Reader Report

Reader Reports Western Outdoor NewsPublished: May 04, 2012

Print This Article Email This Article Digg This Article

WONews READER REPORTS Reader Report by Russ Ung, Lakewood I was fishing Crowley Lake on the Sunday after the opener, when this beautiful rainbow trout measuring 24" and weighing 5 pounds ate my nightcrawler in Magee bay. Reader Report by Jesse Gerondale, Costa Mesa This CAT was taken May 3 at Lake Skinner on a purple plastic nightcrawler. The fish weighed in at 30 pounds Reader Report by Doug Philpott I caught this 7.2 pound king on Lake Don Pedro on April 22. Reader Report by Dana Brown, Seal Beach On April 28 I was fishing at Big Bear Lake where I caught this 27 inch female rainbow weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces. It was taken on light spinning gear, trolling a night crawler enhanced needlefish on 4 pound test. I was drifting slowly, powered by the wind with the lure about 20 feet down. The depth finder marked fish between 12 and 36 feet most of the morning, and a significant hatch went off about the time the big female bit the worm. When I first felt the nibbles I gave slack for over 20 seconds, then cracked the fish and held on! I felt a surging power strip the line off my reel, and my pole wagged up and down as the runs darted side to side. It was a powerful fish that ran back and forth, up and down for 5 minutes solid, I was almost spooled when finally the fish slowed and I was able to add some drag. I made slow progress, and it was a full 20 minutes before we saw the fish near the surface about 30 feet from the boat. It was huge! It spun abruptly and went back down in a long run. It went back down deep, but the run tired it out and I was able to get it back near the boat pretty quick. About 15 feet away it turned on its side, and I surfed it into the net. Lifting it into the boat my forearm was weak, and it hit the gunnel leaving a big patch of scales! I was speechless, and finally mumbled something like “It’s a trout, I thought it was a salmon but it’s a trout.” I started taking a video when we got it over the side, and as I lift up the fish I make quacking sounds like a Duck being squeezed, unable to speak. We took a few photos and I recovered somewhat, but by the time we got the fish secured and made it back to the top of the drift the bite had shut down completely, and we were surrounded in flying bugs. After two more drifts we made a run back to the point, and Dave proceeded to catch 9 catfish as I wobbled side to side in the waves and giggled like a schoolgirl. I was absolutely useless for fishing the rest of the day, and watching Dave boat the catfish was a perfect way to complete the 2012 Opening Day!