After a long week of hard work compiling end of year results for my annual review, trout bite fever had set in good and hard by end of business on Friday evening. I had already made plans to go out to Lake Mission Viejo on Saturday with Dodgers91485 and my buddy Daryl. We had a great time at Lake Mission Viejo, but when I got home on Saturday night after attending my grandmothers 90th birthday party I knew that I needed more drag pulling fun before the weekend could come to an end.
I decided to sleep in for a change, and not be in any rush to get to the lake. When Sunday morning arrived the snooze button got a work out and I slowly rolled out of bed around 7:30AM. I gathered my gear and was on the road by 8:00 AM. The forecast was questionable, but I had a good feeling that it was going to be a good day.
The sky looked perfect for a trout slaying session
Just what the doctor ordered
Took a couple shots of this guy as I was on my way out
Not as clear, but he was posing
I finally started fishing, and hooked up almost instantly on a small but feisty Mt. Lassen stocker. He shook the hook at the tube and declined to be photographed. I continued on toward the east side of the east side of the lake and after a drift or two I managed this nicer grade model tout (Roughly 18 and 2 Ύ pounds)
After that fish, the bite died down while the wind picked up. I was starting to get cold even in the neoprene waders (The water at Corona is very cold now) so I decided to take a break on shore. I put out some green Powerbait, enjoyed a smoke and started to eat lunch. No sooner than I had the sandwich out of the bag I see a very subtle bite on the rod I put out with Powerbait. I pick up the rod and hold it for a minute, not feeling anything I put the rod down thinking maybe it just the wind. All of the sudden I see the line growing tighter, the rod start to bend that feeling of excitement comes over me as I grab the rod to set the hook. Fish On! The result of that hook up was a nice 5# tail walker. This fish fought hard, and had my rod just about U shaped at several points during the fight.
The wind started to die out, and the sun came out for a few minutes while I was getting ready to head back out on the tube.
I kicked back out got two fish back to back. One looked like a Jess Ranch ruby red, and one looked like a Mt. Lassen Sierra Rainbow. I was to busy catching fish and forgot to take pictures as I added them to the stringer, but they were both very nice fish. I caught my last fish at 2:30 and started my kick back towards the car. This fellow looked cool perched upon on of the many above water stumps.
The true trout slayers are back in action
As I was getting ready to depart, I met the very nice gentleman from the fishing webcam website. He took a nice final stringer shot for me. I had a 57 shirt on, but it was too cold not to have a jacket on I need to buy a team 57 hoody to represent in the winter, or maybe one of the new beanies.
I cant say enough about the quality of fish coming out of Corona Lake. These are beautiful nice sized hard fighting fish, get out there you will not be disappointed!
Parting Shots:
Most productive bait was the Orange Eagle Claw Worms, which you can pick up at the Corona Tackle Shop. These worms were most affective nose hooked and fished with a small split shot 12 inches above a #8 mosquito hook. This bait and set up accounted for 4 of my 5 fish.
The Arsenal and my early morning company
76 Shimano Compre paired with a Shimano Stradic 1000FI
70 Okuma Celilo paired with a Pinnaccle Tiny deadbolt DUL20C - Great budget Combo
Till next time, tight lines FNN!