Vega Reservoir Report 5/14/05

Hit vega today from about 7:00 to 3:00. Fished near the culverts and boat ramp. Started out near the boat ramp and iceintheveins caught a 16" 2 lb. rainbow on the first cast on a #6 gold panther martin. We hammered that area for 20 more min. without a bite. Nobody else had bites yet either, and there were several shore anglers and pontoon boats. It was a jam-packed day at vega. We fished near the first culvert for about 45 minutes with only 1 bite in our boats until I found the spot. The spot was at about 22 ft. of water, roughly 70 yards out and 20 yards west of the first culvert. In about 1 and a half hours of 3 of us fishing that spot, I caught 5, my dad caught 4, and iceintheveins caught 2 more to bring his total to 3. I also lost about 8 or 9 fish near the boat. All of the fish were in the 15-20" range, and all were caught tossing out nightcrawlers and slowly bringing them back to the boat along the bottom. The fish wouldn't hit anything else. They were all very fat, except for one spawned out female I caught that was 19" and probably only a little over 2 pounds (I kept this fish). The heaviest of the fish was a 3.5 lb bow and the lightest was a 1.72 lb. bow. There were also other shore anglers who, using a variety of flies, lures, and powerbait, each probably caught anywhere from 0-2. Another one of the pontoon boaters landed 3. The people that were trolling in boats didn't get anything, the fish were very sluggish on the bite today but not when hooked . They gave some drag zinging runs. Kept 3 fish, each about 2-3 pounds. Put all the rest back.

The lake was very high, and the water was a little off color and got more off color the further east you went. There were a few people snagging big spawning rainbows in the feeder creeks which pi$$ed me off. It wasn't really fishing, we could scoop them up with our hands. Many 2-8 pounders were spawning. A real fisherman wouldn't snag these fish, it is a shame that some people whom cannot even be described as fisherman do this. Overall it was sort of tough fishing today but worth it when you hooked one, but it was very crowded, with anglers on shore literally shoulder to shoulder and us boaters almost practically bumping into each other. We left early because the wind came up and our little pontoon boats don't handle well with wind, and there was no where to stand on shore to fish pretty much, and by then the fish were all too far off shore anyway. If anyone wants to go up here, prepare for the crowds, but the fishing is pretty good for quality sized fish.