CHRIS MASON: Monster Trout Encounter

As many of you know, I have gone mostly to the dark side and become a die-hard Bass Hunter. However, I never forget my roots fishing trout as a kid on the Kern River and Lake Isabella. It will always be a part of the outdoor lifestyle for me and many of us.

That being said, I had decided to target my beloved green monsters, with a back-up plan to play with the sizable trout I had been hearing about so far. I wanted to let the weather and bass activity (or lack of) decide how long I hunt before I switch gears. So, here is the result.

First person I see at the gate was Daniella AKA Vineline. What a pleasant way to start a Saturday! Thanks for asking about the family and wishing me luck. Water temp upon launching at 0715 hours was about 64 degrees. Condition was stained and murky with about 3-4 feet visibility depending on location. There was very little wind but really picked up throughout the day.

I started in the back of the flats and metered a TON of shad activity, but the bass seemed to be sparse up shallow. I picked off one 2 lb’r on plastics and missed one. Time now was around 9 am. Switched baits to deeper cranks and such to target 15 feet of water and jumped on the trolling motor. I had a small one come unbuttoned and a 4 Lb’r follow and bite at my bait but came immediately detached. Oh well! I changed spots to Sierra Cove to fish the Tooleys. I saw a couple of MONSTER trout swimming for foliage in the shallows. After several baits and techniques and only small bass followers, I tossed small plastics for trout and hung a nice 4 lb’r. Great average fish size! Nice fight on light tackle too.

Well, off to the West Shore I go and tossed a few cranks and spinners all the way to Boat Dock Cove for nada! I noticed the wind blowing in the direction of the Lagoon at about 10mph and some water coming out of the pipes. I figured there had to be bait there! There was a ton and crashing. Only to find out, after casting a few hundred times with various shad colored baits, that it was mostly small birds chasing the shad under water. A few dead shad came to the surface, so I was able to match that bait exactly! I was tossing with my light spinning rod when I saw what that it was most likely trout chasing bait as well.

After seeing a crash, I went to cast my Phenix Elixir spinning rod with a crank on it, but I had a loop in the reel. I figured I’d do the next best thing and cast my baitcaster to the scene. The crank was the exact bait as the spinning rod, but had been marinating in Bite On Garlic!! The bass rod was not my first choice, since it was spooled with 10lb mono and was a 7’ Phenix Ultra MBX Classic bass rod! Necessity over preference sometimes. Nothing on the cast to the crash site, so I fan casted the area and then it happened!!! My rod just absolutely STOPPED! I thought it may be hung up, but a sudden head and shoulder tug sent the 7 footer FULL bendo! I thought it had to be a huge fish to do that, so I set the hook with authority.

Once I got the fish to the surface, I noticed it was an above average trout. Holding my rod with one hand, I had to get my net untangled and out of my bow storage box. Luckily, the fish headed for deeper water in the meantime. As soon as I brought it up again, I saw the beast….and he saw the net! With my drag nearly all the way buttoned down, he STILL peeled some line, so I was forced to hand feed about ten feet of line to the Titan for fear of breaking the 10 lb test!! After two short pumps, the fish came back up and found himself in the net! The fish actually bent the rim of the net! Granted it was my smaller cheap net. The jaw on this fish looked like a hook and he was colored like a brown!

Well, I have worked hard and spent a lot of time on the water…especially at my home lake Irvine. So, I think Christmas just came early for me this year! I’d like to thank the team at Bite On Attractants for the quality product, to the guys at Phenix Rods for supporting my passion with the incredible rods that bested the beast and made it appear easy, and the Staff at Irvine lake for providing the Anglers with such quality adversaries to hunt! Enjoy the photos and enjoy our beloved sport for what it does for us and our familes! Thanks for reading.

Here is the picture that Jimmy took for Irvine Lake’s Site. Gotta love the blood drop caught in mid-air!