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I had nothing much to do last night, so I decided to take a drive out to Willow Beach on Lake Mojave to do a little striper fishing. It turned into a bit of a fiasco, but it was better than sitting on the couch all night.
Willow Beach is about 50 miles from my house in Las Vegas. The turn off is 14 miles into Arizona on I-93 from the new Hover Dam Bypass Bridge over the river (I'm not sure if this Bridge has a name yet). I love this bridge btw, it makes it actually convenient for me to get to Willow Beach rather than sitting in an hour of traffic each way when I used to have to go over the Dam to get there.
I got down to the lake at about 5:30 pm and planned to try out my DIY float tube frame that I put together a few weeks ago. I also wanted to test out my new fish finder (Garmin Echo 200) which is what I built the frame to support. I purposely left a few of the joints on my frame unglued so I could make adjustments.
Conditions: Full Moon. Dead calm water with barely any breeze. Air Temp: 107F, Water Temp: 55-60F. What a difference, huh? That was the start of my troubles. Even though the sun was headed down as I was getting my gear out of the car, I was roasting in the parking lot. I had to let some air out of my tube which I had pumped up at home to save some time. By the time I had put on my waders and boots (Sims Flats Boots, more on this later), I had probably lost a couple of lbs.
I finally got everything set up and headed down to the water. By the time I got my fins on, I was already overheating. I put the tube on the water and it immediately shrunk from the cold and I needed to add air. Also, all of the loose fittings in my pvc frame also got very loose and it fell apart. So I made a pile of gear on the beach and took off the fins. By that time, I needed to cool off so I grabbed my water bottle and my trout rod and waded in to cool down.
I'm going to rebuild my frame with smaller pvc pipe to save as much weight as possible and try it again with a fully glued up prototype.
Wading was very comfortable. After about 10 minutes, I was feeling pretty relaxed. I couldn't bring myself to put the fins on again without a good place to sit down, and I wasn't about to head back up to the parking lot in that heat, so I wade fished for the rest of the evening.
I got skunked, but not for lack of trying. I had three rods with me and I alternated quite a bit.
My trout rod is an ultralight Bionic Blade rigged with 4lb flouro and an Abu Garcia reel for throwing spinners and spoons. I also had a 7ft Shimano casting combo rigged with 10lb Pline for throwing crank baits and poppers, and my 9ft Ugly Stick Striper rod with Penn 650SS reel and 15lb Pline for throwing big swim baits. I had an AC Casitas 8" Trout that I was using to try to fool the stripers.
There is a Federal Hatchery at Willow Beach and they stock Rainbows every Friday morning. This gives the stripers some fresh meat, so Fridays are a good time to be down there if you want to catch them. The trout were moving around quite a bit last night. They would surface out in the middle of the lake and after a few minutes it seemed that the stripers would find them and the surface would explode as one of the trout was blasted to oblivion. All would go quiet for a few minutes and then the trout would start rising closer to shore. A few minutes later, another explosion. Sometimes these were less than two rod lengths in front of me. This went on from 6pm to 10pm then it slowed down and I decided to pack it in. I had four hits on my Panther Martin Spinner with a trailer, but they were all short strikes and I didn't manage any hook ups. I think the trout were pretty nervous with all of the ambushes going on. There was one other angler that showed up about 8pm to fish beside me on the bank and he managed to land a 4lb striper on a wooden AC Plug. I helped him weigh his fish and revived it for him since I still had my waders on. It was a very healthy looking fish.
I had my video camera along and wanted to actually film some of the fishing for you, but that didn't pan out after all the trouble I had with my gear on this trip. Maybe next time.
As I was putting my gear in the car, my 10 year old Simms Flats Boots that I have always worn over my breathable waders when tubing, finally gave out. The sole of my right boot came completely off. I think the extreme difference in temperatures from the pavement to the cold water and back must have been too much for the glue to take.
I have been thinking about getting a better solution anyway because my flats boots have always been such a struggle to pull on over the neoprene feet of my waders. Any suggestions? I have a pair of Sims Guide Felt Sole boots that I wear for river fishing, but I want something lighter weight for tubing.
Also, I was wondering what type of fins you guys prefer. I have a pair of Force Fins with added bungie straps on the heels. I guess they are OK, but I'm not crazy about the buckle and strap system that goes over the top of my feet. It always takes a lot of adjusting when I put my fins on. Is there anything better out there?
Attached is a video of some of the other sights at Willow Beach that I made on a previous trip. Enjoy... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Willow Beach is about 50 miles from my house in Las Vegas. The turn off is 14 miles into Arizona on I-93 from the new Hover Dam Bypass Bridge over the river (I'm not sure if this Bridge has a name yet). I love this bridge btw, it makes it actually convenient for me to get to Willow Beach rather than sitting in an hour of traffic each way when I used to have to go over the Dam to get there.
I got down to the lake at about 5:30 pm and planned to try out my DIY float tube frame that I put together a few weeks ago. I also wanted to test out my new fish finder (Garmin Echo 200) which is what I built the frame to support. I purposely left a few of the joints on my frame unglued so I could make adjustments.
Conditions: Full Moon. Dead calm water with barely any breeze. Air Temp: 107F, Water Temp: 55-60F. What a difference, huh? That was the start of my troubles. Even though the sun was headed down as I was getting my gear out of the car, I was roasting in the parking lot. I had to let some air out of my tube which I had pumped up at home to save some time. By the time I had put on my waders and boots (Sims Flats Boots, more on this later), I had probably lost a couple of lbs.
I finally got everything set up and headed down to the water. By the time I got my fins on, I was already overheating. I put the tube on the water and it immediately shrunk from the cold and I needed to add air. Also, all of the loose fittings in my pvc frame also got very loose and it fell apart. So I made a pile of gear on the beach and took off the fins. By that time, I needed to cool off so I grabbed my water bottle and my trout rod and waded in to cool down.
I'm going to rebuild my frame with smaller pvc pipe to save as much weight as possible and try it again with a fully glued up prototype.
Wading was very comfortable. After about 10 minutes, I was feeling pretty relaxed. I couldn't bring myself to put the fins on again without a good place to sit down, and I wasn't about to head back up to the parking lot in that heat, so I wade fished for the rest of the evening.
I got skunked, but not for lack of trying. I had three rods with me and I alternated quite a bit.
My trout rod is an ultralight Bionic Blade rigged with 4lb flouro and an Abu Garcia reel for throwing spinners and spoons. I also had a 7ft Shimano casting combo rigged with 10lb Pline for throwing crank baits and poppers, and my 9ft Ugly Stick Striper rod with Penn 650SS reel and 15lb Pline for throwing big swim baits. I had an AC Casitas 8" Trout that I was using to try to fool the stripers.
There is a Federal Hatchery at Willow Beach and they stock Rainbows every Friday morning. This gives the stripers some fresh meat, so Fridays are a good time to be down there if you want to catch them. The trout were moving around quite a bit last night. They would surface out in the middle of the lake and after a few minutes it seemed that the stripers would find them and the surface would explode as one of the trout was blasted to oblivion. All would go quiet for a few minutes and then the trout would start rising closer to shore. A few minutes later, another explosion. Sometimes these were less than two rod lengths in front of me. This went on from 6pm to 10pm then it slowed down and I decided to pack it in. I had four hits on my Panther Martin Spinner with a trailer, but they were all short strikes and I didn't manage any hook ups. I think the trout were pretty nervous with all of the ambushes going on. There was one other angler that showed up about 8pm to fish beside me on the bank and he managed to land a 4lb striper on a wooden AC Plug. I helped him weigh his fish and revived it for him since I still had my waders on. It was a very healthy looking fish.
I had my video camera along and wanted to actually film some of the fishing for you, but that didn't pan out after all the trouble I had with my gear on this trip. Maybe next time.
As I was putting my gear in the car, my 10 year old Simms Flats Boots that I have always worn over my breathable waders when tubing, finally gave out. The sole of my right boot came completely off. I think the extreme difference in temperatures from the pavement to the cold water and back must have been too much for the glue to take.
I have been thinking about getting a better solution anyway because my flats boots have always been such a struggle to pull on over the neoprene feet of my waders. Any suggestions? I have a pair of Sims Guide Felt Sole boots that I wear for river fishing, but I want something lighter weight for tubing.
Also, I was wondering what type of fins you guys prefer. I have a pair of Force Fins with added bungie straps on the heels. I guess they are OK, but I'm not crazy about the buckle and strap system that goes over the top of my feet. It always takes a lot of adjusting when I put my fins on. Is there anything better out there?
Attached is a video of some of the other sights at Willow Beach that I made on a previous trip. Enjoy... [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
