by JD on October 14, 2004
Early Monday morning we were trolling Ice House Reservoir’s main body, heading toward the east side of the lake. The wind was blowing at a gentle clip which made the lake’s surface a little choppy and us a bit chilly — overall, a nice morning typical of the high country in autumn.
As we trolled on, I noticed what looked like smoke from a campfire rising from the eastern shoreline. We were looking right into the blinding light of the rising sun as it reflected off the water, so it was difficult to tell exactly what we were looking at. My buddy Rob thought it was morning mist coming off the lake.
We were both dead wrong.
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by JD on October 11, 2004
Ever wished there was some magical bait that made trout go crazy? One that made rainbows, browns, and all their beautifully spotted cousins as easy to catch as farm pond bluegills? And wouldn’t it be great if this bait was available in large quantities for free? Well, I’ve got some good news here, folks: Such a bait exists.
This super bait doesn’t come in jars or Styrofoam containers; it doesn’t live on wet grass or under logs. It doesn’t wiggle or hop or swim and it doesn’t require much special care. It’s not made out of chemicals and doesn’t have a doughy consistency yet it keeps well in the fridge or freezer. Give up yet? Here’s one final clue: the world’s greatest trout bait comes from the bellies of salmon. Yep, we’re talking about roe here.
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by JD on October 10, 2004
First off, let’s get you rigged up. Here’s a good basic rig to use as a foundation:
- Tie a snap swivel to the end of your main line.
- To the snap, attach either a piece of pencil lead or a Slinky weight
- To the other eye of the swivel, run an 18- to 36-inch leader with one or two 1/0-4/0 octopus-style bait hooks. (The roe is fastened to the forward hook via an egg loop snell, which you can learn to tie in a video on this very website).
Most king anglers also like to add a driftbobber – such as a Spin-N-Glo, Cheater or Lil’ Corky – to their line just above the hooks to add buoyancy, action and a splash of color to the bait.
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Remember that show Bill Cosby used to have called “Kids say the darndest things” If you’ll recall, ol’ Bill used to just ask kids a bunch of questions…and what the little rug rats had to say was always entertaining.
Well, if there are any TV execs out there right now, I propose to you a new variation on that same basic theme — only instead of kids, I want to use fishermen.
Being out on the river every day, I hear some fisher folk say some pretty funny stuff.
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