On The Water - Lake Almanor With Mark Antaramian

Hot podcasting from Chico California.

This is the Bartlett fly fishing podcast.

Where we discuss North cal fly fishing, guiding fisheries, signs and management,

conservation and more.

No better, fish better. Here's your hosts. Chad A and Nick Hanna.

This episode of the barb fly fishing podcast is brought to you by California shroud, working throughout the state to ensure we have resilient wild fish, thriving in healthy waters for a better California.

Support Cal

innovative science based work by becoming a member are donating today at cal dot org.

Hey. Welcome to another episode of the Part Fly fisher podcast.

I'm one of your hosts, Chad Au.

And with me today, I have Mark on Tram and Mark is a

guide, one of the the best guides on Lake A

in California. So we're in Chester, California.

Mark's invited us on the boat today. We are

fishing for trial wear fly fishing for trout.

We're gonna talk about small leads. We've been covering a lot of... We're gonna touch on the trial thing, but we're gonna actually focus on the small fishing in Lake Elm.

It's it's some of the best in California. I would say, how Mark. Yep. Yeah. And, so we're gonna we're gonna talk about a little bit of trial. We're we're catching trout right now, but really,

we wanted to really talk about the small mouth theme here on lake Ama.

It is, you know, I've caught actually,

most of my biggest small mouth that I've caught in the last couple years has been on And there's some big ones in here. What's the biggest small you've caught on lake Just so know seven and a half. Yeah. Seven and a half or, maybe eight, which is about double the average size of a small mouth traditionally. Right. For the west coast, man, that's

phenomenal. Yeah. Yeah. And

Yeah. So we are, you know, in an an undisclosed location the lake and we are fishing near spring right now. We won't say where but there's a few on lake yam

lots.

But I... You know, I've been my your setup, mark on your boat with killer. Can you kinda talk about the bow setup up before we kinda get the fishing? Yeah. So it's a lu,

rebel xl

twenty fifteen

seventeen feet long with a Merck six sixty.

I did have to prop it down from the valley.

So wouldn't you say prop down when you? So I went from

a fourteen pitch to

pitch. And then can you kinda, like, explain what a what what a pitch is on the? Yeah. One problem. It's how aggressive the the propeller is. So...

Yeah. So if it's a fourteen

That means that it bites a little harder, gets you a little more speed, less

less takeoff off, less torque.

So Elm is forty five hundred feet elevation.

So

that's a quite a bit of stress on a motor. So you need to you gotta prop those babies down. Even Even... I mean, this is electronic fuel injection and

still,

you got you gotta prop down at least once

unless your unless you're super powered, you know, you got a two fifty

on your ba, you know, nineteen twenty foot bass boat,

no rep prop required.

And then,

I was admired electronics because I... I was telling you I was gonna,

you know, put some electronics on my kayak. Mh. And you're running a garment, but you're running live view as I called Live or lives? It's it's live scope.

It's the L s thirty two system with the Gl s ten black box.

And I'm using the the

Garmin eco map,

one zero

six s v

which is the Eco map map ultra,

the ultra has a

higher resolution screen.

So

for

the bang for the buck. It's

pretty awesome.

Yeah. It's... For those of you guys not familiar with the live year life stuff in garmin, came out like two years ago. Mh. Yep. And

it's basically...

It's like playing a video game. You can see the fish literally moving under the boat. And

it's it's

it's exciting,

not only because you can see the fish moving the boat. It like it really gives you insight

into

how those fish would be behaving under the water, which normally

can't get unless you're...

You happen to be,

Mark's telling me to adjust our cast.

And

unless you're, you know, snorkeling.

And then bring it in a little. Yep.

Chu you in. Keep.

Go ahead and keep talking.

Yeah. So, yeah, you can see these fish going around. You see bubbles coming up out of the water and and moving in real time. So it's really it's really, really, really cool.

So I just reset my my cast and mark's happy with this, so I'm happy.

And then he's got, like, a a hand that can you kinda describe the trans on the thing with trippy? Well. The the trans has,

three,

trans built into one, and it uses

Oh,

look set.

That.

Too worried about drinking not tired. Yeah. The water.

Second.

Bundle it.

Well,

now. We have to adjust it out.

Yeah that's

trying to

kinda of brain fart right now.

Ultrasound. That's why I was the word I was trying to use

So uses, like, what you would get... You see a baby or something. Yeah.

So it has three trans

that use

ultrasound style

of

frequency.

So it's life.

You can see your fly, you can see

how the fish reacts.

You can see if the fish is coming up to get your fly, how far away it's coming from to get your fly.

Whether or not what fly it is going to

refuse,

which just... It's like sight fishing without being able to actually see the fish out there. But you can literally see the refusing here. Yeah. I mean, you can see refusal

two hundred feet deep.

I mean, obviously, we're never gonna fly fish that deep, but,

you know, for conventional gear,

you could drop a a jig down at,

a hundred feet for copy.

You know, grab a f needle,

What's a fizz?

Fizz needle is where you let air out of the air bladder.

So

when you catch fish that are a lot of times

over forty feet deep. They've been down there for so long. They get the bend when you bring them up real fast. K.

Their stomach will actually come out.

If you use the fizz needle on bait fish.

Use it on, like, copy

spotted bass, large mouth bass. Anything that you get deep.

Okay. I'm not I'm not following. Though. How... Why would you even need that?

Because

the fish can't level their air bladder out to get back down

Oh, got it. Okay. So you you pop the air bladder in a in two different spots that you can do it. That I'm aware of. Okay. And you put this needle in there and once the air has naturally exhausted,

You pull the needle out, you'll put them back in the water, let them revive, they kinda go back down about ten fifteen feet,

and that that heals

very quickly.

And they go back down to where they were and they're happy. I've seen fish with

three fizz

needle marks in them.

From previous Yeah. I'd... So I've seen that kinda done on in Alaska, there our guide we were catching. I think rock fish pretty deep down. Yep. He had kind of like,

almost like a reverse space elevator. Basically. He had he had this

this it was almost like a pulley system on a with a weight on the bottom, and he'd hook the rock fish somehow where he could unhook it when he got it to the depth he wanted. But he just slowly lowered the rock fish back down to the the level and it kind of the ballast kind of naturally

did its thing. And then when when he thought it was ready to pop a list. Mh. It's the way. Mh. He used to kill out of fish on accident, and they started doing that, and that that kind of

fixed it basically.

Yep.

What I've done also is if you can't get your hands on a f needle, you can actually just stick a weight on the fish with, a fishing rod.

And clip it onto the fin carefully.

And just let them drop down to the bottom, let him sit there for about three or four minutes,

and then just give it a quick jerk and it pops the right off to thin,

and

they're happy.

Yep.

So we got

fish, like, thirty five feet out basically right now. So I'm recast. Yep. So we'll just recast and then

right out kind of the same area you were

and that's the cool thing about the

the life scope. Yeah. Right? I mean, it's

It takes a lot of the guests work out there.

That should be perfect.

So with still water,

it's not like a river. Per s.

It can... At times

act like a river if they're letting a lot of water out, but,

you know, in still water, fish can be almost spacing any direction. Getting that Yeah.

Yeah. You're getting grabs on that mitch.

Just give a little

touch. Little strip. Yep.

The first busted. Yeah. You it. You guys probably heard that, like, fifteen feet from my

from my boss, my setup here.

Yeah. There's this current. So is this is this the spring making this current? Yep. Okay. And water is being taken out of the lake. So how far off? There's There we go. How far off the spring are this? Good one. How far off the spring are we?

Well, there's hundreds of springs in the lake. They're they're all over the lake. Nice fish.

And there's several thousand Cf that comes into the lake. No twenty four seven. Wow.

And

think my eight wait will be able to handle this. Nobody.

The only I had for this setup got that well.

I'm going brown hunting tonight, so I want the eight wait.

Come on dude.

So, yeah. The

the fish can kinda be changed, you know, facing really any direction. But what they do like to do is they like to face away from the sun.

Okay.

She might be ready. Looks like you're female. Yeah.

Yep.

Come on. Come on, girl.

She's been in the say wait, guys. Like,

almost a you.

That very healthy here.

Out of the joint.

She just saw the boat freaking.

Come on.

There we go.

You ready. Yep.

Nice.

Put the bend in the rod.

Football.

Yeah.

Like

nineteen probably.

With fat.

Nearly five.

Twenty, I don't Like twenty and a half.

Nice

just your average

lake elmo rainbow trail. Yeah. Get lights all over too on the side.

So she got... Yeah. She got a couple,

liquid ice on that camera.

Just get a shot of it in the water father.

Get a.

Yeah. I can't. She's on the mid.

Yep.

Nineteen and a half, you said? Yep. No. Twenty and a half. Twenty and a half. I think.

See. I'm

I'm one of the rare people that sometimes underestimate besides that fifth. Yeah. I we'll call it nineteen and a half. Yeah. Okay. Cool.

Nice.

Thanks, man. That was off. Yep.

Holiday day. No.

That's all you get.

Wanted done.

When I agree. I don't know where you want that. Yeah. It was

Yeah. I mean, that was that was like the cookie cutter size out here too on. Right.

So crazy. Isn't that crazy. Yeah. It's just nuts. There's was just so much food in here. Can you talk about the bait fish for a bit, like, what puts in here? Yeah. There's a delicacy sm,

and W.

The W soggy are at Japanese

sm.

And they are kinda like a a a black on the top sometimes they're really dark olive.

And they're kinda yellow on the bottom. Okay. With with some white, and a pretty silver side.

And the

pod sm,

which which is P o s m

e l t.

The pods smell

are

kind of a translucent

color. So they're gonna be

a translucent,

olive of

translucent meaning you can see through.

Okay.

There... There's no shot in here. Like, like, lake shops says low to a shot. No bed fan,

no s,

Yep. Another one. Damn. Dude.

Mark and I was were to get fish guys.

Let's confirm.

That's the second catch. We have not added it edited the these two catches. So

so was... Oh, nice jump. Oh, another jump.

Sweet.

About the same size the last one.

Maybe were bigger about two inches bigger. Oh, third joe.

Dude that I was like a three

joke. I was sick.

Whoa Just take it off.

Kill. Looks like another female. Yet? Yep.

A little bit heavier than the last glass.

One

Yeah. Around one was probably two pounds.

This one's probably three and a half four pounds. A little more sp. Yeah. Taking one decent side decent run.

Now it's going from the back of the bunch in front of the boat.

Just kind of

doing a... Kind of doing a

blue fe tuna thing on the the sides of it.

There we go. Now I think she's done. Yeah.

We got color.

Yeah.

Is so powerful.

So okay. So you can see on the mouth here

that it's it's bigger than a female.

So this is the trip.

This triple.

Okay.

So Yeah. That for a second. So you can see on the mouth here, the mouth is really large. Mh. But there's no kite. Mh.

And

you know, when a female route, you can clearly tell, you just have a small mouth. Right? Yeah. The

and the males have generally a bigger mouth. Right? And

males have a a kite from spawning. They develop that.

Just just a fatty tissue that gets around their mouth.

And the triple, they don't. They do not get

a kite

because they do not go into spawn. Yeah. So if

if you guys are trying... It's it's very subtle. I I see what you're saying though.

They look like every other child in here except their head looks like if you were just gonna

morph,

you know, a male, distinctive male type jaw with a female.

That's what their heads look like. It's just a like regular kind of just an average of those two. Yep. It looks like an immature male. It does with no type. Right. But an the immature mill is not twenty two inches long. Right. Right. This this a nice fish.

For powerful fish.

But they have... You know, they they raised trip weights here too just to

you know, for basically catching and keep. Yeah. We have to. Yeah.

We have to. But really fun fish. You guys heard that this this fish fought

kinda had a little steel hat in it for a minute.

Three three nice jumps. That that second jump was huge.

So you're just keeping in the net until it's ago, it leaves on its own power. Yeah. Yep. There you goes.

Very cool. Thank.

Yeah, man. Okay. So that was, like, four minutes apart and. And

on.

Call again. So we'll adjust the

your set.

Make sure that the

flies are all good.

We're using two flies.

K.

Well, let's... We talked about trial quite a bit. Let's talk small. Ass.

Let them.

We'll we'll rope. We'll try and keep her rope in the trial in between, but I really wanna...

What you guys should get up here and do small.

I wanna try it but I haven't really caught, I I've been catching them, by catching them and what I mean by that is I'm targeting trial and I'm catching call now.

But I wanna start targeting small because they

they fight and, like, you get a you get a decent size small

on and it's game on and they they can put a bin, like, I have one

two nights ago on this gateway and it taco this rod.

It's a nice big,

you know, at the fork like eat

fish.

There's

there's different times of the year

that you want it to fish for small mouth here,

spring

and fill.

Okay. And my favorite is the pre spawn.

I don't like the fish to spawn.

It's just... It's hard on them. The pre spawn they're fat. They're fired up. Correct. F. Yeah. I mean, you wanna a Pb,

you don't wanna be fishing beds.

Any means personal best guys for the Yep.

Yeah. Bass go. That that.

Yep. So if you want a personal best,

fish the pre spawn.

And that changes every year and, basically,

you almost need a little bit of inside knowledge

of

Just well, no just temperature.

Oh, okay. Yeah. So can you talk about that? Yeah. So once the the the surface temp

hits

fifty four degrees

by twelve o'clock.

Okay. That is the p time

to be here.

Okay. So

if you can somehow find out out that it's fifty three degrees,

At noon, you wanna come up the next week.

Assuming there's no cold fronts.

Cold fronts

and cloud cover

shut off small mouth.

Period. Oh,

they are ninety five percent

site

fish

fish.

Okay. So,

they ninety percent

is just them looking at something and deciding whether or not they're gonna eat it.

They don't really use their lateral align a whole lot. I mean, they use it, but they don't use it a whole lot. Okay. Lateral align meaning

feel.

Yeah. Right?

That reverse zone they have on there Correct. First side. Yep.

Yeah. We were talking. We did a species spotlight on carb

a a good to go. And

the lateral line on the... They have, obviously, a lateral line, but they also

it's somehow connected to their inner ear. They're air bladder. Yeah. Yeah. Their air bladder connected as well. And they use those two things to to, you know, to basically sound out fish. They're kinda, like... I think they're the underwater equivalent of a bat. Almost.

Yeah

Exactly.

I Highlight to call fish water bone fish. Yeah. Yeah. And that's why they're so spooky and so hard to catch us for a fish. Sure. Because they just... They know when you're coming a mile away. You a cuss. Yep.

Come on salad. I got some salad.

Yep.

Very cool. I like it. There's not that many people out here. And you can fly fish for carp here too. Okay. It's it's a thing.

I'm I'm actually really surprised because I've never actually been around a spring. Mh. How much water it's coming up right now. It's the current. It's causing it. Yes. It's a good. You know, I just...

It's I'm casting now, like, twenty feet

and it's taking about four minutes for that that that setup to come back to the boat.

Maybe three minutes for it to come back to the boat. Mh.

Yeah. And that cooler water travels is along the bottom. So it could be

eighty degrees.

On the surface, the first five feet.

And it can be forty eight.

The last five feet down at the bottom. We you were... When we were talking about thermo client before we we hit start on this episode.

You know, what you were describing is those fish will sit. You kind of at that transition zone. Mh. Just in the in

the colder water and then come up, shoot up and come back down. Yep. And

tuna to do the same thing.

Like, they they do the same exact thing. They can't hang out on the top very long because they have to crash, they call it crash, but they get too hot, and they don't regulate their own temp. They use the environment to do it. So they... They go down

below where it's colder, and then they they kind of, basically... You know, it's almost like catching their breath. Right? And they come... And then they get back on faith. The next time, so that's why you'll see them kinda, like, pop up in one spot.

We're getting okay. I gotta on try to go a little n.

It looked like a n.

Do you see anything on the scope. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Here comes another one. Okay.

Yeah. So he... He's he's able to just tell, you know, when there's fishing around so we can kinda chat and

gate serious. You can try giving a little twitch too that helps.

Yeah. That this is almost like cheating what I wanna get.

Every read advantage It's only cheating if you don't have it.

But it it's just cool to know you know, that there's fish around.

It's it's just it's just an another learning tool. It's like, where do you draw the line

is a boat eating.

You know?

It is a fish finder cheating is

being able to whip down in the water and see a fish and cast to it. Is that cheating.

Well, the point I was gonna make before that coming off but

in A, there's a pretty distinct thermal client and and what Mark talking about it, It's really hot. It can get really hot on the top,

especially in, like, July, August.

And

what you don't wanna do is when you catch a fish,

and your... You know, you're fishing like below or right at that that transition zone. When you get that fish up to the surface especially in the hotter months, and this really applies to any, I would say any still water situation. Mh. During the summer

you don't wanna play those fish on the surface too too long. Definitely don't wanna keep them out of the the water that long getting your hero shots and finish because it... You can kill fish that way pretty quickly

this time here. Yeah. There's a thing if you catch in. There's a thing called dissolved oxygen level.

It needs to be

above nine point two parts per liter.

Okay.

You know, nine, they can totally survive. They're not gonna be too f.

The lower nine, you're kinda pushing it if they get stressed, they'll die.

And the hot water Gonna take down. Yep give a little twitch.

Hotter the water to less

you know, stick for dissolved docks oxygen content.

Yep.

And

near the surface, there's a there's a lot less. You know, you're you're looking at, like, eight and a half to to nine parts per liter.

You know, the first fit.

So you you can use a long net and just kinda throw in the net, push them down. That helps sometimes.

And another really important thing to do is even if after they take off, kinda keep an eye out for that general area. Sometimes they

they kinda get knocked out.

So you wanna just give them a little give a little tap of the rod, You know, you have to smack them.

But just give a little

tap out of the rod, and it'll it'll wake them up.

It'll get them going.

You know, they get lactic of acid on the brain. Sometimes it kinda makes them a little loop

drunk per s. There we go. Oh don't oh I thought he was off.

He's gonna be drunk the bit. Literally.

Okay, guys. So it's good. I hook up on this fish. And it literally comes straight of the boat at the point where I can't strip down fast enough. And then it just doesn't stop it. It jumped probably two feet off the side of the boat and almost in the boat,

almost.

Probably another foot. It would have been in the boat.

That's crazy.

Yeah. It's a good spot mark.

I'll post the Gps for everybody. Yeah. No kidding off.

But anyway, so we... Every time I get on... I wanna start spot talking about small amounts. Something funny happens with out, and we gotta talk about trout some more. Yeah. But, can you kinda...

How how like, mig are these these small east in in this this system? That's an excellent question.

These fish

will move literally

from one side of the lake to the other. In how much time. I have seen these bass. I I've seen tagged bass. Mh. Go from

the chester side

of the lake. Mh.

All the way over to Hamilton ranch. Okay. And that's roughly...

This is a tagged numbered fish. Seven miles.

So

as a fish flies.

Yeah. You're talking twelve miles. Right. Right. Because they didn't... I was saying... I was saying that. If it literally went straight from there

to the Peninsula and then cut around the peninsula,

absolute shortest route possible. Okay twelve miles. Route begs is a question.

And this

is not just done

in one year.

This is done

in

five six months.

Well,

yeah.

Incredible. I assume they're following bait. Is that what's going on? They follow bay and they have their favorite spawning locations. Okay. So there's

there is a bass over right now

over at Hamilton branch.

And his favorite spawning location is twelve miles away over by Chester.

Yep.

And then,

are they... Are they expanding?

Spawning in traditional L b habitat?

Large mouth bass, Habitat?

Are they are they more like on the lake bottom and stuff. They're they're pretty similar to to large mouth. I I would say they're more similar to

spotted bass.

Okay. I think spotted bass techniques work excellent for small mouth. Okay.

Large mouth techniques,

not, you know, Florida strain,

large mouth, not quite so much. Okay.

There are some exceptions, but I I would say

spotted bass and small mouth

very similar.

Very, very similar.

They they... The small mouth fight

a little harder. Yeah.

Than the spotted bass, but don't get me wrong. The spotted bass. They fight hard too. Yeah. Small ease,

for their size, I think they're the one of the most hardest man for. I tell you. But I've I've cat caught so far. It's almost like catch trout in California. Yeah.

Yeah. And they dig too. Yeah. You know, a lot of times on...

I've caught, you know, browns and small east big small that fight almost identical.

And it's some... Sometimes you don't know what you have until you get a visual on it, you know.

I've had them take backing out. Really? Yeah. Wow, I mean, for the most part, they kinda

just really pull hard and they wanna stay down and they yoyo a little bit, but

Man, some of those really big females,

they'll run you out in your backing.

Yeah. That like I was john in a couple minutes ago I had a around your.

Got foot ten foot toe on

pro and Claire fourteen

H Pa fourteen, which is a big boat. And then

tuesday fifty to two sixty five.

Depending upon how much beer Have drink that week.

So, yeah, they just these fish dig. They have huge paddle.

Just like, I know, it's it's a crazy, crazy

ecosystems for each fish. And it's just there's just food everywhere all the time. It seems like

Yeah. I mean, where can you go to catch a

on a fly rod,

a small mouth bass,

a large mouth bass,

a a king

salmon Chin Salmon. Oh they have this here. Yep. Not.

Chin. Not c, you know, not the c,

ko. Yeah. These are Chin, you know, king salmon.

They're excellent.

Rainbow trout and we're talking

four different species of rainbow trout,

two different species of brown trout,

and then there's also, well, you can say three species of brown trout.

Because there's all... There's the mix between the lock leather and the.

Yeah.

So

hybrid

Yeah.

How do you say hybrid

hybrid. Hybrid

Yeah. So there's there's a mix between two. So you can say three different kinds of brown trout.

And then there's

Sacramento pike, but I wouldn't say an over abundance in this lake of Sacramento pike. So

it does make it fun

to catch. Yeah. You know, it's... There's not too many where it's ruining a lake.

And

there's yellow belly bull head.

Which your catfish

in the lake. They're... They don't get rear big. They don't taste very well, but they fight really good.

Sixteen entry old fight

pretty dang hard.

There's... I've kind of b on this lake. Yeah. Yeah. There's they're rare. They're very rare. Yeah. I was, like, I I showed it to my buddy and he's, like, Yep. There's no way you got that on Like Alm. And I'm like, a look at the Gps. I don't know. I've I've been fishing here since eighty five. I've caught three. Yeah. So I got super duper lucky. Yes. I've only been

fishing for, like, three, four years now. Yeah.

Oh,

sacramento perch.

Oh, kidding. So they look like crappy.

Mouths are just a little bit smaller. Do you see them all...

I just I just missed. Just missed one. Oh, I god. I guess... Gotta fix that.

So I we... I got a a pull down and then the side of the flash the fish.

Cool. I'm freaked out again guys.

Yeah. This is cool. I can understand why why people fish for a trout on, lake Ama.

What's really funny is is

not a lot of people realize that you can fly fish for

big trout in the summer

in a lake.

There we go.

Perfect.

So they're... So these small are highly my Tory. Let's talk about

rigging

like, what's your what's your most effective way, in general?

Most effective

in in the not here every day. Yeah. Pre spawn, most effective

floating and fly.

Right? And then we've talked about float and fly.

A bunch on the show. There's... We've done one so dedicated to with with Ryan Williams. Yeah. Ryan's got that pat. If you if you if you just search float and fly, you'll find it. In our in our catalog.

But,

let... Can you just kind of briefly talk about the the rig for those those folks that don't know what that that system is and then what you suspend underneath it. Yeah. Absolutely.

I use,

large indicators, typically,

nine to twelve foot liters,

and I use small flies,

You know, the the small, they're more apt to take a bug than they are,

a crawfish in the spring because it's still pretty cold.

So I'd like to use small crawfish patterns.

Okay.

And.

Yep.

Crawfish.

Now.

Yeah. There's there's a bunch of different kinds you can get, and they all work.

Try to just match whatever color of the crawfish all this year

that year. Is that does that color changed in this lake? It does. Oh. It does a little bit. Yeah. It could even more complex? I know. That's

what I love about the lake.

Yeah. It's good. Yeah.

The diversity. We got some salad on there. I tried... I tried to roll cast over it.

Made it worse. And it's not a huge change. It's just... They kinda go from,

black to, like, a

a dark olive of,

but when they start eating the

the

vegetation. Mh. They start turning a little more orange.

Okay.

And

once they start getting on that green vegetation, they they really start popping in color. And what happens is the end of their pictures go blue and orange.

Okay. And their bodies go to, like,

like, a green pumpkin looking

color. You, I brought a little bit of blue. I didn't want

you to have to take the salad out of my rig here,

but

I kinda wish I would up because it took me... I I wrapped it around the petroleum motor. I'm freeing now, but what.

Quite the cluster.

There we go.

Now we're back in the game.

So small mouth.

Yes. The foot describe that rig really quick.

So, yeah, large indicator typically

half to three quarter inch.

Don't like to go any bigger than one inch.

Then we're talking diameter of this flow. Mh.

And, balance

types

of

stuff

or crawfish

patterns.

And what I like to do is I like to just...

Kinda set it where the fly touches the bottom,

kinda dust the bottom almost. Okay. You do you get hung up.

But the indicator basically, just

kinda keeps you from getting down and beep,

into a rock and just permanently getting stuck.

So that helps a lot. And you really got fish efficient.

Yeah. It's a fun... It's a super fun effective his way. It's fish. It works on, like shaft and for the

any any lake really, I think where there's where there's bad present probably gonna. It's probably gonna rip. As long as you can, you know, suspend whatever the bait this happens to be at the time you're you're there the thirteen on. Would you agree? Yep.

Absolutely.

I'm still tripping on this

on this spring. It's so nuts it's

And so all this all these weeds are... Is this coming up from the bottom where the spring is?

Yeah. They're coming up just from everywhere around here.

They kinda break free and stuff.

There's weeds all around

the lake. I mean, I don't care where you go. There's

tons of weeds

everywhere.

And it In two thousand fifteen, we had... At the end of the drought there, it was

pretty scary because the lake was really low and a lot of the weeds died, but, man, they they have come back and they've come back in force.

And so the bugs. Yeah. That's kind of, you know, that gets back to, like, fire ecology and when a forest gets burned down and then everything bounces back. Right.

Exactly.

Literally, the entire food web rebound because there's no competition, and then it just gets gang buses for a while and then

cycle repeats. Mh.

Over here.

Yeah. I see.

Yeah. There's fish rice and occasionally on? I don't know what.

What are they what are they eating on? Oh, probably

mid.

Juvenile,

Cal,

and juvenile,

dams

ne.

But I've seen some

adult dams, and we're starting to get some dams

coming off.

And the bass key on on those, talking about bass.

Man. The bass will key in

on those dams.

They love

dams.

They crush those things. Yeah. Like, I I love fishing.

Let get the

dragonfly flight pattern on the top water for best, cell fun.

Yeah.

Like I was saying, I I find myself taking

a conventional rod for any subsurface stuff and in the note I a fly rod for

for top water when I'm targeting bass.

Oh, mister.

Damn

you really gotta get on them quick or they're they're gone yeah.

They're smart finish.

It feel it's not real. And they spit it right out. One one duncan and it was gone.

How much temperature difference is there from the the water... Regular water column to the the spring, would you say?

Well the springs are about forty eight degrees. Okay.

And that's your all you're long your water. Like, if you tap that, you could drink it. Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah. And it... Okay. So I'm trying to figure out why I do. I mean, I don't know.

You know, I'm not say if it is, but I

lots of times up put a water bottle up there

throw that many a times.

I wonder

so good. Why are these trout hanging out by springs? Because there's there's definitely a nice little bottom of. Yep. The water is really warm. It's above the temperature they like to be. So they just get...

It's kinda like their their version of a greens zone if we're habitable...

It's air conditioning. For earth going around the sun.

The sun's of spring.

Earth would be the trout. They just find their happy spot. Yep. And that could vary from fish to fish, so they just they just basically move in closer to spring are out from the spring depending upon what temperature are they like. Yep.

That's pretty cool.

Yeah. It's like natural air conditioning for the fish. Yeah.

And then there's plenty of food,

plenty of food to off of these weeds and rocks and stuff.

You know, if it we... We're... It is, like a dead calm air windy day today. Like, I don't. I don't think That's been enough here when it things dot calm. So,

you know, it's it's a little easier to spot on the surface what a spring would look like. But are there any surface indicators for springs to

that that we should kinda like, look out for? Bubbles. Bubbles. Okay.

Like there. Yep.

Okay.

Bubbles. I didn't know that. Good to enough. It's... I mean, not...

There's not always gonna be a spring where there's bubbles coming up because it could be

weeds that are dying

creating Harp will do that too you if they're writing around in

in stuff. There's like, you know, there's oxygen that's that's collected in in these weeds and if you see. Bubbles coming up sometimes that that could be indication of the car actually riding around, if you're not seeing any, like, obvious stuff, like

mud wounds or or things like that.

If you if you have Sonar,

you can just turn up the sensitivity on your sonar. Mh. And

the little tornado shapes that you see Yeah. On your sonar are springs.

Oh,

that's. So that's...

Okay. Little secret there for you.

That's just

that you just save me a ton of time right there. That little

that little tidbit of info is good.

Thank you.

Is it is a pre... Is it safe to say that basically

all still waters got a spring somewhere.

That I I don't know. You know,

I think the good fly fishing lakes do.

Okay.

Because it keeps a a cooler water shallower.

Yeah.

Which allows you to get down to him with the flies.

But I have been

to some really good

lakes that I know for a fact have no springs

and that fish

really well.

Okay.

Crater Lake

and not Crater Lake, Oregon. I'm talking about Crater Lake here off of highway forty four.

Crater lake has no springs,

zero springs and

super super fun fishing,

you know, drive flies and stuff. I mean, the fish aren't big.

Yeah. They're not the kind fish that you wanna take home,

but but they're super fun to catch.

You're on your way home from

redding tar reno or something like that. It'd be a a great... Just... I mean, you could just stand right on the shoreline and catch fish with drive flies most of the time.

Yeah. I've always been impressed with this side but fish.

You know, on Crater lakes no.

It's no secret.

So

fore worn.

You might be... It might be busy. You might not be the only one there.

But

it's...

It's pretty low. Do these fish? Will they hang out around these springs in the, like, the data winter also?

I have seen them on springs

in

February

only when

the, like, half the lake is frozen.

And never got that cold this year, so they did not this year.

Last last season,

two thousand eighteen season.

There were

tons of fish on springs because

half the lake with frozen.

Yeah. Yeah.

Well, for those people that are wondering, you know, what what type of broad would work for this application. What what would you suggest? For, you know, let let's say you're you're on a budget. You want you wanna you want something where you can target small, and you can target trial with that are in, you know, the the twenty to twenty four inch range?

Universal Rod.

Seven weight. Seven. Yep.

Six or seven weight. If you're new,

get a seven weight. Put an eight weight floating line on it or,

What was that? Yeah. Or an overweight... Yeah. We had a couple of taps. Yeah.

I was looking over?

We wanna

overweight

that rod a little bit. So

if that seven weight takes a

three hundred grain

line, three hundred grain meaning

the weight of the line, and you can look that up when you,

go get lines. So if it's rated for three hundred, you wanna put, like, a three hundred and fifty to four hundred grain floating line on that. Okay.

And

and that's going to allow you to do a lot of things.

And you can you can put a,

versa leader on that floating line.

You can just... Those people that don't know what a versa leader is.

No. Yeah.

So the the versa leader,

I personally know of just two companies that make them might... There might be more. You might know

more

airflow

and rio. Yeah. Those are the two

that. That's the the only two I know of too. So airflow and rio, I like the flows,

just because they just...

They they don't really coil on me. Like, I pull them out of the package.

And they're just smooth. I don't have to sit there and stretch it. There's no memory. Yes. But the benefit of the R is

it it does coil a little bit. And you have to kinda stretch it and break it in a little bit. The benefit of the r is there's zero stretch.

Absolutely zero sweat stretch. Yeah. And the reason why you would not want stretch

is to feel those little tiny, tiny light bites.

Okay. Okay. The reason why you would want stretch is if you got hammered really hard and you were using a light lee. And you need to set.

A little shotgun oh, there there is a fish. Let's see if I can get them. So I like

the flows.

Flows have just a little bit of give, and I can still feel

those little bites.

That's just me. Not trying to advertise or anything like that.

What's the what's the purpose of Yarn on this for?

It tells you where to set it back to.

Okay.

So basically, where I'm at right now, I would go right in your mouth.

Right in your face. Right?

What, you want. But if I was setting, I would I would be going where that's pointing.

I would just cut... Give a couple strips and walmart.

Okay.

You mend it too.

Oh, I know I know what Mend is

fish the coast.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, there's a there's enough current here to wear in is is like something that's a good idea. Hey, there's

there's enough current. Like, sometimes you can swing.

That's crazy.

Like, in a river.

When that winds ripping? Yeah. The b

veer

left and right, two feet. Sick.

Yeah. Especially in the fall or the spring.

When they're trying to let water out to to storm more water, or if they're trying to let water out because they're getting too much water.

And the lake is incredibly low right now it's the lowest expecting

so.

Since...

It's the lowest I've seen since two thousand thirteen. Okay.

But definitely not the lowest I've seen,

you know, in twenty years. That's for sure.

I mean, They they had to let some the water out to fix the canyon dam. Right? Mh.

Dam repair.

Yep. And,

has something to do with

earthquake testing. Oh, okay. We've had

a lot

of, like,

threes and

and three and a half.

There we go. There... Shaker. So...

There

I can't tell how big it is it like, I saw left. It looks... It looks pretty exciting. And it's same. It's not really

it's scottsdale at the bottom. So I think it's bigger fish. I think Oh, yeah jesus. It's gonna run.

And that's why I'm gonna... So I'm slapping the arbor right now just to pick up all this loose line because it's just is showing.

I have it on the real now.

Yeah. It's a bigger fish

You see this dude? Big, Rainbow.

Yeah.

Probably twenty six inches.

This eight way getting band guys like donald m.

Yeah. Got it. Pick this line up.

Did it was it was nice enough.

Spot.

Do that. It's I can get away with it, Just slap that order pick up all that.

That loose flying on my feet in case and the things gives us and kicks off.

Well, if you're highly mechanically inclined,

you can modify reels

to do that really well. Really Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. You can take the reel apart.

And It hasn't. Take the grease.

It's a brown

brown.

You can take the grease out of the bearings.

And add oil

instead.

Yeah. This is a big. This might be be my personal best right here, mark.

Nice.

So he's just like, he's acting like a freaking

hal it, man just, like, riding in the boat trying to just dig dig dig dick, and I'm just trying to get a keep out of the trolling motor.

It's rolling and barely see.

A bit.

Look at the eight wait. Look at this.

This is why

By bringing eight eight way to Alm.

Okay. Okay.

Mud. I think he just gassed.

I definitely wanna picture this one, Mark. Holy shit.

Awesome. Awesome off.

Oh it's a little piggy.

This one I wanted

grip and grand. Nice. Not get it. Opportunity to get one like that ever again.

Yeah. You wanna officially a lifetime.

And you can't afford to go

spend tens of thousands of dollars to

go fly around the world where they have

I fish like this. You can come right here to lake out hour. Shit.

Guys.

God, damn it. I knew that was gonna happen. Oh shit. Oh, man. Did we get anything? I got something.

So

Yeah. I got it. You go. I got a great picture. Okay.

I that.

No. That looks. Actually I it. I like that. Really? Yeah. Looks good.

So as you guys probably figured out,

I I grabbed the tail with my, like, my palm to my my body so that you can see the fish and I I swung it up. To mark to to release it and just as it got over the gun,

he it kicked and flew back out

and over

and he's back down there, how he laughing.

And I'll be funny though people are laughing right now for sure. At my experience which. That's cool.

Haters.

But dude, that was

fantastic, man.

How how big was that fish.

About twenty three

inches.

For a lot of people that can be a Pb.

Yeah. It's like...

I think that's my biggest.

Out of here. Maybe? Just in I think maybe in general, man. On the fly. Yeah.

Ever. Wow I think.

Yeah. It is, because if I sit my other... My last one was Mc mcleod and that was twenty two. Okay. Yeah.

I could just stop now.

Can't stop.

Oh my god. That was off.

Like, I wish I had the video camera rolling because I would've have been a hilarious video.

I know sometimes I wish I had a camera on me twenty four seven.

On gopro.

Some to... Yeah. Saw on the boat. Sometimes I'm glad I don't. Yeah.

Good point job.

Got this? No.

Okay.

It's like...

Oh,

here

We're here. Set up again.

Dude. Oh I love Brown man They just... They're just brute.

No. They just... They're just hard fish.

Like in the thirty.

That us.

That's not.

I was wondering if there were brown in there I was gonna ask you.

So it's just the mix of the bed though I'm Yep.

And they... It didn't eat any difference than the... The two rainbow

That one was on

a, a different pattern. Okay.

Yep. The, the rainbows

were on something smaller.

Yeah. Okay.

Do you... On the small east, do you conventional? Do you you fit this one conventional ever?

Rarely?

I... You know, I was...

I brought my conventional rod. The last time I was up because the game plan was, I'm gonna get up there at four. I'm gonna fish for small mouth targeting small mouth with a conventional rod. Until six, and then I'm just gonna rack that and and start, you know, fit

trial fishing.

Did not get a single thing on

conventional stuff. And as soon as I switch over to fly I started catching small

until about. And it's until about seven thirty eight, eight eight thirty and then and then it was trial after that. Yep.

And that's pretty much why I just fly fish. Yeah. Yeah. So... Yeah.

If you're... You know, if you're a

a a

very seasoned fly fisherman, you can come here without a guide

and catch small mouth. It's definitely doable.

So I did a brake loose. Yeah I did. Yeah.

I had to... I I had to pull it. I missed. So I just missed the fish guys, and then I didn't want us to get hit with the with the rigs, so I ripped it out of the water, so I was halfway through a set. And I just wanted to you kinda like, you know, go over the boat.

I'm sure if anybody was on a different boat watching, they would think On the stars, but...

Is. So I'd like to touch on something.

Yes. You

so when I personally

go out of town

fishing,

and I can afford a guide. I get a guide. Absolutely.

I'm not absolutely. So good.

That I can go without a guide. And

a guy... You're gonna learn things from from guides.

And you you can save yourself

twenty thirty years of experience one day

with a guide.

I've said this on a show lot of times, and every time I go to a new new place.

And I tell guides told me that many times before. It's like, they get... They always get a guide the first time they go somewhere new. Absolutely. Because, like, if you're gonna go to destination and pull all this effort into it. Right? Your first time you wanna be successful when you get there. And then you have kinda like the playbook for the next time you can go solo. Yeah.

Absolutely. You know, and and it'll just save you a shit ton of time so that that that, you know, three hundred to six hundred dollar day rate for these guys is well worth it if you value your time on the water.

You know, if you wanna save money,

you can, you know, flounder around for seven seven years and till you get it figured out out.

But I would rather, you know, fish with the guys on the water

every day. Yep. Kinda don't like that. Tommy.

Tommy what talking about the butcher butchering,

shoving the head. We had a put

Absolutely.

Yeah. I've learned things from other guides. Got other guides have learned things for me.

It's

it's a great untapped

resource a lot of times.

And it's great learning things on your own.

You know, there's there's definitely a satisfaction there

learning on your own.

But you can learn on your own and be taught at the same time. Yeah.

You can you can improve your own techniques

by using someone else's idea.

Yeah.

I'm still kind of like, stuck got that brown.

We caught.

That was so cool.

I will not forget that, and that's my first first boy.

Like a a six way would have just been,

like, useless in that with that the cha off.

But I can see why you you fish seven. Yeah.

Well,

because a rate's it's a little bur, but I'd I don't really own a seven late.

Yeah. Eights...

Are gonna be your large mouth bass

stripe,

type

stuff, you know? I mean, there are seasons out here where

you'd actually kinda do one eight weight.

It's not out of the question to use the eight weight during the the hex hatch. Yeah. By any means.

But I think a seven

with an eight weight line

is

kinda p for for hex hatch and small mouth fishing.

I'm also fishing eight pounds cg to the fly. Do you think that that's too heavy. I think that's too heavy for this lake. Okay. I can get her get by on six just fine. Absolutely.

Yeah. I mean, we thought

a

twenty eight inch brown

that was

twenty two inches around.

Oh my god. On six pound test. What was it eating? Two days ago,

and it was eating hex.

Got it on a on a hex

pattern.

Do you think... Do these fish, like,

this time of year when they're ga on these these bugs. Bugs are

I would to say that they're caloric dense is an understatement, or they're just... They're they're literally like.

Double double animal style floating around with wings? Basically.

And

do you think, like, do these fish digest those

when they're done, that twenty four hour cycle, do they... They fully digested everything they ate the night before you think. I think so.

Yeah. Twenty four hours.

Yeah. I I bet they eat a pound to these same the night.

Would you... A a big fish would, Yeah. You know, four or five pound fish. Yeah. Yeah

You got a six an half seven pounder night. Yeah.

No no joke. I mean,

it was bulging.

I mean, the the... It just... It looked like someone put a softball ball inside the fish.

Yeah. These small look like that do. Yeah yeah. They just pink.

I mean, it it had a solid

half a pound, three quarters of the pound of food.

It sounds like my french bulldog with

guilt.

Got little about eat help death. Yeah.

Yeah. Speaking of dogs.

Did your dog. He's a dogs a phenomenal bow dog. Yeah. My little guy here.

She's...

What?

She's a queen's on here, but she's

she's a toy.

So they just keep breeding the smaller.

The smaller queens together. Yeah.

Until they get

some really small... You just keep bringing the runs together basically

until they got a a small.

And she the smallest of the litter,

and she's

sixteen pounds.

Fifteen and a half sixteen pounds.

My

my french.

He was the he was a run to the litter.

His the last one in the in the litter to be selected because he was the smallest,

and he's

twice as big as both of his parents put together. He's forty pounds. Wow. Like, the breed just is, like, that's a genetic freak. Yeah. That's

he looks... He looks... He's a he's a legit medium sized dog. And mean he's huge but he puts out. Is he's super buff too. Yeah. I dude. You out, like, guys dog parks. Know, it's like, not powerful for pound, that dog over produces gas

ridiculous.

Off side of

what he's on, but I think

I don't know. I think when my mom will occasionally watch him one I'm out of town. And I think she just, you know, feeds them what's in garbage the gas.

The trash compact. Yeah. Dog literally... Like I said on hard lincoln you want me is is

iceberg lettuce.

What's,

that's a good thing anyways.

Yeah.

Like the

your leaders messed up.

Oh, yeah. Better.

Cool.

Yeah.

Yep.

I'm gonna try and get this one up over a little

What's your scope going?

We got some over there.

And

Yeah. That go. I've then trying to decide I'm gonna do it Kayak. There's some right where you're at right now.

I've been trying trying inside on the electronics for what I'm gonna do with Kayak and I'm just not happy with my stuff. So

I think I will be doing garmin,

and I think I'm gonna get that live life scope. Well, here's... So here's the thing. If you're not going to get

live scope and you never are planning on using it.

I still think the Humming bird

has an edge.

Okay. As far as the side imaging goes.

I think the side imaging on the home, Yeah.

I mean,

if you have both of them perfectly dialed in, I think the bird.

Okay would win.

But you would have to have

not the Helix,

but you would have to have the highest end model compared to the highest end model. You want the Sole Si d then. Correct.

That's the home bird. Yep.

But so on a kayak, this this thing for a kayak because you're... It's a single fisher. And, like, side imaging, all sides of bow for two fisherman is is awesome.

But for a kayak situation where, you know, you've got a a cone

that you're basically looking through, you know, if you... You in a picture like a cheerleader

with one of those old school

bug if they yell into or whatever the hell they're called. Mh. That's kind of this thing works from the boats perspective, that would... The the boat would be the mount the cheerleader mouth,

and then it and then it shoots out that way as it comes. And wherever you point that to yell essentially,

you know, it's on a three hundred sixty degree kinda like, handle. You turn that handle, and then it just basically shines that that flashlight over that section, and you can you can see everything. So when you're in a kayak,

you're not... You know, you're you're kind of already in that cone kona of kona field of view anyway. In that zone with the boat and everything.

So I don't know. I think it would make make sense. Now it's seen it in the while. They like it.

Yeah. We need to get another

probably

fifteen feet out twenty feet out. K. On this cast. Yeah. From where you are right now. Okay.

I'm trying to stay off of the springs. Basically, like, thirty...

About a thirty foot cast. Yeah. Thirty thirty five. Okay.

So that distance.

Yep.

That's probably forty right there. Yeah. That's too far. That's forty. No. You're you're okay. Okay.

Yeah. You're good. Okay.

The springs are huge in this lake.

And they're just... I see that. Absolutely massive. How many Cf were you... Did you say this thing for? I

I read

a

United States for service

or geological

report. Code just jump there.

And,

I wanna say it was something like

six thousand Cf.

Yeah.

And it can surge up to twelve thousand Cf. Oh my god. Only the springs, not the Feather River

not Hamilton branch only the spring. We go coming into the lake. There we go. Good.

Jump

strip down.

Oh, I didn't look at it. I was like. Rainbow. My hip stripping rainbow.

Yeah. Well,

dude.

Oh, papa.

This is probably

the best day of I've had on the one a.

Just,

you know, just the most active

Other than that ones but I was telling you about, but smaller fish

and completely different style of fish fishing, so I think you can't compare the two.

But this is this is dope.

You guys if you can get up the almond and fish with.

With Mark, a highly, highly recommended.

We've been going

on the.

They're talk.

Partly found out thirty five forty minutes

so fish every ten or so minutes. Yeah. Yep.

It's not back or not bad.

Good.

Cool.

There are springs in this lake that are down at sixty feet deep. Oh, wow,

there springs

literally coming out

of

the

the side of the mountain. Yeah. There are springs

that are coming out

one foot deep.

And they are scattered all around the whole entire lake.

And Lake so big. When the, yeah. When the lake

gets to these certain temperatures,

and you

know the depth and you know where the springs are. You know what the depth of the springs are.

It's where the fish are gonna be.

So...

And that all he...

There there jesus

This one figured. Oh, popped up.

What did I do wrong? Too much too much set. Too much pressure. Too much pressure. Okay.

That's six pound. Yep. Broke. Yeah. Six pound on a eight weight. Okay.

I'm still used to... You know what.

I'm used to

cut I I stripe stripe, man. Mh. And I'm just...

Yeah. I Was I I had it, like, right right here,

forty five and just like...

Well, my stripe guys are...

I like the brake fish off.

Six pound test.

Yeah I need to... I do do, like, half the crusher in the wire set.

Keep the rod up just a little bit more. Okay.

Yeah. I'm I'm totally, like, in a stripe ring Right. On a nine way. That's all I've been fishing lately. I know. Okay. I feel you.

But, yeah.

Just Scott keep the route up more. So

I've done this

test...

And

you

sweet rod. Yeah. And you put,

six pound test on that.

And you try to pick up a one pound weight,

you will probably break the rod.

Really? Yep.

It's it's, you know, physics is really interesting stuff.

So as long as you keep that cork,

sticking up, and you're using the rod? Yeah. In theory, with six pound test and a six weight,

you'll you'll never break the line.

So you

you want me

you you wanted me more, like, basically twelve to six with a cork. Is that right?

You wanna do you wanna keep it Yeah. You wanna keep it

you know, say three o'clock is pointing straight at it. Yeah.

You wanna keep it, like,

one o'clock. Okay. Twelve o'clock is not necessary. Okay.

But so Yeah. And I... Any rows and two o'clock? Yeah.

Gone and, like,

just so you guys know listening,

my angle, I was probably

Yeah.

Two o'clock and down

down at my head.

Yeah. And then, you know, you stand on your fly line. There's no give pain stripping into it. I I literally... Do... Yeah. Just now is it, like, I would a stripe. Yep. Yeah. On... You know, and then just so you guys know I'm fishing.

In that situation, twenty pounds or seventeen pounds to a a cloud or. So...

Yeah.

When you're on a float tube or you're on a kayak, that's kinda naturally just in enforced, but if you're up on a boat your you're wouldn't have to kick off the water

already.

And

you you, you know, if you don't. But if you're not fishing a lot of trout, you need to really remember

to

just be mindful of your your angle of your rod as I just learn. Yeah. If you're a still water guy for trout,

get moderate action,

rods, moderate to fast. K. And make sure that the power

is medium. Okay.

Not high power. Yeah. A hell johnson

finishes, like, three and four four weights. Yeah. You ex the noodles. Yeah. Yep.

If you can cast them, I mean, that's kicking around out here lately. He... Seen occasionally.

Yeah. He's... You know, give him a call and talk to. He's up there.

Poor guy.

He's got tons of experience on this lake too. Mh.

We've done a couple podcasts with them... He's got a... They're always phone. Totally different outlook.

Yeah. Yeah. Than I do. And and that just that just goes to prove.

There's not one setup.

There's not one thing to do. Right? Yeah. You can catch fish on multiple setups. There's not just one thing. He's like...

I would describe him if you're gonna use putting in like bass times

as a bass finesse p

I gotta set this soup. Hold on a second here. Especially super light stuff. I forgot to check that. Really delicate.

High skill, high touch.

Not something you could easily guide kinda technique.

Yeah.

Yeah. I get a lot of a lot of people that have never

fly fish before. Yeah.

And that's totally awesome because

once you get them out here, you get them in the fish there just.

Hooked, no pun intended.

But

Yeah. You get them hooked, man.

And there's nothing like fighting a

a fish on a fly on.

Yep.

Alright, Chad. This time.

Not a stripe.

Not a stripe

we're just.

Just pick up the five late, and then you can treat him like stripe.

Right?

I had the fly, but I got a sage fight to use the drive and

I was like, I'll maybe bring and now things too wimp.

Well,

On this lake,

what I recommend unless

you thought tons and tons and tons of big fish on small rods,

do not bring anything lighter than a five to this lake.

Especially in the summer, you'll kill the fish.

Right.

You need... You really need to fish this lake

with,

six or seven weight.

If you're on the newer side, you don't get to cast a lot.

Seven way,

line it,

You'll be able to cast that thing out.

All you need to be able to do on this lake is cast a forty to fifty feet.

Ninety percent of the year, forty to fifty feet. It's all you need to be able to do. There's the other ten percent of the year. You need to be able to cast

seventy feet pretty consistently.

Winter. Yep.

Your water so clear. The the fish are up right on the surface in the winter,

you cannot see them on

electronics with the exception of pan optics.

So your your cap

take.

You're casting it basically ride and fish?

Correct. K.

Is that a dry drop situation?

Pretty much dry.

Well. Yeah okay. Fine. Yep. And sometimes you drowned them,

You cast out the dry and you use, like flu or carbon line.

You have it a couple of twitch. It brings a fly down. It's called drowning.

The fly. So it it looks cripple, basically. Correct.

And there's not one pattern. That's for darn.

I've got,

like, six fly boxes with, like, three hundred flies.

And you just to run.

Yeah. And you just kinda... You try stuff here. You really just try to match what's what's going on

if there's

little mid is hatching, you use a little mid if there's

baby cal. Yeah.

Moving around, you use a

a little cal, but most of it is

you know, size

fourteen and smaller. Okay. I'd say fourteen to eighteen. I I personally don't use anything smaller than eighteen. I have a hard time tying it on the the line.

But yeah.

There we are. Oh,

I was honest it. Yeah.

It's loose.

Gosh

But, Mean, if you're so inclined,

to catch

a giant rainbow trout

on a size twenty two or twenty six,

We can do that.

We can do that on drive flies.

Well, so one thing I've noticed is missing today

quite smaller. So the the small east, do they not hang out on on springs. So we might get one? Okay. So they do.

Absolutely. Off.

But say the majority though of the small off right now.

Sorta the kinda out reach for fly fisherman unless you're doing the hex hatch.

Okay.

Are they

Yeah.

Typically,

after spawn,

most lakes,

like large melt bass and spotted bass, fifty percent stay shallow, fifty percent go deep.

The bigger ones go eat by soon. Yeah

That, I'd

I have mixed feelings on. Okay.

But

because I've seen giants shallow.

Really? Yeah.

But I... Yeah. You, I mean,

you're probably right. The bigger ones probably do go out deeper.

On this lake,

seventy five percent of them

go out deep.

Okay. It's not half,

and they'll they'll all of the big ones go deep. And they just resident it out there, and then when butt with an asterisk because when the hex is on. Correct. They'll move in at night. Yep. Okay.

They'll go from

forty five

feet, fifty feet

sitting on the bottom, waiting for the hex hatch,

and then boom that last magic hour Yeah. Of the hex hatch.

They move in, and they just guard,

and they just eat everything in sight.

You know, it doesn't matter what it is. It could be

a meadow,

Yeah.

A hex,

whatever.

If it's in their face, they eat it.

So they pretty much are exactly like my dog.

The dog wants to go for a dunk.

Correct.

Yep.

She has a

she actually has a life vest that you can get it pet car or whatever. Yeah.

And it has a loop on there, and you can put a leash on it,

and it keeps her really floating really well. She doesn't even have to kick or nothing.

It's still chill. Yeah. And you put the vest on her

in a leash, and you just hook her up to the side of the boat, and she'll just kinda sit out there and just, like,

that's hilarious. And just love it. Yeah. Until it it's fifty pound brown ether.

Yeah.

An A shark.

What was your biggest brown you're tell me?

Like thirty

one, forty two inches. Out of Gal.

Mh.

On a fly rush? On the fly re.

Yeah. I know. Dude. It was, like, an hour long fight.

Six eight seven.

It was on

it was on a five.

Yeah.

Took this time of year went... It was during the hex hatch. Oh, Lord. So I broke my sixth weight,

my favorite six weight,

and

so I busted it out. I I wanted to keep

my seven weight with the

the

the drive flies. Yeah. And I don't like casting a ten foot rod

with sinking line.

I like using a nine foot rod. So I had a nine foot five rate.

Cast out the sinking line, count to my number,

start stripping in,

and it just gets heavy.

And I'm like,

bottom. Bottom. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And I I thought it was bottom.

I've I've got the rod,

and

my dad was with me at the time.

And

so I start going over to this... What I thought was the snag and I'm like, wait.

I thought the snag is right here. The snags like, over here now.

I'm like, well, oh, wait.

And so it just it just kinda sat there all in. It was just like, I'm the man.

Yeah. I'm a forty two inch brown trout.

There's nothing in here that can bug me that can mess with me.

What is this that's in my face.

What are you trying to do to me right now?

Yeah. Because that's pretty much now.

Yeah.

So

I'm pulling and I'm going.

I think I got

I think I got a cart.

And these guys on the shoreline are going

going. Do you want us to rear in?

And the the fish starts heading

down this rock pile, guys reel in.

So

I'm just sitting there, like, following it around,

following it around. I'm like, I'm gonna get this cart to the boat.

Well,

gets closer and closer and closer and I see the dark color,

and I'm like... It's not a cart. I'm like,

that doesn't look like a cart.

Yeah.

And then it turns on the side

and my like.

I just... My face just goes blank.

I'm just, like, what

is this? Personal best brown. Yes. Yeah.

I would think so. Yeah.

That's a toad. Yeah. I mean,

you know, I'm I'm getting nervous. I'm sweating.

Yeah. I'm, like, oh, man.

Myself Yeah. I got.

And I was still in denial at the point. I was like, nah. That's like a sacramento pie or a car. I just didn't know what I was looking.

Nope.

I held the fish. I got a few photos,

and I followed that fish around in that cove

for a half an hour just to make sure that it did okay. Yeah. That's cool.

That was done. That was that was done. Yeah. Tack it in. That's that's that's the day. Yeah.

Yeah.

So Do you still have pictures of it? I... I've got a picture of it somewhere.

It was long enough ago that

before digital. Well, it was... I used my

my my razor flip though. Jeez yeah.

So has about eight eight picks of road. Yeah. Oh

Yeah.

If you talk about your

your your Rc background?

Yeah. So

as a kid, I...

If I wasn't fishing,

I was...

I'm talking about radio control cars. Guys. Yep. People don't know it. Hard. If I wasn't fishing,

and I was very active. If I wasn't fishing, which was just on the weekends because my dad had to work.

Sometimes we didn't go fishing for

a month or two, because we always just... My dad always try to put things the seasons.

So... And I wanted to stay busy, so I would go out and. I would go race my Bm

my my bicycle

at the bike tracks.

I got hurt pretty bad.

And so my dad bought me a remote control car to put together for

just physical therapy, basically. Yeah. And I really dug it. I thought it was super cool and then you could raise them. So That was, like,

competitive stuff that got your heart going and

and

so I went to a track and I raced it. And I was like, man. This is way safer.

Then then bicycles.

And I can spend more time on the track. I'm not dead at the end of the day. Yeah.

And then,

a friend of mine bought a hobby store.

And I worked for him

for a while,

and I raced the Rc cars, and I went fishing on the weekend, and

that was that.

And then,

I got... I

got another amount. I got a mountain bike.

Got hurt really bad on that,

and I just said, you know what?

That's it. You know, I'm older,

I kinda wanna

quit the job I have now and

and

so I quit my job and

started doing this full time.

Is there anything

in the Rc world

that you've applied to fishing. I know that sounds like a random question, but anything like even boat, boat configuration... Absolutely.

Fit... You know, catching fish wise not really. Right. But...

I was thinking equipment. Yeah. Yeah. But, like,

mechanics though, you know, Like, I take my wheels apart.

Right. I take my wheels completely apart.

Just like in rc seats. Mh. And

I take I I blast the bearings out. You can get this thing called the bearing blaster from Rpm.

That's... That is so good to know. Okay. Explain to me why you would wanna blast your bearings. That's dirty by the. Yeah

I got my parents bearings blasted this week good. Yeah.

I my bearing. Well.

I'm so your Bearings have grease in them,

grease

is friction.

Friction on reels and drags is bad.

Yeah. You want the least amount of breakaway force as paw break away, meaning,

the least amount it takes to start pulling that line out initially.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That first,

five thousands of an inch that you pull out of that reel.

May not seem much, but it's a lot.

Especially when you have twenty feet of wine out, a fish grabs, it start turning out, instantly put you on that reel. That instant

pop right there, Where will the rewind slaps the reel and the starts going.

I've seen so many breakouts offs right there, and only because the breakout lay force

from the reel

because of that grease and the bearings.

Good to know. So they have... This stuff is... What is it? So what you do is you get this stuff called,

electric motor cleaner, you can get it from a hobby store, which I highly recommend because you get way more.

And it has solvent in to keep your bearings from resting.

K. And it's designed to work with oil and designed... It's designed to do this.

Yeah. So there's a company called Crc that you can get from

a mechanics.

Yeah. From a Napa or whatever,

It's called Crc. It's electrical connector cleaner, and it shows an electrical connector on there. Shows a Mo, electrical connector. Right, on the the front of the bottle. You can use that.

The only problem with it is is it dries

totally dry.

There's nothing in there to keep anything from resting.

So you gotta you gotta put something on there. So I like to use the radio control car stuff because it's designed to do this. Right. Right. And it comes up the nozzle that goes into the bearing blaster.

So you take that bearing, put it in the bearing blaster,

spray it out, get all that that grease out of there, then

you tell the guy at the hobby store, you want bearing

grease,

Remote control car bearing

grease. It should be really thin.

You put a couple of drops

inside the bearing. You just put around the the middle of the bearing,

and it soak in,

and then you kinda put a little bit of oil around the outside of it, wipe it down.

Very important you wipe it off.

Don't... Just just with a dry towel wipe it off.

And and put the reel back together.

But you have to have a reel that has bearings that are removable

if you do that. Like a sealed drag. Not gonna... You... No. You I take a part sealed drags.

Yeah.

But that's good to know. Like, you know, I would have never thought that the Rc,

like, it totally makes sense. It's they're probably sourcing a lot of same parts, You know? Yep. The little micro parts like. So,

and you can change bearings on rails too. Mh.

Back is a rating for for bearings.

Okay. There. And you wanna get the A back five,

and you wanna get ceramic.

Okay. If you get ceramic, you don't need to clean them out.

They already have the oil on them and you never have the oil ever again as long as you don't go in salt.

Go salt. You gotta take the real part and oil the bearings. K.

Thank you. A jump in a spit. He the while here... I didn't wanna interrupt him, but there were

we had a fish on for a for a a hot minute.

Before we hit record,

we were talking about drones, and we were talking about, like, how

well the Sky d o two.

Yeah. What is that? I'm familiar with the Dji drones. Right. So the Sky d two is designed

so that you could launch it right from the boat,

send it up there,

and

all day, you can take off.

You... Not all day, but you can

send it up there,

and

you can be fishing, and it will watch everything you're doing.

It'll even have it offset.

So you can tell it to offset whatever.

Like, the distance wise. Mh. Okay.

And it will stay that distance away from you,

or

if you...

So if you go through a tunnel, it'll go over the tunnel and back down.

Right? Well if there's trees, it'll go around the trees, and then it'll come back to that distance you want it to.

And do you have to wear our wrist strap or something? Yeah. Okay. Yeah because like, the Dji drums, they do have, but it's all... It's all with

you know, basically, basically.

Well, because of the way the Sky idea works, it can't do that. Right? The way you use it. Now, that's why I was thinking it must have been a risk thing if you're doing and stuff like that. You have a tag. That's super cool. So it's probably a lot a lot more accurate. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. That's that's... And it actually tries to get better footage. So it will go ahead of you. Mh. You can turn on the intuitive stuff, and it will, like, go ahead of you. It's really famous for, like,

Mountain Biker.

Okay.

Check it out. They send it up, and they go through the woods, man.

And it films them through the freaking woods. It's like avoiding trees and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. The Dji stuff doing that, but they... The Dji has a better camera. Total stuff. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. I know was it... I stripped in a little. And I can't tell if that was a bump, or that was me stripping.

Yeah. We're gonna we're gonna get one more, but we've got ten minutes basically before this wrap

and either gonna get a fish.

Well, either way, we're done in ten minutes, we're gonna get a fish because we're both pretty hungry.

Before we cut loose, that we're gonna try and get one more, but in this time, we're gonna use it to to wind this episode down.

Mark,

I do wanna talk about the planting program here, we're talking about that earlier and I I had thought that it it was happening and then it it stopped, but you're you're saying it's it's still pretty accurate. Strong. You were telling me who the who the guy is. Can you kinda talk about that a bit?

So the guy, the president

of the Alm Fishing Association is John Cro.

Hopefully, you can get a chance to talk to him.

Yeah. I definitely wanna have him on. Yeah.

There we are. Fish.

Every time we try to start talking about something. Home.

John cro.

Yep. He's

he's the president of a faa. He goes to the fishing wildlife meetings

and he lob

for this.

Alright yeah what I wanna have. And I cannot

speak higher enough of him.

And then they they actually have a down program and they have a range of program, and he'll be able to tell you about all that stuff.

I have so many questions things like you're were talking to me about, like, how the trip boys are made.

And all that, just like, at a high level, there's a certain temperature that they they basically

washed over the eggs

during the, I guess, the Germ

you call it? Yeah. And and...

John knows a lot about that too. Sherman, and it makes them

effectively

sterile.

Yep.

Put that time to go to the doctor.

Well, before we wrap,

wood website,

Facebook

Instagram.