I just submitted a fishin report for my other forum, and thought i'd also share here again this year. Two parts to fit all the pics...
Part I
Once again an awesome week was had by all at Eagle Lake. The best camaraderie one could wish for, but REALLY tough fishin, unlike years past. We usually have our trip in mid-October but people�s schedules dictated an early one this year, 9/21-9/28. On top of the sad lake levels, lowest since 1933, we knew what was coming ��full moon conditions, hot days, and hard work for stressed fish, which all turned out to be true.
Some had it pretty easy though���
The trip was not without somber but joyous overtones as we also celebrated my late brother. On Saturday we anchored up and rafted a few boats near where Mike caught his 6 � pounder a few years back, tipped his favorite � Makers Mark, and told stories and shared thoughts for a couple hours til the wind kicked up.
The group I have found myself blessed with has been coming up for 25 years, this being only my fourth. One of the �elders� put together a power point show on Saturday night full of a quarter century of memories, and had shirts made up�.pretty cool.
A shot of the melders (middle-aged elders) in their new shirts�..the elders were all on the other side of the table taking the pic.
We fished many places on the lake, its the second largest natural lake in CA at ~5,000 ft elevation (high desert). The Huge schools of Tui Chub YOY at Wildcat Point were a great pleasure to watch, but as the Pelicans, Grebes, and ELT stuffed their mouths, there were fewer each day. Some fish were also taken by our group near Pelican Point and the Youth Camp.
We sited several large but extremely spooky ELT in the middle and north basins which are much shallower than the south basin, and it was too early for the numbers up there. Even though I've never done it, site fishing in 3 feet of water with a white bottom and weed patches reminded me of Florida bonefishing shows i've seen on TV. It was surreal. A mid-September stocking yielded cookie cutter 2 pounders near Rocky Point. Where else can you catch cookie cutter 2 pounders with deep red tasty meat? In extreme stealth mode (electric trolling motor and long distance casts to structure) both my nephew and I caught nice ~3 lb holdovers over near Bucks Point, my largest for the trip (compared to 5 pounds last year). Similar to last year, I hooked a large 5+ lb tui chub on a little cleo lure of all things. I released the chub in the water, pics are on nephew�s camera. I caught that large tahoe sucker last year, seems I manage to get one prehistoric fish a trip.
As usual I didn�t get many pics on my camera, and am anxiously waiting to get copies from our group.
That said, an Eagle Lake Report wouldn�t be complete without a little fish porn��
ELT representative fish on my camera, Many sincere hours went into these guys�..
