upthecreek wrote:
Man sounds like a tough day out there. All that trolling would kill me. How fast were you trolling? With those pedals in my experience (offshore) it is hard not to troll to fast, especially this time of year with the cold water temps. Just a guess, who knows? Looks like you picked up a nice one either way.
Offshore you are dealing with a strong tide or current. Guana lake is an easier peddle/paddle than out there. On windy days it is a little tougher but not like out offshore. No tide in the Lake side of Guana.
I try to troll about 1.3 to about 1.6.mph for reds and trout and have been really successful at it. More of the slower speeds with the colder water.
I brought some real nice live shrimp with me and stopped at several spots and had one on bottom and one on a Cajun thunder rig. I also cast my arti's while soaking bait.
I have a gps/fishfinder and find it very useful marking a waypoint on each spot I pick up a fish. I also use it to mark little bits of structure/oysters/dropoffs.
Like others have said on this forum, It really does not mark too many fish as the lake is very shallow but does show areas where they may be prowling.
You would be supprised at how many times I pick up another fish in the same general area of my last trips waypoints. I edit each waypoint with information pertaining to it like ::22"red/feb/15/10-7:30am/gulp/swim-mullet/char or oysterclumps/green crabtrapline, etc.... I even use some landmarks to to tie in to waypoints like 3 palms clumped together at a certain point. Stuff like that.
On the windier days I can drift back downwind at trolling speeds with just minor corrections with the rudder. On Saturday, there was not a lot of wind so I peddled most of the day unless at anchor/stakeout pole.
Saturday was a slow fish day. I usually don't catch 20 fish out at Guana lake on a given trip. But the 5 or 6 I usually catch a trip are mostly quality fish. I have caught 2 of the 30" Gator trout that Riverboatman was talking about. I have found out from this forum and others that if you even post a pic of you holding one of the big spawners the wrong way, you will get endless posts bashing you for mistreatment of the fish. I usually just get them back in the water as quick as I can. I realize that these big female trout are the future of the trout fishery and want my son to be able to catch some too.
These are just some things I like to do out there.
The trolling tips I got from members on this forum like RLend and others. They even told me what lures to try. I just added them to the arsenal I was already throwing and Most are productive on any given day.
There are so many others here that know much more about this area than I. I have only been here 2.5 years but came from the South Texas gulf coast and a lot of the same techniques from there work here.
I have a couple of Pics of Gator trout on my cell phone and was going to post them but my RAZR phone said file too big to email???? I will have to research that.
I hope some of the info I listed may help someone as those that have helped me before. Pay it forward I say.
PS. Sure would like some locations to try for Black Drum? Not necessarily GL but anywhere??
Later, Mark
PS: I am not sure is oysters grow in Guana Lake. I have always heard they need tide and higher salinity to survive. I think they are filter feeders and use the tides to catch their food? On several occasions while trolling I have brought up a half an oyster shell. I am thinking some people have dumped piles here and there to make their own structure. Does anyone know??
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