going to crowley lake memorial day

[paulc]

i am taking my family on a quick camping and fishing trip this weekend. ages of kids are 4, 8, 13... we will rent a boat on sat and camp at the campground and fish our way back on sunday.. lone pine, stop at the fish hatchery.. any ideas on where to fish at crowley or techniques.. keep in mind i have young kids so i will be spending most of my time untangling, 2 and 4lb test line, baiting hooks, trying to keep them from messing with the rods, and cussing (under my breath)..  are there any particular places recomended.. is shore best or fish from shore??
thanks

 

[Bishop]

Paul, I like to fish Hilton Bay.  If you look north once you go into the gate off 395 you'll see a long point with a portable bathroom on it.  You can drive right onto the point and fish from shore.  Hilton bay is on the south side of the point and Hilton creek flows into it.  Standard slip sinker rigs with power bait or nightcrawlers should work fine.  The fishing appears best on the outhouse side of the bay because the water is deeper, but this time of the year who knows.  I've also had good luck off the rocks at the end of the marina,  but stumbling around the rocks might not be fun with the kids.  Stick with Hilton Bay.  You can park your car close to where you fish and close to the bathroom.  Best of both worlds when you have kids and women around.  
I've never fished Crowley from a boat, so I can't help you there.

I'm sure Hronk has some good info to add since it's in his backyard.

Good Luck
 

 

[hronk]

I fished Crowley on Friday.  Most of the bait fishermen were near the floating outhouse west of Sand Point.  Two groups of guys in boats were at sand point in 12-16 ft. of water using night crawlers.  It was non stop for about 2 hrs in the morning.Ask at the dock where sand point is (n. end of main basin of lake) and anchor about 200 yds west of of point about 300yds off shore.  The main flotilla of boats will be about 1/4-1/2 mi. to your west.  Use a sliding sinker with an inflated baby Night Crawler and about 18" of leader.  The boys should catch fish and you shouldn't have any bottom debris for snags.  Good Luck....hronk

 

[shaginator]

Wife and I were out at Crowley last Saturday night and Sunday morning. It got really windy Friday night, but calmed down on Saturday. We were on the northeast section where it was deeper (I'm not sure, but it's probably a tad upshore northward from Sand Point). The fish were out to 12-18 ft of water and I saw many fish jumping from first light until about 7am.

In fact, I saw one fish in the middle of the lake swimming north to south jump a total of SIX times, moving across the lake. Great sight!

Most of the fish are out in the middle of the lake so you should have a good time on the boat.

Got a couple of nibbles from shore and caught just one mid-morning before the winds kicked up again. I'd guess action over Memorial Day weekend is going to be better because DFG is probably planting more this week to prepare for the crowds.

Good luck with the kids and the fish, paul. I'm sure they'll have a blast.

 

[paulc]

bishop, hronk, shaginator, thanks for the info. we will use it for sure.  someone was telling me 2lb test.. i have 4lb on my trout poles and thought that would be ok.. cant imagine 2lb test with kids.. if you think it is neccesary i will use it. maybe i will just use it for leaders on the sliding sinker rigs.. bishop, i briefly met you at the may pigorama. i was there with a freind and we never got a chance to get to social.. it seems we never got our berings that weekend.  we plan to fish our way back on sunday maybe some lower owens river, creeks out of lone pine (my mother grew up there) and the sand trap. the kids are excited.  it sounds like the boat is the way to go at least for awhile.
thanks

 

[shaginator]

2lb. test for the leader with 4lb on the reel should be fine, even for kids, unless they happen to land a large brown. The planters in the lake are around 1 lb or so and they don't fight too aggressively -- those are going to be 90% of what's in the lake.

I usually get a bunch of leaders tied to hooks and a loop or a swivel pre-made and wrap them around cardboard. This is probably gonna save you a bit of juggling with all those kids in tow!


(Edited by shaginator at 10:39 pm on May 22, 2002)

 

[sportyg]

Paul, I've never fished up that way. So good luck.. But when I saw this post I was wondering do you know Marty Mcload ?? He came by my place last night to pick up the tent heater. For someone going up there ..

 

[paulc]

thanks everyone.. had a great trip. 4 of us fishing myself, 13 yr olds son, 8 yr old daughter, and 4 yr old son. we got 16 trout and lost another 7 because we were using 2lb leaders and these trout were big. several of them were 2-3lbs.. the following morning we got one more trout a 26 inch brown off of the point of rocks at the marina. we used all of the info you guys gave us.. it worked well.