I spent another 7 hours throwing the 9" Slammer today. There was good cloud cover most of the day and even a light shower. With conditions like that, I thought it would be good, but it wasn't to be. I ended up getting one fish in the 2lb range and that was the only action I had all day.

After checking the pressure chart, it looks like it never dropped low enough to get anything going, even though it felt right.

That makes 14 hours of throwing trouts in my last two trips with only one little fish to show for it. I think i'm going to start focusing more on Santa Margarita for the winter.

As far as I am concirned, its not easy if it was everyone would do it, right. Look at it this way, you got good casting practice and a little more confidance, AND you did catch a fish, right. I have a hard time throwing the Slammers, they just don't bring the fish in for me. I do still use them but as a second or last resort. Did you have any other followers that you could see? How about a little scent(I don't think scent is the problem)? Maybe you need to change spots or tactics. Where did you catch your fish? (pocket, point,ramp, structure) What type of retrieve did it hit? (slow roll, stop and go, twitch) You may want to try a catfish type rig with the lure, add a swivel and a 3/4 to 1 oz. egg sinker on the line about 1-2 feet before the lure and count the bait down a little deeper or drag it on the bottem. But I believe you are right, the Bar did not seem to drop much. I really wanted to go out, but couldn't. You may have a better chance when the bar drops but that is not the only time fish can be had. Go out to the lake when it is fairly flat and find the spots where you have followers. just my .02

Robbor,

Of course there are alot of other things I could have that might have produced some fish. The Slammer has produced some good fish for me at Lopez and that's why I stick with it. I think the main problem today was that there was no wind and the water was flat as can be. This is not a good thing for Lopez. In fact they were probably holding in deeper water waiting for the wind to pick up so they could move shallow and feed. I knew the conditions weren't exactly ideal so I concentrated on drop offs at the edge of flats. Perhaps a setup like you mentioned worked out a little deeper might have been the ticket.

Phil, don't feel bad. I talked to Brian #1, he and #2 got skunked at Cachuma Friday and I got skunked at Coyote today. MS did good at Margarita on Friday, but that's the only good report I've heard from this turkey-day weekend. I thought this Southern storm was going to really active the fish, but it didn't seem like it did. Coyote bites best when there's a big front ripping in from the North/Northeast. This is probably true at most lakes in CA really.

Yes, you are right. I have seen the exact same thing at Casitas, no wind no fish(at least for me). I was just offering up ideas but I know I get stuck in the same rut sometimes, yes its hard to give up what works. Good luck