8" four piece silver/shite trout and smallie

Awesome spring catch Mark. I have'nt fished there yet. Have you tried castaic yet? It shure is cool knowing you don't have to buy these off the shelf lures anymore to catch fish like that. I also would like to know what pound test are you running throwing your bait there and type of pole? Thanks.

Man I wish I could be fishing...............smallies are still at least a month off here, maybe longer. Very cool you got one on your swimbait!

Mark,

Nice Smallmouth. Sounds like the bass bite is starting to break out here in SoCal.

I am curious what the numbers indicate on the back of the bait.

Nice fish , Mark !

Funny to me , that they go for such large lures half of their own length.........maybe I should try 6" to 8" baits as well for our local perch :lol: ?

congrats , Dieter

Mark, thats awsome & the smallie is nice to.

Tim

I use an Okuma 7'6" med light swimbait rod, and 20lb Bass Pro mono, on a Shimano Cardiff reel. I use the 7'6" rod for casting to the walls, where I want accuracy, and also for my Punker-type gliders, since it's easier for me to work a lure with the 7'6" length.

For my floaters, I use the Okuma 8' med. heavy, because I want longer casts. I generally throw the floaters over points, or back into cuts, and let them sit, then twitch, then sit. A really slow retrieve, unless I see a follower, and then I do a rip/pause to try to get them to commit.

Paul Bailey, of the Casitas Posse, suggested the reel, and it's a pleasure. $99+-, and they warranty it.

The Okuma rods are also in the $100 range, light, and have a good action for me. I'm 5'9", 160 lbs, and I like a rod with a little softer tip, to help make casting easier. These rods still have plenty of back bone to horse in the fish. No playing around with a swimbait fish when it has a 3+ oz lure hanging out of it's mouth. If they get to jump, they have too much leverage with that lure to throw it.

The numbers on the back are 100 grams, the weight of the lure, and SS, for slow sink.

The water was gin clear everywhere except at where the main channel joins the lake. There it was stirred up by the wind, and had a mud line, so I switched to the silver/white slow sink, and bingo. Gotta love those aggressive smallies.

My buddy caught a 12.76lb. largemouth up there the next day.

Great weekend.