I always feel a little weird fishing around the cages in the marina. A year ago the automatic feeders would spray pellets into the lake and fish would hang around. The feeders have been fixed so fewer fish hang around the cages.
As I was leaving my docking berth, several fish were actively feeding at the surface about 40 to 60 feet above the fish pens. I set up to cast a balanced leech into the rising fish, but I couldn’t cast far enough. After a number of soaks my indicator went under the water and I landed a beautiful 19 rainbow (pictured above: scar is from a lamprey).
I stayed in the area and cast out my intermediate line with a black mohair blue / red sparkle leech. I was able to cast the line all the way to the shore and had a blast for 30 minutes until I exhausted the pod, the hatch died, and the fish moved somewhere hidden.
I had an entire lake to fish and a working pod showed up right by the boat dock. Now, these fish were not raised in marina trout pens. Fish and Game have stocked 3 times in the last month or so and there are a lot of fish around. Happily, most of the fish are 13 and 14 inches long, huge for planters in most places. The fish are hanging by the shore and also hang out in the middle of the lake where there is a sand-bar like prominence.
So, I had a blast and didn’t have to go far. The fish are hot fighters and I lost more than half of my hookups getting them to the boat. All in all, a great day.
Tight Lines!