|
|
Send This Page to a Friend!
After I asked them how they had done, Hasten excitedly told me, "We caught a 5-1/2 pound spotted bass, a 2 pound spot and four trout." However, when I picked up the big bass before I got a photo of Hasten with his fish, I said, "it weighs more than 6 pounds, in my opinion. You better weigh it on a good scale because it might be a lake record for spotted bass." They caught both the bass and trout while fishing with soft jerk baits - Zoom Flukes in Arkansas Shiner patterns - suspended in 10 feet of water. The trout were also good-sized, ranging from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 pounds. One of the fish was a beautifully-colored Merced River rainbow, while the others were recent planters or holdover rainbows. |
|||
|
On the next day, Schaver was supposed to fish a bass tournament at Lake McClure, but his fishing partner didn't show up, so he invited me to join him for an hour of fishing with flukes and other lures. We went across the lake and into a shallow cove where we could see both bass and trout swimming in the lake's clear, cold water. "The fish were really aggressively hitting the baits yesterday, so we'll see if they're going to do the same today," he said. "Jerk the fluke erratically with different retrieves until you get the fish to take it." I threw my fluke into the water and got bit immediately by a quality trout, but the fish got off before I got it near the boat. Schaver also missed a fish. We had several more follows by largemouth bass and rainbow trout, but the fish were nowhere near as aggressive as the day before, according to Schaver, so we decided to switch to smaller baits. I threw out a red/white mini-jig several times until I hooked and landed a 12 inch rainbow. As we went further up the inlet, Schaver switched to a Senko and caught a 2 pound largemouth.
"My wife likes to eat trout, so I often like to go to Lake McSwain to catch both trout and bass after a long day of pre-fishing for a tournament at McClure, Don Pedro or other Mother Lode Lakes," explained Schaver. McSwain, a 7.5 mile long lake located on the Merced River at 400 feet in elevation in the Sierra Nevada foothills near Snelling, extends from New Exchequer Dam to McSwain Dam. The year-round cold temperatures of the lake make it a haven for trout. When surrounding lakes are too warm on the surface, McSwain provides an ideal location for the bank angler to catch trout. McSwain is operated by the Merced Irrigation District, the same entity that operates McClure, so you can fish both lakes with the same pass in a day. The lake is planted with a variety of rainbow, brook and brown trout by the DFG and the Calaveras Fish Farm. The Department of Fish and Game's Moccasin Creek Fish Hatchery plants the lake yearly with 11,300 pounds of rainbows and 4,000 pounds of catchable brook trout. Calaveras Trout Farm stocks the reservoir with 18,000 pounds of trout. However, spotted and largemouth bass are also caught by anglers fishing in the warmer coves of the lake, but many bass anglers don't fish McSwain because of the lake's 10 mph speed limit. Bluegill can also be caught, as evidenced by a productive bluegill trip that Chris Dunham, Former Fish Sniffer staffer, and I made to McSwain in the mid-1990s.
Many anglers fishing the following day caught mixed limits of rainbow and brook trout while trolling and bank fishing. Camping, recreational vehicle amenities and picnicking facilities are available adjacent to the lake in the Lake McSwain Recreation Area. The recreation area features 98 campsites. To make reservations, call toll free 1-800-468-8889. The marina store offers groceries, ice, cold beer and sodas, hot coffee, donuts, fishing tackle, rods and reels and bait. Roomy 14 foot fishing boats are available for rent by the day or the hour. Overnight boat slips are available, as well as a courtesy dock when visiting the store. You can get information about McSwain and McClure on the web: www.lakemcclure.com. Note: The construction of a new store and restaurant at Lake McSwain will begin soon. |
On the following day, Schaver told me that the big bass actually weighed 6 pounds, 12 ounces on his Normark scale, a big spot for any lake anywhere. The only larger spotted bass ever reported out of the lake was a 7 pound fish caught by the lake's concessionaire owner, John Kemper, in 1994. In fact, Kemper caught and released that hungry fish several times!
However, I had to get off the water early, so I made a few more casts with flukes, briefly hooking and losing two trout. Schaver also lost a couple of fish. It is always interesting to learn a new method and I found this to be a fascinating light tackle method for catching both trout and bass on the same trip. There are few things more exciting than seeing a big trout or bass grab your bait in clear water!
However, most anglers concentrate on the lake's trout. On the same day that Hasten landed his huge spotted bass, bank anglers were finding fine action on brook trout. One angler fooled four brook trout in the 12 inch class while dunking nightcrawlers under a float for a couple of hours, while his fishing partner landed one brookie. After making a few casts, I caught and released a scrappy brook trout while using Little Cleo lure.
|
Copyright © 1997 - 2002 The Fish Sniffer. All rights reserved. |