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Wife's family visited for memorial weekends. Plenty of float tubes in the garage to take out during the cool days, but the wind conditions would have us kicking like we're in a marathon. So, float tubes were left behind. We went light..ultra light gears on everything.
Location: Yacht Club
Water temp: Glorious 70°F @ 7:15AM.
Air tempt: Cooling at 72°F at 6:45AM, cooking 99°F at 1PM.
Wind conditions: variable wind directions from south to north, west to east, and east to west all throughout the day @ 20mph.
Bites: Extremely hot between 5AM (according to the first guy that was there before us) to 10AM. Slows down a bit from 11AM to 12PM. Picks up again from 12PM to ?? (we left at 1PM).
Baits of choice: Biggest, freshest crawlers you can get. The local bait store at Salton Sea won't open until late in the morning (11AM). Best bet, grab the crawlers at the local bait stores before going to the lake. Do not grab any at the local Walmart. Worms there are lethargic and pretty much dead. I use orange saddle worms (cousin of the red wigglies, same size, but pack more pheromone than the nightcrawler for the small bodies). I also used Berkeley red synthetic worm on the second hook as presentation, while the live worms for attraction. Saved all my crawlers for my father-in-laws. We brought with us 120 large crawlers and Alabama Jumpers, and 350 wigglies. All gone in matters of hours. You can reduce your crawler segment down to 3/4", or even 1/2" length. As long as a scent is presented in the water. Don't use scent spray. Won't work. The guys near us use the sprays and plastic, only catch once every 30 minutes. We catch 1 every 10 seconds, or the longest was 1 every 2 minutes during slow period.
Hot zones: 45ft to 110ft from peninsulas. Look for the migratory zones which is outlined in a darker, brownish/darker color that the water. You cannot miss it. Use polarized glasses for faster detection. Schools constantly moves through the area, creating this migratory zone. The hottest bites are there. Second hottest bites are in the shallower area (15ft to 25ft sand beds) where the spawning grounds are.
Rig: dropshot, the only choice, out-rigged with 2 or 3 hooks. Leader should be 10 inches of run from weight to first hook, and 6" from first hook to second, and 6" again from 2nd to 3rd. The extended branch from leader to hook should be 2", nor more than 3". Each hook will be met by a hungry mouth, with double and triple hooksets on one line.
Lines: start at 6lbs. Best is 10lb. Don't matter if you use braid, mono, or flouro. Fishes only care about the worms. Leader should be clear, and not colored. They will ignore colored line for the leader.
Catch limit: No such thing.
Eating limit: You'll die from inflammatory responses from omega 6 oil before you die from the bio-accumulation toxicity from fish tissues. DDT and organo-toxins are not found in fish tissues in the 2013 sampling results.
Areas to stay away from: Red Hill (southern most portion of the lake. Wind and current from the northern area prevent the contamination from causing issues with the fishes near the Salt Creek and Mecca Beach HQ fishing areas.
We caught, during fileting period, over 120 large tilapia that we kept, average of 20", at 2.5lbs. We gave away smaller 1.5lbs, fileting smaller 2.5 to 3lbs, and kept larger 3.5+lbs whole (minus the head) for grill and frying. Fish tacos with beer batter were delicious.
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Location: Yacht Club
Water temp: Glorious 70°F @ 7:15AM.
Air tempt: Cooling at 72°F at 6:45AM, cooking 99°F at 1PM.
Wind conditions: variable wind directions from south to north, west to east, and east to west all throughout the day @ 20mph.
Bites: Extremely hot between 5AM (according to the first guy that was there before us) to 10AM. Slows down a bit from 11AM to 12PM. Picks up again from 12PM to ?? (we left at 1PM).
Baits of choice: Biggest, freshest crawlers you can get. The local bait store at Salton Sea won't open until late in the morning (11AM). Best bet, grab the crawlers at the local bait stores before going to the lake. Do not grab any at the local Walmart. Worms there are lethargic and pretty much dead. I use orange saddle worms (cousin of the red wigglies, same size, but pack more pheromone than the nightcrawler for the small bodies). I also used Berkeley red synthetic worm on the second hook as presentation, while the live worms for attraction. Saved all my crawlers for my father-in-laws. We brought with us 120 large crawlers and Alabama Jumpers, and 350 wigglies. All gone in matters of hours. You can reduce your crawler segment down to 3/4", or even 1/2" length. As long as a scent is presented in the water. Don't use scent spray. Won't work. The guys near us use the sprays and plastic, only catch once every 30 minutes. We catch 1 every 10 seconds, or the longest was 1 every 2 minutes during slow period.
Hot zones: 45ft to 110ft from peninsulas. Look for the migratory zones which is outlined in a darker, brownish/darker color that the water. You cannot miss it. Use polarized glasses for faster detection. Schools constantly moves through the area, creating this migratory zone. The hottest bites are there. Second hottest bites are in the shallower area (15ft to 25ft sand beds) where the spawning grounds are.
Rig: dropshot, the only choice, out-rigged with 2 or 3 hooks. Leader should be 10 inches of run from weight to first hook, and 6" from first hook to second, and 6" again from 2nd to 3rd. The extended branch from leader to hook should be 2", nor more than 3". Each hook will be met by a hungry mouth, with double and triple hooksets on one line.
Lines: start at 6lbs. Best is 10lb. Don't matter if you use braid, mono, or flouro. Fishes only care about the worms. Leader should be clear, and not colored. They will ignore colored line for the leader.
Catch limit: No such thing.
Eating limit: You'll die from inflammatory responses from omega 6 oil before you die from the bio-accumulation toxicity from fish tissues. DDT and organo-toxins are not found in fish tissues in the 2013 sampling results.
Areas to stay away from: Red Hill (southern most portion of the lake. Wind and current from the northern area prevent the contamination from causing issues with the fishes near the Salt Creek and Mecca Beach HQ fishing areas.
We caught, during fileting period, over 120 large tilapia that we kept, average of 20", at 2.5lbs. We gave away smaller 1.5lbs, fileting smaller 2.5 to 3lbs, and kept larger 3.5+lbs whole (minus the head) for grill and frying. Fish tacos with beer batter were delicious.
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