thanks guys, they are the biggest "average" trout i've ever seen as well and the setting couldnt be more beautiful.
ryan, i always noodle for my fish, and if that dont work, i have a handy supply of plastique in the tackle box
lots of folks tried anchored slip bobber fishing with some productivity but this technique was limited to weather conditions and only produced a few fish a day for the group of 12 people as whole. one boat almost exclusively trolled a variety of small dodger/flasher set ups with some success but it wasnt consistent. similarly, my boat attempted jigged and trolled grubs and trolled small flashers w/ trailing night crawlers but it was not consistently productive. you cant fish anywhere near the boat even in open water. trolling at distances of 150' is requried and the worse the weather the better the bite. my brother and i broke the secret code on the last day of the trip and found the best action of the entire trip and of the entire group's experiences when we toplined a certain lure of which i am sworn to secrecy by the council of the elders.......but i do hope it works as well next year. it was not a road runner
as far as meat color, if i had to guess, i'd say it was the shrimp too. i tried to examine the stomach contents of every fish caught. during these larval trawling sessions, i observed in almost every fish what i interpreted as the remains of digested brine shrimp..it was a greenish color the consistency of apple sauce, but i could see some shrimp like parts. in addition to this stuff, one fish had a belly full of hardshelled mollusks
another fish produced an undigested leach and another fish had hellgramite looking larvae. i saw no whole forage fish, even though, as i understand it, the main forage base are the chub and dace.
there are large patches of tules around the lake that hold large numbers of fish. problem is that the water is clear and only 1 to 3 feet deep in the tules...the fish are really spooky...boats that fished the tules didnt do too well. i mostly fished open water. it seemed like the open water fish contained the "stuff" while the tule fish (mostly caught by the only guy in our group using a kayak [major stealth mode]) contained the leach, mollusks, and other larvae. all fish had deep pink meat though.
Bruce, i learned (a little) about the stocking and tagging practices from a P&R (Parks and Recreation) lady, but we didnt get to chat very long, the weather was really bad that day, and she was in a hurry. she said they anesthesize (sp?) the fish, then "burn" the mark. if yer serious about trying it, it probably wouldnt be too hard to track down the exact methods by finding a contact at the eagle lake hatchery, P&R or CA DFG (Dept. of Fish and Game).
