Fuller Fun or: how I quit stripping and came to love the midge

[SHigSpeed]

Played half-day hooky from work today to fish Fuller. It's the first time up for me this year and I needed to feed a rubber trout jones. First off, it wasn't one of those silly 135 fish days, and it took a while to get into the groove, but it eventually turned out to be a halfway decent outing.

I started off at the dam and chucked olive buggers on an I-line and got a smallish brown. Not the hot pile of fish I was looking for so I kicked in the wind up towards the inlet. Odd, no takes dragging the bugger all the way up...

Parked for a minute at the launch and cast to shore and got another take. WHIFF! Saw CapitalFishr at the launch but he ran up the hill to Rucker (they did come back later...).

Dragged and cast around the lodge and got more takes, but no sticks. I'm wondering if my inter has a lot of "memory" in it making hooksets late? I DID stretch it first... I do know with faster, jerkier strips the line momentum would definitely keep the rig coming putting a LOT of slack in the works. I deliberately slowed my pulls later. I would occasionally see fish on the sonar, mostly closer to the bottom.

The whole time there I'd see small splashy takes on top, not many. These were TINY fish, not planter size. I'd cast to them but no love.

Kicked across to the docks and met up with a couple of guys in a boat that had had a good day dragging Sheep Creeks. Got the skinny on their tactics by luring them to my tube with my handy-dandy rod rack. :) Sharing homebrew engineering loosens lips I guess. Well, as I had started to suspect I was not getting down deep enough. Once I put on my type IV it was on. I anchored and fished at the tailout of the "drift" (you longtime Fuller fishers probably know this spot) and proceeded to get a good number of planter bows. Still on my xmas bugger. The sonar was more active here, with fish 10 feet down or so.

By this time it was getting late, and with the breeze and me with no jacket and the water at 49 degrees, I started getting cold and pulled anchor. Dragging a bugger all the way back I managed one more, but as the lake went calm the surface came alive. Midges everywhere - including in my glasses and under my buff!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4713046631_a23855bcc5.jpg

Okay, fine, I'll try the bobber... I tied these on, the red 8" down, the smaller another 12" below:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/4714681130_8ff3850140.jpg

In the full size you can actually see the indi out there! :)

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4713687564_82aff68062.jpg

I threw to some rings and waited. Recast, waited... BINGO!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4713686508_179a6dc533.jpg

These things do work! By this time the rings were moving back towards the inlet, and I wasn't getting any warmer so I kicked back into the dam area and got another couple at the outlet corner on the sinker.

This one, heh...:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4029/4713049801_a520a50791_b.jpg

These are the little guys that were splashing everywhere I'm guessing. Also, I've gotta believe that these fish spawn here. Too small to have gotten off the bus don't you think?

Anyway, kicked back to shore and started packing up, but the rings started moving in to shore and I still had my waders on...

What the heck... Stripped line and chucked the bobber back out. Bloop! Bloop!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4713689318_bff8b9dc4f.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/4713051553_6a297d4319.jpg

And that was enough. Not bad for a day that started off at the office.

So the midge and bobber DO work. Interesting that they didn't take the blood midge and went for the smaller, deeper one instead. Maybe next time when I see the fish on the chart I'll drop the bugger and grab the bobber? May be more likely now.

_SHig

[michaeln]

Enjoyed reading your story, sound effects and all! Glad you had fun. I have never been to Fuller, might try it for a day trip.

[Jgoding]

Wait, so you stopped stripping???? I stopped reading it right there....

[SHigSpeed]

Wait, so you stopped stripping???? I stopped reading it right there....

I'll continue to take small bills if that's what you're concerned about. ;)

_SHig

[CapitalFishr]

I hit Fuller fri too with a couple of friends... after guessing the guy the with the tricked out outcast was SHigSpeed and introducing myself... heading up to Rucker to for some bass action. The water still seems a little cold up there... the grass and weeds are just starting to kick in, maybe a week of warm weather will do the trick. Mostly just walked the shore looking for activity mixed in with a few casts. No takes in really windy conditions.

A cheesy pair of fins owned by one of my friend lol precluded any long kicks down to the inlet area at Fuller... we just fished by the dam for some small rainbows on wiggle tails deep and a few later on top with smaller nymphs. Weird to get so few browns at Fuller but the lake is still a tad cold at sub 50.

[Bryan Morgan]

Shig-try not to get to technical with Fuller, I have fished it 3 or 4 times a year for the last 15 years, and you will always catch planted Rainbows at the tailout, but what you want is the Brown's on the grassy shore next to the last cabin. The Littoral zone starts there. Concentrate deep around the tree stumps. I am in the minority here, but I use a head to get down deep. My biggest Brown in the lake went almost 24", althoghe it was closer to the dam.

[michaeln]

I'm toying with the idea of running up to Fuller for a day trip. Looks like about a 3 hour drive for me which is pretty short compared to my usual trips to Baum and Davis.

Due to the incredibly tough parking situation where I live in SF I would probably time it so I come home on a Sunday mid-day (people are out running around so parking gets freed up) or real early in the morning on a Thursday (street cleaning night, so the block is empty).

I hate living in SF.

Not sure when Ed's Fuller PramFest is going to be, but since I no longer have a pram I'm not qualified for that one any way.

[Scott V]

Not sure when Ed's Fuller PramFest is going to be, but since I no longer have a pram I'm not qualified for that one any way.

Come up that day, you can join me in harrasing all the pram old farts like Ed. Plus I can try your fins.:D

[michaeln]

Come up that day, you can join me in harrasing all the pram old farts like Ed. Plus I can try your fins.:D

Yeah, but they're gonna pee on us!

[Scott V]

Yeah, but they're gonna pee on us!

They will probably either pee on themselves or just fall out of the boat.

[Ed Wahl]

They will probably either pee on themselves or just fall out of the boat.

Dang, Scott's more observant than I thought.

Mikey, if the pramfest doesn't gel we can always just fish.

There's more to that area than just Fuller too. Check out a map of the area and match the lakes with Ralph's "Sierra Trout Guide". He's got an index of waters listed by county and what DFG planted in them. The list is a bit outdated now but the vast majority of it still holds true.

That's how I started my high country habit.

Ed