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Tough Day at Spinney

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H

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
The weather was beautiful..maybe the best weather I've ever had at Spinney. No wind at all until 5 o'clock. Water temps started at 65 and went up to 68..Very few fish rising.

I fished hard and was only able to land five..missed a couple..broke one off and that was it..And all but one hit came between 10:30 and 11:30...the other nine hours...nada. Piss poor at a half fish per hour..

I usually start out with a bugger on the fly rod and a kastmaster..boyant..kroc..etc..on the spinning rod. And since Spinney trout like to keep bankers hours..generally the spinning rod outperforms the fly rod early and late in the day..The fly rod rules between 10:00 and 2:00 and the bugger comes off.

But today..not a single hit on the spinning rod..not ever touched. Midges were thick ..in the eyes...nose...mouth. Callibaetis ...I saw about fifteen during that one magic hour. Jeff called and asked how I was doing..He'd been up Sunday and between three of them had only managed seven..Said he felt better hearing I was struggling. I felt better hearing Sunday had sucked for him also..Misery loves company.

Here's the kicker..Jeff said on Sunday the ANS inspector had told him to kill all pike caught. Jeff told him that he didn't eat pike ...what was he supposed to do with them...He was told to toss them in the dumpster. He asked if the guy had said the same thing to me..Since my boat didn't need checked...he hadn't.

Towards the end of the day, I ran into two guys out in belly boats...We got to talking and one of them mentioned that the ANS inspector had told them to kill all pike they catch. The guy from Texas told the ANS that he too didn't eat pike...What was he supposed to do with them? He too was was told to toss them in the dumpster. He told the inspector that he was brought up to eat what you kill and couldn't just toss the fish away.

So, I stopped on the way out and asked the inspector if he was told to tell everyone to kill all pike..He responded that they want them out of the lake and want all anglers to kill all pike. I pointed at the sign that says only one pike allowed over 34 inches...His response was that it didn't matter..they want them all gone...He said ...Don't worry about it they'll never get rid of all the pike..I said yeah...maybe just the big ones leaving us a lake full of hammer handles..

Nice guy..but what the heck..

Well anyway...the only pics I took today...got one heck of a toothache out on the lake ..but wanted to stay and catch fish..Home now...and thanks to some Oxycodone left over from a previous injury..I will mellow out and hit the dentist in the morning..



 
Bionic Man

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#2 ·
Nice photos even if the catching didn't cooperate.

I thought there actually was signage at the lake advising anglers to keep the SMALL pike. Wonder how many folks that are not targeting larger pike actually land them? Either way, I don't appreciate his message.

I was considering trying to hit Spinney next week (long shot). Looks like if I actually get the time off, I will head in a different direction.
 
B

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#4 ·
I have not heard about pike in antero. I think that pike are what make spinney as good as it is size wise. it would be sad to see it become another overstockered lake with too many suckers.
 
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redleader

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#11 · (Edited)
The Mussel inspector spreading Kill propaganda on all Pike and telling Anglers to waste them is screwed up, theres a reason the large pike are protected.
This is the third time I've heard of problems with them spreading BS, they are there to inspect boats only, chewing out them and their supervisors would be a good plan.
 
L

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#12 · (Edited)
Spinney usually doesn't seem to fish well when it's nice out.

It's old news that spinney ans are pike killing nazis. 11 mile is as well. The 11 mile ice tourneys have a pike dumpster. I thought it was illegal to waste game fish?!?!?

Too bad we can't have a single pike lake in Co. I bet it'd become the top lake out here
 
redleader

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#14 · (Edited)
lvrider said:
Spinney usually doesn't seem to fish well when it's nice out.

It's old news that spinney ans are pike killing nazis. 11 mile is as well. The 11 mile ice tourneys have a pike dumpster. I thought it was illegal to waste game fish?!?!?

Too bad we can't have a single pike lake in Co. I bet it'd become the top lake out here
Click to expand...
Williams Fork is the only lake in the state with a slot protection on Pike, 26"-34"ers must be immediately released, implimented by Jake Bennit over 30 years ago it is the only real protection that we still have. In the old days lots of lakes had slots, the researcher knew if you kept the big pike around you wouldn't have Sucker or high small Pike population problems and it worked, now that they have forgotten everything they learned and the new researchers stupid plan now is to get rid of large Pike and stock expensive large Rainbows in the fall even though historical research shows that less than 10% carry over to spring even in lakes without predators. The shore fisheries slow down in the Summer when the water warms up and if some of the Rainbows get eaten by large Pike at least they didn't go to waste as they do anyway.
 
H

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
I can understand wanting to have a balance in Spinney. The need to remove smaller pike in the lake. I also realize that it costs more to stock larger trout. But, some things are worth paying for... Right now there seems to be a good balance. The trout I caught were all between 18 to 22 inches..fat and healthy. I've heard of some very nice pike being caught also over the past couple of weeks.

Fishing was slow, but I think it had more to do with the large quantities of midges available to the fish. I really enjoy fishing Spinney for both trout and pike. It's too bad that extreme thoughts or measures seem to be the managerial choice rather than trying to manage for balance. I've talked to quite a few people up there that only like to fish it for trout..and most of them want you to kill all pike. A lot of guys that only fish it for pike..or for pike and trout..don't want to kill any pike at all..regardless of size.

There needs to be balance..with suckers and perch in the lake..I think there's a need for pike..if you want quality trout fishing.
 
Anteroman

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#16 ·
Spinney update week of June 8

Hobie,
It has been an interesting year so far. I've only had a handful of those "In the Hatch" 15-20 fish 1/2 days this season.
The last week has picked up but I'm still not seeing the bugs and the fish keyed in on them.
Everyday seems like a challenge and the fish I'm finding are moving around. Earlier almost everything was in 15-20' of water and the last week I'm seeing them in 4-7'. Chironos and chromies have been working and yes, almost all of the fish are 18-22" very decent size for sure.
I too fish the R/L and have left it in the truck as I'm just not getting hits on it. I usually throw 5 casts with a lure and change it out if I don't get a bite, after chucking 40 or 50 casts on at least ten trips without a hit I figured I'd wait until these fish get feeding again.
The weather and the bugs I believe will have conditions right in the next week or so. We are all looking forward to those days.
See you at the lake.
Bill
 
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