Chase, Uncle Jason and I went to Fuller Lake a few weeks ago and as some of you may know from past posts I never do well at Fuller Lake, but I wanted to give it another shot. It’s too close not to try and figure this lake out. It’s only an hour and a half up the mountain towards Tahoe and I always hear of other people doing well there. For some reason it seems like I am just cursed at this lake. I get plenty of takes, most of the time but, just can’t hook the fish.
I started out the day with a fly that I have been tying which is a pheasant rump for their wrapped around a size 10 streamer hook. The movement on the fly is awesome and the fish in the High Sierras seem to love it. We got to the lake around 8 o’clock pumped up our float tubes and set out. First few casts I get a bite and pull up to set the heck. No fish. A little while later, again, I got another take. Go to set the hook, no fish. As I continued to cast I saw that Chase was landing fish and my Uncle Jason was landing fish as well and I thought to myself, “Maybe I really am cursed.” Again I get a bite! I pull up to set the hook. No fish! At this point and I was getting pretty frustrated I couldn’t understand why I was unable to set the hook on these fish.
To try and increase my chances and to just try and change something, I pulled my fly out and bent the bite of the hook so that it was no longer parallel with the shank. This should help prevent me from pulling the fly out of the fish’s mouth. I throw out a cast and started stripping the line back and again no fish! At this point I was beyond frustrated. I had missed 8 fish! I pulled the fly out again bent the hook a little bit more.
I through a cast out and let the fly get deep before stripping it in. A couple strips in and I got another take. I pulled the rod tip up... Fish on!
The fish fought hard so I thought it might be a better sized planter. When the fish surfaced it was a beautiful gold color. I was surprised. It was a Brown. When I got it in, it was around 14 inches. Pretty good for Fuller Lake. After catching that fish I decided to call it a day ending it on a high note. Funny thing was that as I was kicking in, I caught another fish right as I hit the shore. Just a little Rainbow, but it felt as though the curse had been lifted.
We all did well. Chase caught quite a few Rainbows with a black wholly bugger and Uncle Jason caught a lot from shore. Next time fuller is planted with new fish, I’m heading up again.
I started out the day with a fly that I have been tying which is a pheasant rump for their wrapped around a size 10 streamer hook. The movement on the fly is awesome and the fish in the High Sierras seem to love it. We got to the lake around 8 o’clock pumped up our float tubes and set out. First few casts I get a bite and pull up to set the heck. No fish. A little while later, again, I got another take. Go to set the hook, no fish. As I continued to cast I saw that Chase was landing fish and my Uncle Jason was landing fish as well and I thought to myself, “Maybe I really am cursed.” Again I get a bite! I pull up to set the hook. No fish! At this point and I was getting pretty frustrated I couldn’t understand why I was unable to set the hook on these fish.
To try and increase my chances and to just try and change something, I pulled my fly out and bent the bite of the hook so that it was no longer parallel with the shank. This should help prevent me from pulling the fly out of the fish’s mouth. I throw out a cast and started stripping the line back and again no fish! At this point I was beyond frustrated. I had missed 8 fish! I pulled the fly out again bent the hook a little bit more.
I through a cast out and let the fly get deep before stripping it in. A couple strips in and I got another take. I pulled the rod tip up... Fish on!
The fish fought hard so I thought it might be a better sized planter. When the fish surfaced it was a beautiful gold color. I was surprised. It was a Brown. When I got it in, it was around 14 inches. Pretty good for Fuller Lake. After catching that fish I decided to call it a day ending it on a high note. Funny thing was that as I was kicking in, I caught another fish right as I hit the shore. Just a little Rainbow, but it felt as though the curse had been lifted.
We all did well. Chase caught quite a few Rainbows with a black wholly bugger and Uncle Jason caught a lot from shore. Next time fuller is planted with new fish, I’m heading up again.
