10/15 Gunna try this again..... First day out on my T13 (Hagg Lake)

Over my cold, weather looks reasonable and I'm damn ready to float this silly thing!!!

If anyone is free and would like to hit Hagg with me, by all means lemme know.  I'm thinking sometime in the afternoon or evening, as I have things going on in the morning.

After work I was exhausted (12 hr night shift), so I hit the sack to gain some stamina.    Woke up a bit later than I wanted, but I was determined to get my T13 wet TODAY!!!!   So, I packed the yak into the bed of my truck and drove the 10 mins to Hagg.  Paid my $5 to park, and with only 1 hour left of daylight    left I hit the launch.

Everything went really good!  I may tweak my CUDA mount a bit, it looks like I mounted it a bit crooked. 
The NRS dry top is very comfy and roomy.   The water was glass and paddling was relatively smooth.  With darkness closing in fast, I stayed close to shore, and in doing so, I saw lots of fish on the radar. 

I talked to my retired neighbor when I got home about my little outing and said I should have tried fishing.  I had everything there in the truck, but not enough time to get setup and get a test paddle in.  Anywho, he said he went out this weekend with his grandkids and they all caught their limits of trout.  Said the bait of choice was just Power Bait.  They would cast out about 60 feet, and let it sink down about 20-30 feet and slowly reel it back in.   He thinks a really slow troll via the kayak would be another big hitter. 

So, I may make a morning of fishing on Friday. 

Congrats on your first of many more days on the water!

A very slow troll using a piece of nightcrawler threaded on a #8 bait hook, with a small split shot about a foot above the hook works very well also. It's pretty exciting when the trout slam it!

Dave

A very slow troll using a piece of nightcrawler threaded on a #8 bait hook, with a small split shot about a foot above the hook works very well

How much line do you let out?

I usually start by casting back of the yak while moving, and then letting out a little more line, so I am probably back about 25 ft. If I don't get any hits, I let out more line. I figure that I am fishing about 4 to 10 feet deep. Last week I went to Munsel lake and tried trolling a worm. I got one good bite, but it didn't get hooked. While looking for a place to park and eat my lunch, I found some structure in about 30 ft of water off of one of the few docks. I let down the anchor, and dropped my worm down to the bottom. Watching the line drop, as it neared the bottom, something grabbed it and started taking out line. I clicked the bail shut, and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Whatever had it was running something fierce. It kept taking out line for about 15 seconds and then nothing. I left it for awhile, hoping that whatever had it would come back, but to no avail. After cranking it back up, there was a single scale stuck on the point of the hook. I figure that is was probably a big bass. I know there are bass in the lake over 7 lbs. I have also seen salmon in the lake, as it has an outlet to the Siuslaw river. All I know, it was the biggest fish I ever hooked in Munsel lake.

Dave

If you want to add a little flash to that worm, I find that using a lure like a "wedding ring" can help.   You simply do exactly as Goldendog says, but you use the hook of the wedding ring instead of a plain hook.

Wedding ring lure. 


Others go all out for some extra flash with the "ford fenders" (i.e. large series of spinners in a row), but I like to use light tackle and those just kill the action for me.

I've used Ford Fenders and Wedding Rings, and just Wedding Rings.  And the FF + WW + white corn and a tiny bit of worm (that was the trick for me in Lake Simtustus).

Hadn't heard of just trolling with a worm and a split shot though...  Goldendog are you using a swivel?

Anyone have tomorrow free and want to fish Hagg?   

We used the wedding ring spinner on Lake Billy Chinook for kokanee.  White or yellow corn depending on the day, but we didn't use ford fenders.  Seems a rubber band may have been used as a shock obsorber between the leader msnd line.  Those fish go nuts at the boat or in the net.

Seems a rubber band may have been used as a shock obsorber between the leader msnd line. 

Ahh yes the snubber, forgot that part!

That's the right idea.  I think we actually used rubber bands though.  Good in a pinch if you'r short on tackle.

PSR,

I have 15lb spiderwire on my ultralight spinning outfit, so I attach a small barrel swivel and a 4 foot 4lb mono leader. Originally I was using Ford Fenders, and like Brian say's, way too much hardware. Just as an experiment, I tried trolling using just the hook, split shot, and worm, and it worked just as good as when using flashers. One day last spring, I got a limit in less than an hour that included 3 18 inchers. So much fun on light tackle!

Dave