Frenchman Report

[SHigSpeed]

Okay, so I'm a nut. We (Blueracer) and I drove 5 hours to fish 6 hours. Oh well. Hoping for better, but considering our last adventure, the fact that we rolled home without doing ANY work on a car, explaining to a peace officer, or fearing for our lives, it was fishing, and it was good...

Caught fish on brown wiggle tails and blood midges, casting and stripping, and under an indicator. Caught one fish for every 5 or more takes or LDRs. Unacceptable... Had a fish eat my indicator 10 feet from my fins, and had a fish take my nymph while hand-lining my rig in for inspection.

This was the first time I had been to this water since I was a child of 6 or 7 and it was way too long of a wait! It was a hoot to see the Wiggin's Trading post again. I recall stopping there every time we went to the lake for a beef jerky and a peek at the stuffed rattler they had in a cage there. No rattler there anymore. :( Anyone remember that thing?

Got there at dawn, got a couple of hits right away, but it was a LONG time before I finally cashed in. Grr... Bankies dunking bait were stringin' 'em up and I was working on a skunk. Fish were in silly shallow water, sometimes up against the banks. Lots of heads and backs, but not many bugs. Snails? Whatever it was I never nailed the pattern. Maybe the Power-bait chartreuse foam indicator needs a hook? :)

Anyway, ended up with a shaker, a few 15"s, and a skosh under 17". Not epic, not terrible, lots of wasted opportunities, and a great homecoming to a long neglected lake. I'll be back, this year? Hmm...

Pics:

Launching:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2567/4067195854_60a11050db.jpg

Yes, it was frosty. Water temps in the shallows went from 38 to 49 through the day. Getting a bit arty:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2535/4066443931_8c6f07fb03.jpg

Bryan's new car before the "new fish smell":

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2585/4066443179_f6ee7de9cf.jpg

Sunrise:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3478/4066445607_ec63a4fe0f.jpg

Beautiful day, barely a breeze on and off - wished we could've stayed a few hours longer!!:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2473/4066447101_c4a3215a93.jpg

Couple of my nicer fish:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2741/4066448019_2bde12cdb5.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2637/4067199870_9bc0dda692.jpg

Bry:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2767/4066451213_3895098deb.jpg

<lol>:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2753/4067203654_44204fba76.jpg

Ah, memories...:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2637/4067202198_586a8c4860.jpg

Where to next? Pyramid? Eagle? Fuller? Mather? Hardly whacked any rubber trout this year and loving it! Wish the drives weren't so darned long...

_SHig

[Fochetti]

Nice post Shig, those are some beautiful fish. I like how the color of your boat is reflecting off that one fish, makes it look really bright.

[Darian]

Shig,.... Thanks for the post. The photo's are beautiful. Apparently, you and I share a love for visiting old hardware, general merchandise and other old places.... I always stop to see wha's up an by something to make sure they're still there when I return.... :smirk:

Not to many of 'em left, tho. :(

[Ed Wahl]

Shig, Fuller's still kicking out the rubber trout. Not red hot like mid summer but still enough to make it interesting.

Just had a dinner of trout fillets courtesy of Fuller this afternoon.

I-line, #10 black cactus chenille(flash and bulk) wiggle tail. They still like it stripped kind of fast. Tried many others, but ended up going back to the W.T.

Ed

[WinterrunRon]

Naw, you're not a nut... just adventurous! Nice pics of the fog on the water and solid looking fish. Thanks for the report.

[gene goss]

Nice pictures and great looking fish.....Frenchman is one of my favored places to fish....like Davis lake it can produced some big fish....Shig Pyramid Lake does not ice over....if you go out on the water with your float tube keep one eye on the wind.....it can go from 10 mph to 50 mph in 15 mins....BUT big wind and weather change will bring the bigger fish right up next to the shore.

[Blueracer]

Good report SHig.

That lake/fish fooled us some. But glad we made the venture.

Here is another fish photo I like that shig took :

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xX-FJgNK6DU/Su5Ynme49tI/AAAAAAAAAZI/JnjWDIdJ-NU/4067201360_4b8876e585.jpg

Shig out fishing in the fog :
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_xX-FJgNK6DU/Su5YkevqQsI/AAAAAAAAAY4/zUp9_95dd94/1101090726.jpg

One I took having to use my cell :
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_xX-FJgNK6DU/Su5Ym29LaiI/AAAAAAAAAZE/lq52wWBqwlQ/1101091109%283%29.jpg

[michaeln]

Looks like a great day. Thanks for sharing it with us. Liked the pictures too!

[Xnjb707X]

Nice report, makes me want to start fishing more stillwaters!


- Nic