I was going to head to Mineral Lake, but got up late, so I decided to spend a few hours at American.

I launched at about 10am and headed over to the VA side of the lake. I decided to try something different and put a 1/2oz snap weight 20 feet up from a Chartreuse wedding ring and then let another 20 feet out. I also was running a second rod with 50' of letback, trolling at 1.2-1.4mph.

Both rods were setup the same. 10lb Fluoro mainline, snubber, 4.25 Rocky Mountain Tackle Bahama Mamma dodger, 24 inches 10lb Flouro leader and an all Chartreuse Wedding ring with a hammered brass size 3 spinner.

Both setups worked equally well with a total of 13 fish caught and released safely back to grow a little more. The average size was 10-12 inches with 1 14 incher. No rainbows this time, all kokanee's.

The snapweight system worked pretty well. I had to play with it a little and first and started out 50/50. 50 feet of line, 1 oz snap weight and then another 50 feet. That got me down to about 35 feet in the water column. Since I was fishing in 25-35 feet of water, I was touching bottom. I then switched over to the 20/20 method and things started to work great. I figured I was at about 10-12 feet in the water column.

Not bad for 3 hours on the water. Absolutely beautiful day, with little or no wind and blue skies with scattered clouds.

Water temp started at 57.4 and ended up at 60 degrees.

sbdolson

5/12/2010 8:55:00 PM

Sounds like you had a pretty good day on the h20... I must say that you report a very informative report, I will try the info that you provided on my next fishing venture.
Thanks

Bretts Dad

5/12/2010 9:13:00 PM

Great report. Thanks for the details.

Bretts Dad

5/12/2010 9:14:00 PM

Great report. Thanks for the details.

MotoBoat

5/12/2010 9:27:00 PM

Were you baiting the hooks on your chartreuse wedding rings?

littledeschutes

5/12/2010 10:26:00 PM

Thanks guys. MotoBoat...No I wasnt. I have, in the past used Berkley gulp white maggots, and they have worked quite well, but I wanted to be able to catch and release more than 5 fish. I try and experiment with different things every time I go out. Normally, I use 2 different lures. Today, since I knew the Wedding Rings produced, I decided to try the snap weight on a rod I knew would produce.

The other lure that I have used with good to moderate success has been a pink mini-squid with orange beads and a silver stamped spinner. I will usually run one rod with the squid and the other with the wedding ring and see what the fish like. The last couple of trips the chartreuse wedding ring out fished the squid 4 to 1.

I should be heading out again in a couple of more days and I'm going to try a couple of different setups and see how they fair.

admtjr

5/14/2010 6:28:00 PM

Hail American Lake Fishermen. Can someone tell me where I can rent a small boat on American Lake? I live in South Korea, and travel to Tacoma, each Spring/Summer to visit my son. And so for a month I spend most of my time tring to find a good place to fish. A sport which I have enjoyed for over 50years. And do you have live bait shops located on or near the Lake? Appreciate any and all help or suggestions. Thanks.

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