11-04-2007, 11:45 PM
All of us know the stealth value of our self propelled fishing platforms. Having had trout rise right beside me while floating in my tube or fishing from my pontoon boat I thought I had finally found a situation where my floating device was finally spooking fish.
My friend and I were fishing the waters of our trout club. Two of the ponds are absolutely crystal clear right now. We could actually see the bottom in 14 feet of water. My friend who is a good flyfisherman was not catching anything and it was tough for me as well. I rowed my pontoon down to the shallow end of the pond and set up in the shade of some shoreline trees so the sun could not broadcast the shadow of my pontoon boat into the water. I was able to catch several trout under that circumstance while my buddy remained fishless. Convinced that the fishing was tough because of the ultra clear cold water and bright sunshine scenario., I suggested to my friend that we switch to the lower pond which is always stained. My buddy agreed and pulled onto the shore in preparation to change locations. While kicking my way back in my Outcast 10 IR pontoon boat I hooked and lost a hefty rainbow which threw the hook on its first jump. (Aside to Pat.......... this pontoon kicks almost as well as my Fat Cat 66 and rows about as fast as I can paddle my kayak.)
As I continued to the take out point my finder started beeping indicating fish in the vicinity of my toon. When I looked into the clear water I could see several trout cruising along the bottom in 10 feet of water right underneath me. I dropped my jig down and one after another about 4 trout gave it the once over. One tried to eat it but in my anxiety I pulled it out of his mouth. My point in all of this is that these fish were not spooked by the presence of my pontoon boat after all.
When we switched ponds the water was indeed as stained as the other two ponds were clear. Using Pat's standby (pony jigs) I caught several big trout while my friend continued to go fishless. He kept fishing his small tube jigs under an indicator as he finned or rowed his way around the pond. For some reason he didn't listen when I suggested that the vibration of the tiny spinner on my pony jigs was allowing the fish to home in on my offerings in the stained waters. Even though I did very well on the pond with the stained water I would have liked to see if I could have taken fish consistently by vertical jigging to visible fish in the deepwater areas of the clearwater pond.
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My friend and I were fishing the waters of our trout club. Two of the ponds are absolutely crystal clear right now. We could actually see the bottom in 14 feet of water. My friend who is a good flyfisherman was not catching anything and it was tough for me as well. I rowed my pontoon down to the shallow end of the pond and set up in the shade of some shoreline trees so the sun could not broadcast the shadow of my pontoon boat into the water. I was able to catch several trout under that circumstance while my buddy remained fishless. Convinced that the fishing was tough because of the ultra clear cold water and bright sunshine scenario., I suggested to my friend that we switch to the lower pond which is always stained. My buddy agreed and pulled onto the shore in preparation to change locations. While kicking my way back in my Outcast 10 IR pontoon boat I hooked and lost a hefty rainbow which threw the hook on its first jump. (Aside to Pat.......... this pontoon kicks almost as well as my Fat Cat 66 and rows about as fast as I can paddle my kayak.)
As I continued to the take out point my finder started beeping indicating fish in the vicinity of my toon. When I looked into the clear water I could see several trout cruising along the bottom in 10 feet of water right underneath me. I dropped my jig down and one after another about 4 trout gave it the once over. One tried to eat it but in my anxiety I pulled it out of his mouth. My point in all of this is that these fish were not spooked by the presence of my pontoon boat after all.
When we switched ponds the water was indeed as stained as the other two ponds were clear. Using Pat's standby (pony jigs) I caught several big trout while my friend continued to go fishless. He kept fishing his small tube jigs under an indicator as he finned or rowed his way around the pond. For some reason he didn't listen when I suggested that the vibration of the tiny spinner on my pony jigs was allowing the fish to home in on my offerings in the stained waters. Even though I did very well on the pond with the stained water I would have liked to see if I could have taken fish consistently by vertical jigging to visible fish in the deepwater areas of the clearwater pond.
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