Roy Scores At Amador

Since I did the post on the hatchery at Lake Amador last Wednesday, I wanted to take a try at swinging a Thinmint at those big Cutbows out there. They've planted 10,000 pounds since the plant started. The other thing on the agenda was that the last time Roy and I fished, he made the comment that he had never caught a fish on a lure.

With Roy's son John up for the weekend and leaving today, we hooked up yesterday morning and headed out to Amador for a days fishing. The plan was for Roy to fish lures until he caught one. We got to the lake at 0830, signed in and headed over to the spillway where we usually fish. Sunday night I had put together a lure box for Roy with the best lures for Amador and the ones I've caught fish on before.

This is what it contained: 1/4 oz Kastmasters in gold, silver, silver/blue, and firetiger. Rapala F7 in firetiger. 1/4 oz Red Sonic Roostertail. To finish off the box, I put in a couple of small black snapswivels for fast changing of lures.

While Roy and John fished lures, I worked my way around a couple of points with my fly rod and a thinmint. It was a bit windy, but not so much that I couldn't get a good roll cast that put the fly out about 35 feet. I got a couple of good bumps right off, then nothing. After a while, I changed to an olive Wooly Bugger and then black, but nothing. One would think they'd be hitting the crap out of the flies since the fish were jumping all over the place, but it was not to be. After a while it got windy enough that my roll casts were hitting 20 feet out and then 15, so I quit with the fly rod.

In the couple of times I had talked to the people at check in they told me that the fish were in
2 - 3 feet of water and to fish the surface. I went by the truck and picked up two rods with 4# and headed back to Roy & John. I put on a 1/4 oz Kastmaster in Brook Trout color and caught the first fish of the day. Not the big one I was looking for, but about a pound. Roy snapped some pictures and back into the lake it went. No keeping any fish until the water cools down. Still running at about 70 degrees on the surface.

After a couple of hours of casting lures and flies, I put both rigs of Power Bait out (definately not in the top 2 or 3 feet of water) and waited. First fish was another pounder, snap a picture and released. Then I decided to get my Okuma with 2# and my crappie jigs from the truck and left Roy to tend my two rods. As I returned, Roy was reeling in a pounder for his first fish of the day.

I left one rod out with power Bait and fiddled with the Okuma and crappie jigs for a while and then went back to two rigs with power Bait. Caught and released one more and then Roy scored his first on a lure. The Red Sonic Roostertail did the trick. The interesting thing is that lure is the same one I caught my first two Cutbows at Amador on.

The count for the day went like this. Roy caught two (one of PB and one on the lure) and I caught four (one on the Kastmaster and three on PB). John, unfortunately got skunked, but not for not trying. He casted his little heart out, but it was not to be. Maybe next time.

Roy has all the basics now and teaching class is over. We're going to hit Bear River one more time before he heads back to the Bay Area and we'll see how he does.

Till then.

Mark