weapon fatality

[tucmaster]

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[Stan Wright]

I looked for you at the lake. Where were you fishing? Our largest was only 3 1/2 pounds. LOL
I think I'll start working closer to shore with my big white lizzard..

Aloha,
Stan

[tucmaster]

Aloha Stan. I usually fish for only 3 to 4 hours so it may just be a timing thing. I occasionally see you passing by in your boat - you're one of the two or three boaters on the lake who are courteous and actually slow down when passing shore fishermen (we greatly appreciate that - thanks.). Other boaters either ignore us or pretend to not see us, and they go flying by at 15-20 mph like a bat out of hell (the same culprits all the time - you guys know who you are). I guess they feel that the speed limit/no wake rule doesn't apply to them. Ironically, after a speeding boat passes by, the wake hitting the shore stirs up the cichlids, small tilapia and other bait hiding in the grass and along the shore, and the tucs actually go on a short feeding frenzy, busting bait at the surface. (The shore fishermen at the boat ramp can attest to this unusual occurrence, and I've seen it repeated in other areas of the lake). Of course, the downside of this is that the wake makes the shoreline water cloudy and it takes a while to settle.

Anyway, from watching you on TV, you toss artificials a lot and are more sporting than I. I, being shorebound and less mobile, am somewhat less sporting because I must rely on good live bait, and lots of it, to increase my chances of getting some action. In my own experience, there are two keys to consistent tuc action at the lake: (1) locate a good stretch of tuc-holding shoreline cover (submerged California grass during high water, dense fallen trees and logs during low water) and (2) live bait, live bait and more live bait. I don't see any reason why this wouldn't work for boaters patient enough to anchor along a good weed bed and soak a live bait. But hey, different strokes for different folks. Some fishermen just prefer to cover as much water as possible, lobbing lures as they go.

Good luck, good fishing, keep those reports coming, and see you out on the lake.

[Stan Wright]

Live bait works great. Most anglers I fish with don't want to use live bait, they think it's unsporting and will also result in killed fish if they swallow the hook. I use a small #10 A-H hook and 99% of my hook ups are in the top lip of the bass. I use small talipia and medaka for bait and hook them in the lips... bottom to top. I use 6 or 8 plund test line because I'm fishing from a boat and can work them to deeper water.

Your right about the spawn starting. We found a bunch yesterday. It was really hard fishing because the water is still not that clear and the fish were very very hard to spot. And even if you did find one they wouldn't bite, only blow the bait away. Got only 4 all day... but they were all in the 4 to 5 pound size. It's still knid of fun tossing a lure at a fish 40 times and all it does is push or "blow" the lure out of the way.

I'll get some more pictures in the picture gallery sometime today.

Stan

[leoric]

one time i was catching tilapia but i also caught some baby aholehole. went to the lake, tossed the aholehole to some tucs and then wham! - landed a 4 pounder. it was a sight to see.

[Stan Wright]

I even heard of some guys buying feeder fish at the pet store....gold fish? and they work well. Most guys get an oama hook, some maggets or worms and catch the baby chillids for bait.

Stan

[JeffFaulkner]

I use comets and mollies from the the pet store. If I don't have time to catch some bait I buy some. The small bass eat it up good, but the bigger fish seem to want larger bait. Red Devils massacre the feeder fish.

I watched a peacock eat about a 6' tilapia on the lake a few weeks ago. It was almost cooler than having caught the fish.

[chris16]

i used about a 6 inch talpia about 3 months ago when the water was really low and had caught a 7 pounder wat a mean battle i was useing a small spin cambo with power pro took me awhile i hads to jump out of the boat... its fun as hell to catch a big took like that.

[leoric]

i got two questions: (1) if your shorefishing, how do you guys transport your live baits from one spot to another? ( i usually carry a bucket with an aerator but i've heard people carry those oama baitwells and they say it works fine for 'em) and (2) for your live bait rig, do you guys find it more effective to use a floater or do you just freeline it with a splitshot? Thanks.

[JeffFaulkner]

I leave my bait in a cooler. No aerator or anything. I have had a few die, but not a big problem. I lip hook them and freeline with no split shot. Sometimes I will put a bobber on if it is the second rod I have on the water. They do have a tendency to go to the bottom and get stuck if they are free lined.

[leoric]

jeff, thanks for the response. i'm planning on fishing the lake this weekend. hopefully, the banks are dry enough and the water better for sight fishing.

[tucmaster]

The tucs that my brother-in-law and I have been hooking, including the big hump-head males that we've caught during the past few weeks, are fish that are cruising the shoreline. My guess is that these cruising tucs either have not yet nested or are in between spawns. Personally, we stay away from disturbing bedding fish - there are plenty of cruising fish around throughout the season.

As I understand it, after a cow tuc lays her eggs, the eggs hatch in about 3 days, then one or both parents guard their fry for weeks until they've grown to fingerling size. So tucs can spawn several times during the spawning season. So far this year, I've not yet seen any parent tucs herding balls of fry along the shoreline, but I would expect to start seeing this any time now.

Tucs are cannibalistic. In past seasons, I've seen parent tucs defend their fry and drive away any other tucs that stray too close. I've also seen other tucs (and jewel cichlids) tear into and decimate a ball of fry, when the parent fish is hooked and being fought. So we target the cruising males and females that are not actively guarding fry.

This season, if you see a monster tuc guarding its fry, please resist the urge to hook or disturb it, no matter how huge the tuc is. A higher survival rate for the tuc fry this year will mean more tucs for everyone next year. Good luck and good fishing.

[leoric]

Went out with a friend today (5/6/06-Sat) and caught nothing. The tucs were there but they ignored every lure (and even live bait!) presented to them. Even the tilapia refused my bread dough.

This one guy with a boat mentioned that it was 10 degrees cooler than normal which makes the tucs little less aggressive. The guy and his pal caught only two tucs.

Well, I hope everyone else caught something. Let me know how you all did today. Thanks.

[Stan Wright]

Same Here. We fished Friday and only got one tuke and a few chases. The fish we did see totally ignored us too. We did catch some red devils, but overall it was a very slow day. The nesting tukes we had seen on Monday were no where to be found. Your right about the temperature..... on Monday it was 79/80. On Friday it was 75. I also found out that my "rain proof" jacket.....isn't. It's back to Frog Toggs for me. We had to use the bildge pump all day because of the heavy rain.

It's amazing to have so much action one day, and the next day it seems there are no fish in the lake.

Stan