JONBOYLEMON]

Once again thanks for explaining things so well that even I understand it. Also, the minnows are dead when you use them? Just sitting out there slowly settling to the bottom???? Or do you hang then under a bobber???

And.... would a crawdad trap work for the minnows??? I have a bunch of those.

Thanks again for all your help.

[LOAH]

Sorry, late:

Yes, the minnows are dead. According to state law, they must be. I'll let them drift if that's getting the action, but if I don't have a hit in a minute or two, I'll give them a twitch here and there to make them look like dying fish. That usually grabs the attention I'm looking for.

Hanging them under a bubble works too, but I lose a lot of minnows while trying to cast a rig with a bubble. The way I hook them isn't good for strong casts. Just gentle lobs.