Heading Down for a Winter Trip
- Thread starter Dungee
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Keith Stockman
Well-Known Member
Is the restaurant open? I'm kinda pumped at the prospect of a winter trip...…..even if it's all the way from the front range.
chovycaptain
Active Member
Dungee, any particular pattern/weight for spoons? Just used last of fillets up, need to replenish!!
WestSloper
New Member
Heading down in a couple weeks, need to find a cooler full of those weird striped fish that Dungee is holding up!
Ejespady35
Well-Known Member
In January they were closing at 6... They do have pizza too not just burgers and things
Ejespady35
Well-Known Member
Healthy Fish!!
Dungee
Keeper of San Juan Secrets
Preston - You have discovered the most effective means to catch a bunch of stripers in a very short time. Spooning is amazing! This year is different because of the fat fish that are not always ready to bite. You can see that they are not hungry by their girth, but they do continue to eat. They can't help themselves!
In normal years it is common to find a school exactly as you explained on the video. See a few fish, check the down image and confirm the individual fish - then deploy spoons quickly to the bottom. Slabs get down quickly to the school on the bottom. Kastmasters are much slower and may not get down to 70 or 100 feet before the school and the boat part ways. Also, know that slabs work best as the spoon is falling (zig-zag motion) while a Kastmaster works best when it is being retrieved and working. With fussy fish it is also important to speed reel about 5 turns every so often and then let the spoon fall back to the bottom. Give it an erratic motion occasionally instead of steady jig up and down.
When the first fish is caught, the school mates get interested and move toward the action. You will see the graph light up as a whole school of fish moves under the boat. Get spoons down quickly. Catch as many fish as possible as quickly as you can before the school moves on. In normal years we have schools of hungry stripers follow the boat for an hour or more. This year, with the fattest fish ever, our average catch is 7 or 8 fish before the school loses interest and moves on.
You now have a better understanding of why I tout spoons so much in the winter. They are incredibly effective. In a normal year with hungry stripers we catch fish by the truck loads. Our best day was catching 92 fish in 90 minutes between 2 anglers near Lone Rock in Wahweap Bay. Striper bodies covered the entire floor of the 20 ft boat and the cooler was full. This year we are so amazed at the health and girth of each fish that we, like you, are satisfied with 10 fish. We always like more, but 10 fish are worth the trip.
I reported results of our last trip in the most recent fish report. Your trip was very similar to ours. Way to go!
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The best slab spoon weight is 1.5 ounces. This year 2 ounce spoons get down to 70-100 feet better than the lighter spoon. When buying a bunch of new spoons it would be best to choose 1.5 ounce.
Most of these spoons will work. I prefer the Howard Oatman type spoon with the chartreuse line and big eye. There are lots of slab spoons for sale. They all come out of the same mold. I looked for slabs on line and found these:
Garry
Well-Known Member
What line do you like when spooning?
Ron McKinney
Well-Known Member
Preston I ditto what Wayne says about the speed reeling, really seems to get them going. I like the Hopkins, Kastmasters and Oatmans. If you ever get a school turned on when you are spooning it's soooooo much like fishing a boil, big big fun. And thanks for the videos. Fun watching those kids grow up.
Coho975
Well-Known Member
Garry, I'm curious to hear Wayne's response as well. I can offer that on the Gorge when jigging/spooning lake trout in 80+ FOW, we have been using 20# braid, Power Pro or Sufix 832 in the hi-vis yellow, with a 10-12# leader of fluorocarbon, attached with an Albright knot.. I usually put 10-12 feet on so I can retie a few times without replacing the leader. The Albright is no fun to tie when the fish are biting. This combo gives great hooksets in deep water and the flouro is stiff enough that it prevents the lure from fouling back on the line when jigging. Good luck, cant wait to hear your report. We're heading down in April/May.
chovycaptain
Active Member
With all this slab talk, has anyone had any luck with these? Forgot there name but have had in my fishing “toolbox” for many years. This one is 1.5 ounces and am getting excited to hit the lake soon!
I really like the braided line when using a casting reel
It's a Wally lure made by Dave Wallace. That is the first slab spoon I used. Since he passed we make our own spoons or buy other slab like a Fle Fly. Here is a video from Lake Texoma TX. I include it because Texoma is similar to Lake Powell. It has quagga mussels and is a large lake. I think striper reproduction is much less than Lake Powell which allows their stripers to get bigger and fatter - like most Striper lakes with limited reproduction. This is more of an advertisement than a how to video but it shows slab spoons and fat stripers.
It's a Wally lure made by Dave Wallace. That is the first slab spoon I used. Since he passed we make our own spoons or buy other slab like a Fle Fly. Here is a video from Lake Texoma TX. I include it because Texoma is similar to Lake Powell. It has quagga mussels and is a large lake. I think striper reproduction is much less than Lake Powell which allows their stripers to get bigger and fatter - like most Striper lakes with limited reproduction. This is more of an advertisement than a how to video but it shows slab spoons and fat stripers.
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I use 10-20 lb Power Pro braided line with an 8-pound leader on my spinning reels. I tie braid to a 15-foot leader with a uni-knot which is easy to tie and seems to have consistent knot strength. I use braid so I can cast far and play big fish when the opportunity is there. I set the drag so the line wont break if the big fish wants to run.
For my bait casting reels the line is different. Braid does not play well in a level wind situation when playing a large fish. The line may hang up in the spool if enough stress is exerted. I use 12-14 pound Fluorocarbon line on my level wind reels. I can cast it well, drop to the bottom quickly, and fish can't see it as well as monofilament. That works well for me.
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