10-10-2015, 03:17 AM
I had a day off on Thursday and decided to take advantage of the great weather. I took the Lund and headed down the road to Joe's Valley. It's only a little more than an hour for me to get there from Price.
I arrived at 0800 and had the lake to myself. It was 44 degrees at the boat ramp and the water surface temperature was 58. The water is a little murky now probably due to the heavy rains we had in the area last Tuesday. I'm sure Seely Creek was running high during the rain. The lake level is down quite a bit but there was no problem launching at the ramp on the east side of the lake. The ramp at Seely Creek is closed due to the low lake level.
I started fishing the area just north of the boat ramp and went for more than an hour before I had any action. I had a nice size critter follow my jig to the boat and it turned away at the last minute. No amount of teasing could get the fish interested even though I could see it on the bottom in about six feet of water.
At about 10:00 a.m. I caught my first muskie. It was on the west side near a rocky point. I was using a number of different lures but I got the first fish on a Bass Assasin 5 inch swim bait on a 3/8 oz. dart shaped jig head. I have painted my jig heads dark green so the presentation looks more like chub, the tiger's primary prey.
The muskie was about 37 or 38 inches and I didn't take it out of the water to measure it since it really didn't matter to me. I'd rather release the fish without any unnecessary handing because I think it improves survival.
About an hour later I caught another muskie about the same size. This one followed my jig right to the boat and made a big splash when it tried to get the jig when I lifted it out of the water. I dropped the jig back to the bottom in the 15 foot water and vertical jigged it a few times. The muskie hit the jig and the fish became the next and last fish I caught yesterday. So my tally was two muskie in about six hours of fishing. Muskie may be the fish of 10,000 casts, but I only cast about 800 times to get two toothy critters. I'm ahead of the curve.
I did have some better days last fall when I caught as many as 7 muskie in one day. I think the reduced visibility in the lake is a good thing because the fish aren't as spooky. When the water is clear you can see many of the fish just hanging out waiting for something to ambush. Remember when you can see them, they can see you.
I hope to make a few more trips before the ice takes over. It might even be worth trying through the ice. I've caught northerns at Yuba through the ice, so maybe a guy could get one of the muskies using the same methods and baits later this year.
Later in the day two other boats came out. I talked to two young men in a small boat who were trolling. They went around the lake twice and each time they passed me I asked them if they'd had any luck, they didn't even get a hit. They were probably trolling for trout.
Mike
[signature]
I arrived at 0800 and had the lake to myself. It was 44 degrees at the boat ramp and the water surface temperature was 58. The water is a little murky now probably due to the heavy rains we had in the area last Tuesday. I'm sure Seely Creek was running high during the rain. The lake level is down quite a bit but there was no problem launching at the ramp on the east side of the lake. The ramp at Seely Creek is closed due to the low lake level.
I started fishing the area just north of the boat ramp and went for more than an hour before I had any action. I had a nice size critter follow my jig to the boat and it turned away at the last minute. No amount of teasing could get the fish interested even though I could see it on the bottom in about six feet of water.
At about 10:00 a.m. I caught my first muskie. It was on the west side near a rocky point. I was using a number of different lures but I got the first fish on a Bass Assasin 5 inch swim bait on a 3/8 oz. dart shaped jig head. I have painted my jig heads dark green so the presentation looks more like chub, the tiger's primary prey.
The muskie was about 37 or 38 inches and I didn't take it out of the water to measure it since it really didn't matter to me. I'd rather release the fish without any unnecessary handing because I think it improves survival.
About an hour later I caught another muskie about the same size. This one followed my jig right to the boat and made a big splash when it tried to get the jig when I lifted it out of the water. I dropped the jig back to the bottom in the 15 foot water and vertical jigged it a few times. The muskie hit the jig and the fish became the next and last fish I caught yesterday. So my tally was two muskie in about six hours of fishing. Muskie may be the fish of 10,000 casts, but I only cast about 800 times to get two toothy critters. I'm ahead of the curve.
I did have some better days last fall when I caught as many as 7 muskie in one day. I think the reduced visibility in the lake is a good thing because the fish aren't as spooky. When the water is clear you can see many of the fish just hanging out waiting for something to ambush. Remember when you can see them, they can see you.
I hope to make a few more trips before the ice takes over. It might even be worth trying through the ice. I've caught northerns at Yuba through the ice, so maybe a guy could get one of the muskies using the same methods and baits later this year.
Later in the day two other boats came out. I talked to two young men in a small boat who were trolling. They went around the lake twice and each time they passed me I asked them if they'd had any luck, they didn't even get a hit. They were probably trolling for trout.
Mike
[signature]
] I've got all of next week off on vacation and was debating on whether to head down there for an overnighter or stay with plan A and fish Pineview. 
on it's face. It knew you were going to release it. [