Bob

Well I would have felt like quite a dolt if you had stuck a bunch of huge ones, but it sounds like your experiencing the same type of fishing as I have... That is encouraging that you hooked one really big one. Sorry to hear it got away :( Nico and I actually found that numbers fishing was great this year for some reason. A mix of spots and small largemouth mostly. I had couple trips where we caught like 7 or 8 keeper sized bass and one trip where we caught I think 14. It may have had something to do with us getting more desperate and trying more new techniques and small fish techniques hoping to luck into a bigger bite along the way. It's just not the same lake though.

The Fisheries and Wildlife director for the lake implied to me that low water has changed the fishing locations and that I needed to try lures that look like trout... Basically saying that I might just not know what I'm doing out there. Sorry but... I am not the kind of fisherman who just sticks with one thing or fishes historically good spots. I pulled out all the stops this summer trying new water, new baits and of course plenty of trout baits, and those fish just either aren't there or aren't biting. The problem with trying to prove my point is that neither me nor him has the data to make any conclusions. EBMUD does an annual electrofishing survey in the fall, but they skipped it in 2003, and I don't think it's been done yet in 2004. Any data I collect is skewed because I don't have enough data for one, and I'm only targeting big fish for two. The real answer will only come if they do a thorough electrofishing survey this year. Then we'll see what's really in there ... unless they are all offshore chasing those bait balls, which you are right - they could be out there.