September 19, 2008
By Wayne Gustaveson
Lake Elevation: 3627
Water Temp: 77-79 F

Darn old full moon really put the fish down early this week. Fish are fat after chowing down all summer on a surplus supply of shad. There is plenty of forage. Living is easy. All this adds up to tough fishing for sportsmen when fish get a blast of full moon-itis. But this will pass. By the time the report makes the rounds the worst will be over and fishing will perk up once more.

Striper boils are now defined as 3 fish splashing within 50 yards of each other. They can be caught if the surface lure is presented on time before the splash ring goes away. Splashing fish may be either bass or stripers. They are all lazily eating shad on the surface. The surface action may last for two bites but fish are up and gone in a flash.
 

Jamie Jenneve's son from NY with boil-caught striper.


The best way to catch them is to drop spoons in the vicinity of the splash rings. The best depth for spooning is 40 feet. When a school is graphed on bottom, drop the lure until it touches and then jig in short strokes. If the school is suspended, drop the lure below the school and then speed reel through the fish. Pause when above the fish and drop the lure back through the fish zone. This technique will catch more stripers than any other right now.

The only really good time of day right now is evening. As the moon darkens, mornings will get progressively better. The twilight periods are far superior to any other time of day for fishing success.

There are fish to be caught in these conditions. My best technique today was to find a long rocky point covered with tamarisk trees. Follow the point out until treetops are just barely visible under water. Fish shad and bluegill crankbaits and plastics where bottom depth is 20-30 feet. A Storm Wild-eye swimbait was the best lure today. Let it swim through the tree tops and drop along the edges to find bass lurking in the trees. Bass fishing really saved the day when stripers were not ready to go for us.

At Bullfrog there were a few striper boils (3 fish) in the early morning in Hansen Creek, Lake Canyon and Halls Creek. Spooning near the boils produced a few stripers. The only really good spooning spot found was at the tire breakwater guarding Bullfrog Main Ramp which produced some 30 fish catches early in the week.

Water temperature is cooling and the moon is getting darker. Fishing will be back to normal with a good fishing success rate as the moon gets dark at month end.