jbird
07-06-2009, 10:43 PM
I will preface this story by saying my wife is out of town and she took the lap top, she also accidently took my USB cable for my camera. So I am unable at this point to load any pictures to the PC.
I decided, in my temperary bachelor madness, to do a dawn patrol at klamath lake. With the lake being aproximately an hour away and dawn peaking just before 5am, I set the alarm for 3:45...and its 15 minutes fast. 3:45!!!!!!!!!!! I figured, if Im gonna get up early at all, I may as well shoot for the dawn thing. (Im usually not the guy you see appearing thru the fog of dawn in a float tube....If I cant wear my habervisions, its too early) So there I was, kicking out into the breezy 40 degree morning with a gut full of coffee and granola bars and a mind full of "What the #$%^ am I doing?!"
Another gentleman is launching a boat and we chatted for a moment, Hes fished here a lot recently and had some nice reports. He did use the phrase "there were over 100 guys fishing this water this weekend, I hope the fish arent too put off". Me too man, I got up at 3:30 thismorning! He and his dog zip off into the morning grey, to regions my float tube dare not go.
The area I am interested in is a good 15 minute kick out. I strip out some line and let it dangle on the way. YANK! first fish, a spry little 17"r. Alright! not really what Im here for but I'll take it. I get out to "my spot" and imediately into a better fish, this one taped at 22" and thick, maybe 4#. Then another, this one 20"...oh yeah! A half hour lull and then a subtle bite. The fish does a fast headshake, similar to a smaller fish, as the fight ensues, the fish grows considerably. He is just swimming around without too much concern, Ive got my 5wt with 5X pushing the max and he just doesnt care. He surfaces finally and in the rising sun I see a wicked huge trout. I fight him as hard as I can and slumped him into my little net. I pull the fly out through the net and carefully drag him onto my apron to see just what Ive got. As he unfolds, he is just draped across my tube. I pull out the tape quickly and read him just shy of 29". let him slip back into the inky water and he gives me a cold shower with his broom like tail. YEAH BABY! Thats what Im talking about.
...The fishing continued at a quick pace for klamath lake. Nice fish between 18-25". Some boats started showing up that had earlier raced out to some other hot spot. They asked me if I was doing any good, I said 'in deed' I asked them, they said 'nada'!! I said REALLY?! When I told them the details of my morning, they mustve thought Id been drinking my bath water. Wouldnt you know it, now that theres 6-8 boats around, the bite shuts off. These guys definitly think Im nuts...then IT happens...11am. a bite, much like any other bite, a quick headshake, the fish moves in a "Z" pattern for a few seconds, another headshake, suddenly there is a fish in the sky in front of me that made everyone a believer. Followed by the painful shreek of my little loomis reel being tested to the limit. Several more huge jumps and the fish is close. He runs straight under my fins, spinning me like a top, just when I get turned toward him, he does it again. WEEEEE, round we go! I did not see how this situation was going to end well. This fish was too big for my net and just WAY to big for my 5X tippet. Some how, after spinning about 9 circles trying to net this thing, I manage to net him. I struggeled for quite some time to open this fishes mouth to remove the fly. This strain of klamath lake rainbows have wicked teeth and this fish has a jaw like a vise clamped tight. Finally get it out. I still dont really know how big he is. I can not get my hand around him at all so I finally tail the fish and lift it from the net and out of the water. I hear a collective "WHOAAA!...OH my GOD!...HOLY %^&*!" from the onlookers LOL.
This fish also taped at 29". This fish, however, was not like the other 29, It had 2, possibly 3 pounds more in the shoulders. I guessed it at 11#. I snapped a couple horrible photos and got him back in quickly. He was very much ready to go and bolted off into the wild blue yonder. I caught a couple more over the next 2 hours including a fish I landed that didnt even have the hook in him....lasso style.
I used one fly all day, the hook started to straighten a couple times and I bent it back and kept catchin fish...pretty dang awesome! I stopped counting after 8 fish. It was somewhere in the 13-15 range.
What a day! I'm tired and Im goin to bed.
If youve read this far, thanks for endulging in my report and not falling asleep :)
I decided, in my temperary bachelor madness, to do a dawn patrol at klamath lake. With the lake being aproximately an hour away and dawn peaking just before 5am, I set the alarm for 3:45...and its 15 minutes fast. 3:45!!!!!!!!!!! I figured, if Im gonna get up early at all, I may as well shoot for the dawn thing. (Im usually not the guy you see appearing thru the fog of dawn in a float tube....If I cant wear my habervisions, its too early) So there I was, kicking out into the breezy 40 degree morning with a gut full of coffee and granola bars and a mind full of "What the #$%^ am I doing?!"
Another gentleman is launching a boat and we chatted for a moment, Hes fished here a lot recently and had some nice reports. He did use the phrase "there were over 100 guys fishing this water this weekend, I hope the fish arent too put off". Me too man, I got up at 3:30 thismorning! He and his dog zip off into the morning grey, to regions my float tube dare not go.
The area I am interested in is a good 15 minute kick out. I strip out some line and let it dangle on the way. YANK! first fish, a spry little 17"r. Alright! not really what Im here for but I'll take it. I get out to "my spot" and imediately into a better fish, this one taped at 22" and thick, maybe 4#. Then another, this one 20"...oh yeah! A half hour lull and then a subtle bite. The fish does a fast headshake, similar to a smaller fish, as the fight ensues, the fish grows considerably. He is just swimming around without too much concern, Ive got my 5wt with 5X pushing the max and he just doesnt care. He surfaces finally and in the rising sun I see a wicked huge trout. I fight him as hard as I can and slumped him into my little net. I pull the fly out through the net and carefully drag him onto my apron to see just what Ive got. As he unfolds, he is just draped across my tube. I pull out the tape quickly and read him just shy of 29". let him slip back into the inky water and he gives me a cold shower with his broom like tail. YEAH BABY! Thats what Im talking about.
...The fishing continued at a quick pace for klamath lake. Nice fish between 18-25". Some boats started showing up that had earlier raced out to some other hot spot. They asked me if I was doing any good, I said 'in deed' I asked them, they said 'nada'!! I said REALLY?! When I told them the details of my morning, they mustve thought Id been drinking my bath water. Wouldnt you know it, now that theres 6-8 boats around, the bite shuts off. These guys definitly think Im nuts...then IT happens...11am. a bite, much like any other bite, a quick headshake, the fish moves in a "Z" pattern for a few seconds, another headshake, suddenly there is a fish in the sky in front of me that made everyone a believer. Followed by the painful shreek of my little loomis reel being tested to the limit. Several more huge jumps and the fish is close. He runs straight under my fins, spinning me like a top, just when I get turned toward him, he does it again. WEEEEE, round we go! I did not see how this situation was going to end well. This fish was too big for my net and just WAY to big for my 5X tippet. Some how, after spinning about 9 circles trying to net this thing, I manage to net him. I struggeled for quite some time to open this fishes mouth to remove the fly. This strain of klamath lake rainbows have wicked teeth and this fish has a jaw like a vise clamped tight. Finally get it out. I still dont really know how big he is. I can not get my hand around him at all so I finally tail the fish and lift it from the net and out of the water. I hear a collective "WHOAAA!...OH my GOD!...HOLY %^&*!" from the onlookers LOL.
This fish also taped at 29". This fish, however, was not like the other 29, It had 2, possibly 3 pounds more in the shoulders. I guessed it at 11#. I snapped a couple horrible photos and got him back in quickly. He was very much ready to go and bolted off into the wild blue yonder. I caught a couple more over the next 2 hours including a fish I landed that didnt even have the hook in him....lasso style.
I used one fly all day, the hook started to straighten a couple times and I bent it back and kept catchin fish...pretty dang awesome! I stopped counting after 8 fish. It was somewhere in the 13-15 range.
What a day! I'm tired and Im goin to bed.
If youve read this far, thanks for endulging in my report and not falling asleep :)